Cancellation of Double Orphan Pension (DOP) 007-06020020

DOP payments can be cancelled automatically or manually, depending on the circumstances of the reassessment. Recording changes that lead to a loss of qualification should cancel the customer's DOP if they are also receiving Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or Parenting Payment (PP) for the child. In some cases, extra coding is required if the customer is receiving DOP only, or the child claims Youth Allowance (YAL) or Disability Support Pension (DSP).

Service Officers need to consider the changes in the customer's circumstances and decide whether the customer is still eligible for DOP or not, and discuss this with the customer in order to determine if they qualify for another social security payment.

For an automatic or manual cancellation, a letter will be sent to the customer advising the cancellation of payments, the reason for the cancellation and the customer's review and appeal rights.

For customers who are receiving Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Parenting Payment (PP) in addition to DOP, cancellation should occur automatically following reassessments where no continuing entitlement exists, e.g. when a child leaves care.

DOP is not automatically cancelled when a DOP child claims Youth Allowance (YA).

Where a Disability Support Pension (DSP) claim is lodged by a child aged 16-19 attracting DOP, auto cancellation will generally occur. If auto cancellation has not occurred, an open work item will be generated and sent to DOP for action.

Manual cancellations are only needed if DOP is not automatically cancelled as a result of the circumstance change. If DOP is the only payment the customer is receiving for the child, recording the circumstance change does not automatically cancel DOP. The DOP team will need to do further coding.

All DOP processing is done by the DOP Processing Centre. Service Officers send a Fast Note to DOP whenever:

• DOP is automatically cancelled as a result of recording changes on the customer record. Notify the cancellation and any related overpayments so these can be actioned by the DOP Processing Centre
• DOP is not cancelled automatically as expected or the customer is only receiving DOP