Calculating Centrelink entitlements and gathering information when investigating debts 107-03000000

There must be evidence to substantiate that a debt exists. Evidence is not limited to documentation scanned to the customer's record. Evidence includes, but not limited to:

• online updates, for example reporting paid income
• verbal information provided by the customer and documented by a Service Officer
• information transferred to the customer record by:
• an Employment Services Provider
• education institutions, and
• other electronic data transfers

Note: the customer does not have to provide physical evidence of these changes, unless stated on the Operational Blueprint. Updates documented by a Service Officer go through the usual Quality Online (QOL) checking processes. Staff should consider them accurate, unless there is evidence on the record to suggest an error has occurred.

Examine the available evidence to determine if an overpayment has occurred under the relevant legislation.

Three results can arise from an initial investigation:

• no recoverable debt
• recoverable debt raised, or
• recoverable debt raised and waived

The debt is usually the amount paid less the amount entitled within the debt period.

Work out the:

• period of the debt
• the rate during the period
• dates when the change/s in events happened
• actual amounts paid during the period
• amount the customer was entitled to
• any withholding adjustments and adjusting tax details

Confirm the debt amount is correct. The most common reasons for debts are:

• a loss of qualification
• a change to entitlement due to the income or asset tests

The debt raiser must:

• establish what the customer was actually paid, and
• calculate what the customer was entitled to be paid using information which has been verified

The difference between the two is the debt.

There are tools available to help staff in calculating debts.

Consider the application of a 10% debt recovery fee for working age payment debts.

Income affects payment components in the following order:

• Basic rate (plus any add-ons, including Youth Disability Supplement, other than those below)
• Pension Supplement basic amount
• Pension Supplement between basic and minimum amounts ('remaining portion')
• Rent Assistance
• Energy Supplement
• Pension Supplement minimum amount
• Pharmaceutical Allowance (PhA) and Telephone Allowance (TAL)

Note: Remote Area Allowance (RAA) is not reduced by income. If the Pension Supplement minimum amount is payable, the full Energy Supplement is payable.

The References page contains links to Accountable Authority instructions (AAIs).

Investigate if the customer is legally entitled to any underpayments before 'offsetting' the debt.

Calculate a customer's entitlement where there is a continuing entitlement at a reduced rate. For example, if a Parenting Payment Single (PPS) customer becomes partnered and remains qualified for a payment, like Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP):

• take the partner's income and assets into account, and
• determine the customer's entitlement to transfer to PPP during the relevant period

Alternatively, a debt may be raised for all PPS paid in a period where a person:

• became partnered
• has been given notice of the requirement to update their circumstances
• the partner's income information is not available, and
• they either:
• fail to inform Services Australia of information relevant to the change in relationship status, or
• misrepresent themselves while reporting and continues to receive parenting payment at the single rate

This is because the agency:

• does not have enough information to determine entitlement to PPP, and
• has enough information that the customer is not entitled to PPS from the date they became partnered