Negotiating Activity Agreements for Youth Allowance (YA) secondary students with unapproved absences 010-06090020

Compliance processes currently focus on cases where the customer has had a high number of unapproved absences in a term. Absence from school does not result in loss of qualification for payment. However, a high level of unapproved absences maybe an indicator that the student may have ceased studies.

If investigation of the case shows that the student has not ceased studies, they remain qualified for payment but may potentially be required to enter into an Activity Agreement.

Where local arrangements currently exist to refer cases of excessive unapproved absence to a Service Centre or attendance initiative team for negotiation of an Activity Agreement with the student.

Compliance teams should continue these referral arrangements. Where these local arrangements do not currently exist, it is not necessary to undertake 'USE' reviews.

The Customer Compliance Division team run regular enrolment checks of students in secondary schools to identify students who have had unapproved absences of more than 5 days in a term.

Once identified, compliance will contact the student regarding their absences and the need to enter into an Activity Agreement.

Service Centre staff are required to issue the customer with a notice, under Section 63 of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1991, informing the customer of the requirement to attend an office or contact Services Australia. The Q001 notice is to be sent which provides an opportunity to enter the relevant Activity Agreement text.

Note: although the Q001 requires an appointment time to be entered, Service Centres that operate interviews via walk-in appointments can enter a timeframe within the Q001 letter (for example, 'anytime between 9:00am and 12:00pm').

If the customer is contacted by phone and is able to attend the Service Centre within 5 working days, a Q001 letter should not be sent as it would not reach the student in time, however a written notice must still be provided to the customer at the time they attend the Service Centre.

Once a the customer has been advised of the requirement to attend a Service Centre to attend an appointment, in Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:

• Service Reason: YAL
• Review Reason: MAN (Manual Assessment Review Ent)
• Due Date: date of appointment
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Notes: 'Customer contacted <insert contact method e.g. phone/Q001> and advised to attend appointment by xx/xx/xxxx. Check attendance and return to OB 010-06090020 for action.'
• Keywords: ACTYAL
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer to Region: leave blank

The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action.

Note: the Q001 will require an appointment date and time to be added, even though this may not be able to be recorded in the Services Australia appointment system. Service Centres that do not have appointment profiles available are still able to invite the customer to a scheduled appointment and book them in as a walk-in when they present to front-of-house staff.

Once a student has been identified and referred, check the History Summary (HS) screen to see if a notice in writing of the requirement to enter into an Activity Agreement was sent to the customer.

If the customer is already in the office, an Activity Agreement may be negotiated at that time, however the customer must still be issued a notice in writing of the requirement to enter into an Activity Agreement and agrees to the interview taking place at that time.

Note: if the customer has not been issued with this notice, and they subsequently fail to attend an appointment about an Activity Agreement, or fail enter into an Activity Agreement, or fail to comply with the terms of an Activity Agreement, a participation failure cannot be recorded. See Legislation.

Has the customer responded to the letter and attended the interview to negotiate an Activity Agreement?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 2
• No, the customer may have participation failure applied

Is the customer providing further information regarding the absences that have been recorded on the enrolment check?

Do not alter review outcomes without first discussing the case with Customer Compliance Division staff.

The student must provide a statement from the school if they want to reduce the number of absences to 5 or below This statement should be scanned onto the customer's record for viewing by the Customer Compliance Division team.

• Yes, discuss with compliance and record details of the decision on a DOC. If Customer Compliance Division staff has advised that they have changed the decision about requiring the customer to enter into an Activity Agreement, procedure ends here. If the Activity Agreement is still required, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 2

Is the customer still studying full time?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 3

If the customer is not currently studying full-time, consult with the Customer Compliance Division team before deciding which of the following apply:

• Customer is under 18 years of age and has at risk issues. See Negotiating Job Plans for under 18 year old at risk customers
• Customer has permanently ceased full-time study and is looking for work. See Effect of end of course on payments for students
• Customer has changed their study details or is temporarily unable to continue study. See Changing study/training details
• Customer is no longer seeking assistance

Procedure ends here.

Advise the student the reason they are required to negotiate an Activity Agreement if they have been absent without authorisation from their educational institution for more than 5 days in the term. Explain that a secondary student must attend secondary school full-time to satisfy the full-time study requirements for YA.

Go to Step 5.

• Advise the customer about the Activity Agreement:
• the requirement to enter into an Activity Agreement
• their rights and obligations in relation to the terms of the Activity Agreement and
• Information about participation failures
• Reiterate customer's requirements in the agreement:
• under the Undertaking full-time study requirements for Youth Allowance (YA) students, or
• for students who are engaged in a combination of approved activities, see Combination of activities for Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker)
• Negotiate the terms of the Activity Agreement

There is a need to take into account the person's capacity to comply with the agreement and their needs. For information on the matters which must be taken into account for YA, see Legislation.

• Complete the required fields in the SY102, print and issue to the customer. See the Resources page in Activity Agreements for YA students and trainees for a link to the form
• The terms of the Activity Agreement should state that the student agrees to attend their course and details of that course

Include details of:

• Type of course (for example, Year 12)
• Name of institution (for example, Sunnydale State High School)
• Student status (for example, full-time)
• Course start and end dates

Student agrees to have no more than 5 absences in a term.

Go to Step 6.

• Explain the customer's rights and obligations:
• they can request a variation or renegotiation of the Activity Agreement at any time
• they can apply for a formal review of any decision in relation to the Activity Agreement, see Initial contact about a decision and the review of decision process
• they must notify Services Australia of changes in their circumstances, and
• they must comply with the terms of the Activity Agreement
• Answer any questions the customer has in relation to the Activity Agreement

Ask the customer to sign the Activity Agreement.

Go to Step 7.

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, see Step 1 in Table 3

• Sign the Activity Agreement as the delegated Services Australia officer
• Give a copy of the signed Activity Agreement to the customer
• Scan the printed and signed agreement and place it on the customer's record

The Activity Agreement needs to be recorded onto the customer's record, or updated if one already exists.

See Step 1 in Table 4.

If customer indicates concerns or expresses the need to consider the terms of Activity Agreement further, discuss the issues with the customer. If customer still maintains they wish to consider it further (for example, consult a third party before signing), the Service Officer should offer think time.

Does customer want think time?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 6

Complete the following:

• Make an appointment for the customer to return in 2 working days. If appointments are not available, advise the customer to return to the office in 2 working days for a walk-in interview
• Advise that non-attendance may result in cancellation of payments and a participation failure being applied
• Give a copy of the draft Activity Agreement to the customer to think about the terms being negotiated

Note: payments will continue until the interview date.

If the customer is returning after think time, go to Step 3.

Has the customer attended the appointment?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, see Determining whether a participation failure is applicable for students and trainees

Procedure ends here.

Is the customer now willing to sign the Activity Agreement?

• Yes, get the customer to sign the Activity Agreement and then go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 5

See Determining whether a participation failure is applicable for students and trainees.

Procedure ends here.

After the customer has signed the Activity Agreement:

• sign the Activity Agreement as the delegated Services Australia officer
• give a copy of the signed Activity Agreement to the customer

Go to Step 7.

The Activity Agreement needs to be recorded onto the customer's record, or updated if it already exists.

See Step1 in Table 4.

Procedure ends here.

Access screen via Customer First menu under 'Study' then 'Student Activity Agreement'.

• If recording a new Activity Agreement, go to Step 2
• If updating an existing Activity Agreement already on the customer's record, go to Step 3

To record details for new agreement:

• complete blank fields under heading 'Activity Agreement Details'
• select 'Agreement Reason' of 'Excess Unapproved Absences'
• complete fields for 'Signed Date', 'Start Date' and 'End Date' as required. Note: period of new agreement cannot overlap existing agreement
• Complete 'Notes' field with reasons for student Activity Agreement. (Information in this field will be transferred to DOC)
• Complete Source and Receipt Date fields
• select Add button
• finalise the activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen

Procedure ends here.

To update record for existing agreement:

• On 'Manage Activity Agreements for Students' screen,(accessed via Student Activity Agreement workflow), select required agreement from list under 'Existing Activity Agreement Summary'
• Information for selected agreement will auto-populate and display under heading 'Activity Agreement Details'
• Edit required date fields and update notes by adding free text to 'Annotations' field. (Information will be transferred to existing DOC)
• Enter the Source and Receipt Date
• Select Update button
• To delete existing agreement, select Delete button
• Finalise the activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen

Note: the 'clear' button can be used when adding details for new record or updating an existing student Activity Agreement. When this button is selected, it will clear all fields displayed under 'Activity Agreement Details'.