Assessing entitlement to the Long Term Income Support rate of Austudy for students or migrants studying English language courses 010-04040000

Does the customer have a dependent child?

• Yes, the customer would be considered for the dependent child rate of Austudy (or some other payment) rather than the LTIS rate. The dependent child rates are higher than the standard rate. Record the reasons for the decision on a DOC. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 2

Is the customer undertaking full-time study in an approved course or undertaking a full-time an Australian Apprenticeship?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, the customer is not eligible for Austudy and so the LTIS rate of payment need not be considered. Record a DOC. Go to Step 8

Does the course have a duration of at least 12 months?

Note: for LTIS, 12 months means 12 calendar months, for example January to December. It does not mean one academic year (March to November).

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, the customer is not eligible for the LTIS rate of payment. Record the reasons for the decision on a DOC. Go to Step 8

The LTIS rate of Austudy is intended to ease the transition for customers who have been getting relevant income support payments for some time and decided to return to study.

Did the student start this course or an Australian Apprenticeship after turning 22 years of age?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, the customer is not eligible for the LTIS rate of payment. Record the reasons for the decision on a DOC. Go to Step 8

Is the student's first language a language other than English?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 7

Is the customer undertaking an approved English language course (as a second language)?

• Yes, the student is eligible for the LTIS rate of payment. Go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 7

LTIS is defined as being in receipt of one or more of the relevant income support payments (Austudy rules) for at least 26 weeks out of the 39 weeks just before starting or restarting a course or Australian Apprenticeship. This is about 6 out the last 9 months.
Note: this does not include time spent on nil rate.

• Each time a student starts a new course, restarts a course following a break in study or starts an Australian Apprenticeship, they must satisfy the eligibility criteria in order to be considered a LTIS student. See the Resources page for an example
• The customer is not required to be continuously on income support as this could discourage a prospective student or Australian Apprentice from taking on short-term employment. See the Resources page for more information
• The information about periods on benefit can be obtained from the Payment Summary (PS) screen

Note: 26 weeks is exactly 26 weeks (or 182 days). The legislation does not allow any leeway. It is not 25 weeks and 6 days. Similarly, 39 weeks is not 39 and a bit weeks. The 39 weeks is counted back from the day before the start of the Australian Apprenticeship or course. See the Resources page for a quick method of calculating this.

• Customers in receipt of a relevant income support payment for at least 26 weeks in the 39 just before starting or restarting a course are eligible for the LTIS rate of payment. Note: the assessment of whether the customer meets the LTIS rate is to occur on the day they start or restart the course. Go to Step 9
• Customers not in receipt of a relevant income support payment (Austudy rules) for at least 26 weeks in the 39 weeks just before starting or restarting a course are not eligible for the LTIS rate of payment. Go to Step 8

Check if the customer was previously receiving the LTIS rate. Check the Payment Summary (PS) screen.

If the customer was receiving the LTIS rate, the rate will need to be reduced using the Rate Component Override (RCO) screen.

See Rates and Thresholds for the current rate of payment.

If assessing an Austudy claim and the system is incorrectly applying the LTIS rate, correct the rate using the RCO screen. See NSS system coding for manual rate of payment to code the correct rate.

Note: the Energy Supplement rate may need to be also adjusted.

Record the reasons for the decision on a DOC.

Procedure ends here.

Usually the LTIS rate is automatically applied by the system, but in very limited circumstances, manual coding may be required.

Service officers must not code LTIS on the RCO screen if it has been automatically applied by the system. When all updates are completed:

• For a new claim:
• Select Assess
• Key NREX in Super Key field to confirm the system applied rate
• For a non-new claim update:
• Navigate to the AR screen but do not finalise the activity
• From the menu, select Newstart
• Select Rate Details (RATS) to confirm the system applied rate

If manual coding is needed, service officers must contact Local Peer Support (LPS). Note: LPS do not need to contact another LPS for coding.

LPS must:

• Check LTIS rate is not automatically applied by the system
• Help service officers with coding LTIS manually on RCO (if required)

To code the LTIS rate on RCO:

• In the Start Date: field enter the correct date. This should be the Australian Apprenticeship start date or course start date or the entitlement start date (whichever is later)
• In the End Date: field code the date the customer is expected to finish their course or Australian Apprenticeship
• In the Type: field enter the code 'VBM' (this will change to 'BB RATE' once [Enter] is pressed)
• In the Reason: field enter one of the following as appropriate:
• 'LTE' - LTU English 2nd (for LTIS rate customers with a first language other than English who are undertaking an English course)
• 'LTS' - LTU DSS Student (for other students and Australian Apprentices)
• Do not enter anything in the AMOUNT: field. The system will calculate the correct rate of payment
• Press [Enter]
• Finalise the activity

Include the following:

• name, start date and length of course or details of Australian Apprenticeship
• dates of payment and payment types for periods that counted towards the 26 weeks
• the rate that was coded (that is, LTE or LTS in Step 9), and
• any other relevant details

If RCO was coded within a claim activity, the grant letter will include the required rate information.

If coding was done outside of a claim, a manual letter is required. Create a Q999 letter to advise the customer of the new rate. See the Resources page for text to use in the letter.