Eligibility and coding claims for Double Orphan Pension (DOP) 007-06010010

DOP may be paid to a person or an Approved Care Organisation (ACO). DOP is not income or asset tested. The DOP and Bereavement Smart Centre Processing Team assess and code all DOP claims.

A separate procedure covers eligibility requirements for an ACO.

A double orphan is a child:

• under 16 years of age, or
• aged 16 to 19 who is in full time secondary education, and
• whose parents or adoptive parents have both died, or
• who has one parent dead and the other is:
• in long term imprisonment, or
• in a psychiatric hospital or nursing home on a long term basis, or
• 'uncontactable', that is, whose whereabouts are unknown, or
• who has been granted refugee status by the Australian Government (or is in similar circumstances to a refugee and has been admitted into Australia under an approved special humanitarian program), and has not at any time lived in Australia with either or both parents, and whose:
• parents are outside Australia, or
• parents' whereabouts are unknown

A person is eligible for DOP if they meet Australian residence requirements and:

• they have the care and control of a DOP child, and
• the child is an FTB child of the customer (or would be except prescribed education scheme payments are paid to or for the child)

If the customer has not already claimed Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A for the child, they must claim FTB before their DOP claim can be assessed. If the child is not an FTB child, they will not qualify as a DOP child.

Customers who share the care of a DOP child for at least 14% but less than 35% of the time will not be eligible for DOP. Advise the customer of their potential entitlement to ancillary benefits and to lodge a claim for FTB to test eligibility and be paid ancillary benefits.

To be eligible for DOP a customer must be residing in Australia and satisfy 1 of the following:

• have Australian citizenship
• hold a permanent visa
• hold a special category visa (subclass 444, either protected or not)
• the holder of a visa subclass 403 (granted under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility stream and the person has been approved for Family Accompaniment)
• be a certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments (there is no need for the customer to claim or otherwise qualify for SpB) and be in Australia

A customer who is outside Australia temporarily is generally considered to still be residing in Australia. See Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Paid Parental Leave scheme customer/child going overseas.

The Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP) does not apply to DOP.

A person can generally claim and be granted DOP while they are temporarily outside Australia. A person will not be eligible for DOP if they are overseas and any of the following apply:

• They are overseas for more than 6 weeks and original date of departure is on or after 1 July 2016
• They are overseas for more than 56 weeks and original date of departure was prior to 1 July 2016
• They are the holder of a certain temporary protection type visa
• They are the holder of a certain partner provisional type visa and is not overseas for an approved reason (for example, acute family crisis)
• They are the holder of a certain partner provisional type visa and has been overseas for any reason for more than 6 weeks

DOP cannot be paid for a child who is receiving another social security benefit, pension or Labour Market Program payment or a pension paid under Part II or IV of the Veterans' Entitlements Act.

However, DOP can be paid if the child or someone on behalf of the child receives a prescribed education scheme payment such as ABSTUDY.

A more advantageous payment may apply. Children 15 years of age or older may be classed as independent and eligible to receive Youth Allowance (YA) or ABSTUDY. Also, the customer may be eligible to receive a Double Orphan Pension through the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) which may be paid at a higher rate.

The DOP and Bereavement Smart Centre Processing team processes all claims. They will assess the customer's eligibility and grant or reject the claim as appropriate.

Customers can call the DOP Helpdesk. The Resources page contains contact details for the DOP helpdesk.

Service centre and Smart Centre staff can only process updates that do not affect DOP rates, for example, change of bank details. A warning appears when a customer's other entitlements are being reassessed. Refer these cases to the DOP and Bereavement Smart Centre Processing Team for review.

For most DOP claims, payment will be made from the date the claim is lodged. However, the start day may be backdated to the day of qualification if:

• a claim is lodged within 13 weeks of the birth of the child being cared for; or
• a claim is lodged within 13 weeks of the death of the person previously receiving DOP for the child

There may be occasions when a customer in vulnerable circumstances may not be able to lodge a claim at the time of their first contact with the agency. The customer then has 14 days to lodge a claim for the first contact date to be assessed as the start date for payment. See Intent to claim and vulnerable customers for further information.

Savings provisions apply to customers receiving DOP before 1 July 2008. Customers who have between 10-34% actual care of the child will be paid Double Orphan Pension (DOP) (base and additional component) based on the rate payable on 30 June 2008.

If a child became eligible for from 1 July 1998, an additional component of DOP can be paid. The DOP additional rate is the difference between the current carer's legislative rate of FTB Part A for the DOP child and the legislative rate of Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A received for the DOP child immediately before the child became a DOP child.

An Approved Care Organisation (ACO) cannot be paid the additional component.

Customers are required to provide evidence that the child is a DOP child.

If the customer cannot provide suitable verification, DOP Smart Centre Processing staff must confirm details if possible using information on the record and/or by contacting relevant third parties such as the hospital, prison or Births, Deaths and Marriages. Record the source of the information on a DOC.