Paid Parental Leave (PPL) approval to claim and share PPL days 007-23020222

For Parental Leave Pay (PPL) claims for children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023, approval to claim and/or share PPL days will be required from the Approval Giver for an Approval Seeker to make an effective claim for PPL.

The Approval Giver is the:

• birth mother
• first adoptive parent to claim for the child or
• PPL claimant in exceptional circumstances (i.e. an individual applying as an Approval Giver under exceptional circumstances, i.e. gaining parent in a surrogacy, grandparent etc)

Birth mothers cannot provide approval to claim or share their PPL days with another person if they have:

• relinquished care of their child as part of the adoption process
• relinquished care of their child as part of a surrogacy arrangement, or
• had a child removed by state/territory child protection agency

See Claiming payments for children leaving care as part of the process of adoption, surrogacy arrangement, or a child removed by state/territory child protection agency for more information.

In cases of adoption:

• the first adoptive parent to claim (Approval Giver) must give approval to claim and share PPL days to any other claimant (i.e. the other adoptive parent, or the partner of the adoptive parent)
• the subsequent adoptive parent (Approval Seeker) must have PPL days shared with them from the first adoptive parent. They do not need to give approval to claim
• a partner of the adoptive parent (Approval Seeker) must have approval from the first adoptive parent to claim and have PPL days shared with them

Note: the first adoptive parent will remain the Approval Giver for approval to claim and share PPL days for all other claimants.

In cases of parents gaining a child through a surrogacy arrangement:

• the first gaining parent to claim (Approval Giver) must give approval to claim and approval to share PPL days to any other claimant (i.e. partner of the gaining parent)
• the subsequent gaining parent, or the gaining parent’s partner (Approval Seeker), must have approval from the first gaining parent to claim and have PPL days shared with them. Note: the first gaining parent to claim will remain the Approval Giver for approval to claim and share PPL days for all other claimants

Where a customer claims PPL in exceptional circumstances, they must provide approval to claim and share days for their partner to claim PPL.

The Approval Seeker is anyone other than the:

• birth mother
• first adoptive parent
• first gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement
• PPL claimant in exceptional circumstances

A partner of a PPL claimant in exceptional circumstances may claim as a Special PPL claimant. The partner requires approval to claim and to have days shared with them. In these instances, the PPL claimant in exceptional circumstances must claim and be assessed as eligible before their partner’s claim being assessed. It is essential that the PPL claimant in exceptional circumstances has their claim assessed first. Where they are not eligible to PPL, their partner will also be ineligible.

Where an Approval Giver claims PPL, they will be able to submit their claim without the requirement for approval from another claimant. Note: provided any supporting documentation requested in the claim is provided.

Where an Approval Seeker claims PPL, approval will be required from the Approval Giver for the Approval Seeker to lodge their PPL claim. The Approval Giver will provide approval via an Approval Task.

Within the Approval Seeker’s PPL claim, information will be requested about the Approval Giver. The system will attempt to locate the Approval Giver’s record and trigger the approval task to the Approval Giver’s Centrelink Online Services.

Where a match is found (using the information provided within the Approval Seeker’s claim), the Approval Task will generate on the Approval Giver’s record for the Approval Giver to action. If the customer is partnered, the system will check for the partner’s CRN to ensure the approval task is created using the most recent information on the partner’s record.

A match will not be found where the Approval Giver:

• does not have a CRN, or
• could not be uniquely matched

If a match is not found, the system will trigger a Temporary Access Code (TAC) to enable the Approval Giver to either:

• create a Customer Record Number (CRN) and link to a Centrelink online account, or
• authenticate themselves via their Centrelink online account

The TAC will be provided to the Approval Seeker at the Next Steps within their online claim.

The Approval Seeker will need to provide the TAC as well as the Approval Seeker’s PPL claim ID to the Approval Giver so the Approval Giver can create a CRN or authenticate themselves. Once action has been taken, the Approval Giver can access and action the Approval task via Centrelink Online Services.

Until the Approval task is completed, the Approval Seeker will be unable to submit their claim.

An Approval ID is a unique ID that consists of 11 characters, starting with one alphabetical character and 10 numerical. The Approval ID is linked with the:

• expected date of birth/date of care or date of placement in a pre-birth claim
• child’s CRN in a post birth claim

The Approval ID is generated only by the Approval Giver when:

• an Approval Giver lodges a PPL claim, or
• an Approval Giver completes the Approval task that provides approval for a seeker to claim and/or share days

An Approval ID can have the following status:

• Active
• Inactive - The Approval ID will automatically be set to inactive when:
• the PPL days have all been paid and the claim has a status of cancelled end of payment (CAN-EOP) and the claim has been closed (CLO)
• the customer is claiming as neither an Approval Giver or Approval Seeker (NGS) i.e.. birth mother who is relinquishing care of the child
  If an Approval ID needs to be made inactive for any other reason it must be changed manually by a staff member with the appropriate access.
• Invalid - The Approval ID is manually updated by specialist staff due to Duplicate Approval IDs created for the same child, or multiple CRN scenarios.

All PPL claimants will be linked to an Approval ID. Generally, there will only be one Approval ID per birth event. An exception applies when a customer has claimed in normal and exceptional circumstances.

A Temporary Access Code (TAC) will be triggered when:

• an Approval Giver does not have a CRN, or
• a match cannot be completed based on the information provided by the Approval Seeker about the Approval Giver

At the end of the Approval Seeker’s PPL claim, if the TAC is required, the Approval Seeker is provided with a:

• TAC to give to the Approval Giver, and
• Claim ID

The TAC will allow the Approval Giver unauthenticated entry to confirm their personal information and CRN.

The Approval Giver will be presented with several questions to confirm their details. This will include confirming their existing CRN or creating a CRN and online account.

The Approval Giver:

• must have a CRN linked to their myGov account before they can complete this task
• can access this webpage via the short URL servicesaustralia.gov.au/ApprovalToSharePLP (do not use spaces) or they can enter the Quick Code > QC 65018 into the search field

The TAC remains valid until either:

• the task is completed by the Approval Giver, or
• the Approval Seeker’s online claim expires

Once the Approval Giver confirms their details, the process is complete, and the TAC will expire. The Approval Giver can use their Centrelink Online account as an authenticated customer.

If match is successful, the Approval Giver can login to their MyGov account to complete the Approval task. It will display in their Centrelink Online Service.

If the match is unsuccessful (all valid person information matches are not confirmed), a Failed Online Change in Circumstance activity (ZPPL_ZCOC) will be created in Process Direct. A DOC will present on the customers record explaining why the activity failed. A Service Officer will need to manually action and possibly contact the Approval Giver to verify the information provided in the TAC service.

If the Approval Giver requires assistance with TAC, refer them to the Services Australia website > Giving approval to share Parental Leave Pay. On this webpage the Approval Giver must select the link for the ‘Parental Leave Pay Verification’ task.

Approval Givers can reject an Approval Seeker's request for approval to claim.

If approval to claim is rejected:

• the Approval Seeker's PPL claim will be made Not Effective (NEF) due to Approval not provided (ANP)
• the Approval Seeker's claim is made NEF. The Approval Seeker could lodge another claim for the PPL child

An Approval Giver can remove approval to claim from an Approval Seeker.

If approval to claim is removed:

• if the Approval Seeker's PPL claim is assessed and no days have been paid, the PPL claim will reject (REJ) Approval Withdrawn for claim (AWC)
• the Approval Seeker will not be able to make another effective claim for the PPL child, until the Approval Giver updates the approval in their online services via the Parental Leave Pay Circumstances Dashboard
• if the Approval Seeker's PPL claim has been paid at least one PPL day, their claim will be cancelled from date last paid to +1. Any PPL payments already received by the Approval Seeker for the PPL child will not be raised as an overpayment
• any future unpaid PPL days will be returned to the Approval Giver's balance to manage and claim

Approval Givers can share the maximum entitlement of PPL days for a child with their partner or other parent.

Birth mothers, first adoptive parents, or first gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement to claim PPL have reserved PPL days to be shared with their partner, or other parent.

Approval Givers can manage their PPL days using the Parental Leave Pay circumstances dashboard via Centrelink online services. The Approval Giver can increase or decrease the amount of PPL days shared with an Approval Seeker.

As the total amount of PPL days claimed for one child cannot exceed the maximum entitlement of PPL days, if the Approval Giver wishes to approve additional PPL days for an Approval Seeker, these will need to be withdrawn from the Approval Giver’s claimed days first.

Reducing or increasing approved PPL days

As the total amount of PPL days claimed for one child cannot exceed the maximum entitlement of PPL days, if the Approval Giver wishes to approve additional PPL days for an Approval Seeker, these will need to be withdrawn from the Approval Giver’s claimed days first.

See the Resources page for examples.

Before an Approval Seeker can submit a PPL claim, an approval task is created on the Approval Giver’s online account, which requires completion. The Approval task allows approval givers to provide or reject approval for an approval seeker to claim Paid Parental Leave.

When the Approval Giver responds to the approval task, they are asked a series of questions such as their relationship to the child, work test details etc... Where the Approval Giver makes an incorrect selection, i.e. they select Biological Father, inaccurate work test details etc. this can create errors within claim finalisation. Manual action can be undertaken by Service Officers to edit the information which was provided in the approval task. See the Process page for example and action required.

Sometimes a customer may require changes to an Approval ID status. This could be due to a multiple Child CRN or a duplicate active approval ID that is impacting claim assessment. In these scenarios the duplicate Approval ID needs to be made invalid to continue with claim processing.

Other scenarios could include changing an existing Approval ID that is:

• active to inactive (for staff with access)
• inactive to active (for staff with access)

Before an Approval ID status is changed, Service Officers must establish the reason the approval ID status needs to be changed. This is to ensure the correct assessment is applied to the relevant Approval Giver and Approval Seeker claims. See Process page > Assisted tab > Table 7 for more information.

The Training tab on the PPL entry hub includes simulations to assist staff with Process Direct screens and processes for:

• removing approval for Approval Seeker
• TAC - PPL Approval Giver
• removing PPL days for Approval Seeker