ABSTUDY Relocation Allowance 010-02050040

The student must:

• meet the eligibility criteria to receive the Masters and Doctorate Award, and
• be receiving or have received at least $1.00 of entitlement (during the academic year they are claiming) of one of the following:
• Living Allowance
• ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Before 1 January 2022, a Defence Force Income Support-like payment under the Veterans Entitlements Act 1986

If:

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 6

Is the student required to move to another location to take up their Masters and Doctorate studies?

• Yes, and the request is for:
• removal costs, go to Step 3
• fares to travel to their place of study, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 6

Removal costs are costs to cover:

• the use of a removalist company, or
• truck hire, if they choose to carry out their own removal

Payment can be made:

• to the removal/hire truck company on receipt of their invoice, or
• as a reimbursement to the student on submission of original receipts

Relocation Allowance does not include the costs of establishing the customer's new home e.g. bonds.

Has the customer provided original receipts for reimbursement or an invoice from a removal/hire truck company?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, advise the customer of the required evidence to support the claim for Relocation Allowance. Procedure ends here

If student/partner/dependent(s) requires assistance for fares, they will be paid for an economy or student concessional airfare to the study location. See Assessing eligibility for Fares Allowance (FAA) for ABSTUDY.

If they travel by surface transport, the payment will be the airfare equivalent, or actual costs, whichever is the lesser.

Note: this allowance is paid as an alternative to Fares Allowance. Once relocated, there is no further travel entitlement to return to the former home location.

Does the student need help with removal costs and/or fares (as determined in Steps 3 and 4)?

• Yes, see Table 2 > Step 1
• No, go to Step 6

• Tell the student they are not eligible for Relocation Allowance
• Record details on a DOC

Procedure ends here.

Service Officers not in the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing Team:

• Collect the details needed for the assessment
• Send details to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing Team
  Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Claims - ABSTUDY > ABSTUDY Allowance NCL Action Required > Confirm
• Tell the customer the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing Team will make the decision
• Procedure ends here

ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing Team, go to Step 2.

Determine the amount of Relocation Allowance payable, see Rates and Threshold index to find current values for:

• per adult rate
• per child rate
• Relocation Allowance maximum amount

To calculate the maximum allowable payment for the student based on their circumstances:

• (Number of adults x adult rate) + (Number of children x child rate) = Maximum allowable payment

See the Resources page for examples.

The student can claim removal costs up to the lesser of the:

• maximum allowable payment, or
• Relocation Allowance maximum amount

This is the student’s potential claimable amount.

Go to Step 3.

Qualified students are entitled to reasonable removal costs, up to the maximum allowable payment (as determined in the previous step), however cannot exceed the Relocation Allowance maximum amount.

See the Resources page for examples.

If the removal costs are:

• less than the potential claimable amount (determined in the previous step), the student is only entitled to the actual removal costs
• more than the potential claimable amount (determined in the previous step), the student is only entitled to the potential claimable amount

Go to Step 4.

On the EPSP screen, update:

• Event Date, key the date the action is to take place from
• Payment Type, key 'REL'
• Reason, leave blank
• Amount Claimed, key the amount of money student has claimed for
• Amount Paid, key the amount which is to be paid to the student
• Payee, key either 'CUS' (customer) or 'TPT' (third party)
• Claim Details, key details which are relevant to the student's situation relating to the payment they are claiming. Note: this is an optional free text field
• Frequency, key details to reflect the frequency the student's requested payment is to be paid. This is usually a one-off payment for this particular allowance

Is the payment being directed to a third party?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

If payment was to a third party, the system will go to the Payment Instruction Summary (PIPS) screen. Complete the following fields:

• Add New Payee, key 'Y', or
• Link to Organisation, key 'Y'

The system will flow to the screens to input the third party details for either the person or the organisation.

• Tell the student how much Relocation Allowance they will be paid
• Record details on a DOC