JobSeeker Payment (JSP) customers returning to (or continuing in) part-time study 001-19051532

Is the customer provider managed?

Process Direct

For customers who are currently receiving a payment:

• select Customer Summary from the Process Direct landing page
• enter the customer’s CRN, select Go
• in the customer’s record select > Participation Summary
• Yes, advise the customer to contact their provider:
• Study can be an approved requirement undertaken at any time if negotiated and agreed by the customer's Employment Services Provider
• The provider will update their Job Plan
• Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 2

To view if a customer has been assessed as having a PCW or TRWC, select the Key Information or Activity type/Non-applied exemptions screens.

Has the customer been assessed as having a PCW or TRWC?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

Customers who have been assessed as having a PCW or TRWC of 15 or more hours per week are able to satisfy their requirements if participating in part-time study up to their assessed work capacity.

If their study is for less hours than their assessed work capacity, they would be required to undertake other activities to satisfy their requirements. Advise the customer that study as an approved activity will need to be negotiated with their Employment Services Provider.

Services Australia will approve the remainder of a course for customers who:

• transfer from transitional Disability Support Pension (DSP) to JSP as a person assessed as having a partial capacity to work and
• continue to study on a part-time basis (equivalent to at least 50% of the full time study load) in the same course they commenced while on DSP

The customer is deemed to fully meet their requirements during this period.

Customers with an assessed partial capacity to work or temporary reduced work capacity of 0-7 or 8-14 hours per week will only be able to undertake study as a voluntary requirement. These customers will still be required to undertake quarterly participation interviews with Services Australia.

Note: if the requirement is a part-time course, and the customer is Indigenous, they may be eligible for assistance, for example, Incidentals Allowance, under the ABSTUDY scheme. If the customer is thinking about applying for ABSTUDY for the part-time course, then the customer must be made aware that the course cannot be included as a compulsory requirement. They will only be eligible to apply for ABSTUDY assistance if the course is a voluntary component.

Is the customer's part-time study (and other requirements if applicable) enough to satisfy their mutual obligation requirements?

• Yes, update their Job Plan, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 6

Is the customer a principal carer?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

The customer is able to satisfy their requirements if participating in study of 15 or more hours per week (or 30 hours per fortnight), including any combination of contact and non-contact hours, regardless of whether the study is classified as full-time or part-time by the institution or organisation providing the course.

If a JSP single principal carer contacts Services Australia regarding undertaking study, advise them they must first apply for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and meet PES approval. If PES is approved, the PES approval letter needs to be taken to the Employment Services Provider. If the course is:

• 30 hours or more a fortnight, the customer fully meets their mutual obligation requirements and is exempt from short course approval. The provider will enter this as an approved short course, which will suspend the customer from employment services and they will be Centrelink managed
• less than 30 hours per fortnight, the customer will remain connected to employment services and will be treated as a job seeker

For their mutual obligation requirements to be met the course must be an approved short course. For more information, see Part-time or full-time study as an approved activity for JobSeeker Payment (JSP).

Note: JSP (single principal carers) is a PES attracting income support payment. This means those PPS customers who transfer to JSP (single principal carer) will continue to be able to qualify for PES at any point in time (where all other qualifications are met). They will no longer be required to be continuing in the same course of study to retain access to PES.

Is the customer's part-time study enough to satisfy their mutual obligation requirements?

• Yes, update the Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) screen, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 6

Is both contact and non-contact study for less than 20 hours per week?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 7

Is the customer still able to satisfy their requirements by looking for work?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 9

• Advise the customer that their study will not have any effect on their payments
• Confirm requirements are recorded in the Job Plan by selecting > Job plan in Participation Summary if the customer is:
• the principal carer of a dependent child and
• has been assessed as having a partial capacity to work or temporary reduced work capacity of 15 or more hours per week and
• the part-time study meets their mutual obligation requirements
• For further details see Part-time or full-time study as an approved activity for JobSeeker Payment (JSP)
• Record job seeker's study details on DOC
• Procedure ends here

• Explain to the customer that they will not meet their mutual obligation requirements unless the course can be approved as a short course
• If the course cannot be approved, the customer is no longer eligible for JSP. Check whether they may be eligible for other income support payments
• Cancel the customer's JSP and ensure that an automatic or manual letter is sent to the customer
• Record details on a DOC