Assessing eligibility for Fares Allowance (FAA) for Youth Allowance (YA), Austudy and Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) 010-04060020

If the customer is enquiring about:

• eligibility for FAA, go to Step 2
• the progress of a submitted FAA claim, check the record for DOCs regarding processing of the claim and tell the customer accordingly. Procedure ends here

Is the customer undertaking qualifying study for the purposes of FAA?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, tell the customer they are not eligible for FAA and record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

Single independent customers without dependent children, will not generally be considered to be living away from their permanent home, except for compulsory residential components.

Students are regarded as living away from their permanent home for the payment of FAA, if they are:

• dependent and receiving the Away from Home rate of YA
• partnered independent students who are required to live away from their partner for study purposes
• sole parents who are required to live away from their dependent children for study purposes, or
• students in a full-time external course who are required to travel to their institution for a compulsory residential component of the course

FAA is not payable if the customer is away from their institution for a practical part of the course, for example, field excursions, practical teaching sessions or hospital residency.

Is the customer living away from their permanent home to study?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, tell the customer they are not eligible for FAA and record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

Determine how many FAA payments the customer has claimed for this year. Check the following screens:

• Document List (DL)
• Historical Document List (HDL), and
• One Off Payment (OOP)

If the student is living away from home to study, before making a trip to their permanent home, they must be receiving a qualifying payment for a period of:

• less than 3 months, to be entitled to one trip to the institution from their permanent home to commence studies, and one trip back to their permanent home after ceasing or discontinuing studies
• 3 months or more in a study year, to be entitled to a return trip from their permanent home to the institution to cover the start and end of studies for the academic year. They are also entitled to one additional return trip during the year if, before undertaking the return journey, they have been receiving a qualifying payment as a tertiary student, for a total of 3 months, whether continuous or not, commencing from 1 January in the study year

FAA can be approved and travel undertaken by a student before the start of their course, as long as the YA, Austudy or Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) is approved for the course in which the travel is required. The customer does not need to wait until their student payment is granted to undertake the travel.

External students are entitled to one return journey during the study year, between the educational provider and the student's permanent home, to attend the institution for a compulsory on site component of the course (evidence from the institution is required).

Has the customer already been paid the maximum number of fares for the year?

• Yes, tell the customer they are not eligible for any further FAA and record details on a DOC
• No, go to Step 5

Ask the customer to complete the form and lodge it with all required supporting documents via:

• their online account
• the Express Plus mobile app
• in person at the nearest service centre, or
• by post

They are not required to attend an interview to lodge the form. For further details, see Completing the Claim for Fares Allowance (tertiary students only) (SY005) for Youth Allowance, Austudy, Pensioner Education Supplement.

For:

• Non-Fares Allowance skilled Student Processing staff, procedure ends here
• Fares Allowance skilled Student Processing staff, see Table 2

The student must meet the following criteria:

• be undertaking qualifying study for the purposes of FAA
• be living away from their permanent home to study
• have their permanent home in Australia, and
• receiving a qualifying payment within the study year. Note: YA assessed customers are eligible for FAA, however they need to have a status of YA current and a payment issued before reimbursement. See the Resources page for examples

Students are regarded as living away from their permanent home for the payment of FAA, if they are:

• dependent and receiving the Away from Home rate of Youth Allowance (YA)
• partnered independent students who are living away from their partner for study purposes
• sole parents who are living away from their dependent children for study purposes, or
• students in a full-time external course, who must travel to their institution for a compulsory residential component of the course

Note: single independent students without dependent children, are generally not eligible for FAA (except for the compulsory residential component of an external course).

Does the customer meet the basic eligibility requirements for FAA?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, customer is not eligible for FAA. Go to Step 8

A claim for FAA must be lodged in the current study year, or before 1 April following the end of that year. A claim lodged on or after 1 April, is considered a claim only if:

• the customer took reasonable steps to lodge the claim before 1 April, or
• circumstances beyond the student's control prevented them from taking reasonable steps to lodge the claim, and the claim was lodged as soon as possible

Has the claim for FAA been lodged within the time limit?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, the fares cannot be reimbursed. Go to Step 8

Has the customer received a FAA qualifying payment within the study year?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, the fares cannot be reimbursed until the customer receives a FAA qualifying payment. Go to Step 8

Check if the customer is entitled to FAA reimbursement for the study year.

Note: 'study year' means the period in which one complete year of an approved tertiary course starts and finishes.

Determine if the customer has already received FAA for the journey or has received the allowable reimbursements for the study year by checking the following screens:

• Document List (DL)
• Historical Document List (HDL), and
• One Off Payment (OOP)

If the customer has:

• already received their FAA entitlement for that year or for that journey, the customer is not eligible for reimbursement. Go to Step 8
• not received their FAA entitlement, go to Step 5
• a claim for pre-booked travel, see Fares Allowance (FAA) authorised in advance of travel for Youth Allowance (YA), Austudy and Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)

Review evidence for journeys taken. For example, tickets, dockets/ticket stubs/receipts or other evidence showing full details of the journey(s) taken. If the customer travelled by private vehicle, details of the journey may be in a written statement. The statement should also include why it was necessary to use private transport when cheaper public transport was available.

Note: reimbursement of fares is not usually payable when evidence has not been provided, although there may be exceptional cases where evidence cannot be provided (for example, the tickets have been stolen).

Has the customer provided suitable evidence that they made the journey?

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

If the customer has not provided enough evidence to determine their eligibility for FAA, determine if a request for further information is required.

Make genuine attempts to contact the customer to request further evidence if the customer:

• has lodged a claim for reimbursement of travel and has not supplied sufficient evidence of costs incurred
• has lodged their claim before undertaking their journey, or
• is an external student required to travel to the institution for a compulsory residential component of their course and has not provided evidence to support this

Was contact successful, and the customer can upload documents using their online account whilst on the phone?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No:
• Create a Q999 manual letter. See the Resources page for approved text
• Annotate the Progress of claim DOC with the documents that have been requested
• Place the claim on hold using the reason 'Customer to provide information'

Procedure ends here.

If the journey was made:

• via public transport, see Reimbursing fares for the cheapest mode of public transport for Youth Allowance (YA), Austudy and Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• in a private vehicle, see Reimbursing fares for the use of a private vehicle or taxi for Youth Allowance (YA), Austudy and Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)

Procedure ends here.

For YA assessed customers seeking FAA reimbursement, the claim needs to be placed on hold until the expected grant date of their first payment.

Tell the customer, in writing, the decision for their FAA claim by sending a Fares Allowance (FAA) - grant/reject/pay letter (Q021). See Creating a Q021 letter for customers claiming Fares Allowance (FAA).

Note: the customer has the right to appeal the decision and this is to be stated in the Q021 letter.

Record details of the claim and decision. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students > ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Claims - Students, then select the template:

• Fares Allowance REJECT
• Fares Allowance REJECT - 6 month rule, or
• Fares Allowance REJECT - lodged after 31

If the claim has been rejected due to a failure to supply mandatory documents, then the decision Fast Note must list all documents not provided at the time of rejection.