Youth Allowance (YA) job seeker or Australian Apprentice returning to full-time study 102-07010010

Note: for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) customers, see JobSeeker Payment (JSP) job seekers returning to full-time study

Is the customer undertaking full-time study?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, see Youth Allowance (YA) job seekers returning to part-time study. Procedure ends here

Is the customer enrolled in an:

• approved course of study for YA, or
• approved course of study for ABSTUDY or the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme
• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, the customer cannot be paid YA or ABSTUDY as a full-time student. The customer may continue to receive YA as a job seeker if the course is considered to be an approved activity. See Part-time or full-time study as an approved activity for Youth Allowance (YA). Procedure ends here

Check which benefit would be the most appropriate and beneficial student payment for the customer, taking into account:

• Non-Indigenous Australians may continue to receive YA
• Indigenous Australians may be eligible for ABSTUDY or YA as a full-time student
• Customers receiving ABSTUDY may be entitled to additional ABSTUDY allowances and benefits which are not available to YA customers
• Study requirements for ABSTUDY are more flexible than study requirements for YA
• Students living in remote areas may be eligible for Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme
• Family Assistance Act payment is still payable for AIC students, but not for a customer who receives YA or ABSTUDY. Family Tax Benefit (FTB) may be more beneficial than YA or ABSTUDY in some family circumstances

See the Resources page for a link to the Payment and Service Finder

• The Personal Assets Test does not apply to AIC
• The Parental Income Test (PIT) for AIC is only applied to the Additional Boarding Allowance component of AIC
• Rent Assistance (RA) is not available for AIC students
• Some YA job seekers who are single principal carers may be eligible for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• YA job seekers with a partial capacity to work (PCW) of 0-14 hours may be able to study and still meet their mutual obligation requirements as a job seeker, and are also deemed Independent

If the most appropriate and beneficial payment is:

• YA, see Table 2
• ABSTUDY, ABSTUDY PES, AIC or PES, see Table 4

• Yes, and will/ has started study:
• before the Ordinary Waiting Period (OWP) has been fully served, go to Step 2
• after the OWP has been fully served or OWP was not applied, go to Step 4
• No, and the customer was an Australian Apprentice, go to Step 3

Service Officers outside of the appropriate processing team and not suitably skilled for this step, create a Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY and Apprentices > Update > YAL study update action DOC

YA (student) customers are not subject to an OWP. Where YA (job seeker) is granted with an OWP, but they started study and qualify for YA (student) before fully serving the OWP, reject the claim and re-grant YA (student).

To reject YA (job seeker), code the Benefit Action (BA) screen:

• Service Reason: 'YAL' (Youth Allowance)
• Action:
• 'REJ' (Reject) for YAL/ASS customers
• 'CAN' (Cancel) for YAL/CUR customers
• Reason: 'COP' (Another payment is more appropriate)
• Effect Date: YA (job seeker) grant date
• Enter the Source and Receipt date
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen, confirm that status is YAL/REJ-COP and finalise the activity

Create a new claim using the SOA Shell tile of the Process Direct landing page.

On the SOA Shell Creation page:

• Benefit Type: Youth Allowance (student)
• Customer CRN: Customer Reference Number with no spaces
• Date of Receipt: date of receipt of YA (job seeker claim)
• Select Create Claim

Process the claim using the information supplied in the YA (job seeker) claim and the study details given by the customer. See Assessing and coding student and Australian Apprentice claims for Youth Allowance (YA).

Customers considered independent for YA (job seeker) because of an assess PCW (coded PCW on the Independent/Homeless/Away From Home Details (NIH) screen) cannot retain this status as a full-time student.

If the 'E517NM - This customer is not eligible for the PCW - Independent Rate' or 'E516NM - This customer is eligible for the Independent rate of YAL' error appear on the SWE table, go to the Independent/Homeless/Away From Home Summary (NIHS) table:

• Select the Edit Row icon on the current IND/PCW line
• Update the Change Independent/Homeless/Away Details screen
• End Reason: field, select NLW (no longer eligible - Partial Capacity to Work)
• End Date: field, enter the day immediately before the Participation Status event date recorded on the Customer Study Details (EDC) screen in Process Direct or Education Course Details (EDC) screen in Customer First for the new course

Parental Income Test (PIT) information will need to be updated for these customers if not recorded, unless they can be considered independent for a different reason. See Independence for Youth Allowance (YA) customers.

Procedure ends here.

When a customer is no longer an Australian Apprentice, the Department of Social Services (DSS) database will automatically transfer information to update the following screens:

• Process Direct - Apprentice Details (NAPD) screen
• Customer First - Apprenticeship Details (NAPD) screen

If this link is not working, manual updates can be done by authorised staff with access to the appropriate resource via the ICT Security Portal. See the Resources page for a link to the ICT Security Portal.

Note: a person is considered by Services Australia to be an Australian Apprentice until the date the customer ceased being an Australian Apprentice, or the Apprenticeships Data Management System (ADMS) shows the Commonwealth Registration Number has been cancelled, whichever is earlier.

Authorised Local Peer Support (LPS) or service centre staff can manually code the Australian Apprentice details in either:

• Process Direct
• Go to Apprenticeship Details Summary (NAPD) screen
• Select Edit
• On the Create Apprenticeship Details screen, update the Apprenticeship End/Termination Date field with the date the Australian Apprenticeship ceased
• Select Save
• Complete the Receipt Date and Channel fields
• Select Save
• Customer First
• Go to the Apprenticeship Summary (NADS) screen and select the current Australian Apprenticeship details. This will open the Apprenticeship Details (NAPD) screen
• Code Apprenticeship End Date field with the date the Australian Apprenticeship ceased
• Enter the Source and Receipt Date and Action as Chg

If the customer is notifying of cessation of employment as an apprentice, request an Employment Separation Certificate from the customer.

When course information is available, these details should be recorded manually on the customer's record at the first point of contact. See Tables 2 and 3 in Coding new study details. Once completed, continue with this procedure.

If the customer's payment is cancelled, and they are contacting within 13 weeks of the decision to cancel the payment, restore the payment via the Benefit Action (BA) screen. See Restoration of Youth Allowance (YA) or Austudy for full-time students and Australian Apprentices. Do not finalise the restoration activity until all payment affecting updates are complete.

If a customer cannot provide their course details at this time, they can log into their Centrelink online account and select My Details > Manage study details from the menu. Job seekers are able to use the Manage Study Details service to provide their course details.

When the customer is not able to use the online service, a Study Details (MOD ST) form should be requested from the customer.

Note: if the customer turns 22 years of age before the start date of their course, no education details should be coded until their course starts. This will prevent the customer transferring to JobSeeker Payment (JSP).

If the YA job seeker had a partial capacity to work independence status, after the education details have been coded, the following error messages may show on the:

• Assessment Warning and Error (AWE) screen in Customer First, and
• Errors (SWE) screen in Process Direct

Customer First and Process Direct error codes

• E517NM - 'This customer is not eligible for the PCW - Independent Rate', or
• E516NM - 'This customer is eligible for the Independent rate of YAL'

Has the E517NM or E516NM error appeared on the AWE or SWE screen?

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

Check if the job seeker has been receiving YA as an independent person due to having a PCW.

Customers considered independent because of an assessed PCW (PCW coded on the Independent/Homeless/Away From Home Details (NIH) screen) cannot retain this status as a full-time student.

If the customer has a PCW independence status recorded, update either:

• Process Direct:
• Go to the Independent/Homeless/Away from Home Details (NIH) screen
• Select Edit on the PCW - Assessed as having partial capacity to work line
• The Change Independent/Homeless/Away Details window will display
• Update the End Date: key in the day immediately before the Participation Status Event
• Update the End Reason: select NLW - no longer eligible - Partial Capacity to Work
• Select Save
• Select Assess and address any errors/warnings
• Select Assess again, then select Finish
• Record details of the update
• Select Finalise to complete the transaction
• Customer First:
• Select the started activity
• Go to the Independent/Homeless/Away from Home Summary (NIHS) screen
• Select the current PCW entry
• In the End Reason field, enter NLW (no longer eligible - Partial Capacity to Work)
• In the End Date field, enter the day immediately before the Participation Status Event Date recorded on the Education Course Details (EDC) screen for the new course
• Key C in the Action field to correct the information and press [Enter]

Note: a future end date cannot be coded for the PCW Independent Rate on the NIH screen:

• Tell the customer to update their study details using online services once their course has started, see General notification provisions and exceptions
• DOC the customer's record
• Continue to next steps as more details may be needed to allow the future transfer, for example, MOD JY requirement

To meet the qualification for YA full-time study requirements the student must be making satisfactory progress towards completing their course. An assessment must be completed to determine this. If the student:

• has previously withdrawn, or attempted, a tertiary course at the same level as the current level of study
• is resuming a course they have previously started but not completed, or
• is re-attempting Year 12 after 2 previous attempts

For tertiary students, see Assessing satisfactory progress for Youth Allowance (YA) tertiary students.

For secondary students, see Assessing satisfactory progress for Youth Allowance (YA) secondary students.

For assistance with complex allowable time assessments, contact Local Peer Support (LPS).

Is the student making satisfactory progress?

• Yes, see Table 3
• No:
• The customer is not eligible for YA as a student. Investigate eligibility for YA as a job seeker or an alternative payment
• Procedure ends here

Will the customer receive a scholarship for this course?

• Yes, see Assessing scholarship income. If scholarship income evidence is required:
• use the Request for Information guided procedure to issue a letter
• transfer the Request for Information started activity to the customer's local service centre for follow up
• go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 2

Determine whether the customer's address or accommodation circumstances need to be updated.

See:

• Updating address details, ensuring the home address, and if required, the postal and/ or term addresses are correctly updated
• Completing the Accommodation Details (AC) screen and assessing Rent Assistance (RA)
• Qualification for payment of Rent Assistance (RA)

Once the address and accommodation circumstances are up to date, go to Step 3.

As the customer is returning to full-time study, they may be eligible for YA:

• as an independent young person
• as a person who is required to live away from home, or
• at the 'at home' rate

Determine whether the customer is independent for YA under any category. See Independence for Youth Allowance (YA) customers. When assessing independence for YA consider if the customer was:

• previously granted independence under the partial capacity to work (PCW) category. This status cannot be used for independence for a YA (student)
• granted Unreasonable to Live at Home (UTLAH) in the previous 52 weeks. This status may be restored if there have been no changes in their circumstances. See Unreasonable to live at home (UTLAH) initial contact for Youth Allowance (YA), Disability Support Pension (DSP), Special Benefit (SpB) or Tertiary Access Payment (TAP).
  If UTLAH can be restored and has been re-coded from the student start date, go to Step 5
• previously granted independence, under any other category. This can be restored if the customer continues to meet the criteria. If the previous independence status can be restored and has been recorded, go to Step 5

If the customer:

• wishes to test their eligibility for independence under another category, decide what evidence the customer must lodge and request the information from the customer. Go to Step 4
• does not wish to test their eligibility for independence under another category or the customer is not eligible for independence under another category, decide whether the customer can be assessed for the away from home rate of YA. Once assessed, go to Step 4

Customers will become a YA dependent customer from the student start date if they:

• were in a partial capacity to work (PCW) category and no longer independent
• need to supply evidence for an independence assessment, or
• will not meet an independence criteria based on their current circumstances

In this case, check if the appropriate parental income has been recorded on the Household Income and Assets (NHI) screen for the base tax year or the current tax year.

Is the parental income information up to date?

• Yes, the customer will be assessed against the current parental means test data recorded on these screens. This may reduce the rate of payment or cancel the customer if they were previously assessed as independent. If the result is an unfavourable decision, see Advising verbally of an unfavourable decision.
  Remind the customer that if they have been assessed under base tax year and the parent(s)/guardian(s) have had a decrease in parental income in the year following the base tax year, they may be eligible for a current tax year assessment.
  If the YA
• remains payable, go to Step 5
• is cancelled, finalise assessment via the Assessment Results (AR) screen and record details on a DOC
• No, see Parent(s)/Guardian(s) details for the Base Tax Year and Current Tax Year MOD JY

Note: parents or guardians of customers who are required to provide PIT information for this change in circumstances, are currently unable to use the Advise Parental Income online service. If the Parental Means Test information cannot be obtained from sibling records, or via a verbal MOD JY, request the following information from the customer:

• Parent(s)/Guardian(s) details for the Base tax year and Current tax year for dependent Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY customers form (MOD JY)

If an apprentice is ceasing their apprenticeship, update the employment income for the Apprentice employer details recorded on the Employment Income Paid Details (EAPP) screen.

Does the customer have income from employment they need to declare?

• Yes:
• determine the student's reporting requirements
• remind the customer of their notification obligations as a statement reporter
• remind the customer they are required to report their income via the appropriate channels
• students with access to the Express Plus app may record the hours they have worked on their timesheet within the app, or keep a record of their employment information using the Earnings Worksheet (SU505) available on the agency's website
• No, remind the customer of the general notification provisions and exceptions

Go to Step 6.

• Tell the customer that as a full-time student they may be entitled to the following:
• Higher income free area
• Student Income Bank (SIB). If the customer has had Working Credits or an Australian Apprentice/Student Income Bank on the last 12 months, they may be eligible to transfer or restore their previous working credits or income bank balance
• Fares Allowance (FAA) (tertiary students only)
• Student Start-up Loan (SSL)
• If the customer is studying an approved scholarship, determine their eligibility for the Relocation Scholarship. See Relocation Scholarship (RS) eligibility and Relocation Scholarship (RS) payment and coding
• Tell the customer their current Health Care Card will continue from the date they become a full-time student

Was the customer a job seeker?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, procedure ends here

Coding and finalising the new study details should change the customer's activity type on the Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) screen to full-time student. The system will also send a transaction to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to inactivate the job seeker registration. This will automatically inactivate the job seeker. This may take one minute to occur, and staff should not be locked in the record while this is being processed. If the inactivation does not occur automatically.

In Process Direct:

• select Customer Summary from the Process Direct Landing page
• enter the customer's CRN, select Go
• select anywhere in the Search Results field to enter the customer's record
• select the More Options menu, select > Participation Summary > Job seeker registration & provider referral information > Inactivate Registration > Returned to Study
• continue through the workflow to finalise the activity

If the customer wants to apply for:

• ABSTUDY, see Claiming ABSTUDY. YA may need to be manually cancelled before granting ABSTUDY. The process varies depending on the course start date. If customer:
• has started the course in a previous entitlement period, and ABSTUDY is not more beneficial than YA, cancel YA using the reason Customer receiving precluding payment (CPP) from date paid to plus 1, see Coding a cancellation. ABSTUDY can then be granted from the YA job seeker cancellation date
• has started the course in a previous entitlement period and ABSTUDY is more beneficial than YA, cancel YA using the reason Customer receiving precluding payment (CPP) from the date the customer became eligible for ABSTUDY, see Processing an ABSTUDY claim for details about offsetting YA overpayments using ABSTUDY arrears
• has started the course in the current entitlement period, and ABSTUDY is not more beneficial than YA, cancel YA using CPP from the student start date, see Coding a cancellation. ABSTUDY can then be granted from the YA job seeker cancellation date
• has started the course in the current entitlement period and ABSTUDY is more beneficial than YA, cancel YA using CPP from the date the customer became eligible for ABSTUDY, see Processing an ABSTUDY claim for details about offsetting YA overpayments using ABSTUDY arrears
• is starting in the future, code the Newstart Education Status (NES) screen from the course start date before assessing ABSTUDY. See Coding student status details table in Coding new study details. ABSTUDY can then be granted from the course start date
• Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme, begin initial contact procedures for a student claiming AIC so that a benefit transfer can be actioned. This will automatically cancel the YA when AIC starts
• Pensioner Education Supplement (PES), begin initial contact procedures for student claiming PES. Manually cancel YA payment

Customers who were previously entitled to PES as a result of a transfer from Disability Support Pension (DSP) (granted between 11 May 2005 and 30 June 2006) or Parenting Payment Single (PPS) (received on or after 1 July 2006) to YA (job seeker) after 1 July 2006 will not retain their entitlement to PES if they restart their original course after a break or restart another course.

If the customer has had Working Credits or Student Income Bank credits in the last 12 months, they may be eligible to transfer or restore their previous Working Credits or income bank balance.

When a customer is transferring from YA job seeker to ABSTUDY, Service Officers may code the new course details to change the customer's activity type from job seeker to student (before transferring to ABSTUDY). Careful consideration needs to be taken to ensure this is the most beneficial option for the customer, for example, there is no transfer of credits between YA (student) and ABSTUDY.

Record the decision on a DOC.