Shared care for social security payments 007-02050000

In a shared care arrangement, a child is jointly cared for by 2 or more people who are not members of the same couple. If a child spends time, for example on weekends or school holidays, with someone else (such as their other parent if the parents are separated), each carer can be deemed to have a shared care arrangement.

A shared care assessment must be completed in all cases, even if:

• only one person is claiming income support, or
• each person has another qualifying child solely in their care

The shared care assessment will determine:

• the principal carer status
• a customer's entitlement
• the income test applied for ongoing entitlements for single principal carers

For customers with shared care arrangements, who are not the principal carer, may be entitled to a 'with child' rate of payment for:

• JobSeeker Payment (JSP)
• Youth Allowance (job seeker)
• Special Benefit (SpB)

Service Officers need to ensure the change in care is not a temporary change in care. For more details on temporary changes, see Child leaves customer's care/custody.

Customers may become eligible as a principal carer due to an increase in their level of shared care of a child. In such cases, confirm the care arrangement with the other person caring for the child. Investigate all notifications of a change in care by gathering relevant information from both customers (even if customers are reporting a reduced level of care for themselves).

A principal carer is a person with the primary care of a dependent child under the age of 16 years. A step parent may qualify as a principal carer if they live as a member of a couple with the parent of the child.

In shared care situations, Service Officers:

• complete a shared care assessment to determine which carer is the principal carer of the child
• tell each person in writing which carer is the principal carer of the child, even if
• one carer has not claimed income support, or
• each member of a couple is claiming or receiving a social security payment based on, or affected by them being a principal carer of a child

In most cases, the person with the greater degree of care and control of the child is the principal carer of that child. A person may remain as the principal carer of a child during a temporary absence from caring for the child.

Customers may be entitled to the following extra assistance when they have a child in their care, including:

• being assessed as a principal carer, or
• having a dependent child in care where the care is shared care or regular care

Regular care entitles a customer to extra assistance even when the dependent child definition is not met.

Parenting Payment

The person considered the principal carer of the child may qualify for Parenting Payment (PP) if they have an eligible child in their care:

• under 6 years of age for Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP) or
• under 14 years of age for Parenting Payment Single (PPS)

An additional child income free area may be available for PPS customers who have a dependent child in their care, but who are not considered the principal carer of that child. The customer does not need to have a minimum percentage of care for the child, providing they continue to have at least one child under 14 in their principal care.

JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (YA) and Austudy with principal care

The person considered the principal carer of the child may qualify for a higher 'with child' rate if they are (single, for JSP) and have a child in their care aged under 16 years

• Single principal carers:
• access a more generous Income Test. Payment reduces by 40c for each $1 above $150. See Background Page, Effect of Income test in Income Test for Single allowance customer
• have reduced participation requirements
• are entitled to a Pensioner Concession Card, and may be entitled to:
  Telephone Allowance (TAL) and,
  Pharmaceutical Allowance (PHA)

JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (YA) and Austudy without principal care

The 'with child' rate may be payable to customers who do not have principal care, but have at least 14% care (regular care) of a child. The child must meet the definition of a dependent child under social security law.

• Customers with a dependent student child from 16-21 years of age inclusive may also continue to receive the 'with child' rate. Children aged 22 years and older are considered independent

Special Benefit (SpB) with principal care

The person considered the principal carer of the child may qualify for a higher 'with child' rate if they are single and have a child in their care aged under 16 years.

• Customers have:
• access to a separate income test where they can earn more before income affects their payment, and
• have reduced participation requirements, and
• access to the Pensioner Concession Card

Special Benefit (SpB) without principal care

The 'with child' rate may be payable to customers who do not have principal care but have at least 30% care of a child.

Note:

• where the change in care relates to a child receiving Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY as a dependent, the parent for the purposes of the Parental Means Test may have also changed. See Principal carer of a dependent child
• 'regular care' child is a child in their care for more than 14% of the time

Customers may be eligible to claim family assistance for children in their care, and Child Care Subsidy (CCS) to help with the costs of child care.

Customers caring for a child from a previous relationship may need to take action to obtain child support to receive more than the base rate of FTB Part A for a child. See Contact in relation to an intended claim (CLK).

Confirmation of change of care

A mandatory attempt to confirm the change of care with the previous carer must be made by Families specialist staff. This is to ensure:

• payments are made to the correct person
• each customer receives their correct entitlements, and
• to reduce the need for reviews

If the previous carer has not notified the change of care, or there is disagreement over the care arrangement, the customer must give evidence to support the actual care arrangements.

Process claims quickly to:

• reduce any overpayment for the previous carer, and
• to ensure the customer claiming is not disadvantaged

If a change of care is:

• temporary, the current customer may remain the principal carer of the child and entitled to payments for the child during the absence, see Child leaves customer's care/custody
• part of a pattern of care (care of the child is shared between 2 or more people over a certain period), a shared care assessment may be needed. The customer may wish to claim a shared care income support payment, see Contact in relation to an intended claim (CLK)
• disputed, a customer may:
• continue to receive FTB for the child for a period between 4 and 52 weeks
• remain the principal carer if the child has left their care without their consent or, if it is disputed care. See Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefits (FTB)

For changes in care that occur on or after 1 July 2012, apply discretion to disputed care and left care without consent cases. To:

• decide the percentage of care be immediately based on the actual level of care, if
• there are special circumstances that support that outcome. See Child out of care without consent

A mutual customer of family assistance and Child Support can tell Services Australia of changes to their care arrangements. After making the care determination, the care information is transferred for the assessment of family assistance and child support entitlements.

If the customer notifies Services Australia of changes to their care arrangements and an update to an existing shared care assessment is needed. This may affect the customer’s income support entitlement.

If the customer notifies Child Support of a change, the percentage of care is assessed and transferred across from Child Support, a revised decision may be needed for social security purposes.