Where to find child support information on Centrelink systems 277-51060000

The MNGS screen is the starting point for viewing child support information.

When navigating to the MNGS screen, a privacy warning is displayed - do not disclose payer details or show these screens to the customer.

On the MNGS screen, children are grouped according to whether the customer (or their current partner) are entitled to take action to obtain child support for the child.

If they need to take action to obtain child support (or seek an exemption), the children are grouped in an 'Active Group' - more than one active group will exist if the customer is entitled to take action to obtain child support from more than one person.

For more information, see How to group children on a customer's Family Tax Benefit (FTB) record.

From the MNGS screen:

• 'S'elect a group to view details for the group
• 'S'elect a child to view details for the child
• Use the Go to: field to go to:
• MNMC screen to view child matching details with Child Support, see Item 4 in Child Support assessment, reconciliation and customer matching screens table
• MNAP screen to view Child Support disbursements for all payer groups, see Item 8 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• 'S'elect group and MNGM to view or update the maintenance income assessment method requested by the customer, see Item 2 in Child support assessment, reconciliation and customer matching screens table
• 'S'elect group and MNGP to view Child Support disbursements for the group
• 'S'elect group and MNGR to view Child Support assessment and adjustment details, see Item 1 in Child support assessment, reconciliation and customer matching screens table
• 'S'elect group and MNOI to view maintenance income override details
• 'S'elect group and LRMP to view relevant periods used for maintenance reconciliation

• Go to the MNGS screen.
• 'S'elect a payer group to go to the Maintenance Entitlement Group Details (MNGD).
• Information on the MNGD screen includes:
• Event Date
• Group
• Payer Name
• Sep'd
• Sep'n Date
• Stage
• Child Support Agency Case No
• Collection Method
• Code 'Y' in Go to Child Support Agency Payment Details to view disbursement details for group
• To view further details for information displayed in the following fields, 'S'elect:
• Annual entitlement, see Item 4 in the Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Assessment Method, see Item 2 in the Child support assessment, reconciliation and customer matching screens table
• Non-cash child support agreement, see Item 6 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Actual child support amounts, see Item 5 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Capitalised maintenance, see Item 7 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table

Action to obtain child support and entitlement details for all children in a payer group can be viewed on the Maintenance Entitlement Group Child (MNGC) screen.

• Go to the MNGS screen
• 'S'elect a child from a group to go to the Maintenance Entitlement Child Details (MNCD) screen
• Information on the MNCD screen includes the child's details and:
• Event Date
• Payer Name
• Stage
• Child Support Agency Case No
• Group
• To view further details for information displayed in the following fields, 'S'elect:
• Child support action, see Item 4
• Annual entitlement, see Item 4 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Capitalised maintenance, see Item 7 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Non-cash child support agreement, see Item 6 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Actual child support amounts, see Item 5 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Disability exemption, see Item 9 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table
• Child Support disbursements for child, see Item 8 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table

Action to obtain child support applies at the child level:

• Go the MNGS screen
• 'S'elect a child to go the MNCD screen
• View current child support action for the child on the MNCD screen in Maintenance action: field
• To view previous details or to update the MAT code, 'S' elect the Maintenance action: field to go to the Maintenance Action (MNMA) screen

For more information, see MAT codes.

Details for all children in a payer group can be viewed on the Maintenance Entitlement Group Child (MNGC) screen.

The Assessment Explanation (AXFTB) screen indicates if FTB Part A is limited to the base rate due to the Maintenance Action Test.

• Go to the MNGS screen
• 'S'elect a payer group to go to the MNGD screen which displays amounts for each type of maintenance income currently being assessed
• 'S'elect a child from the MNGS screen to go to the MNCD screen which displays amounts for each type of maintenance income currently being assessed

Child support entitlement details for all children in a payer group can be viewed on the MNGC screen.

• 'S'elect a field on the MNGD or MNCD screen for which an amount is displayed to view details of:
• Annual entitlement, see Item 4
• Actual child support income, see Item 5
• Non-cash child support agreement, see Item 6
• Capitalised maintenance, see Item 7
• Child Support disbursements, see Item 8

A summary of the assessment of the customer's maintenance income can be viewed on the Rate Explanation (REXFTBA) screen.

Details of the customer's total annualised maintenance income, Maintenance Income Free Area (MIFA), MIT ceiling and maintenance income reduction can be viewed on the FTB Maintenance Assessment Explanation (REXFTBM) screen.

A detailed explanation of the maintenance income assessment can be viewed from the MIT Explanation Summary (MNEX) screen.

For previous financial years, go to the MNEX screen via the REXFTBA screen.

The MNEX screen shows annual maintenance income amounts used to work out the customer's FTB Part A instalment rate for a particular date of effect.

Code 'C'ustomer or 'P'artner next to a line on the MNEX screen to go to the MIT Explanation Case Summary (MNEC) screen. The MNEC screen displays a list of child support cases by payer.

'S'elect a line on the MNEC screen to go the MIT Explanation Details (MNED) screen.

The MNED screen displays the full details of the calculations for each child in the child support case and the combined total. For each period in the financial year, it displays the types of maintenance income used, MAT codes that applied, method of assessment and calculation rules used.

The MNED screen shows assessments for each child and at the end displays the Calculation Rule which shows the assessment method used.

• Each entitlement amount is apportioned for the period it applies: entitlement x number of days/ 365
• Maintenance income is annualised: total amount from payer x 365/ number of days in year the customer was entitled to child support from payer

For more information, see Modified Entitlement Method.

The Rate Explanation (REXFTBA) screen shows the total annual maintenance income and its effect on the customer's ongoing FTB Part A rate for a particular date of effect.

Details of the customer's total annualised maintenance income, Maintenance Income Free Area (MIFA), MIT ceiling and maintenance income reduction can be viewed on the FTB Maintenance Assessment Explanation (REXFTBM) screen.

A detailed explanation of the maintenance income assessment can be viewed from the MIT Explanation Summary (MNEX) screen.

Go to the MNGS screen.

For a payer group:

• 's'elect a payer group to go to the MNGD screen which displays an amount in the Group Annual Mtce Ent: field if Child Support assessment details have been received via an entitlement load or if maintenance income has been manually recorded
• 's'elect the Group Annual Mtce Ent: field to view a detailed history on the Maintenance - Child Annual Entitlement (MNCE) screen
• separate child support entitlement details for all children in a payer group can be viewed on the MNGC screen

For a child:

• 's'elect a child from the MNGS screen and either check the MNCD screen or view full details on go to the Maintenance - Group Annual Entitlement (MNGE) screen

Child support entitlement is apportioned for the period it applies when working out Modified Entitlement Method.

Go to the MNGS screen.

For a payer group:

• 's'elect a payer group to go to the MNGD screen which displays an amount for each type of actual child support that has been manually recorded
• 's'elect the Actual Mtce Amt/s: field to view details on a detailed history on the Actual Maintenance Collected - Group (MNAG) screen

For a child:

• 's'elect a child from the MNGS screen and either check the MNCD screen or view full details on to go to the Actual Maintenance Collect - Child (MNGE) screen

Actual child support is collected privately and includes:

• voluntary maintenance received for a child before a child support assessment applies, and
• actual privately collected amount that is above or below the customer's full child support entitlement and overrides the Child Support entitlement amount

For more information, see Recording private maintenance income on Centrelink systems.

• Go to the MNGS screen
• 'S'elect a payer group to go to the MNGD screen which displays an amount against the Non-cash Stage 2 Agreement: field if it has been manually recorded
• 'S'elect this field to view full details on the Non-Cash Stage 2 Agreement Child (MNNC) screen

Non-cash child support agreement maintenance is only recorded if the agreement was registered with a start date prior to 1 July 2008 and includes non-cash child support and the customer has requested Child Support collection. This is because Child Support only collects cash amounts. See Child support agreements in Maintenance Income Test (MIT) for Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

Go to the MNGS screen.

For a payer group:

• 'S'elect a payer group to go to the MNGD screen which displays an amount against the Total Group Capitalised Mtce: field if recorded
• 'S'elect this field to view full details on the Capitalised maintenance Inc - Group (MNCG) screen

For a child:

• 'S'elect a child from the MNGS screen and either check the MNCD screen or view full details on the Capitalised maintenance Inc - Child (MNCG) screen

Capitalised maintenance income is assessed and annualised in a different way to other maintenance income.

• To view all disbursements (child support payments collected via Child Support) received by the customer (or their partner) from all payer groups, go the Mtce-Child Support Agency Disbursed Payments: All groups Summary (MNAP) screen
• To view disbursements for a payer group 'S'elect a group from the MNAP screen or 'S'elect the group from the MNGS screen and go to the Maintenance - Child Support Agency Disbursed payments: Group (MNGP) screen
• 'S'elect a disbursement from the MNGP screen to view details of the payment and a break up of amounts for each child in the group on the Mtce-Child Support Agency Disbursed: Pymnt Detls (MNGD) screen

For help with information displayed on these screens, press [F1] screen.

For details of how child support payments are assessed, see Modified Entitlement Method.

Details of annual maintenance income assessments can be viewed on the MIT Explanation Details (MNED) screen, see Item 2.

• Go to MNGS screen
• 'S'elect a child and go to the MNCD screen which will show a percentage in the Disability Exemption: field if this is being assessed
• 'S'elect this field to view details on the Disability Maintenance Expenditure Exemption (MNDE) screen

The MNDE screen shows the percentage of the annual entitlement amount that is not to be assessed as maintenance income for the child because it covers expenses related to the child's long term disability.

When maintenance income is assessed on amounts other than the annual entitlement (i.e. actual amounts collected and Child Support Disbursed amounts), the percentage will be applied to those amounts in the annual maintenance income calculation, see Item 5 in the Screen information table.

For more information, see Assessment of child support received for child disability expenses for Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

• Go to MNGS screen
• 'S'elect a payer group and code 'Y' in GO TO MNGR: screen

The Child Support Agency Assessments (MNGR) screen displays all assessment details advised by Child Support for the payer group.

It shows adjustments as a result of retrospective child support assessments.

'S'elect a Child Support assessment line to view adjustment details on the Maintenance Adjustment Details (MNRX) screen for a previous financial year.

Maintenance income details may have also be adjusted for a current financial year on the Override maintenance Income (MNOI) screen.

To view the annual child support entitlement amount, see Item 2 in the Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table.

• Go to the MNGS screen
• 'S'elect the payer group and go to the MNGD screen to view the collection method

For private collection, the Entitlement Method is used to estimate annual maintenance income.

For Child Support collection, the MNGD screen shows the assessment method chosen by the customer (default method is Entitlement Method unless the customer has asked for the Disbursement Method to be used).

Note: if a Child Support collect customer has chosen 'ENT'itlement, the Modified Entitlement Method is used and either the Entitlement Method or Disbursement Method may be used depending on which results in the higher annual maintenance income. To find out which method has been used, see the MIT Explanation Details (MNED) screen see Item 2 in Screens relating to maintenance income assessment table.

The MIT Assessment Method - Group (MNGM) screen shows the history of the assessment method chosen by Child Support collect customer and is used to update their choice.

If the collection method is 'MXD' (Mixed), it means the collection method is a mixture of private and Child Support collection.

View maintenance reconciliation results for a financial year from the FAO Lump Sum & Reco Maint Summary (LRMS) screen by typing 'M' next to the relevant line on the FAO Reconciliation & Claim Summary (FRCS) screen.

For more information, see FTB lump sum and reconciliation calculation screens.

For information about the calculation, see Maintenance reconciliation.

Receiving parent, paying parent, and child matching between Centrelink and Child Support is required so that child support entitlement and disbursement information can be correctly transferred from Child Support to the FAO system.

For more information about the process, see:

• Linking and unlinking a child support paying parent
• Matching a child support child

In some cases where matching has been successful but data has not been transferred from Child Support, the Child Support Unit staff may need to check details and ask Child Support to re-transmit data. See Child Support data has not loaded onto or is incorrectly affecting customer’s record.