Family assistance and Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) 011-10030000

Centrelink uses an immunisation status provided by the AIR to determine if a child has satisfied the immunisation requirements. This status is provided via a link established by matching with the AIR using the child’s Medicare card number and/or other details.

Once a link is established between the Centrelink and AIR systems, individuals are known as mutual clients. CCS transmissions are sent in real time and FTB/CCB transmissions are sent overnight from AIR to Centrelink advising the child’s immunisation status.

When claiming FTB or a child care payment, the customer is required to provide the child’s Medicare card number and individual reference number (IRN) or a reason the child is not eligible for Medicare (in which case a link can be established if an AIR record exists).

Immunisation requirements apply for all FTB and child care payments for children under 20 years of age. Once an individual turns 20 years of age, no further vaccines are considered due or overdue by the AIR.

The AIR uses a number of different antigens to assess a child’s immunisation status for family assistance payments.

Note: only vaccines on the childhood National Immunisation Program (NIP) schedule are assessed for family assistance payments. Adolescent NIP schedule vaccines are not assessed for payment purposes.

The antigens currently linked to family assistance payment assessments are listed under the Immunisation & Health Check Requirements – Vaccination Schedules (FTB, CCS) section of the Family Assistance Guide. The References page contains a link to the Family Assistance Guide.

Note: a child’s immunisation status for family assistance payments can be different to their immunisation status according to the requirements of the NIP.

CCS helps families with child care costs such as long, family or occasional day care, outside school hour care, vacation care, pre-school, and kindergarten.

For a family to be eligible to claim CCS for a child under 20 years of age, the child must either:

• be up to date for immunisation, or
• have an approved medical exemption

Medical contraindications, natural immunity and next immunisation due date are all taken into account by the AIR when assessing a child for CCS. The higher dose rule is also applied for example, if a higher dose of a vaccine has been given, the AIR assesses the individual has having received the earlier dose/s.

CCB/Child Care Rebate (CCR) for attendance provided during the 2017-18 financial year can be claimed as a lump sum up to 30 June 2019. The child must meet the NIP immunisation requirements when the claim is determined. The AIR provides the CCB immunisation status to Centrelink using the FTB overnight transmission.

Only children under 20 years of age with a date of birth on or after 1 January 1996 are eligible for an FTB immunisation assessment by the AIR.

From 1 July 2018, a child’s immunisation status is checked by Centrelink when determining the rate of FTB Part A that can be paid for them. If a child is found to not meet immunisation requirements, an FTB Part A rate reduction will be applied to the daily rate of FTB Part A. The reduction will continue until immunisation requirements are met.

For financial years 2012-13 to 2017-18, immunisation requirements were linked to payment of the end of financial year FTB Part A supplement, depending on the age of the child.

There are 19 immunisation milestone assessment points for FTB Part A supplement based on the child’s age according to the AIR. Immunisation milestone assessments are triggered by the AIR each year for children aged 1 to 20.

Note: only vaccines on the childhood National Immunisation Program (NIP) schedule are assessed for family assistance payments. Adolescent NIP schedule vaccines are not assessed for payment purposes.

Medical contraindications, natural immunities and next immunisation due date are all taken into account when assessing a child’s immunisation status for FTB. The higher dose rule is also applied for example, if a higher dose of a vaccine has been given, the AIR assesses the individual has having received the earlier dose/s.

The Resources page contains a table detailing FTB Part A supplement immunisation assessments.

When a child is initially assessed, if they have an immunisation milestone status of N recorded on the AIR mainframe, they are continuously reassessed overnight by the AIR system until the immunisation status becomes Y or they turn 20 years of age.

Once the immunisation milestone status changes to a Y, the child is not reassessed against that milestone point again. Their status cannot change back to N for that assessment point regardless of any amendments made to their immunisation history.

If a FTB status changes from N to Y, even if the child has been ended due to age, the record is transmitted from the AIR to Centrelink.