Part-time or full-time study as an approved activity for Parenting Payment (PP) 001-09070230

PP job seekers can participate in full-time or part-time study to meet their mutual obligation requirements.

PP job seekers are not subject to short course policy like JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA) job seekers. They are also not required to claim for a student payment when they commence full-time study. Unlike JSP and YA job seekers, PP job seekers do not have to meet the definition of 'unemployed' (which can be impacted by full-time study) to retain qualification for payment.

PP job seekers undertaking approved qualifying study for PP should be taken as meeting their mutual obligation requirements and the study must be included on the Activity and Exemption (AEX) screen.

PP job seekers who are undertaking approved study immediately prior to transferring to JSP or YA job seeker, will be allowed to complete the remainder of the same course of study that they commenced while receiving PP.

For PP job seekers with mutual obligation requirements, an approved course of study is one that is of a vocational nature, and where the job seeker is undertaking at least 15 hours per week, or 30 hours per fortnight, including any combination of contact and non-contact hours.

Note: the above does not apply to Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) and the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). SEE and AMEP must be considered as full-time when the job seeker is undertaking at least 20 hours of face-to-face study per week to fully meet mutual obligation requirements.

Post-graduate study, including Masters and Doctoral study, will not be approved. However, where it is evident that further study would increase the likelihood of employment and long-term self-sufficiency for a PP job seeker, post-graduate education may be approved to meet their mutual obligation requirements.

Where a PP job seeker is studying in a course that is less than 12 months, either Services Australia or their Workforce Australia provider can approve the course.

PP job seekers studying in a course that is longer than 12 months can only have the course approved by Services Australia. Ideally, the provider should be involved in discussing any intention to study with the job seeker.

PP job seekers who are fully meeting their mutual obligation requirements through approved study are not required to look for work or participate in employment services.

Only a provider can approve the below combined activities to fully meet a job seeker's mutual obligation requirements:

• paid work and study for at least 70 hours per fortnight (PSW activity code) for Workforce Australia job seekers
• voluntary work (standalone) for at least 30 hours per fortnight (PVW activity code) for principal carers under 55 years of age
• paid work and study for at least 30 hours per fortnight (PPW activity code) for principal carers under 55 years of age and those assessed with a partial capacity to work (PCW) 15-29 hours
• approved voluntary work and study (PVS activity code) for principal carers under 55 years of age
• approved voluntary work, study and paid work (PSV activity code) for principal carers under 55 years of age, and
• approved voluntary work and paid work (PVP activity code) for principal carers under 55 years of age

If suitable, they will be either suspended or exited from employment services, become Centrelink managed and require a Centrelink Job Plan to be negotiated.

If the PP job seeker has a break from their study that is greater than three weeks, then the job seeker is required to undertake other approved requirements such as job search, for the period of the break. This includes normal breaks between semesters or terms, when the customer is still enrolled as a student, and this should be taken into consideration when deciding on the requirement.

If the PP job seeker is waiting to commence study, they are still required to look for work. In these cases, the customer should search for suitable employment that does not preclude them from undertaking their course of study. The PP recipient would be required to seek temporary, part-time or casual work, even if only for a short period.

A principal carer of a dependent child with a part-time mutual obligation requirement of 15 hours per week would be required to supplement study of less than 15 hours per week with job search or a combination of requirements. Services Australia can approve a combination of study and part-time work, or study and self-employment, where the total hours between the two requirements are at least 15 hours per week, or 30 hours per fortnight.

If the requirement is a part-time course, and the job seeker is identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, they may also be eligible for ABSTUDY Incidentals Allowance. If the job seeker is thinking about applying for ABSTUDY for the part-time course, then the course cannot be an approved requirement as a job seeker is not eligible for ABSTUDY assistance if the same course of study is approved by the provider. They will, however, be eligible to apply for ABSTUDY assistance if the course is only a voluntary component.

PP customers who do not have mutual obligation requirements may undertake full-time and part-time study on a voluntary basis, including higher degrees such as Masters and Doctoral study, at any time. They are not required to have their study approved.

When PP customers who do not have mutual obligation requirements voluntarily access a provider, they should be encouraged to discuss any intention to study with their provider. The provider may approve the study as part of the customer's voluntary requirements, however, provider approval is not required for the customer to undertake studies.

Job seekers assessed as having a TRWC or PCW of 0-7 or 8-14 hours per week can volunteer to participate in part-time or full-time study. However, these job seekers will still have Quarterly Participation Interviews (QTI) as their only compulsory requirement.