Recording and correcting employment income details 108-07010010

Item

Description

1

Claims

Example of how to calculate income for an employment pay period greater than an entitlement period

If a customer was paid $220.00 for a pay period of 14 days and was entitled to report for a shortened entitlement period of 11 days, the system will need to still assess the $220.00 for 14 days. If the $220.00 is coded with an IOP frequency, the system incorrectly assumes the employer pay period is 11 days and calculates the rate as $220.00/11 = $20.00 per day instead of calculating the correct daily amount of $15.71 over 14 days resulting in potential underpayment.

By coding with a LOP frequency, the system will assess $172.86 in the shorter first instalment period ($15.71 x 11 days) and $47.14 ($15.71 x 3 days) across the entire next 14 days instalment period ($47.14/14 = 3.367142857142857 per day) along with any other income reported by the customer for the next entitlement period.

Single claimant or partnered where neither is currently in receipt of payment

• Determine the amount paid to the customer (and their partner if applicable) in the first entitlement period
• On the Employment Income Paid (EAPP) screen, code:
• Date of event as the date paid
• Amount of $220.00
• LOP for the frequency
• Start date of the pay period
• End date of the pay period

Example

Claim with DOC: 3 January 2021

Processed on: 24 January 2021

First EPED: 8 January 2021

• Initial period of Income Support Payment: 3 January to 8 January (6 days). Casual employment income paid on 5 January 2021: $280 for pay period 23 December 2020 - 5 January 2021, for 10 hours of work
• Next entitlement period: 9 January to 22 January

System assessment of income $280.00/14 (days in employer pay period) = $20.00, first period $20 x 6 = $120, next period $20.00 x 8 = $160.00.

Coding of customer's employment income on EAPP screen must be as follows:

• Date of Event: 5 Jan 21 (Date employer paid income)
• Amount: $280.00
• Freq: LOP
• Start date: 23 Dec 20
• End date: 5 Jan 21
• Separate HOP frequency coded for 5 hours worked within the reporting period 3 January to 8 January

In the entitlement period 9 January to 22 January 2021, the customer was not paid any employment income. The customer's payment will still be impacted by the income reported in the previous entitlement period. The eight days of income ($160) is spread over the next 14 day entitlement period. $160/14 = $11.42 per day.

Partner already in receipt of income support payment and has variable employment income

The claimant's entitlement period will be the same as the partner already receiving payment. Partner's wages for the entitlement period during which the claimant's date of grant falls are already coded as an IOP/LOP amount.

Where the claimant has a short entitlement period and wages are already recorded as IOP for the period, the system will split the attribution for the period into two amounts which are visible on the EAN screen. This prevents incorrect assessment of the IOP income for the claimant.

Example

• Claimants date of grant is 8 January
• Partner’s existing entitlement period is 1 January to 14 January
• The partner’s existing income is recorded as $1,400 with the IOP frequency, paid on 5 January
• Once the claim activity is assessed, the EAN screen will reflect $700 of income attributed from 1 January to 7 January and another $700 attributed from 8 January to 14 January
• This will happen automatically. The frequency of the existing income does not need to be adjusted to LOP

Partner already in receipt of income support payment and has regular employment income and the claiming customer is eligible to have the Work Bonus applied

There may be circumstances where members of a couple will receive a different daily rate in the first entitlement period when the partner is already current on payment and the customer is claiming. This may occur when the customer who is claiming is working and has regular income which is already coded and has a short period in their first entitlement period. This is due to the attribution of Work Bonus which will be applied to the Work Bonus eligible income for the claimant. The Work Bonus for the claimant will start to accrue from their date of grant. If the claimant has 8 days in their first entitlement period, the Work Bonus they have accrued will be applied across those eight days. However, their accrued Work Bonus will be applied across the full 14 day entitlement period for the partner who is already on payment.

Example

Partner current Age Pension (granted 1 August 2020 – EPED of payday code 'C').

The more recent claimant has a claim date of 30 December 2020 and continuous income of $2,816.82 from 6 August 2020.

In this example, the customer's claim is being granted from part way through the partner's entitlement period. This means the customer's first entitlement period is only 8 days.

For both customer and partner the assessable attributed employment income is the same at $2,816.82/14 = $201.20.

The employment income is paid to the customer (not the partner already on payment) so they are eligible for Work Bonus from 30 December 2020 (date of grant).

For the first entitlement period, both customer and partner accrue the benefit of:

8/14 x $300 = $171.43 in work bonus.

The work bonus amount of $171.43 reduces the assessable income on both customer and partner over:

• 8 days for the customer
• 14 days for the partner

Note: work bonus is applied on a per period basis.

This means:

• Customer: $171.43/8 = $21.43 per day for 8 days
• Partner: $171.43/14 = $12.245 per day for 14 days

The assessable employment income is:

• Customer: $201.20 - $21.43 = $179.77/dly
• Partner: $201.20 - $12.245 = $188.955/dly

This results in an annual rate of employment income of:

• Customer: ($179.77 x 364)/2 = $32,718
• Partner: ($188.955 x 364)/2 = $34,390

Once the initial grant period is over, the rate of the customer and partner become aligned.

2

Multiple paid income amounts of the same type from the same employer paid in the same entitlement period

If multiple amounts of paid income are received in the same entitlement period from the same employer, determine:

• if the paid income amounts are of the same type (for example, wages, commission, etc.)
• the total length of all pay periods (only counting overlapped days once) of income of the same type

If the paid income amounts are of different types and or the total length of all pay periods (only counting overlapped days once) is equal to or shorter than the number of days in the entitlement period in which its paid, code the amounts separately using the appropriate income type and frequency.

If the income amounts are of the same type and the total length of all pay periods (only counting overlapped days once) is longer than the number of days in the entitlement period in which its paid, code using the DOV as the last date paid in the period and the frequency of LOP. The start date of the first pay period and the end date of the last pay period will need to be coded if the pay periods are consecutive. If the pay periods are not consecutive, code the start date of the first pay period and an end date, which ensures that the duration is equal to the total number of days in the pay periods being combined. See below for examples.

Note: staff must not record any income paid outside of a period where a person or their partner is in receipt of an income support payment. This includes income paid before the start of a short entitlement period. For example, a customer is granted from 1 February 2022 and their entitlement period end date is 6 February 2022. The customer received a weekly pay on 28 January 2022 and on 4 February 2022. The income paid on 28 January 2022 was paid before the entitlement period start date (date of grant) so this income will not be recorded. Staff will only record the weekly pay received on 4 February 2022. This income will be assessed and attributed from the start of the short entitlement period.

Example:

Catherine is paid 2 amounts in January by the NSW Board of Education. The first amount is $600 for 3 weeks of exam supervision in November and the second amount is $200 for a week of exam supervision in December. The employment periods are added together and the total amount of $800 is assessed across 4 weeks from the beginning of the entitlement period in which it was paid.

1st paid amount: $600
Paid date: 05/01/22
Pay period: 10/11/21 – 30/11/21

2nd paid amount: $200
Paid date: 10/01/22
Pay period: 01/12/21 – 07/12/21

Entitlement period in which both amounts of income are paid: 01/01/22 – 14/01/22

Date of event for coding: 10/01/22
Amount coded: $800
Frequency: LOP (with dates 10/11/21 and 07/12/21 entered)

Example:

If in Catherine's example the pay periods instead reflected the following:

1st paid amount: $600
Paid date: 05/01/22
Pay period: 10/11/21 – 30/11/21

2nd paid amount: $200
Paid date: 10/01/22
Pay period: 06/12/21 – 12/12/21

Entitlement period in which both amounts of income are paid: 01/01/22 – 14/01/22

Coding would be as follows:

Date of event for coding: 10/01/22
Amount coded: $800
Frequency: LOP (with dates 10/11/21 and 07/12/21 entered as this is the same duration as 10/11/21 – 30/11/21 and 06/12/21 – 12/12/21 combined)

3

Changes to continuous income amounts

Only available to customers who are eligible for the 1WE, 2WE or MTE frequency.

The system assesses employment income recorded with a frequency of 1WE, 2WE or MTE as the same amount paid on an ongoing basis. Once the initial date of event is recorded, the system will continue to assess the income for the customer as though they are paid that amount on the same date.

For example, if a customer is paid $100 on 15 December 2020 and the frequency is 1WE, the system will assess that the customer's notional pay event as every Tuesday.

Alternatively, if a customer is paid $250 on 15 December and the frequency is 2WE, the system will assess the customer as paid on 15 December 2020 and then every notional pay event is the alternative Tuesday. The system will continue to assess the income until it is either changed or ceased.

Example

Customer contacts to advise they have commenced employment and are paid a regular ongoing amount of $150 per week under Australian Disability Enterprises (ADE). They advised they were paid their first regular income amount on 15 December 2020.

Employer Pay Period: 7 December 2020 to 13 December 2020

EPED: 21 December 2020

Coding of customer's employment income on EAPP screen must be as follows:

• Date of Event: 15 December 2020
• Amount: $150
• Freq: 1WE
• Employment type: ADE

The system will assess the $150.00 from the EPSD (8 December 2020), as this is the first payment and there are no other notional pay events in the Entitlement Period the total income is $150.00. The next entitlement period will have two notional pay events (22 December 2020 and 29 December 2020) therefore $300 will be assessed over the entire entitlement period.

Customers Entitlement Period and notional pay events

EPED 21 December 2020 (notional pay event 15 December 2020)

EPED 4 January 2021 - (notional pay events 22 December 2020 & 29 December 2020)

EPED 18 January 2021 - (notional pay events 5 January 2021 & 12 January 2021)

EPED 1 February 2021 - (notional pay events 19 January 2021 & 26 January 2021)

If the customer were to contact on the 1 February 2021, to advise their regular income amount has changed to $165 on the paid date 26 January 2021, the customer's EAPP screen must be coded as follows:

• Date of Event: 26 January 2021
• Amount: $165
• Freq: 1WE

Alternatively, if the customer were to contact on the 1 February 2021, to advise they ceased employment on 17 January 2021 and was paid their last payment on 19 January 2021, the EAPP screen must be coded as follows:

• Date of Event: 20 January 2021
• Amount: $0

The date of event for the $0 ensures the system include the last paid date of 19 January 2021 but stops any further notional pay events from being assessed.

4

Attribution of income coded with MTE frequency

If the Pension Monthly Exception Rule is met and ongoing income is recorded using the MTE frequency, attribution of this income is as follows:

MTE amount recorded is multiplied by 12 and divided by 364 to get a daily amount.
This daily amount will be applied to each day from the Date of Event (DOV) onwards until a change is coded. Note: the attributed income from the last monthly notional payday prior to the change will still be included in the customer's income assessment for a month.

On the EAN screen, the MTE income will show as a 2WE figure, with a channel type of CAL (calculated).

Example:

Monthly income amount: $1000
First monthly paid date: 08/06/21
Entitlement period in which first monthly amount is paid: 01/06/21 – 14/06/21

$1000 multiplied by 12 divided by 364: $32.97

As the DOV is part way through the entitlement period, only 7 days of the daily rate will be attributed to this entitlement period.
For each consecutive entitlement period that is 14 days in length, 14 days of the daily rate will be attributed.

2WE income figure shown for entitlement period 01/06/21 – 14/06/21: $230.79
2WE income figure shown for entitlement period 15/06/21 – 28/06/21: $461.58

5

Attribution of LOP employment income (Long one-off pay event)

If a customer has income to declare which is for a period greater than the entitlement period (EP), it is coded with a LOP frequency on EAPP (date of event is the date paid). This amount will be attributed from the EPSD of the period in which it is recorded as having been paid and will be included as income for rate calculation purposes over multiple EPs.

Example:

Customer is paid back pay of $2500.00 gross due to an incorrect hourly rate for period 01 JAN 2020 to 01 MAR 2020 (60 days).

Example Pay Slip

The pay event outlined in the above attachment is recorded as follows on the EAPP screen.

• Date of event: 07/12/2020
• Amount: $2500
• Frequency: LOP
• Start date: 01/01/2020
• End date: 01/03/2020

LOP Calculation

1. The LOP amount is divided by the number of days from the start date of the back pay period to the end date of back pay period (inclusive) to obtain a daily attributed Employment Income amount. For example:

• Event Date = 07 DEC 2020
• Amount = $2500
• Start Date = 01 JAN 2020
• End Date = 01 MAR 2020
• Number of days between Start and End Date (inclusive) = 61
• Daily attributed employment income amount = $2500 ÷ 61 = $40.9836

2. The back pay will then be included as income from the EPSD of the entitlement period in which it was paid to the EPED of the entitlement period in which the attribution of income ceases.

3. Following on from the example above:

• The EAPP DOV = 07 DEC 2020
• The customer's EPED code is D
• The number of days in the pay period is the number of days between the LOP Start and End Date = 61
• The attribution period is from 27 November 2020 to 26 January 2021. 27 November 2020 is the customer's EPSD of the EP in which the Event Date (Pay Date) is recorded
• 61 days divided by 14 days (projected length of EPs) is 4.35
• This indicates the number of impacted EPs is 5. Each EP, in this example, is 14 days in length
• Even though in EP5 only 5 days of employment income is attributed, due to existing IOP assessment rules, $204.92 (the remaining amount) is spread evenly across the entire EP

Example calculation of income attributed over 5 entitlement periods

4. For every impacted EP, an IOP is recorded on EANS. A Pay ID links the EAPP pay event with the multiple IOP events.

6

Employment income paid monthly, but not eligible for MTE coding

Customers who have employment income paid monthly, and do not meet the MTE rule, have their employment income assessed from the start of the entitlement period in which the amount is paid. It is assessed for the same duration as the associated employment period. Given days in a month do not neatly fit into fortnightly entitlement periods, in most months there will be some residual days where a person's employment income is being assessed into the first 2 or 3 days of a third entitlement period since their previous pay day. Those 2 or 3 days will crossover with the attribution of employment income from the next monthly pay day. This will be applied from the beginning of the entitlement period and attributed forward.

Example:

Fatima is on JSP. She is paid $1,500 by her employer on the 15th day of every month. Fatima reports her pay in the entitlement period in which it is paid to her. The amount is assessed from the beginning of the entitlement period and applied forward for the relevant number of days and attributed over each entitlement period that it covers. This will depend on the number of days in the monthly pay period. Meaning, in some months her pay is attributed for 31 days and in some months her pay is attributed for 30 days (and in one month 28 or 29 days).

On 15 September Fatima is paid $1,500 for the period already worked from 1 September to 14 September and in advance for the period she will work from 15 September to 30 September. Her employment period totals 30 days.

On 15 October Fatima is paid $1,500 for the period already worked from 1 October to 15 October and in advance for the period she will work from 16 October to 31 October. Her employment period totals 31 days. The below shows how the income from each pay cycle is attributed.

For entitlement period beginning 14 September:

$50 attributed to each day of the assessment period (relating to $1,500 employment income paid on 15 September).

Employment period is 30 days (1 September to 30 September).

$1,500 divided by 30 days equals attribution of $50 per day.

$50 × 14 days = $700 attributed for the entitlement period 14 September to 27 September

$800 remaining

For entitlement period beginning 28 September:

$50 attributed to each day of the assessment period (relating to $1,500 employment income paid on 15 September).

$50 × 14 days = $700 attributed for the entitlement period 28 September to 11 October.

Total of $1,400 now attributed.

$100 remaining.

For entitlement period beginning 12 October:

Remainder of attribution from income paid 15 September:

$100 divided by 14 days = $7.14.

$7.14 attributed to each day of the assessment period (relating to $1,500 employment income paid on 15 September).

$0 remaining

Attribution of income paid 15 October:

$48.39 attributed to each day of the entitlement period (relating to $1,500 employment income paid on 15 October.

Item

Description

1

Ceasing or converting continuous income recorded

Continuous income recorded must be ceased or converted to IOP/LOP if either the 1WE or 2WE exception or the Pension Monthly Exception Rule are not met, including where continuous income has been recorded retrospectively within an activity.

To cease continuous income, an entry with an amount of zero is coded from the appropriate date of event. To determine the correct date of event, it will need to be determined if the amount recorded represents irregular income or income where a continuous income exception is not met or a lump sum which has been converted to 1WE or 2WE continuous coding.

To do this, investigate the customer record or contact the customer to discuss the frequency of the income paid to them.

For irregular income or where a continuous income exception is not met:

Continuous income should be ceased on the EAPP screen as follows:

• Event date: Date last paid employment income in the entitlement period immediately prior to the current entitlement period + 1 day
• Amount: Zero
• All other fields are left blank

Note: this date could be the current Entitlement Period Start Date (EPSD) if the last date paid is the Entitlement Period End Date (EPED) of the previous period.

The customer can then be placed on statement reporting and new instances of paid income can be recorded with frequency IOP/LOP.

For lump sum payments

Where a lump sum was paid and recorded as an ongoing income frequency, a conversion will be required. The date the customer was paid the one off or regular lump sum will need to be determined so that it can be determined if the full assessment period has passed.

• If the full assessment period has elapsed prior to the entitlement period which includes 7 December 2020
• Continuous income should be ceased on the EAN screen from the day after the lump sum assessment period ended
• If further lump sum payments have been paid, see Treatment of lump sums to record the details and repeat this process if continuous income is used to record the lump sum
• Discuss reporting requirements with the customer and determine if it is appropriate to place the customer onto statement reporting based on their circumstances
• If the lump sum assessment period had not elapsed prior to the entitlement period which includes 7 December 2020
• Continuous income should be ceased on the EAPP screen from the EPSD of the customer's entitlement period that includes 7 December 2020 (transition period)
• Determine the number of days that have passed from the start of the assessment period until the EPED immediately prior to the entitlement period that includes 7 December 2020 (transition period)
• Subtract the number of days passed, as worked out above, from the number of days in the full assessment period to determine the number of days remaining
• Determine the daily rate of the lump sum by dividing the lump sum amount by the number of days in the full assessment period
• Record an LOP entry on the EAPP screen with an event date of the EPSD of the entitlement period that includes 7 December 2020 (transition period)
• The income amount will be the daily rate of the lump sum amount, multiplied by the number of days remaining in the assessment period
• Record the EPSD of the entitlement period that includes 7 December 2020 (transition period) in the Start Date field and record the end date of the assessment period in the End Date field
• If further lump sum payments have been paid, see Treatment of lump sums to record the details and repeat this process if continuous income is used to record the lump sum
• Record a DOC or Note with details of the calculations performed and the conversion undertaken
• The income will automatically cease once the assessment period has ended and new instances of lump sums paid can then each be recorded with frequency LOP
• Discuss reporting requirements with the customer and determine if it is appropriate to place the customer onto statement reporting based on their circumstances

Example of conversion if the lump sum assessment period had not elapsed prior to the entitlement period which includes 7 December 2020

Customer was paid a remunerative lump sum amount of $36,400 on 8 September 2020. The lump sum is to be assessed for 52 weeks from 8 September 2020 until 6 September 2021 inclusive. For the assessment of income pre-7 December 20202, the total lump sum is converted to a fortnightly figure.

Current coding on EAN is as follows:

Date of event: 8 September 2020

Amount: $1,400

Frequency: 2WE

88 days have passed between 8 September 2020, the date the lump sum was paid, and 4 December 2020, the day prior to the EPSD of the entitlement period that included 7 December 2020.

276 days remain in the assessment period, from 5 December 2020 to 6 September 2021 inclusive.

The daily rate of income is the total income amount, divided by the number of days in the full lump sum assessment period. In this example, the total amount is divided by 364 which means the daily rate is $100.

The amount of income remaining to be assessed is the daily rate, multiplied by the number of days remaining in the assessment period. In this example, the amount remaining is $27,600.

Two lines of coding are required to cease the continuous income and record the remaining amount to be assessed:

• 1st update (cease existing coding):
• Date of event: 5 December 2020 (EPSD of the entitlement period that includes 7 December 2020 (transition period))
• Amount: $0
• 2nd update (recording the amount to be assessed):
• Date of event: 5 December 2020 (EPSD of the entitlement period that includes 7 December 2020 (transition period))
• Amount: $27,600 ($100 daily rate multiplied by 276)
• Frequency: LOP
• Start date: 5 December 2020 (EPSD of the entitlement period that includes 7 December 2020 (transition period))
• End date: 6 September 2021 (end date of the assessment period)

Item

Description

1

Resolving error E705CQ

If the error E705CQ - use EAN to update AUT data. F2 for help occurs, further investigation is required.

Service Officers must check the EAPP screen for previous Full-Time On-going (FTO) status coding.

If an FTO status was previously coded on the EAPP screen and another employer has since been coded within that action, the system may have recognised the FTO coding on the previous employer and updated the Customer Employment Status Update (EAES).

Code the following on EAPP for the previous employer:

• Event Date: EAES FTO date + 1
• Amount: Zero
• Employment Reason: Full-time Non-Ongoing (FTN)
• Verification: NVE

2

Resolving error E608CQ

Error E608CQ - an Employment status of FTO (Full time ongoing) has been keyed with an amount greater than zero and there is another entry containing the same employment status. Only one FTO allowed at any one time occurs if more than one full-time employer (FTO) is coded on EAPP

To resolve, check existing employers and change any earnings coding Employment Status (Empl Sts) from FTO to FTN, when full-time employment is no longer applicable.

Item

Description

1

Payment is suspended or cancelled

Check the customer's record for the reason the payment has been suspended or cancelled.

If appropriate to restore payment

• Key the employment income in the same activity as the restoration
• Start the restoration on the Benefit Action (BA) screen
• Manually key the employment income on the EAPP screen
• Finalise
• If the customer has an outstanding report, manually release the payment on the RR screen. See Reporting screens
• For information on restoration, see Restoration of payments
• For restoration process steps for DSP/SUS/RTW, see Restoration of Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• For recording income details, see Table 4

If not appropriate to restore payment

• Do not restore the payment
• Advise the customer what is required to restore their payment
• Key the employment income for the customer and/or partner (if applicable)
• If the suspended customer has a partner who receives Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP), see Item 2 below

Due to system limitations, Parenting Payment (PP) will not always cancel automatically at the end of an employment income nil rate period. For more information, see Employment income nil rate period.

Note: investigation is required if the customer is a job seeker with a cancellation status of CAN-FTE and this status is incorrect as the customer only worked casually/part-time. Check the EAPP screen for the previous Full Time On-going (FTO) status.

If an FTO status was previously keyed on the EAPP screen, the system may have recognised the FTO status and updated the Customer Employment Status Update (EAES) screen. To correct this, key the following on EAPP for the relevant employer:

• Event Date: EAES FTO date + 1
• Amount: Zero
• Employment Reason: Full-Time Non-Ongoing (FTN)
• Verification: NVE

2

Partner suspension

There are system limitations relating to PPP customers when their partner's payment is suspended.

• If an NSS partner of a PPP customer is suspended, any income recorded on the NSS partner record may not give the correct rate for the PPP customer. This is because no excess partner income can be calculated
• If a PEN partner of a PPP customer is suspended, including Returned To Work (RTW), any income recorded on the PEN partner's record is incorrectly assessed using the pension Income Test. The correct Income Test used for the PPP customer must be the partner not on pension, Austudy or YA Income Test

In both the above circumstances:

• do not restore the partner's record
• apply a manual rate for the PPP customer. See Manual rates of payment

Note: Smart Centre staff must contact Local Peer Support (LPS) who will escalate the information to a Service Support Officer (SSO) who will:

• calculate the rate
• record details and reasons for manual rate on the DOA DOC See Manual rates of payment

If an overpayment occurs, transfer the activity to region code XWA for the Debt Raising Team to investigate.

Procedure ends here.