Assessing Form m (SY031) for ABSTUDY Additional Incidentals Allowance Claim 010-02020090

Has a Manual Follow Up (MFU) for Additional Incidentals entitlement check been allocated?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 2

Does the student meet the eligibility criteria for the Tertiary Award or Masters and Doctorate Award?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No:
  • Tell the student they are not eligible for Additional Incidentals Allowance
  • Advise them of their rights of review of decision and appeal
  • Record details on a DOC
  • Issue an ABSTUDY Additional Incidentals Allowance - Rejection letter. For details, see Creating a Q999 or Q888 letter
  • Procedure ends here

Check the Head of School/Faculty of the education provider has completed the School/Faculty declaration on the claim form (SY031). This confirms that the items listed are essential for all students studying the course.

Check each item listed in the claim are essential course costs.

Essential course costs are costs that:

• all students undertaking the same course incur and
• that the education provider would not reasonably be expected to provide

This may include:

• education provider fees - including union, sports, library, administration, amenities, laboratory fees or levies charged by an approved education provider
  This does not include tuition or course fees or flying time and associated fees charged for aviation courses
• textbooks and equipment - including books, published articles, stationery and other equipment items
  This does not include items which would be expected to be provided by the education provider such as musical instruments, cameras, videos, sewing machines, typewriters or computers (this includes tablet computers, for example an iPad).

The claim must account for the full level of the prescribed amount, including the initial Incidentals Allowance amount and the student contribution. The claim must include all necessary items which have been and not yet been purchased. The Resources page contains examples.

Add up the amounts of the essential course costs that have been determined are approved essential course costs.

Is the total amount of the approved essential course costs more than the Additional Incidentals prescribed amount relevant to the length of the course being undertaken by the student? Has the student purchased at least half of the total costs being claimed?

Note: the claim may include necessary items the student has not yet purchased. Evidence such as invoices or quotes are required.

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No:
  • Tell the student they are not eligible for Additional Incidentals Allowance
  • Advise them of their rights of review of decision and appeal
  • Record details on a DOC
  • Issue an ABSTUDY Additional Incidentals Allowance - Rejection letter. For details, see Creating a Q999 or Q888 letter
  • Procedure ends here

Check the details on the Education Course Details (EDC) screen are correct.

The prescribed amount for Additional Incidentals Allowance is determined by the duration of the student's enrolment:

• Inst Course Start Date: field - ensure it is the correct start date of enrolment
• Inst Course End Date field: field - ensure it is the correct course end date

Note: for more information on coding this screen, see Coding ABSTUDY education details.

Calculate the amount of Additional Incidentals Allowance payable:

• Subtract the Additional Incidentals prescribed amount from the total amount of the approved items
• The remaining amount will be the amount payable to the customer

Has Additional Incidentals been paid in the current calendar year?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

A student is only entitled to the maximum amount of Additional Incidentals Allowance that can be claimed in a year. For details of the maximum annual Additional Incidentals Allowance payable, see A guide to Australian Government payments.

If the student has previously been paid Additional Incidentals in the current calendar year, care needs to be taken to pay the correct rate to not exceed the students maximum annual Additional Incidentals Allowance entitlement.

See Resources page for an example.

Go to Step 8.

• Go to the Supplementary Education Payments (EPSP) screen
• Complete the following fields:
  • Event Date: field - record a relevant date within the duration of the course
  • Payment Type: field - key 'AIN'
  • Reason: field - leave blank
  • Amount Claimed: field - this field is optional
  • Amount Paid: field - record the amount payable to the customer
  • Payee: field - key 'CUS' (customer)
  • Claim Details: field - record the details relevant to the customer's situation for the payment they are claiming
  • Frequency: field - record the details to reflect the frequency of the payment. This is usually 'ONE' (one off payment) for this particular allowance
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• Finalise the activity

Record details on a DOC. Include:

• any items that have not been purchased yet
• all assessment and calculation details

Issue a Q888 letter confirming the claim outcome. When:

• Rejecting, use ABSTUDY Additional Incidentals Allowance - Rejection letter
• Granting, use ABSTUDY Additional Incidentals Allowance - Grant letter

If the customer has claimed for unpurchased items, in Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:

• Service Reason: ABY
• Review Reason: REV (Manual Review)
• Due Date: 3 weeks from today's date
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Notes: 'Customer has claimed Additional Incidentals Allowance for unpurchased items, customer has 3 weeks to provide the receipts for these items. See OB 010-02020090'
• Keywords: ACTABY and ABYSUP
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer to Region: ABS

The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action.

Procedure ends here.

Check the customer has provided all receipts confirming that they have since purchased the items and the total amount of Additional Incidentals paid to the customer matches the payment issued.

Select below to determine option depending on the customers circumstances.

Full receipts have been provided

Once confirmed that there are no outstanding amounts:

• Go to the FAL screen
• Select the relevant MFU
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and finalise MFU
• Annotate original grant DOC with details of the acquittal
• Procedure ends here

Partial receipts have been provided

Calculate the difference between the amount of Additional Incidentals paid to the customer for non-purchased items and the receipts provided. See Resources page for an example.

• Go to the Supplementary Education Summary (EPSS) screen
• Update the Amount Paid: field with the new Additional Incidentals entitlement
  • Subtract the Additional Incidentals prescribed amount from the total amount of all the receipts provided. The remaining amount will be the amount payable
• Key the Source, DOR and Action as 'Correct'
• Continue to the AR screen. An overpayment will be generated and sent for investigation if partial receipts were provided
• Annotate original grant DOC details of the acquittal
• Debt processing staff should complete the debt raising process end to end. See Raising ABSTUDY debts
• Procedure ends here

No receipts have been provided

Where no receipts have been provided, the full Additional Incidentals paid will need to be fully recovered.

• Go to the Supplementary Education Summary (EPSS) screen
• Key the Source, DOR and Action as 'Delete'
• Continue to the AR screen. An overpayment will be generated and sent for investigation as no receipts were provided
• Annotate original grant DOC details of the acquittal
• Debt processing staff should complete the debt raising process end to end. See Raising ABSTUDY debts
• Procedure ends here