Change of circumstances for Carer Allowance (CA) 009-03070000

Service Officers must determine the continuing entitlement to Carer Allowance (CA) when a carer advises of a change in their circumstance. There are possible consequences when a change of circumstance is notified for carers who are in receipt of CA.

Carers are advised of what they must notify in their grant notification letter and on the back of each reassessment letter sent to them.

Following is a list of the types of changes a carer must advise. As circumstances vary for each carer, this list is not exhaustive.

Changes of circumstances that may require an update to a carer’s record include any change to:

• employment
• contact details, including changes to address and/or telephone number
• residence status
• temporary absence (for example, care receiver commencing education, employment or training)
• temporary cessation of care (respite) and hospitalisation
• the care receiver’s condition or amount of care provided
• relationship status
• in receipt of an account-based income stream if the account holder is 60 years of age or older
• Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI) for the previous financial year - if this was $250,000 or more (including deemed income from account-based income streams)

All customers are required to notify Services Australia of a change of address within 14 days of moving.

When CA (child) is paid, care and attention must be provided in a private home that is the residence of the carer and the care receiver. CA (adult) can be paid under 2 different provisions of the Social Security Act. Under section 954, care and attention must be provided in a private home that is the residence of the carer and the care receiver. Under section 954A, CA (adult) may be paid if the care is provided in the private home of either the carer or care receiver.

A review must be carried out if either person notifies a change of address, to ensure the carer is still eligible.

In cases where a carer’s mail has been returned from an address that is still held on the department's records, an attempt must be made to contact the carer or their Correspondence nominee by phone.

If the correct address details cannot be obtained, the attempts to contact should be recorded on the carer’s record, and payment suspended whereabouts unknown.

CA CPI activities normally auto-complete, but can fail for several reasons, including:

• changes of circumstance that prevent auto-completion
• cessation of care or a carer link being end-dated

If a CA CPI activity presents, staff need to attempt to complete the activity in the first instance. Some activities will complete without any issues when taken to the Assessment Results (AR) screen.

For other activities, the CA CPI activity can result in a cancellation of the customer’s payments, causing a potential overpayment. Investigate these outcomes the same as any overpayment. Consider if:

• care has ended
• a carer link was end-dated and why
• there were other changes in circumstances

Carer processing staff are to email business.process.carers for investigation when unsure of the reason:

• the record is cancelling, or
• an overpayment is being created in the provisional Activity

Do not complete these activities until the cause for cancellation/overpayment has been determined and investigated.

When a cause for cancellation or overpayment has been determined, processing staff must action the records accordingly. If there is an overpayment, start normal debt recovery actions and document all actions on the customer’s record.

Note: do not place these activities on hold.