Assessing and coding student and Australian Apprentice claims for Youth Allowance (YA) 010-06020010

A claim work item is created for allocation and processing in Process Direct where a customer submits:

• an online claim
• an Assisted Customer Claim (ACC), or
• a Claim for Youth Allowance (SY001) paper claim

Where a paper claim is correctly scanned onto a customer's record, the system creates a Social Online Application (SOA) Shell.

Where a SOA Shell claim is allocated to a Student Processing skilled staff member and the claim is for a job seeker or Australian Apprentice, it must be re-categorised:

• Youth Allowance job seeker (ZALL_ZJSP_NCL_PAPER)
• Youth Allowance Apprentice claim (ZCLM_ZYAA)

For the Re-claim or Transfer for Austudy or Youth Allowance SY089 paper claim forms lodged with a:

• Date of Receipt prior to 1 April 2023, they can be accepted and processed
• Date of Receipt on or after 1 April 2023, make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer and tell them to submit an appropriate claim. If contact is unsuccessful:
• in Process Direct, request an SY001 using Request Documents
• if a SOA Shell was incorrectly created for an SY089, cancel it, and
• in Customer First, send a Students - claim lodgement desktop message

If there is a submitted online claim, ACC or SOA Shell claim available to process in Process Direct, go to Step 3.

If allocated a DOC requesting a reassessment of entitlement due to review of decision, go to Step 2.

If the customer is current or assessed and a review of decision has determined the customer is entitled from a different date to the original date of grant, complete the following.

In Customer First, go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen. Code the following fields:

• when customer is current:
• Svc Rsn: YAL
• Action: CAN
• Reason: OTH
• Effect Date: if re-granting from
  - an earlier date - key the date paid to + 1
  - a later date - key the original grant date
• Notes: Review of decision
• when customer is assessed:
• Svc Rsn: YAL
• Action: REJ
• Reason: OTH
• Effect Date: original grant date
• Notes: Review of decision

Press [Enter]. Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen, inhibit letters and finalise the activity.

Once the claim is re-granted, the system:

• assesses any entitlement automatically and the payment displays as current
• auto-issues a Health Care Card (HCC)

If the system does not restore the payment from the cancellation OTH date for a re-grant from an earlier date, restore manually via the BA screen. There is no requirement to issue a restoration advice to the customer.

Re-index the original claim, then go to Step 3.

Re-index the claim if:

• the customer's previous claim is rejected (REJ), and
• a decision is made to reassess their entitlement, and
• the date of receipt of the claim is less than 12 months in the past, then go to Step 3 for student claims

Create a SOA Shell if:

• a review of decision has been made after claim grant/rejection, and
• the decision has been set aside or varied, and
• the date of receipt of the claim is more than 12 months in the past

For Apprentice claims check:

• if there are current Commonwealth Registration details on:
• Process Direct - Apprentice Details (NAPD) screen, or
• Customer First - Apprenticeship Details (NAPD) screen
• the registration/training contract status via the Apprenticeships Data Management System (ADMS). See Obtain the Australian Apprenticeship details from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

If there are:

• current Commonwealth Registration details on the NAPD screen and status of confirmed via ADMS go to Step 3
• no current Commonwealth Registration details on the NAPD screen:
• hold the claim, pending third party to provide information
• make one genuine attempt to contact the customer. Advise them the claim is on hold due to no Commonwealth Registration details. See Calling a customer or returning a customer's call
• if an online or Assisted Customer Claim is not available, create a claim using the SOA Shell application in Process Direct. Go to Step 3

Complete all pre-assessment checks in Process Direct using the icons on the Transaction Summary (TS) screen. Checks may include selecting:

• to view the claim submitted by the customer
• Circumstance Data icon for customer and claim information including:
• identity confirmation
• claim type, submission date and status
• the Link Summary (LS) and Marital Status (MS) screen data
• Benefit History icon for previous claim dates and benefit history
• Tasks icon to view required tasks, supporting documents requested and their due date. A hyperlink to view the electronic Mod JY (if lodged) is available here. If updates to the status of tasks is required, see Table 5 in the Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM)
• Notes icon to view:
• the Progress of claim note
• any comments made by a previous staff member, and
• the Document List (DL) screen
  DL also shows confirmation the customer accepts the verbal declaration where an Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) has been run
• Status icon to view or update the claim status
• Documents icon to view documents uploaded or scanned, including:
• specific documentation for a CAO assessment where applicable, and
• additional documents provided
  Note: documents relating to the customer's claim may also be attached to the partner's, or parent's record
• the Activity List (AL) screen to view outstanding activities

If the customer lodges an 'Authorising a person or organisation to enquire or act on your behalf' form (SS313) with a new claim:

• check the identity and suitability of the nominee (see Nominees), then
• process the nominee form immediately

This is to make sure the nominee will also receive the outcome of claim letter. See Adding or rejecting a nominee request. The Resources page has a link to the SS313 form.

UTLAH claims

If it is identified the customer may require a UTLAH assessment, check the following before placing the claim on hold 'awaiting UTLAH':

• Check the progress of the UTLAH assessment, and
• Determine if further actions are required to ensure the UTLAH assessment can proceed.
  For specific actions based on the age of the customer, see Table 2 in the Unreasonable to live at home (UTLAH) initial contact for Youth Allowance (YA), Disability Support Pension (DSP), Special Benefit (SpB) or Tertiary Access Payment (TAP)

Check the customer's record

Check if the record is a multiple CRN. If the claim has been lodged on a multiple CRN and there is not a Display on Access (DOA) DOC on the record from NA8 advising which record to use, see Centrelink customer has multiple Customer Reference Numbers (CRN).

Cancellation or rejection of a student payment within 13 weeks may be restorable, see Calculating the start date for Austudy and Youth Allowance (YA) students and Australian Apprentices claims.

There may be a need to update the customer's record outside the new claim to prevent incorrect claim assessment.

Updates may include correcting the previous benefit status so it displays as CAN (cancel). This prevents incorrect arrears when finalising the claim or end dating student/apprenticeship details.

If the benefit status is AOE/CUR, see Assuree makes a claim for an Assurance of Support (AoS) recoverable payment.

Does the benefit status show as CNP, or are there any outstanding employment income reports?

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

If the status of the previous payment is CNP (cancel next payment), or there are outstanding employment reports, in Process Direct or Customer First (this does not apply to student or parenting transfers):

• go to the Payment Summary (PS) screen
• in the Number of months in past field key '9999'
• select Execute/Enter
• note the date paid to plus 1
• go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen
• code the cancellation. Use reason OTH from DPT+1, if there is no DPT+1 the date of effect for CAN is the claim grant date
• inhibit the letter on the Actions (ASC) screen before finalising the activity
• record cancellation details. Use Fast Note. Select Auto Text use Generic > SUS/CAN/RES > Suspend Cancel Reason

For further coding advice, for:

• job seekers, see Coding a cancellation
• students or apprentices, see Cancellation of Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA) students and Australian Apprentices

The benefit status should now be CAN. Go to Step 5.

Complete any corrections or updates in Customer First before actioning the new claim, where:

• the customer was a full-time student or Apprentice before claiming, or
• the customers current education/apprenticeship details display on their record

Check the details supplied in the claim with those on:

• Process Direct:
• Customer Study Details (EDC) screen
• Apprentice Details (NAPD) screen
• Customer First:
• Education Course Details (EDC) screen, or
• Apprenticeship Details (NAPD) screen

For assistance with coding, see:

• Payment of Youth Allowance (YA) and Austudy when a student is deferring or discontinuing study before the end of the course, or
• Customer no longer an Australian Apprentice

After completing any updates, select > Regenerate claim, followed by a > SAP Refresh. All updates then transfer from ISIS into Process Direct.

If the customer is advising of a future address and will relocate within the next 14 days:

• update the record in Customer First before coding the claim. See Updating address details
• create a Fast Note, select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > Future address - Sharer details
• check the below details are correct:
• due Date is the same as the future address Start Date, and
• the sharer details listed in the Claim Summary are recorded in the DOC

After completing the updates:

• select > Regenerate claim, followed by a > SAP Refresh, to make sure the updates are transferred into Process Direct
• code the Independence/Homeless/Away From Home details (NIH) screen, where appropriate

If the customer's new address Start Date is more than 14 days in the future, and the customer is payable now at the at home rate:

• assess the customer's circumstances as they were at the time of claim lodgement
• complete the claim assessment, and
• tell the customer to update their change of address using online services, once they have physically moved address. See Updating address details

Hold the claim if:

• the claim will reject Parental Income too High (PIH), and
• the customer would be payable at the Away From Home (AFH) rate

Use the following hold options when changing the claim Status:

• On hold Reason - Customer to Provide Information
• Due date - select the date 14 days before the AFH Event Date

Where a claim submitted less than 15 days ago cannot be processed due to outstanding correspondence, hold the claim until day 15 (or later) by changing the Status. This includes where an additional Task is not yet due.

Note: if the customer intentionally provides incorrect information (for example, completely unrelated documents or images) to submit a Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM) aligned claim, the claim can be rejected. Use the most appropriate rejection reason.

Does the claim now require assessment?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 8

If the claim is not required to be assessed, manually change the status of the claim to Not Required. Changing the claim to Not Required is final and the status cannot be changed again.

Examples of appropriate use include, but are not limited to:

• If a SOA Shell claim has been created, but after investigation:
• is not needed because another action can be taken on the record (such as restoration), or
• there is an existing claim available (where the Date of Receipt is within 12 months of the system date)
• A claim does not require assessment. For example, a previous claim has been rejected, the customer lodges a subsequent claim and it is determined that a reassessment of the previous claim is appropriate

Before changing the status to Not Required, consider all other actions on the record to reduce the risk of changing the status incorrectly.

In Process Direct:

• Open the claim
• Go to Status
• Select:
• Edit and change the status from In Process to Not Required
• Save
• Record the reason in the Notes section

Where a claim has had a Not Required status incorrectly applied, another claim will need to be manually created, using the SOA Shell application in Process Direct.

If the customer is 16 – 19 years of age, check if their parent was receiving Family Tax Benefit (FTB) prior to the Youth Allowance claim being lodged, as the FTB may be reassessed/restored. See Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for children aged 16-19 years.

• Create a Fast Note for FCC to re-assess/ restore FTB, select Auto text, use Families > SUS/CAN/RES > YAL REJ/WTHDWN - FTB Reclaim

Procedure ends here.

When a customer claims for YA online as a full-time student or apprentice, the relationship details will be provided as part of the new claim. The online claim responses will automatically determine which relationship documents are required. For more information, see:

• Change in relationship status from partnered to single
• Change in relationship status from single to partnered
• Confirming the need for a Member of a Couple (MoC) assessment

All relationships details must be reviewed/updated before selecting Process.

Update when new details have been provided. Add a new line if the relationship data no longer applies (for example, the customer has married). For coding details, see Process Direct navigation, common screens and functions.

Delete or edit when information was recorded in error.

On the TS screen, select Circumstance Data:

• View/update Marital Status (MS) table
• View/update Child Details via the Link Summary (LS) table

If the relationships details have been coded incorrectly, regenerate the claim by selecting > Regenerate Claim. This reverts the claim back to its original state and all information manually coded is lost.

Identify the most appropriate payment before assessing a claim for YA.

Is YA the most appropriate payment?

• Yes, go to Step 12
• No, the most appropriate payment is:
• Austudy, go to Step 11
• Another income support payment, See Table 3

If the customer does not meet the maximum age rules for YA and has lodged a claim for YA, use > Change Benefit to allow the claim to be assessed as an Austudy claim. See Assessing and coding student and Australian Apprentice claims for Austudy.

Procedure ends here.

When assessing qualification for YA, check if the customer:

• is between the minimum and maximum ages for YA student and Australian Apprentice
• satisfies the residence requirements

Customers must:

• satisfy the study requirements for YA students, or
• be undertaking a full-time Australian Apprenticeship and have a current Commonwealth Registration Number. See Obtain the Australian Apprenticeship details from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations:
• If the customer has indicated they are an Apprentice or Trainee, but the Australian Apprenticeship details are not yet current, record the following details in the Claim Progress DOC:
  ADMS Data checks are currently in progress. The customer is not eligible for YAL/AUS - APT until a current full-time Commonwealth Registration ID number and training contract is confirmed with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Note: customer is not required to provide this information. Services Australia has no involvement in the Apprentice Registration. If the customer disagrees with their status with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, they should follow up with their employer and their Australian Apprenticeships Network Provider
• Place the claim on hold for 14 days to be checked again
• If the Apprentice details are not current at the time of re-allocation of the claim, annotate the Claim Progress DOC and re-hold the claim activity
• If the status of the Apprentice's Training Contract is still in draft at 13 weeks from date of claim submission, reject the claim as Not an Apprentice (NAT)

Is the customer eligible for YA or will they become eligible within 13 weeks of the date of lodgement?

• Yes, go to Step 13
• No, reject the claim using the correct code. No referral is required. See Step 1 in Table 3

The customer must meet the payability provisions for YA (or will meet the provisions within 13 weeks of the date of claim). Base the decision on the following:

• Personal/Partner Income Test
• Youth Allowance (YA) - Personal Income Test. See Rates and Thresholds, select 'Y'
• Parental Income Test (PIT)
• Away from home and Accommodation circumstances
• Independence including unreasonable to live at home (UTLAH)
• Allowable time
• Portability provisions
• Compensation preclusion
• Assets Test - Allowance (Independent). If a property valuation is required, see Valuation of real estate and other assets

If income declared in the claim is above the cut-off but the customer advises it is not their usual wage, for:

• Student claims - treat the customer as meeting payability provisions for the personal/partner income test
• Apprentice claims only - attempt to contact the customer to obtain their base salary/wage. If unsuccessful request payslips if the customer meets all other payability and qualification provisions

Where UTLAH has been rejected, assess the customer as a dependent unless information available suggests another independence criteria may apply. See Independence for Youth Allowance (YA) customers. Issue a request for a MOD JY to the customer. If it is documented that the customer does not want to be assessed as a dependent, do not issue the request. Reject the claim as Parental Income and Assets Not Provided (PIA).

PIT, contact the customer to confirm they want to be assessed from 1 January when they:

• are not payable due to the PIT reducing the rate to nil from the date of claim, and
• would be payable from 1 January due to the parental base tax year income

Is the customer payable now, or they will be within 13 weeks of the date of claim?

• Yes, go to Step 14
• No, no referrals are required. Code the claim to ensure correct rejection reason applied. Go to step 18

Use on the TS screen to request additional documents, regenerate or re-index a new claim, change benefit type and complete internal referrals.

Before creating an internal referral, all documents required to enable a specialist assessment must be provided.

For example, a MOD PT must be accompanied by relevant supporting documents before a Complex Assessment Officer (CAO) referral is created.

Are further actions required?

• Yes:
• to request additional documents, go to Step 15
• for internal referrals, go to Step 16
• to regenerate a new claim, go to Step 17
• No, go to Step 18

Supporting evidence

Carefully check the record before requesting additional documents. Documents requested at Next Steps in the claim should not be requested again.

When assessing a claim only request documents required to grant or reject the claim:

• code any evidence the customer has provided with their claim
• do not place Student claims on hold to request documents where the information is not essential to make a decision to either grant or reject the claim

Is further essential information required?

• Yes:
• request the information
• annotate the claim progress DOC with the details of what is required to finalise the claim
• once the requested documents are returned, continue to assess the claim
• if the documents are not provided within 15 days of the date the request was made, the claim auto-rejects with the reason FSD-Failed to Supply Documents or is allocated for processing
• No:
• do not place the claim on hold
• finalise the claim, and
• request the information, continue to assess the claim

Is an internal referral needed?

• Yes, go to Step 16
• No, go to Step 18

Once all necessary documents for the referral are on the customer's record, select > Referral.

Choose one of the following from Referral Type:

• Complex Assessment Officer (CAO)
• Course Assessment Liaison Officer (CALO)
• Member of a Couple (MoC)
• International Services (CIS)
• Social Worker (SWO)
• Compensation Clearance request

Complete required fields in the Referral Details section and Finish.

The claim is automatically held for 14 days when a referral is completed. The On hold reason field auto-populates with the appropriate referral reason. Annotate the claim progress DOC with the details of what is required to finalise the claim.

Once the referral is completed, continue to assess the claim. Regenerate if updates were made as a result of the referral outcome.

Note: if a UTLAH assessment is in progress, do not reject the claim FSD (failed to supply documents). If it is not already held, place the claim on hold pending the outcome of the UTLAH assessment.

Regenerating allows the claim to be:

• assessed in Process Direct after any updates are made in Customer First
• reverted to its original state, before any coding was completed

Select > Regenerate claim. This option displays when the claim has a status of In Process or On Hold.

On the TS screen, check the Circumstance Data for the customer's Identity Status.

If the Identity Status is:

• Confirmed, go to Step 19
• Not Confirmed, check for any proof of identity documents supplied with the claim:
• Select the Not Confirmed link to open a Customer Summary window
• Select Identity Confirmation > Identity Confirmation Dashboard from the Task Selector
• Code the identity documents or consider applying alternative identity
• Close the Customer Summary window to return to the claim
• Go to Step 19

Is the customer currently receiving a Services Australia administered income support payment or ABSTUDY Living Allowance?

• Yes, and the customer is claiming as:
• a student, see Assessing and coding a transfer to Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA) student claim from another payment. Procedure ends here
• an apprentice, see Existing customer starts an Australian Apprenticeship. Procedure ends here
• No, see Table 2

YA claims for students and Australian Apprentices are assessed and coded in Process Direct. Selecting Process maps all data from the claim into the appropriate screens. The following should be checked/determined/coded where applicable:

• Calculate the YA start date
• Check and code modules completed by the customer, see Common modules and forms
• Check and code address and accommodation details
• For student claims, see Coding new study details. If processing the claim after the Student End Date (SED), contact the customer to determine if they will continue to study. If the customer is:
• continuing study, code the additional study details
• not continuing study, make sure the student payment ends after the SED
• For claims for dependent customers, see Applying the Parental Income Test (PIT) for ABSTUDY and Youth Allowance (YA)
• For Australian Apprenticeship claims, check and code the Newstart Education Status (NES) screen:
• In the Start Date: field, code the later of the start date of full time Australian Apprenticeship or Deemed Date of Claim (DDOC)
• In the Student Status: field, code APT (Apprenticeship/Traineeship)

Select the relevant Task Selectors from the SAP Warnings and Errors (SWE) screen to help code the claim:

• CDTS - Customer Details Task Selector
• EDU - Education Details Task Selector
• NTS - NSS Task Selector
• RETS - Residency Task Selector

If provisional data has uploaded from the online claim, the relevant Task Selectors display .

The customer advises in their claim if they want to apply for a Student Start-up Loan.

Check if the customer and/or their partner has employment income. For coding instructions, see Reporting requirements for students and Australian Apprentices. This information may be:

• declared within the claim, or
• available within supporting documents

Employment details may be pre-filled through Single Touch Payroll (STP) in the online claim for the customer to confirm. This includes the employer name and ABN. Staff can recognise a STP employer has been presented if the question “Do you work for (employer)” is displayed in the claim slider. Further details can be seen on the STP Employer Update (EMCF) screen.

If a customer has previously confirmed an employer and advises they do not work for the employer anymore, the employer will still remain as confirmed on EMCF. This employer should be recorded by the customer in previous employer details for employers ceased within the last 12 months within the claim.

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

Code the Employment Income Paid Details (EAPP) screen using LOP or IOP as the frequency to reject the claim due to income if:

• a customer states they and/or their partner have been paid employment income in the first entitlement period, and
• the 'usual or regular wage' will preclude them from payment. See Recording and correcting employment income details

For Australian Apprentice claims rejecting income only, Hours for One Period (HOP) entry is not required.

Note: if it is an early claim with a future start date, or there is a waiting period delaying the payment start date, the claim cannot be rejected due to income and no EAPP coding is required. Process the claim as normal, the customer's entitlement will be assessed when payment commences.

The system does not need Reporting Regime Details (RPRD) coding where the customer advises they or their partner have employment income in their student claim. This means there is no provisional coding on the RPRD screen while staff process the claim.

When the claim is taken to assess, the system will determine the customer's reporting requirements.

Where the RPRD screen needs manual coding, such as for paper claims, Service Officers must use a manual override option. Service Officers can also use the manual override option to turn off reporting requirements.

To manually place the customer onto or off reporting within the claim, Service Officers must select Sys - System Override (manual - SSG staff only) as the Reason for Requirement on the RPRD screen. All other coding for fields on the RPRD screen stays the same. Delete any other provisional RPRD lines.

For Apprentices:

• the 'Apprentice Employer' option must be marked as 'Y' within the new claim
• record the customer's income from their Apprenticeship correctly:
• Update Employment Income Summary/Employment Income Paid Details (EANS/EAPP) screen with the employers details available via the Apprenticeships Data Management System (ADMS)
• Record 'Zero Income' with a Date of Event at least 15 days before the customer's first EPED

Does the online claim show the customer and/or their partner have ceased work and expect to be paid final employment income after the date of claim?

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

If the customer and/or their partner is to be paid a final employment income in the first entitlement period, code the details within the claim. The claim may reject if the employment income is over the threshold. If details from the customer or in the claim, indicates they and/or their partners paid employment income will preclude payment for the first entitlement period:

• Code the employment income within the new claim via the Employment Income Summary/Employment Income Paid Details (EANS/EAPP) screen
• Assess the claim
• If the employment income precludes payment for the first entitlement period and the claim rejects (Income too High (INC)) or (Partner Excess Income precludes customer payment (INE)):
• go to the Entitlement Delivery (RAD) screen to establish the entitlement period end date, then
• go to the Start Date Calculator (NDC) screen. Update the Manual Start Date: with the date the customer becomes payable. This is usually the entitlement period start date following the entitlement period preclusion
• if the customer is not qualified within 13 weeks of claim lodgement, reject the claim
• See Recording and correcting employment income details

Where a claim is granted and there is remaining employment income still to be recorded (in a later entitlement period) for the customer and/or partner:

• place the customer onto fortnightly reporting
• the customer can report the employment income via self-service
• online
• the Express Plus Centrelink App, or
• phone self-service

Assess waiting periods based on details provided by the customer. See:

• Income Maintenance Period (IMP)
• Liquid Asset Waiting Period (LAWP)
• Seasonal Work Preclusion Period (SWPP)
• Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP) and Qualifying Residence Period
• Compensation Preclusion Period

For assessment of waiting periods, see Waiting periods for income support payments.

Before granting Youth Allowance, customers must supply a valid TFN. A TFN exemption may apply in limited circumstances.

Note: where a customer provides the TFN outside of the online claim, see Table 3 in Requesting a Tax File Number (TFN).

Has the customer provided a valid TFN?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, see Requesting a Tax File Number (TFN)

If the customer has requested to start or cease a tax deduction in their claim, provisional data will show on the PITX screen.

For coding instructions, see Managing Australian Taxation Office (ATO) tax deductions.

Do not assess claims as an early claim, if the customer:

• is granted a NAWRP exemption, and
• lodges an early claim with a future study start date within 13 weeks of study period dates published on the:
• National Course Approvals sub-site, or
• education provider's website

To make sure the customer is assessed at the correct student start date, create a SOA shell transaction for:

• Youth Allowance (YA) (students and apprentices) claims, and
• Austudy (students and apprentices) claims

Before creating a SOA shell:

• cancel the student new claim activity
• locate the SOA shell on the Home Page in Process Direct
• select the SOA shell application tile
• key the payment type, Customer Reference Number (CRN) and date of receipt the date the claim is to be granted from
• complete all the necessary coding within the claim

See Table 3.

If the claim is to be:

• Granted, go to Step 6
• Rejected FSD - Failed to supply documents, go to Step 2
• Rejected because of one of the following rejection reasons:
• COP - Another payment is more appropriate
• NST - Not a full-time student
• NQS - Not qualified F/T secondary student
• UMD - Studying unapproved Masters or Doctorate
• NAT - Not an apprentice
• NAC - Not an approved course
• go to Step 3
• Rejected because of one of the following rejection reasons, refer the claim to the DVA Clearance Team for review:
• Services Pension/ Income Support Supplement (DVA)
• DSS Age Pension paid by DVA (AGC)
• Rejected for any other reason, go to Step 5

Do not reject claims FSD for failure to provide bank/investment balances.

Code the claim. Allow it to reject automatically with the following reasons if the customer does not provide one of the following documents requested as part of their online claim:

• Proof of identity (POI) - REJ-POI
• Tax File Number (TFN) - REJ-TFN
• Parental Income - REJ-PIA

If the system does not auto reject the payment PIA as expected, manually reject via the BA screen.

For Apprentice claims, streamline reject the claim FSD if:

• the customer does not provide one or more of the above documents, and
• there are no current registration details on the Apprentice Details (NAPD) screen in Process Direct or Apprenticeship Details (NAPD) screen in Customer First

Note: if a UTLAH assessment is in progress, do not reject the claim FSD (failed to supply documents). If it is not already held, place the claim on hold pending the outcome of the UTLAH assessment.

If the claim is to be:

• streamline rejected, go to Step 3
• rejected for any other reason, go to Step 5

If the claim is to be streamline rejected, the claim does not need coding before rejection.

Streamline reject the claim:

• From the TS screen, select Process
• Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen, or from the Customer Data Task Selector (CDTS) on the Errors (SWE) screen
• Select Add to create a new entry and update:
• Benefit Type Code field, select the correct benefit type
• Benefit Action field, REJ-REJECT
• select the Streamline Rejection Indicator
• Reason field, select the appropriate reason
• Date of Effect field, defaults to the claim submission date
• select Save. A new provisional line displays on the BA screen
• Go to the SWE screen:
• Message Log displays any errors with existing coding. Errors must be fixed before assessing the claim. For help, see Using Digital Assistant Roxy in Process Direct
• Select Assess to go to the Entitlement (ELD) screen
• Check the outcome is correct on the ELD screen, and select Finish
• Record the details in the finalisation DOC
  If the rejection reason is Failed to Supply Documents (FSD), list all outstanding mandatory documents in the finalisation DOC
• Select Finalise

If the Streamline Rejection indicator has been incorrectly updated before finalising the claim, the claim must be regenerated to remove the indicator.

If the claim will be rejected Not a Full Time Student (NST) or Not an Apprentice (NAT), establish if another payment will be appropriate.

If a customer has lodged a claim for:

• a student payment and they did not start studying because of a change in circumstances, the student claim can be used to assess the customer as a YA (job seeker) or Apprentice
• an apprentice payment and they did not begin their apprenticeship due to a change in circumstance, the apprentice claim may be used to assess the customer as a YA (jobseeker) or student

If the customer's claim will be rejected because they did not start their study or an apprenticeship, go to Step 4.

For all other rejections, go to Step 9.

If the customer did not start their study or apprenticeship due to a change in circumstances and:

• are aged under 22 and will be eligible for YA as a job seeker:
• Create an Open work item. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY and Apprentices > Update > Assess REJ claim as JSK
• Select Confirm
• Send the work item to JCS
• Procedure ends here
• has advised they are not studying because they are undertaking a full-time apprenticeship:
• Create an Open work item. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY and Apprentices > Update > Assess REJ claim as APT
• Select Confirm
• Add the following text:
  Commonwealth Registration Number (if available)
  Date Apprenticeship commenced
  Date of commencement of full-time employment
  Name (and ABN if available) of the employer
  Details of fortnightly earnings
• Send the work item to NCA
• Procedure ends here
• has advised they are not undertaking a full-time apprenticeship because they are a full-time student:
• if more study details are required make one genuine attempt to contact. If unsuccessful, request a Study Details form (MOD ST)
• Re-assess the claim
• Procedure ends here

If none of the above applies, go to Step 9.

Where the claim is not finalised as a streamline rejection, the rejection should automatically occur once the details are coded.

Note: if the customer has reached Allowable Time, see Assessing satisfactory progress for Youth Allowance (YA) tertiary students.

Where the claim is to be manually rejected, make all necessary updates required within the claim.

Delete any unverified provisional data so it is not applied to the customer's record. The claim should reject automatically when taken to the ELD screen.

Note: if the claim is rejecting AOS, see Assuree makes a claim for an Assurance of Support (AoS) recoverable payment.

Claims should reject automatically where the customer:

• Is a Non-Protected SCV Holder (NSV)
• Residency is less than 104 weeks (NW2), or
• NARWP assessment not met (NWA), see Table 2, Step 11 in the Residence assessment for customers claiming Youth Allowance (YA) and/or Tertiary Access Payment (TAP)
• For Student claims, see Table 4 in the Calculating the start day for Austudy and Youth Allowance (YA) students and Australian Apprentices claims if the:
• NARWP ends after the student end date, and
• E688NS - Course End Date Cannot be prior to Participation Status Event Date error displays

For Apprentice claims

If an automatic rejection does not occur because there are no registration details on the NAPD screen, a referral to an Service Support Officer (SSO) is required:

• Request approval to apply a manual rejection for reason NRQ - Not residentially Qualified, via direct referral to an SSO
• Where approval is received, continue to reject the claim ensuring SSO approval is included on the DOC

If the updated claim does not auto-reject, the claim must be manually rejected:

• Go to the BA screen or from the CDTS on the SWE screen
• Select Add to create a new entry and update:
• Benefit Type Code field, select the correct benefit type
• Benefit Action field, REJ-REJECT
• Do not select the Streamline Rejection indicator
• Reason field, select the appropriate reason
• Date of Effect field, defaults to the claim submission date
• Select Save. A new provisional line displays on the BA screen
• Go to the SWE screen
• Message Log displays any errors with existing coding. Errors must be fixed before assessing the claim. For help, see Using Digital Assistant Roxy in Process Direct
• Select Assess to go to the ELD screen
• Check the outcome is correct on the ELD screen, then select Finish
• Record details in the finalisation DOC
  If the rejection reason is Failed to Supply Documents (FSD), list all outstanding mandatory documents in the finalisation DOC
• Select Finalise

Go to Step 9.

Select Assess.

Check the results on the ELD screen.

Does the claim go to Pending Sibling Assessment (PSA) status?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

Do not allow the claim to remain with a PSA status.

If the claim goes to PSA status, check for any sibling claims. Where a sibling has made a claim, process both claims. If siblings have different start dates:

• note the latest start date
• code the latest start date in the Manual Start Date field on the Start Date Calculator (NDC) screen for any/all siblings whose Calculated Start Date defaults to an earlier date. For examples, see the Resources page in the Youth Allowance at pending status (YAL/PSA) and dependent siblings
• finalise both claims

Reject the claim Parental Income too High (PIH) if:

• there are no family pool siblings, or
• the parental income precludes payment for all siblings making a claim

If a sibling has been cancelled or rejected PIH in the previous 13 weeks, see Youth Allowance at pending status (YAL/PSA) and dependent siblings.

Go to step 8.

Take note of any arrears being paid, especially any amount paid for a period that the person received a previous income support payment. Decide if an arrears amount needs to be reduced to avoid duplicate payments for the same period. Manually zero or reduce any arrears the customer is not entitled to. See Payment of arrears after reassessment and stopping a payment.

Note. When calculating the rate payable, the system may include the FTB notional rate from the claim lodgement date until the day before claim assessment date where:

• the customer is dependent, and
• there is high parental income, and
• there are siblings in the family pool

This may result in a:

• grant at one rate, then rate reduction from date claim is processed, or
• grant at reduced rate, then CAN PIH from date the claim is processed

In these cases, staff do not need to make any adjustments to the arrears or change the claim result as this is the expected outcome.

Do not pay Relocation Scholarship to customers who have been granted the away from home rate pending evidence of independence (excepting independent customers who are disadvantaged by personal circumstances). See Relocation Scholarship (RS) payment and coding.

Is the outcome correct?

• Yes, select Finish
• No, correct any screens causing an incorrect outcome before selecting Finish

The Claim Finalisation DOC displays. Edit or add any extra details required.

Select Finalise to complete the claim. A confirmation dialog box appears. Select OK.

Where a checklist of scans displays, mark each as complete using the tick boxes to close them.

Service Profiler will automatically place homeless customers on 2 weekly reporting. After the claim is finalised, stimulate outstanding payments and remove reporting requirements for UTLAH customers who:

• receive YA (student), and
• do not have personal or partner earnings

Where the customer's Student End Date (SED) has passed, the ELD screen displays with a zero rate from the SED + 1 on the Rate Component Override (RCO) screen. Once the claim is finalised, a further transaction will auto-cancel the customer's student payment as Not a Student (NST) from SED + 1 and deletes the RCO coding.

Go to Step 9.

If the claim has not auto-generated a DOC (that is, an abridged claim or where the claim is both granted and cancelled in the same activity), create a DOC. See Online Document Recording (ODR).

On the date the YA claim was lodged, if the customer was an FTB child and the claim is rejected, withdrawn or granted from a date after FTB was cancelled, create a Fast Note for FCC to re-assess/ restore FTB. Select Auto text, use Families > SUS/CAN/RES > YAL REJ/WTHDWN - FTB Reclaim.

For partnered customers, a claim for income support payment may need to be processed.

For independent customers, Child Support may no longer apply. Check if the claim has been granted and:

• the customer is aged 16-19
• the customer is in full-time secondary study
• the customer is no longer in the care of a parent/guardian, and
• the young person is assessed as independent due to one of these reasons:
• Member of a couple
• Parents unable to exercise responsibilities due to being in prison, in a nursing home or are mentally incapacitated
• Unreasonable to live at home (UTLAH), or
• Self-supporting through employment

Is the customer now YA CUR and independent?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, procedure ends here

To notify Child Support:

• create a Fast Note - select Auto text, use Generic > Update > Child Support - Action Req'd
• record details including the independence reason and start date
• select CSJ - Child Support Care in Transfer to: