Disclosing information to parents of Youth Allowance customers 104-01020020

Category

Description

1

Can YA customers give parents authority to enquire but limit what may be disclosed?

Yes. Both the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and Privacy Act 1988 allow disclosure of protected/personal information to a third party where the individual concerned has consented to the disclosure. The young person can put limits on what may or may not be disclosed.

To do this they must provide a written authority or give verbal consent to Services Australia. Consent, and limitations on that consent, should be recorded on a DOC on the computer record.

Consent can be given:

• Verbally during a phone call
• In a letter or statement from the YA customer
• When completing an online claim for YA
• When completing the Claim for Youth Allowance (SY001)
• By completing an Authorising a person or organisation to enquire or act on your behalf (SS313) form. Customers can appoint their parent as a nominee or person permitted to enquire. When a nominee is appointed, there is no stipulation over what information they can have access to, subject to the type of nominee arrangement (correspondence and/or payment). For more information, see Nominees

2

What if the YA customer is over 18 and the parent or partner does not have permission to enquire?

If the situation is such that implied authority cannot be used, Services Australia can still receive information from the parent/partner. However, as with other third parties that do not have permission to enquire, when the agency accepts personal information from this source, staff should be careful not to disclose information about the customer to the third party.