Verifying the date of birth or age of a customer or child 106-07060040

Proof of age must be supplied for all payments and concessions except Parenting Payment (PP) and Carer Allowance (CA) in order to establish the age of the customer.

A separate procedure explains how customers can provide proof of a child's birth for family assistance and Paid Parental Leave scheme claims.

If a child born overseas applies to become a customer in their own right, the rules regarding a customer's official date of birth for Centrelink purposes must apply.

A customer's official date of birth (DOB) for Centrelink purposes is the date indicated by:

• State or Territory Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) if born in Australia, or
• Department of Home Affairs if born outside Australia

Only the dates identified on documents issued by these agencies are the official DOB.

Note: this is the case unless the document will never be available because the birth is not registered.

If the customer cannot provide proof of date of birth at claim, they must provide it within the identity review period (28 days). Customers who do not provide the proof will have their claim rejected.

If a customer disagrees with the DOB recorded by BDM or the Department of Home Affairs and wishes to change their recorded birth date, they must deal directly with either the BDM or the Department of Home Affairs as appropriate.

However, in exceptional circumstances where a customer disputes the official DOB issued by BDM or the Department of Home Affairs (if born outside Australia), Centrelink may temporarily enter a DOB as advised by a customer in order to assess qualification for payment. Note: in actioning these exceptional circumstances the Service Officer must contact the customer identity helpdesk.

In the event this occurs, the customer must make an application to BDM or the Department of Home Affairs to amend their official DOB within 14 days. Centrelink can assist customers in making this application by providing BDM or the Department of Home Affairs contact information and application forms.

If a customer fails to make an application to BDM or the Department of Home Affairs within 14 days, Centrelink must remove any temporary DOB and use the DOB originally issued by BDM or the Department of Home Affairs in order to assess qualification for payment. If any incorrect payments have been made on the basis of a temporary DOB, these should be raised and recovered as debts due to the Commonwealth.

If BDM or the Department of Home Affairs does not amend a customer's official DOB following application, Centrelink must remove any temporary DOB and use the DOB originally issued by BDM or the Department of Home Affairs in order to assess qualification for payment. If any incorrect payments have been made on the basis of a temporary DOB, these should be raised and recovered as debts due to the Commonwealth.

If BDM or the Department of Home Affairs amend a customer's official DOB following application, this date should either be amended or confirmed in the Centrelink system.

If the customer wants to change their DOB and they were born:

• in Australia, they should contact the BDM in the state or territory of their birth for more information. The Resources page contains links to the BDM websites
• outside Australia, they should complete the Department of Home Affairs Freedom of Information (Form 424C) and discuss with the Department of Home Affairs what evidence they need to support their claim. In exceptional circumstances, Centrelink may temporarily enter a DOB as advised by the customer in order to assess qualification for payment. The Resources page contains a link to the Department of Home Affairs form 424C

Some customers can only verify their year of birth. In such cases, the day of birth should be specified as 1 January. The exception is unaccompanied humanitarian minors. When a Department of Home Affairs document is presented by an unaccompanied humanitarian minor where an assumed DOB of 31/12/yyyy is handwritten by the Department of Home Affairs underneath the official DOB. The handwritten assumed DOB must be accepted by Centrelink for income support payments: Centrelink must also record that person's DOB as 31/12/yyyy.

If a customer has previously used a particular day and month on a consistent basis, then this date may be accepted.

Non-Indigenous customers

Obtain any other documents the customer can provide to verify their age. If there are none, contact the Seniors Policy Service Desk

Indigenous customers

Some Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples may not be able to supply proof of age. It is essential to try to verify age as accurately as possible. Note: a Confirmation of Identity - Verification for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (RA010) cannot be used to verify age.

When Aboriginal customers contact BDM in the Northern Territory, the Birth Register is checked and if the birth is not recorded the Aboriginal Population Records from the former Department of Aboriginal Affairs is checked. If the date of birth can be ascertained from these records, a Birth Certificate is issued. If no record exists, the customer will be issued with a letter stating this. BDM in other states do not have access to the Aboriginal Population Records, or similar.

With permission, the customer's Health Clinic can be contacted to see if they have a date of birth for the customer that has been used for a long time. If this is not successful, an Indigenous Service Officer (ISO) or member of a remote visiting team should visit the customer and ask where they come in the family, for example first child, second child etc. and events that they can remember which might help establish their age. The customer may nominate other people in the Community who are of a similar age and can be interviewed to establish if they went through ceremonies with the customer.

For Age Pension, any information that might help establish approximately how old this person is should be obtained and used to ascertain whether or not the person is qualified for Age Pension. If the year of birth can be established, but not the day and the month, the first of January should be used as the day and month. Note: from 1 July 2010, an identified Indigenous customer transferring to Age Pension may not need to verify their date of birth if they are currently in receipt of an income support.

ABSTUDY customers verify their age via provision of the necessary identity documentation. An ABSTUDY customer is deemed to have satisfied proof of age requirements through the process of satisfying identity requirements. Please note that ABSTUDY customers have identity confirmation provisions unique to the ABSTUDY scheme and not all ABSTUDY customers must provide documentation in all circumstances. If an ABSTUDY customer is not required to provide identity confirmation for a new claim, they are also not required to provide additional documentation to verify age.