Not effective, rejection or withdrawal of claim for Parental Leave Pay (PPL) 007-07030160

Requirements include:

• It has been lodged within the allowable early claim period
• It is signed and made on the approved claim form or via the Online Services
• The following information or documentation is provided by the customer:
• their Tax File Number (TFN)
• their bank account details
• the expected date of birth and primary care dates
• the customer's nominated start date (for children born or adopted before 1 July 2023 only)
• information and evidence (if required) for the residence assessment
• information about the PPL work test
• information about the PPL income test
• their employer's Australian Business Number (ABN) if required (Note: in some instances, the employer may not be required to have an ABN)

Requirements include:

• It is made on the approved claim form or online
• the claim must be lodged within 52 weeks of the child's date of birth or entry into care
• All information and documentation required to assess the claim have been provided by the claimant, such as:
• proof of birth
• the nominated start date for primary claimants
• the child's details, such as name, actual date of birth and birth registration information
• bank details
• Tax File Number (TFN)
• information and evidence (if required) for the residence assessment
• information about the PPL work test
• information about the PPL income test

For children born or adopted before 1 July 2023:

• to get the maximum PPL period the customer must claim and start their PPL period within the time limits for claiming the maximum PPL period
• For primary claimants and secondary claimants that are being transferred some or all of the PPL period the claim must be lodged within 52 weeks of the child's date of birth or entry into care
• For secondary claimants that are claiming some or all of the primary claimant’s Flexible PPL days only:
• the primary claimant’s claim must be lodged within 52 weeks of the child’s date of birth or adoption
• the secondary claimant’s claim must be lodged within 104 weeks of the child’s date of birth or adoption

Requested information must be provided within 14 days (21 days for remote area or overseas customers) of a claim being lodged, unless the customer is required to return bank account (payment destination) details and/or TFN, in which case all forms and documents are to be returned within 28 days.

The customer can apply for a formal review of the decision that made the claim Not effective (NEF). If the claim is still found to be NEF, a new claim must be lodged. However, if the claim was NEF because it was lodged too late, a new claim would still be too late and would be NEF.

If the claim is not effective a determination cannot be made about the customer's entitlement. The customer must be told:

• why the claim is not effective, and
• they may have to lodge a new claim to be assessed for payment

Note: if a PPL claim is made NEF the employer determination will be revoked and an Employer Obligation Ceased letter is automatically generated to the employer.

When the customer provides the requested information to make an effective claim, the PPL claim can be re-indexed from the date the new information has been provided. An employer determination for this claim is generated and employer response is again required. Employers may query the receipt of an Employer Obligation Ceased letter and the second employer determination.

Customers must meet the eligibility requirements to avoid claim rejection. Claims will either be automatically rejected according to details recorded on the customer's record, or manually rejected when assessing the claim.

A claim for PPL must be rejected if:

• the customer is the biological parent of the child and they have not registered or applied to register the birth of the child (failure to provide all post birth details for child, including proof of birth results in a claim being made NEF)
• the customer is not the carer of the child (an exception applies if care of the child was relinquished as part of the process of adoption or surrogacy)
• the full PPL entitlement, Newborn Supplement (NBS) or Stillborn Baby Payment (SBP) has already been paid for the child
• the PPL work test is not met. For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023, the Approval Giver must meet the PPL work test even if they are not claiming PPL for the child
• the PPL income test is not met
• the customer does not satisfy Australian residence requirements

Note: if PPL has already been claimed by the customer, but the full entitlement has not been paid for the child, the claim will automatically be made NEF or REJ, depending on the circumstances.

Notification will be provided to the customer for all not-effective and rejected claims, explaining the reason for the decision and action the customer must take.

Note: if:

• an Approval Seeker’s claim rejects because the Approval Giver does not meet the PPL work test,
• the rejection notification will advise the Approval Seeker that the Approval Giver did not meet the PPL work test

If the Approval Seeker contacts, Service Officers:

• can tell them their claim has not been granted due to the Approval Giver not meeting the PPL work test, as outlined in the letter
• cannot tell them which aspect of the work test the Approval Giver did not meet

Customers may withdraw an effective claim for PPL at any time before their payment status is CURrent for that child. For example, a customer can withdraw their pre-birth claim as this has only had an eligibility determination. The payability determination is completed at the post birth claim assessment.

A customer can withdraw their claim in writing, verbally, or online.

When a customer chooses to withdraw a claim, the claim is taken never to have been made. The claim is indexed and then coded Not effective (NEF).

Some customers may submit a claim more than once for the same payment and child in error. These duplicate claims should be assessed as either not effective or rejected depending on the circumstances. The online claim helps to prevent this duplication of claims.