Youth Allowance and Austudy students and Australian Apprentices online claims and Assisted Customer Claims 010-04010060

Students and Australian Apprentices 15 years and over wishing to apply for YA or Austudy are required to claim online. If they contact about a YA or Austudy new claim transaction, refer them to make their claim online unless:

• self-service channels are currently unavailable (confirmed by NNU)
• the Service Officer determines the customer is unable or unsuitable to complete an online claim, or
• the customer indicates they are unable to claim as they are in a remote area

In these situations, Service Officers can use ACC to record the customer's details and register a new claim to be processed.

Students and Australian Apprentices under 15 years will need to lodge a Claim for Youth Allowance (SY001).

Correspondence nominees can submit an online claim for Youth Allowance (Student or Australian Apprentice) on behalf of their principal.

If a correspondence nominee contacts to claim YA on behalf of their principal, offer an online claim first. If they decline the online claim offer, run the ACC with the nominee.

Organisation nominees are unable to submit an online claim for YA (Student or Australian Apprentice) on behalf of their principal. Assist them to lodge an ACC. If they decline to be assisted via an ACC, they can lodge a SY001 – Claim for Youth Allowance depending on the customers circumstances.

Customers must submit claims for YA or Austudy online. Customers must have an active Centrelink online account before they can submit their claim. See How users create a myGov account and link services. Before referring a customer to register, check if their identification has been confirmed. Customers who have not confirmed their identification must attend a service centre with original identification documents.

After a customer accesses the Make a Claim page in their online account, they must answer streaming questions on the Check your eligibility screen to determine if the student or Australian Apprentice is claiming the most suitable income support payment. If the customer would not be eligible for a particular payment type based on their answers to these questions, the screen flow will advise of the reason they are ineligible and refer them to the Payment and Service Finder to explore alternative options.

Customers may be presented with pre-filled Single Touch Payroll (STP) data during their online claim. Employer details, including name and ABN, will be presented to the customer if STP data has been provided to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) within the 8 weeks prior to claim.

Customers will have the option to confirm the employer within the claim. If a customer confirms the employer, once on payment, STP pre-filled income will be presented to the customer when they report. If the customer does not confirm the employer, once on payment, we may present the STP employer again when the customer reports.

A customer will automatically be placed on reporting if STP data is presented to the customer within the claim, regardless of the employer status.

Students and Australian Apprentices claiming YA or Austudy are required to complete the online claim question sets and provide all required documents before they can submit their claim.

• Students can submit the claim through their Centrelink online account or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app once all the required documents have been provided
• Eligible students will receive payments from the date they actually submit a complete claim
• From 1 January 2019, the system will issue students and Australian Apprentices claiming YA or Austudy a Health Care Card (HCC). They will receive their card after their claim has been granted. The system will determine the best type of concession card based on concession hierarchy rules
• Students who have not submitted their claim within 14 days will still be able to access their started claim for up to 13 weeks before it expires, but payments will only commence from the claim submission date, unless they are identified as vulnerable. See Intent to claim and vulnerable customers before returning to this process
• Once a claim has expired, the customer must start the claim process again if they wish to continue claiming an income support payment. Additionally, the customer may not qualify to be paid from their original contact date
• When a claim expires, as no claim submission or decision made, the claim expiry has no review and appeal rights. See Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM)
• A customer may be selected for a reduced question set claim if they are:
• in receipt of JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Parenting Payment Partnered or Single (PPP/PPS). For more information, see Transfer to Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA) (Student) from another payment
• in receipt of Austudy or YA (if over 22 years or with a non-reviewable independence reason) and have a status of cancel next pay (CNP)
• were cancelled (CAN) off JSP, PPP, PPS, Austudy or YA (if over 22 years or with a non-reviewable independence reason) within the last 52 weeks

Note: customers identified as being vulnerable will still be able to submit their claim without providing additional documents, advise them to provide this information as soon as possible.

The online claim does not have to be completed in the 1 session. Customers can save their responses and continue with their claim later. Advise customers payment can only commence from the date they submit their claim.

Customers must accept a declaration before they can submit their claim. This is a legal declaration and removes the need for a signed claim form.

If it is determined a customer must enter into a YA Activity Agreement based on their online claim responses, a personalised Activity Agreement displays both in the online claim and in the ACC. The customer must agree/disagree to the terms of the Activity Agreement. If they disagree to the terms, a warning message displays. Whether they agree or disagree to the terms, they can still submit their online claim for assessment.

Customers also have the option to voluntarily cancel or withdraw an online claim.

If the customer cannot claim online, use ACC. Do this in the channel the customer contacts, that is, service centre or Smart Centre.

Wherever possible, the customer must submit an online claim online or through the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. This allows customers to have access to full functionality of the claim tracker and associated services.

ACC also allows a customer to 'channel hop' where required because:

• the customer can start a claim online and have it continued by a Service Officer, and
• a Service Officer can assist a customer with starting a claim, which the customer can then complete online (an active Centrelink online account is required)

Note: do not run the First Contact Service Offer (FCSO) workflow for these claims.

Read the verbal declaration script to customers at the end of the ACC.

By ticking the Declaration box on the Review your claim page, the Service Officer is confirming they have read the declaration script and the customer has accepted it.

Once a verbal declaration is completed and the ACC submitted, confirmation of the acceptance of the verbal declaration will display automatically in the following places:

• the Notes section of Process Direct
• Super Case (notes) of customer First
• the Customer Claim Summary

There is no need to print or sign a CDF if the verbal declaration is accepted. If the Service Officer completes ACC in person with the customer, the customer can choose to have a copy of the Review and Confirm page printed for their records by the Service Officer. The customer does not need to return this, the declaration will be accepted verbally. The customer can log onto their Centrelink online account at any time to review the details of their circumstances.

Customers can supply further information or documents for their claim by uploading information via Upload documents on Next Steps. If a customer has started a claim and they open the standalone Upload documents from the landing page in their Centrelink online account, there will be a link to Next Steps.

Customers can supply documents for their claim by uploading in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. Once the customer provides all required documents, they can submit the claim in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

When customers provide documents in person to support their online claim, accept and scan the documents. Record the receipt of these documents using the Request and Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure. See Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM).

Straight through processing is where a claim for a social security payment or service is assessed using criteria to identify if it is suitable for an automated grant outcome.

The system may process YA or Austudy student claims automatically if they meet these criteria:

• Identity is confirmed
• Residency requirements met
• Tax file number recorded
• Employment status requirements met
• No change in known relationship details
• No change in known children details
• The customer does not identify as having a disability, a medical condition which impacts their ability to study or is in a bereavement period
• Accommodation requirements are met
• Study details are able to be confirmed

The system may process YA student claims automatically where the above criteria is met in addition to the following:

• Parental Income requirements met
• Independence requirements met

If a claim meets the criteria for an automated assessment, DOCs or Display Notes on the customer's record will show that ROXY has created these.

Customer contact

If a customer asks for an explanation or applies for a formal review of the decision, the Service Officer must enter their own logon as the Decision Maker and the customer's local service centre when running the script.

If the claim was incorrectly granted, give feedback via ROXY.