Overseas absences for acute family crisis 061-01110030

Customers in receipt of the following payments may continue to receive payment while temporarily overseas for an acute family crisis:

• ABSTUDY
• Austudy (AUS)
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Family assistance, Parental Leave Payments and Double Orphan Pension payable to the holders of visa subclasses 309, 785 granted on or after 16 December 2014, 790 or 820
• Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
• JobSeeker Payment (JSP)
• Special Benefit (SpB)
• Youth Allowance (YA)

If a person has to suddenly leave Australia because of an acute family crisis, it has to be for the purpose:

• of visiting a family member who is critically ill
• of visiting a family member who is hospitalised with an illness which is serious
• relating to the death of a family member, or
• relating to a life-threatening situation facing the family member which is beyond their control

The acute family crisis provisions do not cover providing ongoing care for a family member. If the purpose of the trip is to visit an ill family member, it is understandable that a person may briefly provide some care or assistance during the visit. If the purpose of the trip is to visit and then take on caring responsibilities, payment may only be granted for the time that is considered to be a visit.

Note: see Resources for examples about acute family crisis situations.

The definition of a family member is restricted to the person's partner, parent, sibling or child. It may be extended to cover a person who fulfilled a similar role. For example, if someone was brought up by another person in a relationship that could be considered equivalent to a parent/child relationship. This decision can only be made by either the Service Support Manager or Business Manager of Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Customers must provide acceptable proof of the absence, preferably prior to their departure.

A Service Officer in CIS will determine whether payment can continue prior to evidence being received, if not, they will advise the customer an assessment will occur once acceptable proof of the absence has been provided.

Payment may be considered prior to evidence being received in the following circumstances:

• customer is travelling due to the recent death of a family member
• reason for travel would clearly meet grounds for payment and customer would be placed in significant hardship with suspension of payment. Note: these cases must be discussed with a Service Support Officer before approval

In all other cases, acceptable proof of absence should be provided prior to approving payment. This is to prevent unnecessary overpayments raised due to unacceptable evidence being provided. For this reason, the majority of assessments occur after the period of absence.

In instances where pre-approval is not granted, payment will be subject to general portability rules. Once acceptable proof of absence has been provided, assessment will be made and back payment issued to customer if applicable.

If approval has been made before receipt of evidence, the customer will be required to provide supporting documentation on their return. If the documentation is not acceptable or not provided, a debt will be raised.

The Service Officer in Centrelink International Services (CIS) will determine the specific negotiated period and advise the customer how long they may be paid while overseas.

The Portability Script - Departures and Returns will correctly assess the customer's entitlement to payment while outside Australia. If the script is available, coding the absence from Australia should be done using the script; see Coding departures and returns for customers leaving Australia.

Service centre and smart centre staff are responsible for handling the portability interview and any departure coding where a customer clearly does not satisfy an approved reason for travel. The Portability Script will guide service centre and smart centre staff when it is necessary to refer to Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Only designated CIS staff have the delegation to approve and record payment overseas for an approved reason.

The portability period starts on the day the customer leaves Australia. For portability purposes a person is not considered to be inside Australia for any part of the day they departed Australia regardless of the time of departure. If the customer is travelling outside Australia on a cruise, the date of departure is the date the ship leaves the last Australian port.

The day a person returns to Australia is not included as part of their absence as they are considered to be inside Australia on that day, regardless of the time of return, and therefore no longer affected by portability. If they leave and return on the same day, for example, airline crew, this is not considered a departure from Australia for portability purposes.

If a customer or child remains outside Australia after their payment has stopped for a portability related reason, continuation of payment on their return to Australia may be possible. Generally their payment can be automatically or manually restored if they return to Australia within 13 weeks of their payment stopping.

If the customer is unable to return to Australia after the maximum portability period, Centrelink International Services (CIS) has the discretion to extend portability period under limited circumstances.

The Department of Home Affairs generally advises when a customer or child leaves or returns to Australia. The Centrelink system uses the information to assesses the portability of payments and concession cards. The assessment will happen regardless of whether the customer has told Services Australia their travel details. Note: do not cancel Department of Home Affairs datalink activities.

Where the customer gives evidence they travelled on different dates, the agency should consider using those different dates, if both the following apply:

• the new dates are logical
• the results will be a better outcome for the customer

This most often happens if a customer passes through Australian customs on one day but the flight leaves the next day.

In many cases, customers do not have to tell the agency if they are leaving Australia temporarily for less than 6 weeks, or when they have returned from a temporary absence.

When customers do need to tell us about a departure before leaving Australia or when they have returned to Australia they can use the Travelling outside of Australia service. This service is in their Centrelink online account. If the travel or portability assessment is complex the online service will ask them to contact the agency.

Services Australia website lists when customers must tell the agency they are leaving or returning to Australia. The Resources page has a link.