Assessing Parental Leave Pay (PPL) claims 007-07030020

For PPL to be paid, the customer must:

• meet all the PPL eligibility requirements
• submit an online claim or lodge a paper claim before the child's first birthday or anniversary of the date the child entered care if adopted (early claims may be lodged within the family assistance and PPL allowable early claim period)
• provide acceptable proof of birth or adoption
• provide all information and documentation required to assess the claim

For PPL claims for children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023, a person must have care of a child on their PPL days (Exception: this does not apply after a child has dies or was stillborn, or if care of the child is lost without legal authority). Birth mothers do not need to claim PPL first, or at all, in order for the other parent or partner to get PPL. Either parent or their partner can claim PPL first. All claimants must be eligible on their PPL days.

For PPL Claims for children born or adopted before 1 July 2023, customers will be assessed initially as a primary claimant. If primary claimant eligibility is not met, they will be assessed as a secondary claimant and in some cases a tertiary claimant.

Customers may apply for PPL and Family Tax Benefit (FTB) at the same time. Customers can choose to claim PPL or to have their entitlement to Newborn Supplement (NBS) and Newborn Upfront Payment (NBU) assessed with their FTB Part A. Customers can also choose to claim PPL even after NBS/NBU have been paid with FTB. See Claim choice for a newborn or adopted child.

FTB Part B is not payable on days that the customer is receiving PPL. To avoid an overpayment of FTB Part B while their PPL claim status is assessed awaiting employer acceptance (EIA) or registration (EIR), the customer will not be paid FTB Part B until the PPL claim is either granted or rejected. Once the employer acceptance is recorded, the customer will be granted PPL from the PPL start date or will be paid arrears of FTB Part B for this period.

For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023, FTB Part B will not be payable for PPL days which are claimed on a weekday (Monday to Friday). However, where a claimed PPL day falls on a weekend, FTB Part B will be payable.

Straight through processing is where a claim or service is assessed using criteria to identify if it is suitable for an automated grant outcome.

The system may process pre-birth claims for Parental Leave Pay (PPL) automatically if they meet certain criteria.

If a claim meets the criteria for an automated assessment, DOCs or Display Notes on the customer's record will show that ROXY has created these.

If it does not meet the business rules for an automatic assessment it will be allocated to staff to manually process.

Customer contact

If a customer asks for an explanation or applies for a formal review of the decision, the Service Officer must enter their own logon as the Decision Maker and the customer's local service centre when running the script.

If the claim was incorrectly granted, give feedback via ROXY.

Families Smart Centre Processing Services staff process claims. They process:

• PPL only claims in Process Direct
• FTB/PPL combined claims in Customer First

For overseas customers or where it is indicated the customer will depart overseas within 21 days of making the claim, claims are transferred to Families International Claims (FIC) to be finalised

In Process Direct

In Inbox, search for the Claim ID or Customer Reference Number (CRN). For paper claims, a Social Application (SOA) shell Work Item is generated. This new claim SOA activity contains no claim information apart from the CRN, personal details and the receipt date (date of claim).

In Customer First

In Workspace, use Online Claims > Search Online Claims. For paper claims, use Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) first to record claim details on the customer's record.

Once granted, PPL is paid at the national minimum wage rate for up to the maximum entitlement of PPL days.

PPL is not subject to income management.

Centrepay deductions can be arranged from PPL delivered by Services Australia. If delivered by the employer, the customer must negotiate voluntary deductions with the employer. The Rent Deduction Scheme is not available for PPL.

Once a customer’s claim for PPL is granted, the claim status will be:

• assessed (ASS), if initial eligibility criteria are met pending proof of birth/entry into care/placement, start date or further action from the employer
• current (CUR), on a day or during a period a customer is eligible and payable for PPL
• current at zero rate (CZR),where there is a break between payable PPL days