Change of care for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) 007-07040070

Calendars

Note: final school term end dates may differ and not all regional holidays have been included in the calendars. For more information on term dates, public holidays and regional holidays relevant to individual states and territories, see External websites below.

These calendars may be issued to customers.

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2025 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2024 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2023 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2022 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2021 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2020 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2019 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2018 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2017 shared care calendar

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ 2016 shared care calendar

External websites

See the below websites to find upcoming dates for Australia's state and territory government schools and/or public holidays.

National Public holidays

Fair Work Ombudsman > Public holidays

State and territory websites for public school dates

NSW

NSW Government > Education > Schooling > Calendars

VIC

School term dates and holidays in Victoria | (www.vic.gov.au)

Department of Education South Australia > For parents and families > Term dates calendars

Department of Education WA > Learning and support > At school > Term dates

QLD

Queensland Government Education > About us > Calendar

Tas

Tasmanian Government - Department for Education, Children and Young People > Learning > Term dates and holidays

NT.GOV.AU > Education and learning > Primary and secondary students > School term and holiday dates in NT

ACT

ACT Government Education > Public School Life >Term dates and public holidays

Letter template for Q999 - Change in shared care, previous carer not in receipt of FTB

Q999 - Change in shared care, previous carer not in receipt of FTB

Letter text for Q999 - Care assessment rejected, FTB current customer

Dear <customer name>

A determination has been made regarding (your/your partner's) request for a change of care assessment for (AFFECTED CHILD NAME/S). After carefully considering the circumstances and all available information, a decision has been made that (your/your partner's) care has not changed. As a result, your rate of Family Tax Benefit will not change. This is because (REASON FREE TEXT).

Information you should know

If you would like to speak to us in a language other than English, please call 131 202.

Information you should know

If you have any questions or would like more information, please go to our website servicesaustralia.gov.au or call us on the number shown at the top of this letter.

{Manager Name}

{Manager Services Australia}

Include the Appeal paragraph (select option 1)

Include the Privacy Act paragraph (select option 1)

Letter template for Q888 - CCS/ACCS RFI

Q888 - CCS ACCS RFI

Intranet links

mySupport

Examples of legal responsibility and temporary care provisions for FTB

Table 1

Initial carer	New carer	Forced removal (either by Child Services or Law Courts) or voluntary	Example length of time	Who receives FTB
Parent/carer's care	Youth Justice Centre (detention centre/Prison)	Forced - formal change in care. This is a court ordered incarceration.	1 or more days	Youth Justice Centre - as they have legal responsibility transferred to them. Not an FTB child of the individual.
Parent/carer's care - child only arrested	Youth Justice Centre or a local watch house	Neither - no change in care	2-3 days	Parent - as they retain legal responsibility - the child has been arrested but not found guilty and sentenced.
Parent/carer's care	ACO - Foster Care agency (for example, Barnardo's or The Smith Family)	Forced - formal change in care	1 or more days	ACO - as they have legal responsibility transferred to them. Not an FTB child of the individual.
Parent/carer's care	ACO - Foster Care agency (for example, Barnardo's or The Smith Family)	Voluntary - informal change in care	21 days	Parent - as they retain legal responsibility, but are requesting a break/support.
ACO (a) to ACO (b)	ACO (b) - Foster Care agency (for example, Barnardo's)	Forced - formal change in care	14 days	ACO (b) - ACOs are only paid when the child is in their care.
Youth Justice Centre (a) to Youth Justice Centre (b)	Youth Justice Centre (b)	Forced - formal change in care	17 days	Youth Justice Centre (b) - ACOs are only paid when the child is in their care.
ACO	Foster care	Forced and/or Voluntary - formal change in care	Unknown	New Foster carer - as responsibility of the child has been delegated to the new carer - the ACO retain legal responsibility but payment moves to the foster carer.

Examples of evidence to support a care arrangement

Table 2

Evidence provided	Outcome
Court orders	Court orders are a formal change in care, care arrangements can be assessed with a court order as evidence.
Formal letter from foster agency	Formal letters from a child protection agency or foster care agency are a formal change in care, no further evidence is required to complete the change of care. Letters must be on letterhead, include the child's name, the new carers name and the date the care placement started.
Informal letter from foster agency	Informal letters from a foster care agency can support a change in care with further evidence or advise the care is not a change but temporary care (e.g., respite care). If the informal change in care is temporary care (28 days or less and the child has not been forcibly removed), see Child leaves customer's care/custody.
Informal change in care and co-signed/not co-signed FA012 only (no additional evidence)	Additional evidence is required to support the care arrangement and confirm there has been a change in care when: the gaining carer is a grandparent, relative or friend, and there is no court order or formal foster carer letter Where evidence is not provided, the care decision should be rejected.
Informal change in care and co-signed FA012 plus documentation provided	Where the Service Officer is satisfied the evidence provided supports the change of care, the care decision can be made. If the Service Officer is unsure if a change of care has occurred, they can request further evidence. If Service Officers are still unable to confirm if a change of care has occurred after further evidence has been provided, the care decision should be rejected and clearly documented.
Informal change and the losing carer advised verbally (no documentation)	Additional evidence is required to support the care arrangement and confirm there has been a change in care when the gaining carer is a grandparent, relative or friend and there is no court order or formal foster carer letter. Where evidence is not provided, the care decision should be rejected.

P24845 problem and workaround

The P24845 system issue may impact in the following scenarios:

Where a step parent is claiming FTB that has been transferred to them from a biological parent, who is also a mutual Child Support Customer, and the other biological parent also becomes entitled to receive FTB for any level of care
Where the biological parent transfers their FTB to a step parent and they later separate. Care details for the child will not be transferred correctly to Child Support if a past period care refresh is requested
The care may transfer to the step parent's child support record (with incorrect child relationship details) causing inaccurate child support assessments and impacting multiple parties

As a result, where FTB is transferred out to partner ('TOP' is keyed on the Child Override/Claim (CHOC) screen - from parent to step parent) and the customer is a Centrelink and Child Support mutual customer, these records are to be referred for investigation. See the Process page of Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for further information on workaround and text for Display on Access (DOA) DOCs.

Child - Change in Care Arrangement script standard letters

See also: Child - Change in Care Arrangements script

Table 3

Letter code	Letter details	When to use each letter
Q805	Shared Care Grant (Agreed full %)	Use this letter to advise carers of the shared care decision based on either evidence provided from all carers or agreement between all carers.
Q806	Shared care Grant – No third party response	Use this letter to advise carers of a shared care decision based on evidence provided by one of the carers only. That is, where the other carer has not responded to a request for evidence.
Q807	SSA Shared Care Principal Carer Determination	This letter must be sent to all carers in a shared care arrangement, where at least one carer is claiming/receiving an income support payment. The letter advises which carer is determined as the principal carer of the child/children.
Q808	SSA Couple Principal Carer Determination	This letter must be sent to members of a couple advising which parent is determined as the principal carer of the child/children.
Q810	Your care arrangement - Request for information	Use this letter to request information and/or evidence about care arrangements from any carer. This can also be used for shared care dispute cases.

Standard letters- Process Direct

Table 4: this table describes the standard letters available for issue via the Correspondence (CORRO) screen > Issue correspondence dropdown in Process Direct

Letter Code	Letter details	When to use each letter
Q805	Shared Care Grant (Agreed full %)	Use this letter to advise carers of the shared care decision based on either evidence provided from all carers or agreement between all carers.
Q806	Shared care Grant - No third party response	Use this letter to advise carers of a shared care decision based on evidence provided by one of the carers only i.e. where the other carer has not responded to a request for evidence.
Q807	SSA Shared Care Principal Carer Determination	This letter must be sent to all carers in a shared care arrangement, where at least one carer is claiming/receiving an income support payment. The letter advises which carer is determined as the principal carer of the child/children.
Q808	SSA Couple Principal Carer Determination	This letter must be sent to members of a couple advising which parent is determined as the principal carer of the child/children.

Operational Information