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Restoration of Youth Allowance (YA) or Austudy for full-time students and Australian Apprentices 102-10040180

This document outlines the process for restoration of YA or Austudy for customers undertaking a full-time or concessional study load or who are a full-time Australian Apprentice.

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Determine reason for and period of suspension or cancellation

Restoration of payments or action to take if restoration not appropriate

Determine reason for and period of suspension or cancellation

Table 1

Step	Action
1	Check reason for suspension/cancellation Determine if the payment can be restored on initial contact. Go to the Service Reason Summary (SRS) screen or the Allowance/Benefit History (ABH) screen to view suspension/cancellation code and Date of Event (DOE) Go to the Benefit Status (XBS) screen to check for suspensions that may have occurred before cancellation, which will also need to be resolved Check the list of rejection/suspension and cancellation codes, find the relevant code and check if restorable Note: rejections can never be restored. The reclaim process must be used. Is this reason restorable? Yes, go to Step 2 No, go to Step 3
2	Cancelled or suspended Whereabouts Unknown (WUK) Is the customer cancelled or suspended WUK? Yes, go to Step 6 No, go to Step 3
3	Determine period of suspension/cancellation Determine when the customer was notified of the suspension or cancellation. The customer notification can be located on the History Summary (HS) screen, or in the Archiving and Culling Engine (ACE) system. Note: consider how the customer was notified of the decision (online or regular mail). For details on the delivery date of notices, see Customer initiated review of decision. If the period between the notification of the suspension/cancellation and the customer contact is: more than 13 weeks, go to Step 4 less than 13 weeks, go to Step 5 If the payment is cancelled and the customer is not requesting restoration but has a FRP (Failed to Report) debt, see Table 2 > Step 3
4	More than 13 weeks since notice of suspension/cancellation sent or reason for suspension/cancellation cannot be restored Where it has been more than 13 weeks since a notice of suspension or cancellation was sent, restoration is only possible if satisfied that the customer did not receive the advice of the decision, and that qualification and payability was retained during the entire period. Is the payment restorable? Yes, go to Step 5 No, tell the customer they will need to reclaim. See Contact in relation to an intended claim. Procedure ends here
5	Notice of suspension/cancellation less than 13 weeks Determine if the payment can be restored on initial contact. Check the customer’s Document List (DL) screen for a DOC about the cancellation/suspension. Since cancellation, check if the customer: remained eligible for the payment is still enrolled in the same course or change courses had any income to report became partnered or separated For customers requesting restoration of their income support payment within 13 weeks of a CAN/FRP or CAN/CLR, review the cancellation determination and restore the customer's payment where the customer: has a good reason for failure to report income or, requesting cancellation and subsequent restoration and was entitled to payment during the period, and has established continuing ongoing entitlement to YAL or Austudy A restoration should only be completed where the cancellation was in error and/or it can be determined that the customer has continued to meet their student requirements or continued to be a full-time Australian Apprentice since last paid. The customer should be asked how they have supported themselves since they were last paid by Services Australia, for example, Have they worked? Have they used liquid assets? For customers: suspended or cancelled Allowable Time Reached (ATR), go to Step 7 suspended or cancelled for all other reasons, go to Step 8
6	Suspended or cancelled WUK In some cases, restoration may occur for cancellation reason WUK, even if the customer has contacted more than 13 weeks after the notice of suspension/cancellation was sent. This is because it is assumed the customer would not have received advice of the decision to suspend/cancel, if they were: not at their known address and/or advice of the decision was returned to Services Australia The date of effect of the favourable decision (restoration) resulting from the review of the decision to suspend/cancel is the date of the original decision (date of suspension/cancelation). Each customer’s circumstance must be looked at individually to decide if they: could be considered to have not received advice of the decision, and retained qualification and payability during the period If the decision is: to not restore the payment, DOC the record with the reason for the decision and tell the customer to reclaim. See Contact in relation to an intended claim. Procedure ends here to restore the payment, first confirm address details with the customer: If the customer's address details have not changed, and mail has been returned, proof of address details are needed before restoration of payment can occur. See Requesting information (CLK). Procedure ends here until verification received If the customer advises their new address details or if the previous address details have been updated incorrectly, update/correct the address details Go to the Address History (ADH) screen and 'D'elete the 'Address Type Ended' line. This will remove the end date from the current address Update the address, and Reissue the returned correspondence See Table 2 > Step 1 to restore the payment
7	Suspended or cancelled ATR Select from the following based on the customers circumstances: Suspension reason ATR For customers whose payments have been suspended with reason ATR, the following procedures must be completed before restoring the customer’s payment. For Austudy: Assessing secondary students satisfactory progress for Austudy Assessing satisfactory progress for tertiary students for Austudy For YA: Assessing satisfactory progress for Youth Allowance (YA) secondary students Assessing satisfactory progress for Youth Allowance (YA) tertiary students To restore the customer’s payment, see Table 2 Cancelled ATR Cancellation ATR cannot be restored unless it is due to an incorrect assessment of the students allowable time and they have contacted within 13 weeks of the CAN date of effect. An additional cancellation must be applied prior to restoring, in: Process Direct Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen Select Add and update the fields on the Create Benefit Action screen: Benefit Type Code: YAL or AUS Benefit Action: CAN Reason: OTH Date of Effect: code the day before the CAN - ATR Date of Effect Select Save Key the Receipt Date, Channel and Service Reason Select Save Select Assess and address any errors/warnings Select Assess, the system may generate an overpayment for 1 day. This will auto waive within the restoration. Inhibit advices on the Assessment Consequences (ASC) screen Select Finish. Record details of the update. Select Finalise Payment must be restored from the CAN OTH Date of Effect in a new activity Customer First: Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen, update fields: ServRsn: YAL or AUS Action: CAN Reason: OTH Effect Date: code the day before the CAN - ATR Date of Effect Source: as appropriate Date of Receipt: date the evidence was supplied Notes: Approved Workaround Select Submit Change Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen, the system may generate an overpayment for 1 day. This will auto waive within the restoration. Inhibit advices on the Assessment Consequences (ASC) screen Finalise the activity Payment must be restored from the CAN OTH Date of Effect in a new activity See Table 2
8	Other suspension and cancellation reasons If the cancellation reason is Failed to Report (FRP), customers do not need to attend the service centre to provide proof of income or confirm that activity requirements have been met. If the customer can provide details over the phone: restoration should be actioned at the time of contact outstanding reports should be processed along with employment income in the same activity as the restoration, see Recording and correcting employment income details and payment stimulated. For CAN-FRP, procedure ends here if the cancellation reason is Not a Student (NST),Continuing/intending students aged under 22 who fail to provide new course details before their current course end date, will automatically have their payment cancelled. Once this occurs, the customer will not be able to update their study details online. These customers must contact the agency to give their new study details. If the cancellation reason is Client Request (CLR), check DOC’s via the Document List (DL) screen to establish the reason(s) customer requested payment to be cancelled Is the payment restorable? Yes, see Table 2 > Step 1 No, see Table 2 > Step 3

Restoration of payments or action to take if restoration not appropriate

Table 2

Step	Action
1	Additional considerations prior to restorations If Payments can be restored, check the customers record to determine if any or all of the following circumstances apply, if so update the customer’s record before restoring. Check Study details Confirm the study details for the customer are correct by checking the Education Course Details (EDC) screen and the Newstart Education Status (NES) screen. Update the course and student status Subsequent claims If the customer has lodged a subsequent claim: view the Claim summary to determine if any changes need to be applied to the customer’s record make appropriate updates once payment has been restored, update the status of the new claim as Not Required Customer under 22 years of Age and CAN/NST If the customer is under 22 years of age and they are no longer a student or Australian Apprentice, and their payment has been cancelled, they will need to test their eligibility for an income support payment. Confirm with customer if there have been any changes of circumstances they should advise - update accordingly. Family Tax benefit cancelled off income support (OIS) If the customer's Family Tax Benefit (FTB) is cancelled as a result of the income support payment being suspended/cancelled, restore FTB first where rent assistance is paid with the FTB. Incarcerated customers If the customer was imprisoned, and their payments are suspended (SUS-IMP), payments can be restored from the date of release providing they contact within 13 weeks of the suspension of their payment and they meet their study requirements or have resumed their Australian Apprenticeship. If the customer is returning to an Australian Apprenticeship following imprisonment, a check is needed to determine if the customer has a current Commonwealth Registration Number. If a check is required, create a Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY and Apprentices > Update > YAL/AUS apprentice action required. Include: dates of imprisonment that confirmation of a current Commonwealth Registration Number is needed Income Management (INM) If income management (INM) is displayed on the benefit status line and the customer has an arrears or lump sum payment entitlement, do not make any changes to the customer's record to deliver the payment. Contact the Income Management Team to allow income management to be turned on for the arrears payment before it is made. Voluntary Income Management (VIM) If the customer has a Voluntary Income Management (VIM) agreement which has been in place for more than 13 weeks, the Voluntary Income Management Continuation Assessment page is presented. The purpose of this screen is to record if the customer wishes to continue or terminate their VIM agreement. See Effect on income management when payment is suspended, on zero rate or cancelled, or Unemployment Non-Payment Period applied.
2	Restore payments Once all details have been updated, restore the payment in Process Direct or Customer First. Process Direct Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen Select Add to create a new entry and update: Benefit Type Code: field, select the appropriate benefit type Reason: field, select RES Date of Effect: enter the effect date of the restoration Select Save. A new provisional line displays on the BA screen Select Assess and address any errors/warnings on the SWE screen On the Entitlement (ELD) screen check the outcome is correct Select Finish Record the details in the finalisation DOC. Select Finalise Customer First: Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen: Enter the type of benefit in the Svc Rsn field and enter 'RES' in the Action field Press [Enter] and the effect date will default, or enter the effect date of the restoration in the Event Date field Complete Source and DOR fields. Note: if contact was within 13 weeks of the decision, and the cancellation or suspension is outside of 15 weeks, error E268NS - Effect date cannot be more than 15 weeks from DOR will display. If this occurs, change the DOR to 14 weeks and 6 days from the cancellation effect date Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and check the outcome is correct Finalise the activity Record details on a DOC using the appropriate restoration fast note. The benefit will be restored from the date of effect and a letter will be generated advising the customer that their benefit has been restored. Note: if a payment has been suspended, then later cancelled for a different reason, it will revert to the previous benefit status. Multiple restoration activities may be required Centrepay deductions When a customer's cancelled payment is restored, any previous Centrepay deduction(s) do not automatically restart. Check if any Centrepay deductions were impacted by the cancellation and confirm with customer if the deductions are still required, to restart Centrepay deduction(s), see Starting, changing and cancelling a Centrepay deduction at the request of a customer Procedure ends here.
3	Payment will not be restored If the decision is not to restore, document the customer's record with the decision. If the customer requires further financial assistance refer them to the Payment and Service Finder on the Services Australia website, tell them to lodge a claim using online services via myGov, see Contact in relation to an intended claim. If the customer has a CAN/FRP debt, the debt amount can be recalculated if there is eligibility for part or all of the debt period. All employment details must be correctly coded in order for the debt to be accurately reassessed. See Recording and correcting employment income details. Any changes to circumstances, assets or investments must also be updated. Create a Fast Note - select Auto text, use Debts > Debt Raising > Debt Raising ACTion DOC Request. Include: Austudy/YA income accepted debt amount to be reassessed dates (from xx to xx) for the period information was provided details of any updates, for example, Employment income summary (EANS) screen updated debt id to be reassessed customer has been notified of outcome Procedure ends here.