Principal carer of a dependent child 001-04030010

Customer is claiming or receiving an income support payment where a principal carer determination is needed.

Customer advises a dependent child aged under 16:

• entered customer care, go to Step 2
• permanently left customer care, go to Step 3
• care is being shared, go to Step 4

A customer may remain the principal carer of a child during a temporary absence from the child's care, including where care of the child is contested, or the child is abducted. See Child leaves customer's care/custody.

If the customer:

• has claimed a disaster/emergency payment and is not in receipt of an income support payment, a principal carer determination may need to be completed, go to Step 5
• is a member of a couple (with a child already in their care) and wishes to transfer principal carer status from/to their partner, confirmation of a change of care is not required, go to Step 6

For help with the definition of a principal carer of a dependent child, see the References page.

Has a care determination been completed and customer assessed as having care of the child/ren?

Note: check by reviewing existing coding on Child in Customer Care (CHC), FTB Shared Care (FSC), SSA Shared Care (SSC) screens/shared care table and any DOC/Notes on the file.

• Yes, and the customer:
• shares the care of the child, go to Step 4
• is not sharing care of the child, go to Step 7
• No, a care assessment must be completed first before returning here
• See Child enters customer's care/custody
• Procedure ends here

Has the child/ren already been coded out of the customers care?

Note: check by reviewing existing coding on Child in Customer Care (CHC), FTB Shared Care (FSC), SSA Shared Care (SSC) screens/shared care table and any DOC/Notes on the file.

For PPS:

• select the child from the Pension Child Summary (PNKDS) screen
• check field ‘Qualifying PP child under 14’

If ‘Y’ change of care coding has not been completed correctly for this child.

For PPP and JSP/YAL(jobseeker)/SpB:

• select the child from the Assessment explanation (AX) screen
• Check the field ‘eligible PC child’

If ‘Y’ change of care coding has not been completed correctly for this child.

Has the change of care been coded correctly?

• Yes, a principal carer check is required, go to Step 7
• No, see Child leaves customer's care/custody to complete correct coding and return here if required

• Is the customer advising a change to the shared care percentage recorded on the SSC screen/shared care table?
• Yes:
• This will need to be assessed and coded. Principal carer coding will be completed as part of this update
• See Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
• No, go to Step 7

If a customer has lodged a claim for Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP) for a child/ren and is not currently receiving income support or FTB payments, a principal carer determination may be required.

Check current coding on SSC screen/shared care table for the child before commencing a new principal carer determination.

Does the SSC screen/shared care table have a care percentage and principal carer status coded for the child?

• Yes:
• 55% or more, PC indicator Y, customer is the principal carer
• 46%-54% (equal care) check the PC indicator. If ‘Y’ the customer is the principal carer, see Shared care for income support payments and principal carer determination for more information
• 45% or less the customer, PC indicator N, customer is not the principal carer
• Before finalising the activity go to Step 8
• Note: if the customer disagrees with current care percentage or PC indicator coding, see below
• No or the customer disagrees with current coding, a principal carer determination will be required:
• Child entering care or care previously coded as 0% on SSC screen/shared care table, see Child enters customer's care/custody and return here once the care assessment has been completed
• Child with shared care and advised change to percentage coded see Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB and return here once the care assessment completed

Only one person at a time can be the principal carer.

A partnered customer may want to transfer the principal carer status to their partner. This includes JSP, YAL (jobseeker) and SpB partners with dependent children, PPP and FTB customers.

The customer and partner must agree to swap the principal carer status. A DOC must be completed on both customer and partner records detailing the discussion, including who is to be the principal carer.

In the following circumstances, the partner swap will be completed when the PP claim is assessed.

• PPP customers transferring principal carer status to their partner, the partner will need to lodge a claim for PPP
• Other customers transferring principal carer status to their partner who has lodged a claim for PPP

See Processing Parenting Payment (PP) claims.

For all other customers, staff are to:

• email the Parenting Programme team the following information:
• In the subject line – Customer and partner swapping principal carer status
• CRN and customer full name
• Details of what customer is to be the principal carer
• DOC the customer and partner records with details of discussion, including who is to be the principal carer
• If a claim has been lodged where the customer and partner are swapping the principal carer status, hold the claim

Go to Step 8.

If a customer gains or loses principal carer status, their eligibility and rate of payment, extra entitlements and mutual obligations may be impacted.

Principal carer status of a child will be determined by what is coded on the CHC, SSC screen/shared care table and CHOC screens.

When coding the SSC screen/shared care table principal carer indicator, staff must take into consideration all factors discussed in making a principal carer determination.

If the customer has:

• 55% or more, customer will generally be the principal carer:
• Check SSC screen/shared care table is coded with the correct percentage
• PC indicator is coded as ‘Y’
• go to Step 8
• 46%-54% (equal care) a principal carer determination will be required. See Shared care for income support payments and principal carer determination for details on how to make the determination
• Check SSC screen/shared care table is coded with the correct percentage
• PC indicator is coded with the correct indicator as per the equal care principal carer assessment and from the correct date, go to Step 8
• 45% or less the customer will generally not be the principal carer
• Check SSC screen/shared care table is coded with the correct percentage
• PC indicator is coded as ‘N’ from the correct date, go to Step 8
• In very limited circumstances, there may be more than two carers in a care arrangement therefore:
• the above rules may not apply, or
• the customer may have the majority care of the child but not be the principal carer
• see Resources page for an example

Note: from 2 March 2024 two new principal carer override codes has been created on the CHOC screen:

• PCN (principal carer NO), and
• PCY (principal carer YES)

See Child Override/Claim (CHOC) screen for when these codes need to be coded.

Before finalising the activity, check child eligibility details are correct.

Take the activity to the AR/ELD screen before checking the screens below.

• PPS go to PNKDS screen
• Select each child aged under 16
• Customer is principal carer of child if ‘Qualifying PP child under 14’ is Y
• PPP, JSP, YA (job seeker) and SpB go to the AX screen
• Select payment from ‘Service reason selector’
• Expand for each aged under 16
• Customer is principal carer of child if ‘Eligible PC child’ is Y
• Record details on a DOC

If a current customer has gained or lost principal carer status, it may be necessary for the customer to claim an alternative income support payment.

Customers may also have changes to their concession card entitlement, income test and mutual obligations.

Discuss these changes with the customer and encourage them to lodge a claim for alternative assistance if necessary.

Note: If a customer has received Crisis Payment and a change has occurred, a manual reassessment of Crisis Payment may be required. For more information, see Reviewing and reassessing Crisis Payment (CrP).

Job Plans

If the customer is a Centrelink managed job seeker, their Job Plan may need to be updated to reflect their new mutual obligation requirements.

Centrelink managed job seekers needing to re-negotiate their Job Plan may have a new plan negotiated over the phone (if they have an Online Account) or may attend a service centre.

If referring the job seeker to a service centre, make an Enquiry appointment type for the customer. Check Office Locator for service centre appointment requirements. The Resources page contains a link to Office Locator.

Where necessary, renegotiate the customer's Job Plan and ensure the Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) screen in Process Direct is updated accordingly.

If 2 or more people are caring for the child, if the principal carer determination is changed, each person must be advised in writing of the principal carer determination, even if they have not claimed income support payment.

Run the Child - Change in Care Arrangements script to create the appropriate letter to advise each carer of the principal carer decision. Consider relevant privacy issues when referring to the other carer in the letter.

When each member of a couple is claiming or receiving payment based on being a principal carer, ensure each person is advised in writing of the principal carer determination. The Resources page contains standard text.