Claiming Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker) 001-04020000

YA is paid to young people aged 16-21 if they are unemployed and satisfy the mutual obligation requirements as a job seeker or are engaged in a combination of approved activities.

YA job seekers who have not completed Year 12 (or equivalent) or a Certificate III or higher are identified as early school leavers. They need to undertake approved activities and/or job search to satisfy their mutual obligation requirements.

All early school leavers under 17 years and 9 months must have a study exemption coded to qualify for YA, even when undertaking approved activities to satisfy mutual obligation requirements. The system will display a warning when no study exemption is recorded and their payments will cancel.

If the customer has indicated they are unable to work due to a temporary incapacity, see Customers claiming JobSeeker Payment (JSP)/Youth Allowance (YA) (Incapacitated).

If a person contacts to claim YA (job seeker), offer an online claim first. Explain the following benefits of claiming online:

• Help to apply for the right payment through streaming questions
• Early warnings if they may not be eligible
• Less information to provide, as details from their Centrelink record will pre-fill the online claim
• They can monitor the progress of their claim through their Centrelink online account or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

If they decline the online claim offer, run the Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) with the customer. Once completed, advise the customer of any outstanding documents they must provide or action they must take to submit their claim.

If a customer has lodged a Claim for Youth Allowance (SY001) as a job seeker, scan it to the customer's record, and run ACC to record answers from the SY001.

YA may need to be restored for a Youth Bonus Wage Subsidy (YBWS) customer during the 26 Week Suspension Period.

Intent to claim provisions apply to vulnerable customers.

Customers must create a myGov account and link their Centrelink online account to it.

Once the customer has linked their Centrelink online account to myGov, to start an online claim for YA (job seeker) they must:

• sign into myGov and access their linked Centrelink online account
• make sure their personal details are correct. From the menu select My details > Personal and contact details > My profile to make updates
• select Payments and claims > Claims > Make a claim from the menu. For more information, see Step 4 in Table 1 on the Self service tab

Customers transferring to YA (job seeker) will be presented with a reduced question set as part of their online claim if they are:

• currently receiving an income support payment, or
• have cancelled from payment in the last 13 weeks, and
• have had no significant changes in their circumstances

Service Officers can run the Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) with the customer to obtain and record the claim information. The ACC is similar to the online claim workflow and contains the same questions to ask the customer.

Start the ACC with the customer, showing them how easy it is to claim online. Encourage them to complete the rest at home in their own time. By submitting the claim online, they can monitor the progress of their claim through their Centrelink online account or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

If a paper Claim for Youth Allowance (SY001) has been scanned on the customer's record, ACC must be run.

Once the Service Officer has completed the ACC:

• tell the customer of any documents they must provide, or action they must take to submit their claim. They must:
• answer all mandatory questions
• provide all required documents
• verify their identity if there is no Identify Confirmation (ICI) recorded
• exceptions will be made for some vulnerable customers
• to submit their claim, the customer must:
• access the draft claim through their Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app to upload their documents and submit the claim, or
• acknowledge the online declaration read to them by the Service Officer, agreeing they understand and accept their obligations

If the customer lives in a remote area and normally uses an agent, Remote Service Centre, or phone to do business and is unable or unsuitable to complete an online claim, the customer should be transferred to the Remote Claims Processing (RCP) team to begin their ACC.

The Remote Claims Processing (RCP) team provides specialised remote service for identified remote customers.

The customer must have:

• the remote indicator showing on the Customer Overview, or
• a residential address in a remote location

To check the address is in a remote location:

• search the town name in Office Locator
• view the Towns Result List
• view the Remoteness column

Correspondence nominees can submit an online claim for YA on behalf of their principal.

If a correspondence nominee contacts to claim YA on behalf of their principal, offer an online claim first. If they decline the online claim offer, a Service Officer must run the Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) with the nominee.

Participation is mandatory for YA job seekers subject to mutual obligation requirements. Customers may be required to have an Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) completed to determine if they have a partial capacity to work (PCW).

Unemployed due to a voluntary act or misconduct

If the claimant has voluntarily left work or been dismissed due to misconduct in the 12 weeks before claiming, an unemployment failure or an Unemployment Non-Payment Period (UNPP) may apply.

Do not generate compliance action until the Employment Separation Certificate (SU1) (or equivalent), and supporting evidence is received and there is sufficient evidence to identify a non-compliance event is likely to have occurred. Generate compliance action using the Participation Compliance workflow before granting the new claim. The new claim cannot be finalised until a determination is made about the compliance action. Staff with the appropriate access are required to make the decisions on a job seeker's unemployment failure or UNPP.

Immediately refer unsupported customers under 16 years of age to a social worker. The social worker will undertake a risk assessment and assist the young person to lodge a claim for a payment, if applicable. This will usually involve the social worker organising an unreasonable to live at home (UTLAH) assessment to be undertaken locally.

Customers under 22 years of age who have not completed Year 12 (or equivalent) or a Certificate III or higher are identified as early school leavers. They need to undertake approved activities and/or job search to satisfy their mutual obligation requirements.

Customers may be considered independent if it is unreasonable for them to live at home due to extreme family breakdown, other similar exceptional circumstances, or if their parents are unable to provide a home.

Customers claiming YA are subject to the following procedures. If the customer is:

• under 16, case consultation with the service centre social worker must be initiated as soon as possible and before payment is granted
• 16 or 17 years, the Social Work Assessment Network (SWAN) must be consulted before payment is granted. Book a Social Work Unreasonable to Live at Home (UTLAH) appointment
• aged 18 years or over, the assessment will be completed by the Over 18 UTLAH Assessment Team (O18). Tell the customer to lodge their claim online or complete an ACC. The following forms should be issued based on their claim responses:
• Youth Allowance: Statement by Young Person (SY015)
• Youth Allowance: 'Unreasonable to live at home' Statement by Parent(s) (SY016)

Note: the Claim for Youth Allowance (SY001) should only be issued to a customer if they cannot claim online or via ACC.

YA for dependent 16 or 17 year old customers is paid to the parent(s) unless the parent requests the payment be directed to the customer.

Customers 18 or over can have their YA payment directed to their own bank account.

Job seekers subject to RapidConnect have 14 days from the date they are advised of their requirements at the participation interview to attend the RapidConnect appointment. The day of the participation interview is day 0, with day 1 being the following day.

In most cases, attendance at the RapidConnect appointment will determine the start date of the job seeker's income support payment (subject to meeting any waiting periods and qualification requirements).

Several factors may affect the RapidConnect payability start date. See Start Day for further information.

If after 29 days the job seeker has not attended their initial provider appointment, the claim will be automatically rejected.

Refer job seekers located in a designated remote area to a Community Development Program (CDP) provider.

In CDP regions, job seekers are not eligible to be registered as a volunteer. However, job seekers can be registered as Remote Fully Eligible (RFE).

In these areas, the job seeker will not have a choice of providers, as there is only one CDP provider servicing each area. The CDP provider will provide similar services to Workforce Australia and Disability Employment Services (DES).

Disability Service Officers will initiate the review activity when completing the Service Offer Interview (SOI). When the review activity matures, the work item allocates via Workload Management. It displays as Review Reason: Possible Notifiable event.

Do not unassign these activities.

The Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) option is available for 42 days after notifying the customer of the decision to cancel DSP. After the 42 days, tell the customer of existing channels to claim another income support payment.

If a customer is receiving payment pending a review of the decision to cancel their DSP, an ACC will not be completed.