Restoration of Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and ABSTUDY PES 102-10040200

To be eligible to receive PES or ABSTUDY PES, the customer must:

• be receiving one of the qualifying payments for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and ABSTUDY PES
• be undertaking qualifying study
• meet the age requirement (PES only), and
• meet the residency requirements (PES only)
• meet the ABSTUDY PES eligibility requirements

For benefit history of qualifying payments select Benefit History in Process Direct.

Is the customer eligible for PES or ABSTUDY PES?

• Yes and:
• the qualifying payment is cancelled or suspended, go to Step 2
• the qualifying payment is current, go to Step 3
• No, advise the customer of the decision. If the PES or ABSTUDY PES payment is suspended, it will need to be cancelled. For information, see Cancellation of Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and ABSTUDY PES

Before restoring PES or ABSTUDY PES, it must be determined if the customer has continuing entitlement to the qualifying payment.

Note: the cancellation reason 'CQP' (qualifying payment is not current) cannot generally be restored. If the current customer target category assigned to the customer is still either 'PC (single)' or 'PCW', there should be:

• a reassessment activity for PES on the customer's record following a Newstart System (NSS) new claim, or
• automatic transfer to JobSeeker Payment (JSP)

These are forwarded automatically to the appropriate PES Smart Centre Processing Service for processing. If a Service Officer from a service centre or Smart Centre Call receives an enquiry about the activity, send a PES Study Update Fast Note to the PES Smart Centre Processing team. Select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Pensioner Education Supplement > PES Study Update Actdoc > Confirm. Procedure ends here.

Can the qualifying payment be restored?

• Yes and:
• there is no gap in entitlement, restore the qualifying payment on the system, go to Step 3
• there is a gap in entitlement. PES or ABSTUDY PES cannot be restored. The customer will need to submit a new claim. If the PES or ABSTUDY PES payment is suspended, it will need to be cancelled. For information, see Cancellation of Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and ABSTUDY PES. Record decision on a DOC. Procedure ends here
• No, the student does not qualify for PES or ABSTUDY PES. Record decision on a DOC. Procedure ends here

Is further information required before restoring PES or ABSTUDY PES?

• Yes, PES or ABSTUDY PES should not be restored. Advise customer of information required. Record contact on a DOC. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 4

Does the customer continue to meet the age, residence and qualifying study conditions to be eligible for PES or continue to meet the ABSTUDY PES eligibility conditions?
See Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) qualifications

Note: if the PES payment is suspended or cancelled for a portability reason, (for example, CQP or DOT) this is considered a gap in continuing eligibility and a new claim is required. Suspended payments need to be cancelled prior to customers submitting a new claim via online services.

• Yes, for:
• PES, see Table 2, Step 1
• ABSTUDY PES, see Table 2, Step 2
• No, advise the customer of the decision. If the PES or ABSTUDY PES record is suspended, cancel the PES or ABSTUDY PES payments. For information, see Cancellation of Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and ABSTUDY PES

PES payments can be restored if it is determined that the customer qualifies for payment.

Payments may be reinstated where a customer contacts, and:

• their payment has been cancelled or suspended, and
• there is no gap in continuing eligibility, and
• the PES payment can be backdated

If the decision is made that payments may be restored or reinstated, go to Step 3

Payments may not be reinstated where a customer contacts, and their payment has been cancelled or suspended, and either:

• their DPT +1 is more than 15 weeks in the past, or
• there is a gap in continuing eligibility (for example, there has been a gap in qualifying payment or qualifying study), and
• the PES payment cannot be backdated

Service Officers must direct the customer to submit a new claim via their Online Services. Procedure ends here.

ABSTUDY PES payments can be restored if:

• there is no break in entitlement, or
• less than 13 weeks break in entitlement

For more information, see Claiming ABSTUDY.

If the customer has submitted a claim, Service Officers are to process the claim.

If the customer has not submitted a claim and has contacted, ask them to provide details of any change of circumstances since date last paid ABSTUDY.

Is the break in entitlement greater than 13 weeks?

• Yes, a new claim is required. Assist customer with a verbal claim, see ABSTUDY Claiming Tool process
• No, go to Step 3

Is the Service Officer skilled to restore PES or ABSTUDY PES?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 4

Scan any documents onto the customer's record and return any original documentation to the customer if required.

• PES can only be restored by the PES Smart Centre Processing Service or by staff with the appropriate PES skill tag in Service Delivery
• A PES Restoration required Fast Note should be sent to the PES Smart Centre Processing team. Select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > PES Restoration required > Confirm
• ABSTUDY PES can be restored by appropriately skilled Service Officers within the ABSTUDY Smart Centre
• An ABSTUDY action request Fast Note including any relevant documentation should be sent to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team. Select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY Restoration Action Required > Confirm

Note: ensure Fast Note content contains valid reasoning for restoration and/or backdating provisions.

Procedure ends here.

Can the payment be restored or do system limitations prevent restoration from occurring?

• Payment can be restored, for:
• EPA, entitled to ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance (Group 2) as a boarding student and commenced studies after the third Friday of the term, go to Step 6
• All other scenarios, go to Step 7
• System limitations prevent restoration:
• for EPF, go to Step 8
• for EPA, go to Step 9

EPA boarding students who have commenced studies after the third Friday in the new term, are not entitled to payment between the start of the term entitlement period and their commencement date.

Course details must be updated to make sure the correct gap in entitlement occurs as follows:

Code the following:

• 'SVPES' in Nxt: field
• 'ISS' in System: field
• Select [Enter]

Coding required for Study starting in Term 1:

• on the Education Details History (EDCH) screen, code the current year course:
• with the Student Start Date field as the student's date of commencement
• all remaining fields as per Coding new study details

Coding required for Study starting in Term 2, 3 or 4:

• on the Education Details History (EDCH) screen select the current course:
• update the Student End Date field to the last day of the previous term entitlement period
• enter the Source and DOR fields
• select 'Change' in the Action field, and press [Enter]
• from the EDCH screen reselect the current course:
• change the Participation Status Event Date field to the first day of the new term entitlement period
• select 'Insert' in the Action field, and press [Enter]
• from the EDCH screen reselect the newly inserted course:
• update the Student Start Date field to the student's date of commencement
• correct the Student End Date field to match the Inst Course End Date
• select 'Change' in the Action field, and press [Enter]

Go to Step 7.

Code the following:

• 'SVPES' in Nxt: field
• 'ISS' in System: field
• Select [Enter]

If the customer has transferred to JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance and is still qualified for PES or ABSTUDY PES, select the restoration activity on the Activity List (AL) screen. The Benefit Action (BA) screen will display.

If there is no activity on the AL screen, go to the BA screen.

Code the following:

• Svc Rsn: field
• 'EPA' for ABSTUDY PES, or
• 'EPF' for PES
• 'RES' (restore) in Action: field
• Source and DOR: fields
• Press [Enter]
• Effect Date: field defaults to Date Paid To + 1 (DPT+1)
• Press [Enter]

The Assessment Results (AR) screen will display to finalise the activity. Future entitlement and any arrears owing is shown.

The restoration process makes an assessment of all relevant business rules to determine whether the customer is eligible for PES or ABSTUDY PES.

The assessment procedure restores the payment from the Effect Date as shown on the BA screen with the rate applicable for the workload concession and qualifying payment type.

Any changes to PES, ABSTUDY PES or the qualifying payment that would affect the payment of PES or ABSTUDY PES after the restoration Effect Date, are taken into account when the assessment is run from the activity.

Record details of contact and restoration on a DOC.

If the customer is eligible to be reinstated, however due to system limitations a restoration cannot occur (for example, DPT+1 is more than 15 weeks in the past), a SOA shell needs to be created.

Go to the Process Direct Landing page:

• Select SOA Shell to go to the SOA Shell Creation screen
• Key the appropriate details in these fields:
• Benefit Type
• Customer CRN
• Date of Receipt (DOR)
• Select Create Claim

Process the new claim; see Assessing claim for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES).

Record details on a DOC.

If the customer is eligible to be reinstated, however due to system limitations a restoration cannot occur (for example, DPT+1 more than 15 weeks in the past), a NCL activity needs to be created.

Make sure the correct System displays. For claims in ISS System, code SV and the Payment Service Reason in Next. For example, ABSTUDY claims, code SVPES.

• Go to the Name Search (IN) screen. Complete the following fields:
• customer surname
• customer first name or initial
• date of birth (DOB)
• In Claims details section, code:
• relevant service reason (for example, EPA)
• activity 'NCL'
• same Source as original claim
• Original DOR
• Select Continue
• Select the correct customer from the list
• Select Continue

Process the new claim; see Assessing a Claim for ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (SY020).

Record details on a DOC.