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

Dominique is a 16 year old who has contacted the Service Centre after receiving a letter from Services Australia, which states the requirement to attend an interview to negotiate an Activity Agreement. Dominique is a secondary school student who has been absent from school for 16 days without authorisation from the school.

Dominique now disagrees with the decision made by the Zone Customer Compliance Division and provides the Service Officer with further information (a letter from a guardian) indicating there were good reasons for not attending school.

Dominique's circumstances are discussed with the Customer Compliance Division and the school confirms that Dominique has unapproved absences from school and that the guardian has confirmed the reasons for the absences.

• The reasons for the absences from school. Dominique may be referred to specialist officers such as a Job Capacity Assessor or social worker, if required. For example, if Dominique advises that the absence from school was because of bullying from other students, it may be appropriate to make a referral to a Services Australia social worker for assistance
• Reinforce the message that absences that have been approved by the school are not counted as unapproved absences. If it is believed that the unapproved absences should have been recorded by the school as approved absences, Dominique, with the support of the guardian, should discuss this with the school. If the school changes any of the unapproved absences to approved absences, the school should provide a letter outlining any changes they have made to the absences for the related term/s
• The reasons for the decision to require Dominique to enter into an Activity Agreement. Dominique should also be informed of her review and appeal rights
• Rights and obligations in relation to negotiating an Activity Agreement

The Activity Agreement will be negotiated using the Secondary Student Activity Agreement and the details recorded via Student Activity Agreement' workflow in Customer First.

When completing the Activity Agreement, ensure the following is completed:

• Customer name and address details
• Customer Reference Number
• Date of discussion
• Ensure Dominique agrees to the terms of the agreement and signs and dates the form
• Complete the Delegate's section of the form

Record details of Student Activity Agreement via the Student Activity Agreement workflow in Customer First.