Negotiating ABSTUDY Activity Agreements (ABAA) for ABSTUDY secondary students with unapproved absences 010-02090020

Compliance processes currently focus on cases where the customer has a high number of unapproved absences in a term. Absence from school does not result in loss of qualification for payment. However, a high level of unapproved absence is an indicator that the student may have ceased studies.

If investigation of the case shows that the student has not ceased studies, they remain qualified for payment but may potentially be required to enter into an Activity Agreement.

Where local arrangements:

• currently exist to refer cases of excessive unapproved absence to a service centre/Smart Centre Processing or attendance initiative team for negotiation of an Activity Agreement with the student, Compliance teams should continue these referral arrangements
• do not currently exist, it is not necessary to undertake 'USE' reviews

The Compliance Team run regular enrolment/attendance checks of ABSTUDY students in secondary schools to identify students who have had unapproved absences of more than 5 days in a term.

Once identified, compliance or the responsible team may attempt to contact the student regarding their absences and of the need to enter into an ABSTUDY Activity Agreement (ABAA).

When contact is made with the customer and the absences are confirmed, compliance will send an ACTDOC and request the Service Centre Service Officer to invite the student into the Service Centre for an interview to negotiate an ABSTUDY Activity Agreement, using the office's preferred procedure (for example, interview, walk-in.) The DOC will have a keyword of ACTABS.

Note: do not alter review outcomes without first discussing the case with Compliance staff. The relevant Compliance unit contact number can be located via Office Locator.

Q999

Once a student has been identified and referred, check the History Summary (HS) screen to see if a notice in writing of the requirement to enter into an ABAA was sent to the customer.

The team in each Service Zone responsible for managing attendance issues will send a free text Q999 letter which contains the relevant ABAA text if the appointment is made more than 5 days in the future. If the appointment has been made within 5 days, a letter will not be sent as it would not reach the student in time.

If the customer:

• has not been sent a letter, issue a notice via a free text (Q999) letter and await a response from the customer. The notice must include the relevant ABAA text, or
• is already in the service centre, negotiate an ABAA. If the customer is issued a notice in writing of the requirement to enter into an agreement and agrees to the interview taking place at that time. Issue the ABAA notice to the customer via a Q999 letter which contains the relevant ABAA text

Note: if the customer has not been issued with this notice, and they subsequently fail to attend an appointment about an Agreement, or fail enter into an Agreement, or fail to comply with the terms of an Agreement, a breach cannot be recorded.

Has the customer responded to the letter and attended the interview to negotiate an ABAA?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, suspend ABSTUDY payment until customer contacts

If the customer provides further information about the recorded absences on the enrolment check, do not alter review outcomes without first discussing the case with Area Compliance staff.

The student must provide a statement from the school if they want to reduce the number of absences to 5 or below.

Is the customer providing further information/statements?

• Yes, while the customer is present discuss with Compliance, and record details of the decision on a DOC. If Compliance has advised that they have changed the decision about requiring the customer to enter into an ABAA, procedure ends here. If the ABAA is still required, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 6

Is the customer studying full-time?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 2
• No, go to Step 7

For customers who are not currently studying full-time and:

• are under 18 years of age with at risk issues, see Negotiating Job Plans for under 18 year old at risk customers
• have permanently ceased full-time study and are looking for work, see Payment of ABSTUDY when a student is deferring or discontinuing study before the end of the course and First Contact Service Offer (FCSO) workflow
• have changed their study details or are temporarily unable to continue study, see Changing study/training details
• are no longer seeking assistance, see Payment of ABSTUDY when a student is deferring or discontinuing study before the end of the course

Procedure ends here.

Advise the student the reason they are required to negotiate an ABAA is they have been absent without authorisation from their educational provider for more than 5 days in the term. Explain that a secondary student must attend secondary school full-time to satisfy the activity test.

Tell the customer about:

• the terms of the ABAA:
• the requirement to enter into an ABAA
• their rights and obligations in relation to the terms of the ABAA, and
• information about breaches
• reiterate customer's requirements under the study requirements for ABSTUDY
• using the ABSTUDY Activity Agreement (ABAA) form (SY072), complete the details of the ABAA
• the terms of the ABAA should state that the student agrees to attend their course and have no more than 5 days unapproved absences in a term. Include the following details:
• type of course (such as Year 12)
• name of institution
• student status (such as full-time)
• course start and end dates

Give a copy of the ABAA to the student and complete the following tasks:

• explain the student's rights and obligations:
• they can request a variation or renegotiation of the ABAA at any time
• they can apply for a formal review of any decision in relation to the ABAA, see External review of ABSTUDY decisions
• they must notify Services Australia of changes in their circumstances, and
• they must comply with the terms of the ABAA
• answer any questions the customer has
• ask the customer to sign the ABAA

Has the customer signed the ABAA?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 5

If the customer indicates they have concerns or expresses the need to think further about the terms of the ABAA, discuss those issues with a view to the customer signing the ABAA.

If the customer still wishes to think further about the terms (for example, to consult with a third party before signing), offer think time.

Does the customer want think time?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 8

Make an appointment for the customer to return in 2 working days' time.

Advise that non-attendance may result in cancellation of payments and a breach penalty being applied.

Give a copy of the draft ABAA to the customer to think about the terms being negotiated.

Payments will continue until the interview date.

Did the customer attend the interview after allowing think time?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, suspend ABSTUDY payments until customer contacts. When customer contacts, restore payments and go to Step 8

Is the customer now willing to sign the ABAA?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 9

Customer is no longer qualified for payments. Cancel the ABSTUDY from DPT + 1.

Record details in a DOC. Procedure ends here.

Sign the ABAA as the delegated Services Australia officer.

Give a copy of the signed ABAA to the customer.

See Step 1 in Table 3.

Record details in the Manage Activity Agreements for Students screen.

Access screen via Study then subheading Student Activity Agreement.

To record details for a new agreement:

• complete the blank fields under heading Activity Agreement Details
• select agreement reason Excess Unapproved Absences
• complete Signed Date, Start Date and End Date fields as required. Note: the period of a new agreement cannot overlap an existing agreement
• complete Notes field with reasons for the student Activity Agreement. (Information in this field will be transferred to a DOC on the customer's record)
• complete the Source and Receipt Date fields
• select the Add button to store the record
• record details of new agreement in a DOC

To update the record of an existing agreement:

• on Manage Activity Agreements for Students screen, select required agreement from list under Existing Activity Agreement Summary
• the information for the selected agreement will auto-populate and display under heading Activity Agreement Details
• edit required fields and update any notes by adding free text to the Annotations field. (This information will be transferred to the existing DOC on the customer's record)
• select Update button
• to delete an existing agreement, select Delete button
• record details of any changes in a DOC

Use the Clear button when adding details for a new record or updating the record of an existing student Activity Agreement. When selected, it will clear all the fields currently displayed under the heading Activity Agreement Details.