Linking a child to a customer's record 102-05050120

Charlie receives Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for Henry, and contacts Centrelink to notify a change in care for child Henry. The other party, Jamie, agrees with the change in care. As Charlie receives FTB for Henry, Charlie's Customer First record can be updated to reflect the new percentage of care.

However, Henry has never been linked to Jamie in Customer First, therefore Henry will need to be linked to Jamie's Centrelink record so the percentage of care for Henry can be recorded.

Jane and Bobby notify Child Support of a care change for their child, Frankie to 64% care to Jane and 36% to Bobby. Frankie is linked to Jane's Centrelink record, but not to Bobby's, as Bobby has not claimed FTB or any other payment for Frankie. Data is sent from Child Support to Centrelink via the data exchange to reflect Jane's 64% care and Bobby's 36% care. However, because Frankie is not linked to Bobby, Bobby's name is not displayed as the carer with 36% care on Jane's Centrelink record (the % is shown, but with no name).

A Service Officer later identifies that the level of care for Frankie is not recorded for Bobby as they do not have Frankie linked to their record in Customer First. Frankie cannot be linked to Bobby's record unless Bobby lodges a claim for Frankie (for example FTB, CCB, CCS, PPL, PPS or CDA or an Income Support payment which attracts the 'with child' rate), or unless Centrelink make a later care decision (see below).

A few months later, Jane advises Centrelink that the level of care for Frankie is now 80% to her and 20% to Bobby. Bobby confirms the new care arrangements. The Service Officer attempts to code the new care decision and encounters the following edit on the FTB Shared Care (FSC) screen - E004WA - Mandatory value not entered on screen. The purpose of the edit is to prompt the Service Officer to select Bobby from the drop down box for the previous (Child Support) care decision.

As the Service Officer is recording a subsequent care decision, and the error is occurring, they can link the child to Bobby's record to allow the edit to be resolved.