Payment and reporting arrangements over national public holiday periods 001-09040080

Special arrangements are made when national public holiday periods occur (such as Easter, Christmas, Anzac Day and Australia Day) to minimise inconvenience to those customers who would:

• be prevented from reporting their employment income, mutual obligation requirements and any change of circumstances on their normal reporting date, or
• have delayed payment delivery due to public holidays.

Holiday processing arrangements take into account, and balance the needs, of both the customer and staff. Each holiday cycle is different and arrangements change each year. Where there are no reporting or processing arrangements for a one day public holiday, customers who are due to report their employment income, mutual obligation requirements and change of circumstances are expected to report on the first available working day after the public holiday.

Reporting by self service (online, Express Plus application or phone self service) is available during national holidays.

Depending on when payments are due, and the customer's reporting requirements, some Pensions, Parenting Payment (PP), Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and other payments will be paid in advance of their due date.

Customers in receipt of weekly payments will be subject to the normal reporting arrangements over the Easter and Christmas public holiday periods.

Where there are reporting or processing arrangements in place for a national public holiday, an SMS reminder will be sent to the customer. Where a customer's payment requires stimulus prior to payment delivery and their reporting due date falls on a National Public Holiday, an SMS or email message reminder will be sent the day before the customer is due to report, advising of the temporary arrangements. This only applies to customers who are registered for electronic messaging SMS alerts and have a valid mobile phone number recorded, or are registered for email alerts and have a valid email address recorded.

The online account summary page of reporting periods:

• highlights changed dates as a result of reporting arrangements over national public holidays, and
• displays a warning message to customers