Clean Energy Advance (CEA) for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customers 101-03090020

Individual FTB customers were automatically paid a CEA if:

• They received more than nil legislative rate of FTB Part A
• FTB instalments had not been prohibited due to non-lodgement of tax returns (PIP), and
• They were in Australia and had at least one FTB child in their care in Australia (a CEA could be paid upon their return to Australia, or on 1 July 2013). To receive the CEA for a child, the child must have been in Australia

An Approved Care Organisation (ACO) receiving FTB for children in care would have been paid a CEA from June 2012.

Qualification period

Initial payment 14 May 2012 - 30 June 2013.

A CEA may have been paid if a customer received FTB during the period 14 May - 30 June 2012.

A CEA may also have been paid as an initial, top-up or pro-rata payment if a customer became eligible for FTB for any period in the 2012-13 financial year.

For a CEA or top-up to be paid, FTB lump sum claims must have been lodged or FTB reconciliation requirements met by 30 June 2014.

If the customer was granted a special circumstance extension to lodge a lump sum claim or lodge their income and FTB was assessed and paid then CEA will also have been assessed and paid if the customer was entitled.

A customer's eligibility for a CEA or a CEA top-up payment was determined automatically during processing of FTB instalment claims and reassessment activities, FTB bereavement claims, FTB reconciliation for 2012-13, and FTB lump sum claims for 2012-13.

Determination date

Customers were assessed for CEA eligibility and entitlement on the determination date - the date the payment is processed.

Determination periods

The amount of CEA entitlement varies depending on the determination date. There were three determination periods:

• 14 May - 30 June 2012
• 1 July 2012 - 30 June 2013
• on or after 1 July 2013

Eligible FTB current customers received a CEA with their regular FTB payment during the fortnight 16 - 29 May 2012.

The CEA amount - was based on the customer's FTB entitlement on the day the CEA was processed, using FTB rates for 2012-13. It did not take into account any future changes, for example age of child, end of bereavement period.

Note: income support customers may have received a separate CEA with their income support payment from 28 May 2012.

How to view CEA payment details.

A CEA top-up payment may have been paid automatically if the customer became entitled to a higher CEA amount than originally paid.

This may have been the result of an FTB instalment claim grant, the customer or child returning from overseas, bereavement claim, or reassessment activity.

The customer would have received the CEA with their first FTB payment.

The CEA amount was based on the customer's FTB entitlement at the time the CEA was processed, but using FTB rates for 2012-13. It did not take into account any future changes, for example age of child, end of bereavement period.

How to view CEA payment details.

A CEA top-up payment may have been paid automatically if the customer became entitled to a higher CEA amount than originally paid.

This may have been the result of an FTB instalment claim grant, the customer or child returning from overseas, bereavement claim, or reassessment activity.

The customer would have received the CEA with their first FTB payment. A pro-rata CEA would have been paid if the customer qualified after 1 July 2012.

The CEA amount was based on:

• the customer's FTB entitlement for each day in the past period in the financial year, and
• their FTB entitlement on the day the CEA was processed multiplied by the number of days left in the financial year (not taking into account any future changes)

How to view CEA payment details.

A CEA top-up payment may have been paid automatically if the customer became entitled to a higher CEA amount than originally paid.

Members of a couple who separated in the 2012 - 2013 financial year may have been treated differently.

This may have been the result of:

• processing FTB instalment claims lodged before 1 July 2013
• FTB reconciliation for 2012-13
• assessing FTB lump sum claims for 2012-13

For a CEA or top-up to be paid, FTB lump sum claims must have been lodged or FTB reconciliation requirements met by 30 June 2014.

If the claimant was granted a special circumstances extension to lodge a lump sum claim or lodge their income and FTB was assessed and paid then CEA was also assessed and paid if entitled.

The CEA amount was based on the customer's actual FTB entitlement for each day in the 2012-13 financial year.

The CEA would have been paid immediately. It was not used for debt recovery or offsetting.

How to view CEA payment details.

A CEA top-up payment may have been paid automatically if the customer became entitled to a higher CEA amount than originally paid.

Customers who claimed FTB for 2012-13 as a lump sum (from 1 July 2013) had their entitlement to a CEA automatically determined when their 2012-13 claim was finalised. Claims must have been lodged by 30 June 2014.

If the claimant was granted a special circumstances extension to lodge a lump sum claim or lodge their income and FTB was assessed and paid then CEA was also assessed and paid if entitled.

Lump sum claims were finalised once adequate income/ not required to lodge information is available.

If the customer was eligible for a CEA it was paid immediately. CEA entitlement was not used for debt offsetting or recovery.

Mixed delivery customers

Customers who received a CEA as a result of receiving FTB instalments within the period 14 May 2012 - 30 June 2013 may have received a CEA top-up payment when their FTB lump sum was finalised if they were determined to be eligible for a higher CEA amount than originally paid.

Before finalising an FTB claim or reassessment activity, from the Assessment Results (AR) page:

• select the One Time Payment Explanation Summary option from the left menu, or
• select the CEA Amount: field

To view how the CEA payment was calculated or to check ineligible reason

• Select Payments & Services> Energy Payments> Clean Energy Advance summary from the menu or go directly to the Clean Energy Advance Explanation Summary (CEASUM) page. This page lists FTB and income support payment assessment and payments
• Select the CEA payment Amount field in the relevant Clean Energy FTB line to go to the Family Tax Benefit Clean Energy Advance Explanation page. This page explains how the customer's FTB CEA was calculated and how the rate was affected by customer and child circumstances
• A message will appear for complex calculations done under special blended families, swapping FTB entitlement, or separated couple rules. These CEA payments are determined manually by the Manual Intervention (MIV) team per an auto MFU

To check payment details

• Go to the Payment Summary (PS) screen/page. The SYS field will show FTB. The Type field will be either:
• Reg+OTP if the CEA has been paid with the customer's regular FTB payment
• OTP if paid on its own
• Select the payment line to view the Payment Details (PD) screen. The Type field will show
• Clean Energy Advance if it is an initial CEA payment
• Clean Energy Advance Top Up if it is a CEA top-up payment
• Clean Energy Advance + Top-up if both an initial and top-up payment have been generated on the same day

A Clean Energy Advance (CEA) is different to other Centrelink advance payments and does not need to be paid back.

CEA payments are:

• non-taxable
• exempt income under family assistance law
• subject to income management
• not eligible payments for an urgent payment
• not eligible payments for Centrepay deductions
• not to be a recoverable debt unless there is found to be activity that relates to serious non-compliant behaviour in relation to FTB
• not used to recover or offset any debt

The CEA was calculated as a daily rate, based on FTB entitlement.

See the Resources page for the CEA maximum amounts for FTB Part A (per child) and FTB Part B (per family).

The calculation varied depending on the determination date:

• for any past period in the 2012-13 financial year the CEA amount was based on actual FTB circumstances
• for any future period in the 2012-13 financial year, the CEA amount was based on FTB entitlement on the day of processing (future changes were not taken into account)

If the customer was entitled to more than nil legislative rate of FTB Part A the CEA amount was worked out as follows:

• maximum annual rate of FTB Part A + Part A Supplement for each FTB child
• maximum annual rate of FTB Part B + Part B Supplement
• total above amounts
• multiply total by 0.017
• obtain daily rate: Divide by 365 and round down to nearest cent (rounding 0.5 cents upwards)
• multiply daily rate X number of relevant days in the period it applies within 2012-13

See the Resources page for examples.

Calculation details can be viewed via the Clean Energy Advance Explanation Summary (CEASUM) page.

The CEA for ACOs was calculated as a daily rate, based on FTB entitlement.

The calculation varied depending on the determination date:

For any past period in the 2012-13 financial year the CEA amount was based on actual FTB circumstances.

For any future period in the 2012-13 financial year, the CEA amount was based on FTB entitlement on the day of processing (future changes were not taken into account).

The CEA amount for ACOs was worked out as follows:

• divide annual ACO FTB Part A child rate for 2012-13 by 365 to obtain the daily rate (FTB Supplement was not included as ACOs are not entitled to it)
• multiply daily rate by the number of FTB children in the ACO's care to obtain their FTB daily rate
• multiply ACO's FTB daily rate by 0.017 and round to nearest cent (rounding 0.5 cents upwards) to obtain the CEA daily rate
• multiply CEA daily rate result by the number of relevant days in the period it applies within 2012-13

Where a couple separated in the period between the initial CEA payment and 1 July 2013, a claim for FTB may have been lodged by a previous member of this couple who did not receive the initial payment of CEA.

Top-ups of CEA for customers and their ex partners for children from the previous relationship were not calculated until on or after 1 July 2013. Any entitlement to a top-up payment was calculated and paid manually.

An immediate CEA payment could have been made when:

• There was a new FTB child, or
• There was a new carer. Note: the new carer and their partner must not have been part of the carer relationship for the FTB child at the time the last CEA payment was made

The immediate payment was calculated automatically.

Previous partner received CEA initial payment prior to separation

The member of the couple who did not receive any initial CEA (as it was paid to their partner while they were a couple), would have received an initial CEA from July 2013 where the new claimant qualified for FTB.

The calculation would have included a portion of the CEA paid to their previous partner while they were partnered, consequently only a part payment would have been payable.

Any top-up would have been paid from 1 July 2013.

If an FTB instalment customer was temporarily overseas, they would only have been paid a CEA:

• Upon their return to Australia, or
• If they were still overseas on 1 July 2013, they would have been paid for any period they were in Australia during 2012-13. CEA entitlement was determined using the most recent date of departure from Australia

Customers who claimed FTB as a lump sum for 2012-13 may have been paid a CEA if they were overseas at the time the claim was made, as per details of all overseas absences during 2012-13 advised on the claim.

If an FTB child was temporarily overseas (but the FTB customer was in Australia), the customer may have been paid a CEA for any other FTB children in their care in Australia, but not for the child who is overseas.

Entitlement to a CEA top-up payment would have been determined upon the FTB child's return to Australia or on 1 July 2013.

When calculating CEA entitlement for a past period in 2012-13, FTB portability rules are used:

• No CEA was payable for a period during which the customer/child was overseas for longer than 13 weeks (six weeks if the customer left Australia on or after 1 January 2013), if part of the initial absence falls within 2012-13. This would be the same period FTB Part A was reduced to base rate due to the absence
• For multiple overseas absences, if a customer/child left Australia within 13 weeks (six weeks if the customer left Australia on or after 1 January 2013) of returning to Australia after an absence of more than 13 weeks (or six weeks), no CEA was payable for the duration of their latest overseas absence

The CEA rate is based on the customer's FTB shared care percentage.

If the shared care arrangement changed, entitlement to a CEA would have been reassessed. If a customer's shared care percentage:

• increased, the customer may have received a CEA top-up payment
• decreased, no adjustment would have been made. A debt would not have been raised unless the customer knowingly made a false or misleading statement or provided false information

Regular Care Child

As FTB is not payable for a Regular Care Child, customers were not eligible for a CEA unless they also had an FTB child in their care. For those customers, the Regular Care Child was included when calculating their entitlement to Rent Assistance and this may have affected their daily FTB Part A rate.

The CEA rate was based on the FTB blended family percentage for each member of the couple.

If a blended family received a CEA and later adjusted their blended family percentage or transferred all FTB to their partner, this was not considered a change of circumstance that would trigger a CEA top-up payment.

However, if entitlement to FTB increased due to another change (for example revised income estimate), a manual rate calculation would have been done on or after 1 July 2013.

These customers would have an activity on their record indicating that a manual adjustment for CEA may be required.

If entitled to a top-up, the customer would have been paid based on the FTB blended family percentage if this did not change during the 2012/2013 financial year. However if the FTB blended family percentage did change, the top-up would then have been paid to the individual who had the higher blended family percentage on 30 June 2013. If the blended family percentage on 30 June 2012 was 50% each, the top-up would have been paid to the person who had the highest percentage rate prior to the change in the blended rate.

If a person died before receiving their FTB entitlement for any period in the 2012-13 financial year (whether or not they had claimed FTB for that period), another person may have claimed FTB and received any CEA entitlement the deceased customer was entitled to, or would have been entitled to had they not died.

The new claimant may also have been entitled to FTB and a CEA amount based on their own circumstances since the person's death.

If the person died before 1 July 2012 and had not claimed FTB, a CEA would not have been paid to the new claimant. The new claimant's eligibility for a CEA would be based on their own circumstances.

A CEA may have been payable in the event of the death of a child. The CEA amount depended on the CEA determination date and the child's date of death.

There were three relevant determination periods:

If the determination date was:

• Between 14 May - 30 June 2012, and
• During the 14 week bereavement period, all FTB children were included in the CEA calculation for all of 2012-13
• After the bereavement period, the deceased child would not have been included in the CEA calculation as they were not attracting FTB
• Between 1 July 2012 - 30 June 2013, and
• During the bereavement period, the CEA reflected the customer's circumstances for the past period, and was paid for the rest of the financial year with the deceased child included
• After the bereavement period, the CEA for the child was paid for the portion of the bereavement period within 2012-13
• On or after 1 July 2013, the CEA reflected the customer's circumstances. It was paid for the deceased child for the portion of the bereavement period within 2012-13

If bereavement period spanned 2011-12 and 2012-13 and FTB was claimed as a lump sum

• If the customer lodged a lump sum claim for 2011-12, a CEA may have been paid when the claim was finalised. If the claim was finalised:
• During the bereavement period, all FTB children were included in the CEA calculation for all of 2012-13 (CEA was based on FTB rate on the determination date)
• After the bereavement period, the deceased child was only included in the CEA for the portion of the bereavement period within 2012-13
• If the customer later lodged a lump sum claim for 2012-13, FTB would not be paid for the deceased child. However, the customer may have received a CEA top-up payment if they were entitled to a higher CEA amount for the deceased and surviving children, for example due to actual income or other FTB circumstances for 2012-13

Customers who did not wish to receive the CEA may have returned the CEA payment to the agency.

See Processing a returned payment.

CEA payments were only recoverable as a debt where a customer knowingly provided false or misleading information and there was found to be activity that related to serious non-compliant behaviour.

If a debt was to be raised, the following codes were used:

• payment Type - FTB (Family Tax Benefit)
• component Type - CEA (Clean Energy Advance)
• benefit - FTB (Family Tax Benefit)

Customers were able to request a review of a decision in relation to:

• payment or non-payment of a CEA (including top-up payments)
• rate of the CEA
• a CEA debt

Reviews were directed to the Subject Matter Expert for FTB to which the CEA related.

FTB appeal rules applied. In general, customers needed to request a review no later than 52 weeks after being notified of the decision.

See Initial contact about a decision and the review of decision process.

Following payment of the CEA, customers were notified according to their registered preference in the following order: Online Letter, Electronic Messaging (SMS/email if subscribed) or hard copy letter.

A Ministerial Letter was also attached with the online or hard copy letter.

Letters can be viewed or printed from the History Summary (HS) screen.

Customers notified by SMS/email will have had a letter generated (GE code) on the HS screen. These letters should not have been deleted; they were created to provide to the customer if they requested a hard copy letter.

Some customers required manual intervention to be assessed for CEA. These included:

• blended families who had a change in percentage during the 2012-13 financial year
• customers who swapped their FTB entitlement to their partner, or became a blended family
• customers who separated during the 2012-13 financial year
• manual rate customers

These groups would have had an activity on their record indicating that a manual adjustment for CEA may be required.

These activities were completed by specialist staff.