Student, partner or parents/guardians commencing or returning to work for ABSTUDY 102-07030010

Who has advised they have commenced or returned to work?

• Student, go to Step 2
• Student's:
• partner, go to Step 2
• parent/guardian, see Increase or decrease in parental income for Youth Allowance (YA), ABSTUDY and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme

Obtain the following details from the applicant/student:

• Date of commencement of employment
• Name of employer, address and phone number
• Income details. If the customer commenced employment prior to ceasing studies, ensure the Employment Income Summary (EANS) screen is coded for correct entitlements to be assessed
• If the customer ceased studies prior to commencing employment, no employment details need to be coded
• Last date of full-time study attended (if applicable)

Is the student commencing full-time employment in an Australian Apprenticeship, traineeship or trainee apprenticeship?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 3

Does the student intend to continue their full-time or concessional studies, e.g. they are only employed part-time, or full-time during the Christmas/New Year vacation period?

• Yes, payments for ABSTUDY may continue. Go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 4

Tell the customer that their ABSTUDY as a student may only be paid up to the date they became aware they would not be recommencing as a full-time student.

Code the change in circumstances, see Payment of ABSTUDY when a student is deferring or discontinuing study before the end of the course.

If the student commenced employment prior to ceasing study, code the employment income.

Once actions have been taken as per above handoffs, go to Step 7.

There may be continuing entitlement to ABSTUDY as an Australian Apprentice depending on the customer's circumstances.

Australian Apprentices are subject to the same income and assets tests as students.

No paperwork is required. Services Australia will obtain the Australian Apprenticeship details from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

If there is a gap between ceasing study and commencing the Australian Apprenticeship of greater than 28 days, and the customer wants to access income support for this gap, they may need to claim a payment as a job seeker. Youth Allowance (YA) or JobSeeker Payment (JSP) will be the applicable payment, depending on their age.

For details of the benefit transfer process for Australian Apprentices, see to Existing recipient starts an Australian Apprenticeship (apprentice or trainee).

Procedure ends here.

Place the customer on 2 weekly reporting, see Reporting requirements for students and Australian Apprentices.

Where needed, code employment income via the Earning and Reporting workflow. See Recording and correcting employment income details.

Advise of their reporting options via self-service.

Advise the next date they are due to report.

Details of employment including:

• employer details
• date last studied (if applicable)
• any other action taken (if payment has been cancelled

If the activity created a debt shell, processing staff should complete the debt raising process end to end. See Raising ABSTUDY debts.

Note: DOC minimum standards only require the collection and recording of enough information about the employer (e.g. contact name and address or phone number) to allow income assessment, as well as contact with the employer if necessary. Contact may be necessary for verification of the income details provided, or for conducting reviews resulting from Data Matching with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Some customers (e.g. those who work in sensitive areas like women's refuges, etc.) may not want all employment details (e.g. business name) recorded on a DOC. This does not affect the requirement to collect sufficient information for assessment or review purposes.