Assisting Indigenous customers to claim family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments 007-01030110

Service Officers can help Indigenous customers living in remote communities who have language or literacy barriers affecting their capacity to complete an online claim or use forms.

Service Officers can help these customers claim one or more of the following payments:

• Family Tax Benefit (FTB), which can include Newborn Supplement (NBS) and Newborn Upfront Payment (NBU) if the customer is not eligible for Parental Leave Pay for a newborn or adopted child
• Parental Leave Pay (PPL)
• Stillborn Baby Payment (SBP)

A customer must meet the following criteria for this assistance to be available:

• reside in a remote Indigenous community whose access to Services Australia is normally via an agent, Remote Service Centre or telephone
• identify as Indigenous
• have language or literacy barriers

Claims for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS)

If a customer needs help with claiming CCS/ACCS, Service Officers must complete an Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) if the customer:

• does not have access to a suitable device and/or the internet
• is not eligible to register for self service, or
• is deemed unable or unsuitable to complete an online claim

Customers are not required to meet the additional criteria noted above for Service Officers to complete an assisted claim. See Claiming Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS).

Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) can be run with Indigenous customers who have language or literacy barriers affecting their capacity to complete an online claim or use forms.

Before starting ACC, update the customer's personal details using the Change in Contact Details workflow as these questions are no longer asked in the ACC. If ACC has started before the workflow being run, the claim can be saved and updates made outside of the claim before submitting it.

If a customer cannot lodge their claim online, before the claim can be submitted, the customer will need to make a verbal signature declaration or sign and return a Families Declaration form (FDF).

For customers not eligible for this assistance, separate procedures apply. See:

• claiming family assistance and Parental Leave Pay (PPL) for a newborn child
• initial contact after a stillbirth
• claiming FTB as a lump sum for a previous financial year