Cancellation of Parenting Payment (PP) 102-10020210

Before cancelling a customer's payment, take care to make sure the customer has lost entitlement for the payment:

• Working Credits may enable the customer to keep some of their PP while they are working. Note: if they are over Age Pension age, there is no entitlement to Working Credit. PP customers, regardless of age, do not have eligibility to the Work Bonus
• If the customer's income reduces their fortnightly rate to nil and some of that income is from employment, they may remain current at nil rate for up to 12 fortnights and retain certain benefits

Cancellation can be due to a change in the customer's circumstances or because they have not complied with the requirements for the payment.

If the customer is not qualified for payment and the decision is made to cancel their payment, an advice must be sent to the customer with the cancellation reason and rights of review and appeal. An automatic letter is also sent requesting an annual income estimate for Family Tax Benefit/Child Care Subsidy. If they receive other payments, for example Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or Child Care Subsidy (CCS), they are still required to update their circumstances for those payments.

Voluntary cancellation

A customer can also ask to cancel their payment. In these cases, a service officer can accept the customer is no longer qualified and their payment is no longer payable. The customer must be advised of their options. If they need financial help or become qualified in the future, they must submit a new claim.

In some cases, a customer may request cancellation of PPP as it is more beneficial for their partner to claim.

If a customer requests an explanation or applies for a review of the decision to voluntarily cancel their payment, the usual review and appeal provisions apply.

Some automatic PP cancellations are completed up to 4 weeks before the actual cancellation date. In these situations, PP will remain current until the cancellation date, but PP will have a status of CAN (cancelled) or CNP (cancel next pay).

The customer will then receive a cancellation letter. This may prompt them to contact about claiming another income support payment. If the customer is declaring employment income during the period before the cancellation date, they need to contact to have their income coded by a Service Officer. The online reporting function will be unavailable because of the PP cancellation status.

If PP is cancelling because the customer’s youngest child is turning 6 (PPP) or 14 (PPS), the customer will be offered an online task 28 days before the child’s birthday. This will offer:

• a transfer to JobSeeker Payment (JSP), or
• if they want to test their eligibility for another income support payment, a link to the Payment and Service Finder

If the customer does not get the online task, or wants to claim a payment other than JSP and cannot claim online, run Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) after PP has been cancelled. Create a DOC detailing the contact.

The actual cancellation date can be found on the:

• Pensions Status History (PNSH) screen in the PEN system for Parenting Payment Single (PPS) customers
• PPP Component History (PGCH) screen in the PGA system for Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP) customers