Explaining and actioning negative adjustments on the Assessment Results (AR) screen 107-02020030

If a negative adjustment results from a reassessment of a customer’s record, it is the responsibility of the Service Officer undertaking the reassessment to:

• advise the customer of the result, and
• explain how the overpayment has occurred

Do not advise a customer of negative adjustments with a value of less than $50 (LTF) which will be automatically waived.

At the AR screen, find:

• Adj From (Adjustment From) date
• Adj To (Adjustment To) date, and
• the negative amount (-$)

Example:

• Should the change in circumstances result in a decrease to the customer's rate?
• Does the start and end date of the negative adjustment correspond with the updates made?
• Has the customer met their notification obligations?

Before finalising the activity, Service Officers must advise the customer verbally of the unfavourable decision, see Advising verbally of an unfavourable decision.

Example - earnings scenario

Customer met their notification obligations and received their fortnightly payment, based on nil income declared. Customer then contacted to advise of a correction (increase) to the nil income previously declared.

• Example explanation
  On <Date> you reported online, indicating no income from employment had been paid to you within the reporting period <Entitlement Period Start Date (EPSD) to Entitlement Period End Date (EPED)>. The rate of <Payment Type> paid to you was assessed on this information. As you have now advised that you were paid <$ amount paid> on <Date Paid>, a reassessment of your entitlement for this period has identified that you were paid more than you were entitled to receive. This has resulted in a debt of $<Amount>

Example - assets scenario

Customer advised of an update to their assets. Customer failed to report the change in circumstances within the notification period.

• Example explanation
  On <Date of Event (DOV)> your assets increased. As the increase in assets was not advised within your notification period, a reassessment of your entitlement has occurred. This has identified you have been paid more than you were entitled to receive for the period <Date of Event (DOV) to last EPED>. This has resulted in a debt of $<amount>

Check the result is correct before finalising the activity.

Note: this process does not apply to adjustments on the AR screen for Child Care Subsidy (CCS). These adjustments (either negative or positive) cannot be amended.

Has the activity that has caused the negative adjustment been coded correctly?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, correct the coding and check the result on the AR screen. Consult technical support staff if required. Procedure ends here

Is the negative adjustment amount less than $50?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

Waive qualification debts less than $50.

Income support payment debts less than $50 are automatically waived.

FTB qualification debt less than $50

In the Debt Action field, from the drop down box select:

• 'WVD' Waived Note: only use WVD for FTB qualification related debts
• an Act Reference is required for a manual small debt waiver
• no undetermined debt activities will generate for waived debts

FTB income related debt less than $50

These are debts are included in the FTB reconciliation process. Staff must refer these debts to debt staff for further action/investigation

In the Debt Action field, from the drop down box select either:

• 'INV' Investigation required
• 'CAL' Debt calculated (Use this code if the debt activity will be actioned by the person finalising the reassessment activity)

Selecting 'INV' or 'CAL' creates a debt activity which is allocated to debt staff via Work Optimiser.

Procedure ends here.

See Finalised 'no debt' (FND) or 'zeroing' debts that are not legally recoverable to determine if a recoverable debt exists. This includes updates to parental income for dependent Youth Allowance (YA) customers.

If the determination is:

• no legally recoverable debt exists, go to Step 5
• a negative adjustment amount
• needs corrective action (reduction), before raising a debt, go to Step 6
• is correct and the debt is to be raised, go to Step 8

If the negative adjustment:

• has been created due to a system error, register the Customer Reference Number (CRN) with mySupport for systems investigation to resolve the error causing the negative adjustment. Procedure ends here
• is an excess payment that is not a legally recoverable debt, the negative adjustment amount can be changed manually

To make adjustments to an overpayment or arrears from the AR screen:

• exit the activity
• from the Activity List (AL) screen, select the activity to display a list of possible actions
• select the AR screen to finalise the activity
• select the Period Rates Summary (RATS) screen from the options menu on the left hand side of the AR screen
• identify which negative adjustment line(s) are incorrect. Key 'R' against the appropriate line(s)
• press [Enter]

To zero negative adjustment:

• key 'Y' in the Zero all Adjs box
• in the Man Adj Rsn field, key ADJ. Service Officers in specialist teams may use other codes
• repeat steps for all periods where the negative adjustments require correction. Use [F10]/[F11] keys to scroll through the adjustment periods
• continue to the AR screen and DOC the reason the negative adjustment was set to zero

To reduce the negative adjustment amount:

• under the Daily Rate Component (RAC) details, key the amount required in the Man Adj $ field and select appropriate reason from the drop down box
• repeat steps for all periods where the negative adjustments require correction. Use [F10]/[F11] keys to scroll through the adjustment periods
• continue to the AR screen, and DOC the reason the negative adjustment has been changed

ABSTUDY, Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme and Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) debts will not auto-waive and must be investigated.

Code the Debt Action field on the ASC screen:

• 'INV' if investigation is required. All debt activities contain keywords for Workload Management (WLM) allocation. Procedure ends here
• 'WVD' if the adjustment is to be waived. Debts under $50 will waive automatically (except family assistance small debts). Procedure ends here
• 'CAL' Debt calculated if the debt will be actioned by the person finalising the activity

Where 'INV' or 'CAL' are selected, some Income support payment debts are automatically raised. These are debts for a period of one fortnight or less identified within earnings/stimulus updates. Advise the customer of the overpayment amount at the time of the update.

If the overpayment includes a one off payment, the debt will not be automatically raised. For example:

• a Start-up Scholarship (SSS)
• Relocation Scholarship (RS), or
• Carer Supplement (CS) payment

The customer is not sent an advice about a debt until it has been determined. Do not suppress advices on the ASC screen. This will stop the notification of cancellations and rate reductions.

After investigation, if:

• a legally recoverable debt exists but full or partial recovery of the debt is to be waived, see Waiving Centrelink debts
• a legally recoverable debt is identified, see Action the undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)
• no debt exists, the debt should be finalised, no debt 'FND, see Finalised 'no debt' (FND) or 'zeroing' debts that are not legally recoverable

Record details of action on a DOC, see:

• Creating reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)
• Online Document Recording (ODR)

IEA debts:

• occur when earnings are updated by staff or a customer using digital services where the customer has initially under-declared or failed to report their employment income
• are automatically raised by the system from earnings coded, and
• have a duration, that is, a debt period from 1 to 14 days

To check an IEA debt, view the following screens and details:

• Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) screen:
• Period of the debt – 14 days – Start and End dates
• Debt Reason IEA, ICA, IPA, or ISA
• Debt Activity ID (AMR) – OPMA screen
• Payment Summary (PS) screen:
• Entitlement Period matches debt period
• Entitlement period end date – reporting date for STM customers
• Reporting History (RPRH) screen:
• Date report completed
• AMR for report
• Employment Income Paid Details (EAPP) screen:
• What earnings were initially declared in report AMR
• What earnings were declared in Debt AMR
• Have further corrections to the earnings been made following the Debt AMR

Review Payment Summary (PS) screen and check ‘Type’ recorded for specific debt period. Type may be recorded as:

• Stm
• Stm+OTP
• Late Stm
• Reg

Note: Late Stm alone does not cause an overpayment as a STIM customer does not get paid until they report.

It is possible when the customer reported, they declared no income or an amount that was later corrected.

Check the reporting period and AMR previously determined via the Reporting History (RPRH) screen.

A notification reporter:

• will have no report showing on RPRH screen
• may incorrectly have a debt raised with the reason code IEA from 7 December 2020 if:
• they report earnings paid within their 14 day notification period, and
• the report is made after the end of the entitlement period in which the amount was paid. See the Resources page in Using the correct date of effect when raising debts

On the Event Summary (ES) screen, in Act ID field, key the source AMR for the debt.

This will display the date the activity was completed and the User Id of who completed the update.

The User Id, will show:

• a logon, for updates completed by staff
• a CRN, for updates completed by the customer or partner via digital services

On the ES screen, ‘S’elect the relevant Activity to navigate to the Assessment Results (AR) screen.

Press [Enter) again to view the Event Circumstance Selection (ECS) screen.

The ECS screen shows the:

• screens updated
• Date of Receipt
• date the update was completed

In the View All Screens field, key Y.

Is the Employment Paid (EAPP) screen displayed?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No:
• navigate to Employment Income Details (EAN) screen
• select employer
• go to Step 6

The EAPP screen displays the:

• relevant AMR and the coding completed
• Channel type (CSO, IVR or WEB)

If the AMR is showing as Deleted by a later AMR (for example, 930D1014), this may mean the coding has changed and further investigation is required to ensure the debt is correct.

Is the Debt AMR deleted?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

If the Debt AMR, has been deleted by another AMR, review the debt to ensure it is still correct. See:

• Debt investigation
• Debt identification
• Calculating Centrelink entitlements and gathering information when investigating debts

If adjustments to the debt are required:

• staff with debt raising responsibility, action the adjustments
• all other staff, use the appropriate Fast Note to refer the case to the relevant Debt team. See the Resources page in Debt ownership for referral details

From the results of the investigation, advise the customer the:

• date they completed their initial Earnings income report
• details of the earnings they declared (employer, amount etc)
• update that occurred after the initial earnings income report
• outcome of the update:
• debt details (debt period, debt amount), and
• the reason it was raised

Give the customer their internal review options.

Arrange withholdings to recover the IEA debt, see Procedures for arranging withholdings to recover debts.