Economic Security Strategy (ESS) Payment for Families 007-10020000

The ESS payment was paid to Family Tax Benefit Part A recipients in respect of each child who on 14 October 2008, was:

• a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A child or
• a dependent child who attracted Youth Allowance (YA), ABSTUDY, or a Veterans' Children's Education Scheme (VCES) payment

The ESS payment was $1000 per eligible child and automatically paid during the period 8-19 December 2008 to families who were receiving FTB as fortnightly instalments (not a lump sum claimant).

For recipient who claimed their FTB Part A as a lump sum payment, the ESS payment was assessed and paid (if eligible) when their 2008-09 actual income was received from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and their lump sum FTB payment was made, where tax returns were lodged by 30 June 2011.

The automatic delivery of ESS payments ceased 3 September 2016.

ESS assessments may be triggered by the FTB reconciliation process or completion of a FTB lump sum claim that has been pending income. In this instance, a manual follow up (MFU) will be created for specialist staff to check entitlement to the payment.

Recipients may still be eligible for ESS payments in strictly limited and rare circumstances. In these cases, a manual payment may be made by specialist staff only.

The circumstances a recipient could be entitled are:

• they lodged a claim in the required two year period for the 2008-09 financial year,
• have not received an ESS payment previously (that is, for that particular child/ren), and
• they were otherwise entitled to a FTB payment at the relevant dates in 2008.

ESS assessments are processed by the Families Ongoing Entitlement Team and enquiries can be emailed to them. Service Officers are not permitted to take payment action themselves. The Resources page contains the contact details for Families Ongoing Entitlement team.

Note: payments under the Administrative Scheme, referred to below, are no longer payable in any circumstance. This information has been kept for information purposes only.

The Administrative Scheme was established to assist foster and non-parent/kinship carers who gained care of a child shortly after the announcement of stimulus payments to families under the ESS. The Administrative Scheme also allowed people who temporarily lost care of a child due to special circumstances to receive a payment.

This was paid in respect of each child who for the period 15 October - 31 December 2008, was:

• an FTB Part A child, and
• the child had entered (or re-entered) the recipient's ongoing care during this period and one of the following applied:
• the person was entitled to FTB Part A for the child at some time during the period 1 July - 13 October 2008 and there were special circumstances relating to why the person was not entitled to FTB Part A for the child on 14 October 2008
• the person had the ongoing care of the child under a formal foster care arrangement, or
• the person was non-parent carer of the child (for example grandparent) and had the ongoing care of the child due to an inability or failure of the child's parents to provide care of the child

Recipients with a start date of FTB Part A in the period 15 October - 31 December 2008 may be entitled to the ESS under the Administrative Scheme.

To receive ESS under the Administrative Scheme a must have lodged a claim by 29 January 2010. Claims lodged after 29 January 2010 will be rejected. Payments under the Administrative Scheme are not automatic.

For historical information on claiming the ESS payment under Administrative Scheme, see Step 4 in the Information on claiming ESS under the Administrative Scheme table.