Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Parental Leave Pay (PPL) customer/child going overseas 007-02080000

FTB, CCS, and PPL are not payable to customers who stop residing in Australia.

If a customer leaves Australia to live in another country, their family assistance cancels from the date of departure (reason: NRQ - not residentially qualified). If a child leaves Australia to live in another country, family assistance for that child stops from the date of departure.

There are no portability limits for CCS or PPL children. If a CCS or PPL child leaves Australia to live in another country, CCS or PPL will not stop for a portability reason. However, for:

• CCS, as CCS is only paid for child care provided in Australia, it would usually cancel after 26 weeks. This is because the child no longer attends an approved child care service in Australia
• PPL, the customer can only access PPL on days they are caring for the child. If a PPL child:
  • leaves Australia to live in another country without the PPL customer, the PPL customer no longer satisfies the caring for the child requirements for PPL
  • remains in Australia in the care of the partner or other parent, PPL may be payable to them if they have permission to claim PPL and have available days. See Paid Parental Leave (PPL) approval to claim and share PPL days

An absence is considered to be temporary if the customer continues to reside in Australia. A customer leaving Australia temporarily will generally continue to be entitled to FTB, CCS, and PPL for up to the maximum portability period, provided they are not affected by return rules.

Some customers can only receive payments overseas under approved absence rules.

If the customer or child cannot return by the end of their maximum portability period, Services Australia has the discretion to extend the portability period under certain circumstances.

If the customer’s payment is not portable for any reason, consider if the partner qualifies and can claim the payment.

FTB

FTB (both Part A and Part B) can generally continue for up to 6 weeks of a temporary absence of the customer and/or their child. At the end of this period FTB will cancel.

CCS

CCS can generally continue if entitlement exists for the first 6 weeks of an absence for the customer. CCS entitlement will stop being paid 6 weeks from the date of departure (CCS remains current, but entitlement will be nil (that is, subsidy % and the eligible hours will be zero)). CCS is not affected by child absences from Australia.

Any days a child is absent whilst overseas counts towards their CCS eligible 42 allowable absence days. Customers will be liable for full fees where the absence is an unapproved absence or a disregarded absence.

Note: if a CCS child has 14 continuous weeks of non-attendance at child care, their enrolment is automatically ceased. In these cases, a reassessment will occur. This will review the last day the child actually attended care, and the customer will not be eligible for any absent days after that day to the end of the enrolment. Any absent days the customer is no longer entitled will be recovered from the child care service, who in turn may pass this on the customer. For more information see Absences for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) and Enrolment requirements for Child Care Subsidy (CCS).

If the child has not attended a session of child care (including allowable absences), for which the customer is responsible for paying, at least once in the previous 26 week period, the customer will cease to be eligible for CCS for that child.

PPL

PPL can generally be paid to Australian residents, if entitlement exists, for up to 56 weeks of a temporary absence. PPL will cancel when the customer’s absence exceeds 56 weeks.

Note: the 56 week portability period starts from the date the customer leaves Australia regardless of whether they have a child in their care or are in receipt of family assistance or PPL at that time. Return rules can impact the start date of the 56 week period.

See Residence assessment for customers claiming Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and Parental Leave Pay (PPL).

Holders of some certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments can only be paid PPL overseas if they are travelling for an approved reason. Some other holders cannot be paid PPL overseas under any circumstances (see Approved absences for certain temporary visa holders, below).

If a customer loses eligibility for PPL overseas and they return to Australia within 2 years of the child’s birth/entry into care, they may be able to access any remaining PPL days if they meet residence requirements.

There are no portability rules for PPL children. However, PPL can only be paid if the child is in the care of the PPL customer. A customer is generally not eligible to access PPL days if the:

• customer travels outside Australia without the child, or
• child travels outside Australia without the customer

An exception may apply if the customer or child is travelling overseas for reasons beyond their control, such as a serious illness or medical treatment. The customer can access their PPL days if the Service Officer is satisfied they would otherwise be caring for the child. See Paid Parental Leave scheme child leaves customer's care/custody.

If the partner or other parent is not travelling, and has care of the child during this time, they may be able to access PPL days. See Paid Parental Leave (PPL) approval to claim and share PPL days.

The Resources page contains a table providing information about FTB and CCS portability periods and the effects on FTB and CCS rates and PPL rules.

A customer or child is deemed not to have returned to Australia for portability purposes, if they:

• are absent from Australia for more than 6 weeks
• return to Australia, and
• leave Australia again less than 6 weeks later

These are portability ‘return rules’, the original date of departure is used when a customer and/or child is affected by return rules.

FTB cancels as soon as the customer or their child leaves Australia temporarily:

• within 6 weeks of their last return to Australia, and
• the previous absence was longer than 6 weeks

CCS entitlement stops as soon as the customer leaves Australia temporarily:

• within 6 weeks of their last return to Australia, and
• the previous absence was longer than 6 weeks

For CCS children:

• return rules do not apply, and
• there are no portability limits

PPL cancels 56 weeks from the original date of departure if the customer leaves Australia temporarily:

• within 6 weeks of their last return to Australia, and
• the previous absence was longer than 6 weeks

For PPL children:

• return rules do not apply, and
• there are no portability limits

Note: although there are no portability limits for PPL children, PPL can only be paid if the child is in the care of the PPL customer. A customer generally cannot access PPL days if the:

• child travels overseas without the customer, or
• customer travels overseas without the child

This is because the customer does not satisfy the caring for the child requirements for PPL. Note: an exception may apply. See Paid Parental Leave scheme child leaves customer's care/custody.

If the partner or other parent is not travelling, and has care of the child during this time, they may be able to access PPL days. See Paid Parental Leave (PPL) approval to claim and share PPL days.

These return rules do not impact the customer's entitlement while they, or their child/ren, are physically in Australia between overseas trips.

Multiple trips can be an indication that the customer and or child is no longer residing in Australia. A customer is not eligible for payment if they stop residing in Australia.

If the customer’s payment is not portable for any reason, consider if the partner is qualified and can claim the payment.

The Resources page contains tables providing information about historical:

• FTB portability periods and the effects upon FTB rates, and
• Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate portability periods

Customers who hold a visa subclass 309, 785 (granted on or after 16 December 2014), 790 or 820 and are in receipt of FTB, CCS or PPL may continue to be paid (or access PPL days) for up to 6 weeks of a temporary absence if the absence is for an approved reason. The approved reasons are:

• an acute family crisis (such as the death of a family member or hospitalisation of a family member suffering a serious illness)
• humanitarian reasons (such as custody or adoption proceedings), or
• eligible medical treatment not available in Australia

Payments made to these customers are portable for a specific negotiated period (usually 2 to 3 weeks) up to a maximum of 6 weeks. These customers must be referred to Centrelink International Services (CIS) for assessment.

FTB, CCS and PPL customers who hold any other certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments are not payable for any reason if they leave.

If the customer’s payment is not portable for any reason, consider if the partner is qualified and can claim the payment.

Under limited and specific circumstances certain Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police (International Deployment Group) personnel who are deployed overseas may be entitled to an extension of portability for FTB, CCS, and PPL for up to 3 years. These cases must be referred to Centrelink International Services (CIS) for assessment.

The Department of Defence may cover any entitlements lost by defence force personnel and their families due to overseas absences/postings.

These customers may request a letter stating when their entitlement ceases (and the date from which the FTB reduction in rate occurred). The letter will enable the relevant Department of Defence HR department to calculate the shortfall and pay any lost entitlement if applicable. The information can be provided via a Q999 letter or the standard letter for any customer travelling overseas (XOB101 Portability Script letter).

Note: the Portability Script cannot be run for a CCS only departure, so the XOB101 needs to be done manually.

If a customer or child remains outside Australia after their payment has stopped for a portability related reason, continuation of payment on their return to Australia may be possible.

For CCS:

• payments will automatically recommence after the customer returns to Australia, provided they are still otherwise eligible
• if payments have already cancelled, customer will need to reclaim

If the customer is unable to return to Australia after the maximum portability period, Centrelink International Services (CIS) has the discretion to extend the period of portability under limited circumstances.

For PPL:

• customers who lose residence qualification when they depart Australia will have their PPL cancelled from the day they depart Australia
• Australian residents who are outside of Australia longer than 56 weeks, will have their payment cancelled after 56 weeks

If the customer returns to Australia within 2 years of their child’s birth/entry into care and is residentially qualified for PPL, they may be able to access their remaining PPL days.

The Department of Home Affairs generally advises when a customer or child leaves or returns to Australia. The Centrelink system uses the information to assesses the portability of payments and concession cards. The assessment will happen regardless of whether the customer has told Services Australia their travel details. Note: do not cancel Department of Home Affairs datalink activities.

Where the customer gives evidence they travelled on different dates, the agency should consider using those different dates, if both the following apply:

• the new dates are logical
• the results will be a better outcome for the customer

This most often happens if a customer passes through Australian customs on one day but the flight leaves the next day.

In many cases, customers do not have to tell the agency if they are leaving Australia temporarily for less than 6 weeks, or when they have returned from a temporary absence.

When customers do need to tell us about a departure before leaving Australia or when they have returned to Australia they can use the Travelling outside of Australia service. This service is in their Centrelink online account. If the travel or portability assessment is complex the online service will ask them to contact the agency.

Services Australia website lists when customers must tell the agency they are leaving or returning to Australia. The Resources page has a link.

The Portability Script - Departures and Returns will correctly assess the customer's entitlement to payment while outside Australia. If the script is available, coding the absence from Australia should be done using the script. If the customer's child is leaving Australia without the customer, the script cannot be used.

Service centre and Smart Centre staff are responsible for handling the portability interview and any departure coding:

• where a customer clearly does not satisfy an approved reason, or
• where they are departing to live in another country

The Portability Script - Departures and Returns cannot be used for CCS or child only absences for any payment. Staff must manually code departure and return details for customers who cannot notify of their departure from Australia via the Travelling outside of Australia service within their Centrelink online account.

A customer's portability period starts on the day they leave Australia. For portability purposes, a customer is not considered to be inside Australia for any part of the day they departed Australia, regardless of the time of departure If the customer is travelling outside Australia on a cruise, the date of departure is the date the ship leaves the last Australian port.

The day a customer returns to Australia is not included as part of their absence as they are considered to be inside Australia on that day regardless of the time of return, and are no longer affected by portability. If they leave and return on the same day, for example, airline crew, this is not considered a departure from Australia for portability purposes.