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Carer Specialist Assessment Team (CSAT) referrals for Carer Payment (CP) (child) 009-04070060

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This document explains the process for Service Officers when they are referring a Carer Payment (CP) child claim to the Carer Specialist Assessment Team (CSAT). The CSAT is a team of Centrelink Social Workers who help determine eligibility for CP claims that do not meet the qualifying threshold, or when the interpretation of the Care Needs Assessment (CNA) is unclear or is deemed too complex.

CSAT referrals

In some cases it may be necessary to refer a CP (child) claim to CSAT social workers for further assessment and a recommendation. Specific triggers will be identified by Service Officer's indicating the need to refer the claim to CSAT social workers, the CSAT social worker will investigate any additional evidence relating to the assessment of care load requirements.

Referral Triggers

  • Trigger 1: The qualifying Care needs Assessment (CNA) score is a 'near miss'. Where the Treating Health Professional (THP) score meets the required score, but the CNA score falls within an agreed 'near miss' threshold and the overall result is the claimant just misses out on a qualifying rating
  • Trigger 2: the system is unable to deliver a determination (for example in exchanged care cases with more than one former spouse) as the case may be of a complexity that requires specialist assessment by the CSAT social workers to clarify the care arrangements and to confirm that the arrangements are consistent with the constant care criteria
  • Trigger 3: the CNA validation process or the Service Officer has identified a need for the CSAT referral in circumstances that are unusual, unique or extreme, and where the consequence of not referring could lead to an inappropriate outcome

Referral prior to claim rejection

Referrals to the CSAT social workers meeting the above triggers must be made prior to the decision to reject CP (child) and should only be referred by the Service Officer who is processing the claim. If the carer is to be rejected due to other reasons, such as income or assets, the claim is not to be referred to the CSAT. The normal rejection processing protocols would occur.

CSAT assessment

When a trigger is identified as part of the CP (child) claim, the claim must be referred to the CSAT by the Service Officer. The CSAT social workers will undertake an assessment and provide a recommendation in a CSAT report. Delegation for decision making will reside with the Service Officer.

If the carer is claiming for both CP (child) and Carer Allowance (CA) (child) and the CSAT amended the qualifying rating, this will apply to both the CP (child) and the CA (child) assessment.

If the CSAT social worker is unable to contact the customer after 2 attempts, send a Q164 letter to the carer and request contact within 21 days of the date of issue. If no response, refer the claim back to the processing Service Officer for assessment based on the information already provided.

Service Officers document the record to note that the claim is not to be reassessed until the CSAT social work assessment has been completed.

The Resources page contains a list of referral reason codes, links to carer forms, and a link to the CSAT Office Locator page.