Managing the delivery of Parental Leave Pay (PPL) 007-26072734

This document outlines the management of the delivery of Parental Leave Pay through an employer.

Initiating a request for refund

If a third party receives a payment or payments they are not entitled to, they are responsible for repaying this amount. This includes when payment(s) have been incorrectly credited to a third party’s account, including a joint account.

Care must be taken if the payment was directed to an account nominated by the employee and the employee does not have legal access to. A refund should only be requested if:

• the employee made a genuine error when notifying the account details
• the account details were changed without the authority of the employee, or
• there was a Services Australia error

If payments have been incorrectly credited to a third party’s account, a request for refund is made under:

• section 1234AA of the Social Security Act 1991
• section 93A of the Family Assistance Administration Act 1999
• section 169 of the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, or
• section 42A of the Student Assistance Act 1973

A Request for Refund (RFR) should be initiated on the employee’s record. Only whole payments can be requested, and each payment must be requested individually. If there are multiple payments, the system totals the amount at the end of the day then sends a consolidated request to the financial institution.

Under Section 169 of the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, a third party debt is only a debt due to the Commonwealth if the incorrect payment was made by Services Australia. If an employer pays the Parental Leave Pay (PPL) into an incorrect account, the amount is a debt due to the employer and Services Australia has no role in the recovery process.

Note: if Services Australia pays the PPL funds which are intended for an employer account but are deposited into an incorrect account, see Table 3 on the Process page.

The Resources page contains:

• a table of processes for revoking employer determination
• links to contact details and letters and electronic messages
• links to raise ICT issues to Centrelink Payments Support Team via mySupport and the Services Australia and Fair Work Ombudsman websites

Related links

Role of the employer in Parental Leave Pay (PPL)

Delivery of Parental Leave Pay (PPL)

Reissuing a rejected payment

Returned or rejected Centrepay payments

Reissue a payment returned from a financial institution – includes deceased customers