Initial contact with students or Australian Apprentices claiming Austudy 010-04010000

When a customer or person on their behalf contacts Services Australia to discuss lodging a claim for Austudy, Service Officers should first determine Austudy is the most beneficial payment.

Has Austudy been identified as the most beneficial payment?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, see Identifying the most beneficial payment for students or Australian Apprentices. Procedure ends here

To determine if the customer has a partner, see Member of a Couple (MoC) and Separated under one roof (SUOR) assessments.

If the customer has a partner, check the partner's entitlement to income support and advise the customer of claiming options for their partner.

If no record exists for the partner, create a record.

If the customer/partner has a dependent child, check whether Family Tax Benefit (FTB) is being paid. If not, see Initial contact by customers claiming Family Tax Benefit.

Customers and their correspondence nominee can lodge a claim for Austudy by:

• starting an online claim
• phone contact to the Student or Australian Apprentice Line
• service centre contact: customers are required to submit their claim for Austudy online. In limited circumstances a customer may be unable or unsuitable to lodge an online claim or self-service transactions are not appropriate

Can the customer or their correspondence nominee submit the claim online?

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

Unless contact has been made by a third party who is not a correspondence nominee or where system access is unavailable, an Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) should be used to answer the questions in a claim directly with the customer or their correspondence nominee at initial contact.

Is the customer or their correspondence nominee available to complete an ACC?

• Yes, see Youth Allowance and Austudy student and Australian Apprentice online and Assisted Customer Claims
• No, only where all other options have been exhausted can a paper Claim for Austudy (SY002) be issued via online forms. Issue paper claim and go to Step 5

Tell the customer:

• when to submit the claim to ensure full entitlements are assessed. Different rules apply depending on whether or not the customer is identified as vulnerable. See Intent to claim and vulnerable customers to make this assessment before returning to this process. See Start Day
• if the customer will be qualified for payment within 13 weeks, an early claim can be submitted. However, payments will not commence until the day the customer becomes qualified
• they are entitled to receive an automatic Health Care Card (HCC) from the day the customer becomes qualified for Austudy. See Health Care Card (HCC). If a customer needs an immediate concession card they can still apply for a Low Income Health Care Card (LIC)

Note: a student can be considered a continuing/intending student for Austudy if they were a full-time or part-time student in the previous study period and intend to enrol as a full time student in the next study period. For new claimants, this may affect the customer's start date

• to provide the following when lodging their claim or to their local service centre for online claims:
• identification - see Confirming a customer's Identity
• Tax File Number (TFNs) and partner's TFN if applicable - see Requesting a Tax File Number (TFN)
• supporting documents as indicated in the online claim, Assisted Customer Claim or on the Claim for Austudy (SY002). Note: upload supporting documentation online other than Identity Confirmation and TFN. For more information on supporting documents, see Documents required for new claims

Advise the customer of the following:

• all customers (whether or not they are Workforce Australia eligible. For example, full-time students) can use the self service facilities to help them when looking for work. Explain and/or demonstrate the services available in service centres. See Employment assistance for full-time students
• information about other services and external organisations, if applicable. See External Specialists/Services available to students and Australian Apprentices
• the appropriate Smart Centre telephone number. Always promote the use of self service in the first instance for simple enquiries

Update the following details if required:

• ensure partner and customer records are linked
• record other relevant details, such as supporting documents requested, on a DOC