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Return to sender (RTS) mail for Centrelink 102-10030010




Contact Details

Customer Details Helpdesk > go to Identity Program and select Customer Details Helpdesk.

Payment Delivery Team > select positional mailbox.

Forms

To access the Direct Referral to Service Support Officer (SSO) web form, see:

Keywords and work item details

Table 1: this table contains details to help with corrective and follow-up action.

Note: the !SCANRTS keyword applies to all work items. Look for another keyword.

Keyword

Work Item Reasons

SCANREM

Customer is residing in a remote community

SCANDFTB

Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customer has a deceased child in a bereavement period, and/or is receiving bereavement payment

SCANRARC

Customer was sent a Rent Certificate (SU523) and this was returned.

SCANNOM

Nominee as per Links Summary (LS) screen

SCANRCA

Customer is RCA/CUR on benefit status line

SCANADSE

Address Summary (ADS) screen shows one of the following: NO FIXED, NO LONGER, CENTRELINK, TO BE ADVISED or HOMELESS

SCANDSPB

Customer is DSP/CUR, DSB/CUR or AGB/CUR on benefit status line. Also, Age Pension customers who were previously in receipt of Disability Support Pension (DSP)

SCANHOML

Customer is current on a primary payment and a HOMELESS MFU activity found on Activity List (AL) or Future Activity List (FAL) screen

SCANDAF

Customer is Restricted Access (previously known as Deny Access)

SCANO80

Single Age pensioners aged 80 years and over

SCANDEA

Customer or partner is recorded as deceased (provisional or confirmed data)

SCANOSEA

Customer outside Australia as per Country of Residence (CRES) or Customer Advised Travel Details (RSCD) screen when return to sender letter is issued

SCANENDD

Address previously ENDDATED in last 28 days script wants to ENDDATE again

SCANPTRN

Address Summary (ADS) screen indicates partner's address is different. Address may be the same, however have different formatting, e.g. U 1 18 or 1/18

SCANBLOC

Another activity is preventing the update, e.g. 'STA'rted activity preventing end dating address

SCANMLTI

Multiple WUK DOC NFA on Document List (DL) screen

SCANDATE

Scanned Batch Laser Advice (BLA) letter has an invalid date or no date

SCANOLDL

Return letter more than 42 days old, no other letter issued since return to sender

SCANADD

SCANNADD

Customer has returned correspondence and Home (HOM)/Postal (POS) is different from letter address and Temporary (TEM) or Term (TER) is recorded

SCANMULT

Customer has more than one letter for the same date on the History Summary (HS) screen

SCANNOT

Customer’s Benefit is no longer current

SCANHPCC

Customer’s Health Care Card (HCC), Pension Concession Card (PCC) or Seniors Health Care Card (SHC) has been returned but unable to determine date from Concession Card Issue Summary (CCIS) screen

SCANLET

Letter on HS print status does not allow for reprint of returned letter

SCANNLET

System was unable to identify letter on record

SCANOTH

Letter on HS screen has a status of AU, PC or PQ system cannot determine if customer should be suspended

POSTLTR

Customer has had a new address recorded, letter to be reissued

SCANNDB

Customer was sent a letter about unauthorised activities

SCANBEMP

SCANRTSB

SCANRSS

Customer was sent a letter and has an outstanding IRS review

SCANINAD

Customer’s home or postal address is different to the letter address. This may be due to system not recognising special characters (e.g. - , ’ , / )

SCANNCL

Customer has an outstanding or started claim at the time of the returned mail

SCANL62

Customer has a new address recorded and letter is more than 62 days old

SCANPHY

Customer has an address type of PHYsical recorded

SCANYPLA

Customer sent a Youpla Resolution Payment letter


Quality Management Application (QMA) quality checking

Table 2

Step

Action

1

ZCOC_RTS_PD work item

When a ZCOC_RTS_PD work item is completed within the WUK workflow it may be sent for QMA checking even without provisional updates being made. When staff are allocated the ZCOC_RTS_PD work item they must complete any work within the workflow.

The Quality Management Officer (QMO) needs to quality check the piece of work and ensure that all required coding has been completed and the work item was actioned according to OB instructions, including any outbound calls required.

Operational Blueprint instructs staff to annotate the RTS DOC and complete/edit the finalisation Note. If the decision has not been adequately recorded staff should receive a Q00015 - Getting it Right - Doc minimum Standards error with feedback as outlined in Recording reasons for decisions Table 2> Quality Checking> Step 5.

Has the Service Officer annotated the RTS doc on the record with the action taken and completed/edited the finalisation Note?

  • Yes, continue the QMA check as usual
    • If action taken was incorrect use the appropriate error code such as Q00012 Circumstances not assessed correctly on the Other errors identified field on the QMA Summary screen
    • Go to Step 3
  • No, when a Quality Management Officer (QMO) can determine the outcome is correct, such as address update or re-sent the letter, the QMO should record Q00015 - Getting it Right - Doc Minimum Standards on the Other errors identified field on the QMA Summary screen

2

The RTS DOC on the record has NOT been annotated with what action was taken and/or the finalisation Note has not been edited/updated

For example, called customer and obtained correct address details, address updated and letter reissued with cover letter Q062.

Can the QMO complete the transaction, see Table 3> Step 5 Quality Management Application (QMA) quality checking?

3

QMO can complete the transaction

Record any other errors relating to missing information using the Q00012 Circumstances not assessed correctly

The DOC and Note must be updated, and the activity finalised by the QMO, this includes editing the finalisation Note. Feedback must be provided to the Service Officer.

Procedure ends here.

4

QMO cannot complete the transaction

Record any other appropriate errors relating to missing information using the Q00012 Circumstances not assessed correctly

If the QMO is unsuccessful in contacting the customer/nominee to gather the information required to complete the transaction, REJ the QMA, see Table 3> Step 6 Quality Management Application (QMA) quality checking

If it is determined that the transaction should not have been completed, REJ the QMA, see Table 3> Step 6 Quality Management Application (QMA) quality checking


FAQ

Table 3

Item

Description

The returned mail is for a third party that is not a financial institution, what action should the Service Officer take?

Locate the DOC on DL to determine which team sent the letter.

If the DOC can be located, annotate the original DOC where the letter was sent, that mail has been returned, and from what address.

If the Service Officer cannot locate a DOC on the record, escalate to the Customer Details Helpdesk for assistance. Place the work item on hold for 14 days.

The Service Officer has been allocated a Customer First and Process Direct RTS work item in a bundle, which work item should be completed?

If the RTS DOC is later than the 17 March 2026 then staff MUST action the Process Direct Work item using the WUK workflow.

The customer is in Prison, and their payment is SUS/IMP should the Service Officer attempt to contact the customer?

No, contact will not be necessary. Follow the OB instructions to complete the work item. If the customer is in prison, the letter should not be reissued.

The customer’s payment is suspended or cancelled, should the Service Officer attempt to contact the customer?

Consider the following:

  • When was the payment was suspended or cancelled?
  • Is it restorable?
  • Was the payment suspended as the customer did not reply to correspondence?
  • Does the customer have debt? If so, then customer will need to be contacted.

If the payment is likely to be restored, staff should attempt to contact the customer and obtain the correct address details to update the record. If the payment needs to be restored the staff member should assist with this or transfer the customer to the appropriate payment queue for assistance.

The Service Officer is experiencing issues with the WUK workflow, what should they do?

Seek technical assistance. If they are unable to assist, refer the CRN to the Customer Details Helpdesk with an explanation of what the issues were so that they can investigate. Alternatively, staff should report all instances of issues via Roxy and place the work on hold for 14 days while it is being investigated.