Checking the status of an early claim for family assistance and Paid Parental Leave scheme payments 007-02010020

If the customer has not lodged an early claim, advise them how they can lodge an early claim. See Initial contact for an early claim for family assistance and Parental Leave Pay (PPL).

Check if an early claim is awaiting assessment

In Process Direct:

• There will be a claim activity under the Transactions icon in the Customer Summary with keyword PRECLM
• To check, select the claim activity from the Transactions icon, within the claim, select the Keyword icon.

Is the customer's early claim awaiting assessment?

• Yes, check the progress DOC on the customer's record and advise customer of outcome. Procedure ends here
• No, the early claim may have been processed. Go to Step 2

An assessed early claim is indicated by a benefit status of PPL/ASS (assessed).

• In Customer First:
• Select Families Benefits > Families Summary
• Families Summary page example - early claim assessed, awaiting proof of birth
• View Early Claim Information details. The Benefit Status and Benefit List fields display payments the customer has claimed. These can include FTB or PPL
• In Process Direct:
• Via the Customer Summary and selecting the Benefit History icon

For example:

• Early Claim pending proof of birth/ entry into care:
• FTB/PND-POB
• PPL/ASS - PCB

Claims that have been assessed but are awaiting a future start date or further action from the employer or customer will have a claim status of:

• PPL assessed pending post birth claims codes include:
• PPL/ASS-EIR (PPL Assessed - Employer registration required)
• PPL/ASS-EIA (PPL Assessed - Employer acceptance required)
• PPL/ASS-ASD:
  - for a child born or adopted before 1 July 2023 -PPL Assessed - Awaiting nominated start date
  - for a child born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023 - PPL Assessed - Awaiting First PPL day
• PPL/ASS-AWP (PPL Assessed - Awaiting Permission days)
• PPL/ASS-ADN (PPL Assessed - Awaiting nomination of a PPL day)
• PPL/ASS-ADW (PPL Assessed - All PPL days have been withdrawn)

For more information on post birth claim assessed status, see Step 9 in the PPL Claims table of Assessing Parental Leave Pay (PPL) claims.

Does the early claim have a status of PPL/ASS?

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

Staff can view all Parental Leave Pay details in Process Direct. To do this:

• select the Customer Summary tile on the Process Direct landing page
• key the customer’s Customer Reference Number (CRN) and select Go
• key the relevant screen in the Superkey
• for screen details, see Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments
• for change in circumstances, see Customer notifies a change of circumstances for Parental Leave Pay (PPL)

For PPL/ASS-PCB claims, advise the customer following the birth of their child that they may be able to use the Express Plus Centrelink App or go online to provide their child's proof of birth.

Note: due to PPL Pre-birth claim automation, where the primary claimant is the biological father or partner of the birth mother, claims finalised as part of automation may assess as PPL/ASS-PCB and then the post-birth claim may auto reject (REJ) or be made non effective (NEF) due to:

• Additional circumstances not met (ACN)
• Primary claimant has claimed (PAO)

Attempt to contact the claimant to determine if the claim has been incorrectly lodged.

If the customer is subscribed to Desktop Messaging, send a pre-call notification SMS through Desktop Messaging before calling them. For pre-call messages, allow a lead-in time of 5 minutes in case there is a delay sending the message. If the claim was incorrectly lodged, assist the claimant to withdraw the claim. See Withdrawal of claims.

For a child born or adopted before 1 July 2023, if the primary claimant is the biological father or partner of birth mother, tell them they need to meet the exceptional circumstances criteria to be eligible for PPL. See Table 2, Step 1 Eligibility for Parental Leave Pay (PPL) as a primary claimant for children born or entering care before 1 July 2023.

The biological father or partner of birth mother may be eligible for PPL as a secondary claimant if the primary claimant is transferring their PPL entitlements (full or partial transfer).

Family assistance

Families Summary page example - early claim assessed, pending proof of birth

All relevant information for FTB early claims will display in Early Claim Information on the Families Summary page. Information will also display in the new claim DOC on the Activity List (AL) page. Procedure ends here.

Does the customer wish to report a change in circumstances for PPL or DAP?

• Yes, see Customer notifies a change of circumstances for Parental Leave Pay (PPL)
• No, procedure ends here

This is indicated by a benefit status of REJ (rejected) or NEF (not effective) on the Families Summary page. For example:

• FTB/WDR-POB (FTB Withdrawn/Voluntary Surrender)
• PPL/REJ-CLR (PPL Rejected - Withdrawn/Voluntary Surrender)

For a full list of codes, see:

• Cancellation, rejection, not effective, assessed and current zero rate codes for Parental Leave Pay (PPL)
• Cancellation, rejection and Current Zero Rate codes for Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
• Families Summary page example - early claim withdrawn

Claims lodged outside of allowable early claim period

If the claim was lodged outside the allowable early claim period, see:

• Not effective claim for PPL
• Not effective, rejection, or withdrawal of claim for Family Tax Benefit or Stillborn Baby Payment