Reporting requirements for customers receiving a payment with mutual obligation requirements 001-18120536

Customers receiving a payment with a mutual obligation requirement are required to report fortnightly (2 weekly), unless variable 4 or 12 weekly reporting has been applied to their record. This allows the customer to:

• inform Services Australia of their own (and their partner's) employment income paid in that reporting period
• advise the number of hours they have worked during the reporting period, and
• advise of any other changes in circumstances

Reporting will generally occur via self managed service channels (online account, Express Plus Centrelink mobile app or phone self service) or in person over the phone or in a service centre to receive their payment.

Customers with mutual obligation requirements are given a reporting frequency based on:

• their current activity type
• any exemption from mutual obligation requirements
• any income they or their partner receive, and
• whether there is a current 'own fault' debt on the system

Customers with mutual obligation requirements will generally have 2 reporting profiles on the Profile Summary (PQS) screen in Customer first; one based on their mutual obligation requirements, and one based on any employment income they or their partner are receiving.

The reporting profile with the more frequent reporting requirement will be applied by service profiling.

For example, if the customer has a mutual obligation requirement profile of 4 weekly and an employment income profile of 2 weekly, they are required to report fortnightly by the 2 weekly profile.

Centrelink managed job seekers

Centrelink managed job seekers are generally required to indicate whether they have fully met the requirements for their approved activity when reporting.

If the job seeker is reporting via any of the self service channels (through the Report Employment Income service) and they have indicated they have not met their requirements, their report will not be completed. The activity will be handed off with one of the following reason codes:

• FAN - job seeker has failed to meet requirement for 3 consecutive fortnights (excluding ‘Other’ and ‘No Longer Undertaking Activity’ reason)
• FAE - job seeker has responded ‘Other’ or ‘No Longer Undertaking Activity’ to the mutual obligation question
• FAT - Failed Activity Test (where FAN or FAE do not apply)

Prior to the report being completed, the job seeker will need to contact us to have their continuing eligibility for their approved activity assessed and to be referred for provider servicing if necessary. Centrelink managed jobseekers with a mutual obligation exemption are not required to report how they have met mutual obligation requirements for the period they are exempt.

Provider managed job seekers

Provider managed job seekers are not required to indicate whether they have met the requirements for their approved activity when reporting, however, job seeker compliance processes such as the Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) may impact reporting in the following ways. If the job seeker's record has:

• a pending Capability Assessment, or a current job seeker compliance suspension (for example, TCF):
• they will not be able to report until the Capability Assessment or suspension has been resolved
• an outstanding job seeker compliance failure recorded:
• they will not be able to complete a self service report and the activity will be handed off with the reason 'APA', 'PCC', or 'UCA'. If the customer makes contact via their main business line telephony channel or in person at a service centre, they must be handed off to the Participation Solutions Team (PST) to have their failure determined before their report can be completed.
  See Participation Solutions Team (PST) for handoff details

For further information, see Services Australia's responsibilities for managing compliance with compulsory requirements.

In limited circumstances, customers receiving a payment with mutual obligation requirements can be placed on a reporting frequency other than 2 weekly. This is referred to as variable reporting. Customers can be placed onto variable reporting if they meet the qualification and activity or exemption criteria for variable reporting.

Eligibility for variable reporting

The following factors affect eligibility for variable reporting. This means their variable reporting:

• will not be applied, or
• if already applied, it will be ended, and
• the customer will be reverted to a fortnightly reporting frequency

Customers are not eligible for variable reporting if:

• they, or their partner, are receiving employment income, or
• they have one or more debts, other than debts:
• incurred by another person, such as a partner
• incurred by a systems fault that produced dual entitlement
• incurred through other Government departments, or
• that have been fully repaid

Customers receiving Jobseeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (YA) (jobseeker) or Parenting Payment Single (PPS) may be eligible to be placed on a:

• 4 weekly variable reporting frequency if they:
• have a current 'Claiming DSP' (DSP) or 'Temp Incap - Serious Illness' (ISI) exemption, or
• have a current activity type of Adult Migrant Education (AME)
• 12 weekly variable reporting frequency if they:
• have a current 'Refugee in first 13 weeks in Australia' (REF) or 'Refugee first 6 months' (R6M) exemption

Customers receiving Special Benefit (SpB) with SpB category 'TPP' (Temp. Protection Via Holder from 01.01.03) on the SPL Other Details (NSOD) screen, and have a current 'Newly Released NVH (First 13wks)' (ASR) exemption, are eligible for 12 weekly variable reporting.

Commencing or extending variable reporting

Variable reporting will be automatically applied by the service profiling manager if the customer is eligible and has one of the following current activity or exemption types:

• a 'Claiming DSP' (DSP) exemption
• an activity type of type of Adult Migrant Education (AME)
• a 'Refugee in first 13 weeks in Australia' (REF) or 'Refugee first 6 months' (R6M) exemption

Variable reporting may be manually applied or reapplied by a Service Officer using the 'DIS' (Discretionary) code on the Reporting Details (RPRD) screen in Customer First if the customer is eligible and has one of the following current activity or exemption types:

• a 'Temp Incap - Serious Illness' (ISI) exemption
• a 'Newly Released NVH (First 13wks)' (ASR) exemption

Note: the system will not automatically apply a variable reporting regime if the customer or their partner have recent earnings.

Current income predictors that may be affecting the automatic application of variable reporting can be viewed on the Profile Details (PQD) screen. To access the relevant PQD screen and predictors, go to the Profile Summary (PQS) screen in Customer First and select:

• Reporting Profile - Income, affecting income is indicated by an STP, income or a manual reporting predictor, e.g. one or more current service profiling predictors 289, 290, 382 or 1790 exist on their record
• the relevant mutual obligations profile, affecting income is indicated by an STP or income predictor, e.g. one or more current service profiling predictors 1274 (JSP/YAL/PPS) or 1790 (SpB)

If the customer has confirmed that they, and their partner, have stopped receiving employment income, that is, they have not received employment income in the current instalment period and are not expecting to receive employment income in the future, variable reporting can be applied via a discretionary (DIS) override on the Reporting Details (RPRD) screen where predictors 289, 290 or 1790 exist on the record.

The override predictor 382 can be end dated on the Profiling CSA Identified Circumstances (PQCIC) screen in Customer First if it is no longer required. If this is the only predictor inhibiting profiling a variable reporting regime, this will allow the profiling to automatically apply the new regime.

The variable reporting cycle will generally be applied from the latter of either the:

• beginning of the instalment period in which it, or the approved activity, is recorded in the system, or
• in the instalment period in which the approved activity or manual reporting commences

The next report following when the variable reporting is applied, will show as 'auto stim' whether 4 or 12 weekly reporting has been applied.

To ensure that the customer is not unexpectedly placed back on reporting at short notice, the system will adjust the manually applied variable reporting regime end date to the customer's Entitlement Period End Date (EPED). If the period entered is:

• greater than 84 days, the system will adjust the end date to the customer's EPED following the 84 day period, and
• less than 84 days and does not end on the customer's EPED, the system will adjust the end date to the customer's EPED following the end of the manually entered period

A manual reporting override is not to be applied to the record if the customer is not eligible for variable reporting as per the above criteria.

Variable reporting frequency and duration

Variable reporting applied by service profiling will have its frequency and duration automatically managed by the system.

Variable reporting is subject to both system and policy limits on both reporting frequency and duration if it is manually applied, either:

• as an override to a failed automatic update, or
• due to no automation being applicable

Generally, the variable reporting regime cannot be applied for a period longer than the exemption or activity that underpins it, even if the system allows for a longer duration. See the Resources page for variable reporting codes, frequency and duration.

Customer responsibilities during a period of variable reporting

Job seekers on variable reporting are still regarded as statement reporters, even on fortnights they do not need to report. If a change of circumstances occurs in a reporting period they are not otherwise required to report as per their variable reporting frequency, they will need to report any changes that affect their payment on the Entitlement Period End Date (EPED) of the period that change occurred. Despite the customer not having a reporting task, their earnings can be reported via Report Employment Income (REI) self service channels.

Ending variable reporting

In certain circumstances, customers automatically placed on variable reporting will also be removed from variable reporting automatically by the Service Profiling Manager. These circumstances include (but are not limited to):

• The approved activity or exemption has expired
• Customer or partner has reported at least 2 instances of employment income in the last 12 weeks
• New Single Touch Payroll (STP) employment data is available
• Customer has an outstanding compliance action and/or customer not re-engaged
• Customer has 2 or more applied failures in 6 months
• Customer has a debt, unless one of the following exceptions apply:
• the debts were incurred by another person, such as a partner
• a systems fault produced dual entitlement
• the debts were incurred through other Government departments, Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) or Community Development Program (CDP)
• the debts were fully repaid

Where the variable reporting has been manually applied and is no longer applicable, it will need to be manually ceased if it has not already expired.

This must occur for any of the below changes in circumstances:

• The approved activity or exemption has expired
• The customer and/or partner has notified they have commenced work or reported employment income
• New Single Touch Payroll (STP) employment data is available
• The customer has an outstanding compliance action and/or customer not re-engaged
• The customer has a debt, unless one of the following exceptions apply:
• the debts were incurred by another person, such as a partner
• a systems fault produced dual entitlement
• the debts were incurred through other Government departments, Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) or Community Development Program (CDP)
• the debts were fully repaid

Variable reporting, whether automatically or manually applied, must also be ceased if the customer requests a return to fortnightly reporting.

If an exemption or approved activity underpinning the variable reporting ends, the system will expire the variable reporting profile from the first Entitlement Period Start Date (EPSD) following the expiry of the approved activity or manually coded variable reporting period.

Example: Mark has an exemption coded for a serious illness (ISI). A period of variable reporting is also coded on 6 February set for the maximum period of 12 weeks. This would normally expire on 29 April, however, Mark has an Entitlement Period End Day (EPED) code of 5. This means the system will end date the period of variable reporting on Mark's Entitlement Period Start Date (EPSD) following the end of the 12 week period. In this case, Mark's EPED following the end of the 12 week period on 29 April is 2 May making the next EPSD 3 May. Mark will commence fortnightly lodgement from this date, making his first fortnightly report due on 16 May.

The change to the actual reporting frequency reflected on the Reporting Regime Summary (RPRS) page will often be delayed until the next, or subsequent EPED or EPSD. This is to allow sufficient time for:

• a customer to be notified of their new reporting requirement, and
• a final report to be issued to finalise the current variable reporting regime

A reporting override must not be applied on the Reporting Regime Details (RPRD) screen to bring forward a future 2WE reporting requirement.

The new reporting requirements and notification obligations should be advised to the customer if they are in contact with Services Australia at the time the reporting requirements are updated.

Note: the notification of the new reporting regime may not be issued until the start of the instalment period in which the report is due to be lodged. If the customer was already due to report for the current instalment period under the existing variable reporting regime, the prior notification of this requirement will remain in force until the new regime starts.

If a customer being interviewed identifies that they have ceased work, they must be questioned about any unused leave entitlements or termination payments they may have received. If payment has been received and the customer is able to provide the details, update the customer's record.

If they are unable to provide details of their unused leave entitlements or termination payments (and they are not available via Single Touch Payroll), an Employment Separation Certificate (SU1) is required. See Cessation of employment income.

Note: if unused leave entitlements and/or termination payments are pre-filled by the employer through Single Touch Payroll (STP) and are confirmed by the customer, then verification via an SU1 is not required.

Customers who have ceased work voluntarily or due to misconduct may also be subject to an unemployment failure or an Unemployment Non-Payment Period (UNPP). See Unemployment due to a voluntary act or misconduct.

For information, see Employment Services Provider reports job seeker commenced employment but income not declared.

Customers receiving a payment with mutual obligation requirements, are not eligible to use Services Australia's Employer Reporting service to meet their reporting requirements when working in Australian Disability Enterprises (ADE). A customer using the Employer Reporting Service, who claims, or transfers to, a payment with mutual obligations, is required to report and declare any earnings themselves when they are granted or transferred to that payment. Any active consent currently recorded on the Consent Authority Details Summary (CAD) screen, must be removed when a payment with mutual obligations is granted, to avoid confusion over who is reporting the earnings and when. For further details, see Customer consent to submit earnings via Employer Reporting service.

Muttonbirding is neither an approved activity nor a mutual obligation exemption. Indigenous customers undertaking this activity are not eligible for variable reporting or the temporary removal of reporting. Any income they receive from this activity must be reported in the same way as any other employment income.

Customers should discuss their participation in muttonbirding with their provider before they commence the activity to avoid any unexpected interruption to their payment.