Cancellation of Parenting Payment (PP) 102-10020210

When making an unfavourable decision, speak to the customer:

• explain the decision
• give them a chance to provide more information, and
• advise their review and appeal rights

Note: if customer calls due to PP continuing to pay when a disqualifying change of circumstance has been previously advised to Services Australia, investigate and action accordingly.

Change in circumstances

Separate procedures should be followed if:

• a customer becomes partnered
• PP is cancelled due to the youngest child's age
• a PP single customer commences or returns to work or self-employment
• a PP partnered customer commences or returns to work or self-employment
• a PP customer is no longer the principal carer of a dependent child due to a change in shared care arrangements or their remaining PP child/children having left care
• customer has been suspended Whereabouts unknown (WUK)

Cancellation at customer request

The customer must be advised of their options and their review and appeal rights. If they need financial help in the future, they may need to submit a new claim. If the customer requests cancellation, discuss the reason for cancellation.

Cancelling payment

Is the customer a statement reporter, or do they have income to declare for themselves or their partner?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

When recording and correcting employment income details, if the customer has employment income, code employment income before cancelling the payment.

If the customer is a:

• Statement reporter, to receive their final payment they must lodge their Reporting Statement online, by phone self service, smart centre call or by visiting a service centre. Tell the customer they must report their employment income up until the date of cancellation. Code employment income using the Earnings and Reporting workflow and finalise the activity
• Notification reporter, tell the customer they must report their employment income up until the date of cancellation. Code employment income using the Earnings and Reporting workflow and finalise the activity

Note: the Report Results (RR) screen cannot be updated until after the payment has been cancelled.

If the customer is workforce age, Working Credits may enable them to keep some of their PP while they are working. 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, the customer may remain current at nil rate for up to 12 fortnights and retain certain benefits.

If PP has been cancelled FRP (Failed to Report), it may be restored within 13 weeks of the date the customer was advised of the decision, once employment income details are advised. Customers may be able to report on the 14th day of the 13th fortnight if the cancellation/suspension has not yet occurred.

Note: whenever possible, circumstance screens must be used to effect the cancellation. For example, child left care, when coded on the Child in Customer Care (CHC) screen, will automatically cancel PP if the customer has no other PP children. Alternately, if the customer still has shared care of a child but is no longer the principal carer, coding OTN on the Child Override/Claim (CHOC) screen will also automatically cancel PP if the customer has no other PP children.

For further information see Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

Can cancellation be coded on a circumstance screen?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, and:
• a service officer has made a decision to cancel, go to Step 5
• the customer has requested cancellation, go to Step 6

The cancellation must be reflected on the Assessment Results (AR) screen.

An automatic advice should be sent to the customer. If relevant, check if the partner's payment has been cancelled.

Record details on a DOC.

Procedure ends here.

For PPP, code the cancellation in the PGA system.

For PPS, code the cancellation in the PEN system.

Code:

• In Svc Rsn: field - PPP or PPS
• In Action: field - CAN
• Reason: field - use field help (?) or see Cancellation, suspension and rejection codes for Parenting Payment
• Press [Enter] and the date of effect will default or enter the date of effect in the Effect Date: field. It is important to use the actual date the customer stops being eligible for PP, both for correct debt processing and because periods of income support are quarantined from income reconciliation for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A and Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
• Notes: field - record the reason for cancellation, the date of effect of cancellation and the policy/legislation under which the decision was made
• Code Source: and DOR: fields
• Go to Step 7

Customers can cancel their payment for a number of reasons including:

• they have agreed to their partner claiming PPP as it is more beneficial
• they have advised of a change in circumstances, but the customer is unable or unwilling to provide detail of the change in circumstances
• undisclosed reasons

Tell the customer of the options available to them and of the consequences for making this decision.

• If the customer has found work, they may still be able to receive PP because of their Working Credits balance. They must report their income to access these Working Credits
• Once their PP has been cancelled, they are no longer allowed to use their concession card
• As the decision to cancel the payment is being made voluntarily, Service Officers can accept:
• the customer is no longer qualified, or
• the payment is no longer payable
• If they wish to receive a payment in the future, and are qualified, they may need to submit a new claim
• If they request a review of the cancellation decision, the review and appeal provisions apply
• If they receive Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Child Care Subsidy (CCS) or other payments or concessions they are still required to update any change in circumstances for those payments

For PPP, code the cancellation in the PGA system.

For PPS, code the cancellation in the PEN system.

On the Benefit Action (BA) screen code:

• Svc Rsn: field - PPP or PPS
• Action: field - CAN
• Reason: field - CLR (or PCP if their partner is claiming PPP)
• Date of Effect: If
• a change in circumstances has occurred and the customer does not wish to update their details, request the date of change and cancel from that date, (for example, date became partnered, date care details for child changed)
• no change in circumstances or undisclosed reason, the date the customer made the request to cancel their payments. Generally, this should avoid the possibility of any debt being created
• the customer's partner is claiming PPP, cancel from the date of the partner's claim
• Notes: field - record:
• the reason for cancellation if known
• the date of effect of cancellation, and
• the policy/legislation under which the decision was made
• Source: and DOR: fields
• Record the details of the customer’s request on a DOC via Workspace > Documents and Correspondence > Fast Note:
• Select Auto text > Generic > SUS/CAN/RES > CANC CLR - requested by CUS for (PAYMENT TYPE) DOV
• Record all relevant details of the cancellation in the template. Clearly document the conversation with the customer and the reason they wish to cancel their payment, following the GIR DOC minimum standards
• Attach the Fast Note to the CAN activity
• 'S'elect the CAN activity and complete the Assessment Results (AR) process

Record details on a DOC via Workspace > Documents and Correspondence > Fast Note:

• Select Auto text > Generic > SUS/CAN/RES > Cancellation reason
• Record all relevant details of the cancellation in the template. Clearly document the conversation with the customer and the reason they wish to cancel their payment, following the GIR DOC minimum standards
• 'S'elect the CAN activity and complete the Assessment Results (AR) process

Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen to finalise activity. The Finalise activity: field will be protected if there is a negative adjustment. Negative adjustments need the debt action field completed using the Assessment Consequences (ASC). The codes are:

• WVD - Waive debt, if no current debt exits and is under $50 for current customer
• CAL - Calculate debt if it exists
• INV - investigation needed if uncertain if a debt exits or not

Select the appropriate code and update debt action codes.

For more information on debts, see General debt management information.

Note: If a customer received a Crisis Payment in the period the change is applied, a manual reassessment of Crisis Payment may be required. For more information, see Reviewing and reassessing Crisis Payment (CrP).

Press [Enter] to return to the AR screen.

If cancellation is due to customer request, go to Step 10.

For all other cancellations, go to Step 8.

Does the cancellation reason need a manual letter?

This is in the Reason: field on the BA screen or a Manual Follow-up (MFU), which will be created on the Activity List (AL) screen the following day.

Occasionally an automatic advice will reject. An advice PGA/ADV activity is created on the AL screen. On selecting the activity, some advices will show the letter while others must be selected from the Text Find (TF) screen.

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 10

If a manual letter is needed, issue a General cancellation letter (Q134) to tell the customer of:

• reason(s) for cancellation
• the section(s) of the act used to make the decision (see the References page)
• their review and appeal rights

If the customer receives Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or Child Care Subsidy (CCS), an automatic letter and a Request for income estimate form is sent requesting a new estimate.

If an estimate has not been advised within 21 days of issue, FTB will cancel and CCS will reduce to the zero rate.