Employment Separation Certificate (SU001) 106-07060050

Customers must get an SU001, completed by an employer, when they have ceased paid work within the last 12 months and are claiming, or currently in receipt of any of the following payments:

• Austudy
• Disability Support Pension (DSP) (except customers who are permanently blind)
• Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
• JobSeeker Payment (JSP)
• Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP)
• Parenting Payment Single (PPS)
• Special Benefit (SpB)
• Youth Allowance (YA)

Note: students do not need to provide an SU001 after ceasing work if they did not receive any paid leave entitlements.

If a customer’s partner ceases employment, an SU001 may also be required to determine the correct entitlements of the customer and partner.

An SU001 collects information to assess applicable waiting periods or non-payment periods, for example Income Maintenance Period (IMP) and Unemployment Non-Payment Periods (UNPP).

Evidence collected in the SU001 includes:

• the date the person ceased work
• the amount and period covered of any leave or redundancy payment paid at termination of employment
• the amount of the person's final payment
• the amount of any moneys still owed by the employer to the person
• reasons for ceasing employment, including if a person left work:
• as a result of industrial action, or
• voluntarily
• any personal injury compensation details

Note: if a Service Officer believes an SU001 provided by a customer is false or misleading, incomplete or is altered in anyway, contact the employer to confirm the details.

The employer can provide the SU001 by:

• giving it to the ex-employee
• uploading it directly to the National Business Gateway (NBG) where it is automatically attached to the customer's record. NBG is responsible for making sure it attaches to the correct record.
• registering to use the Business Hub to provide an electronic SU001
• Single Touch Payroll (STP)
• faxing to Services Australia where the Scanning and Digitisation Team make sure the document/s correctly attaches to the customer’s record

If the employer is not in Australia see Overseas Employers below.

If a customer is unable to get an SU001 from their employer, consider other options for getting the information from the employer (not the customer), include:

• a verbal SU001 from the employer
• in a letter written on business letterhead
• a copy of an email from the employer providing the information, or
• written form or statement from the employer such as payslips showing termination payments

Employers registered with STP report employment income, leave and termination payments and employment cessation details to the Australian Taxation Office. Services Australia can access this data for mutual clients receiving certain income support payments. STP cessation details do not pre-fill when a customer makes a new claim for payment.

Current customers who cease work for an STP employer may have cessation details, leave and termination payments pre-filled when reporting employment income online.

Customers are required to enter:

• the number of days their leave and/or terminations payment is for, or
• their average weekly wage if they are paid a redundancy payment

Customers are able to check, confirm or change some of the employer reported data. If the customer confirms cessation, leave and termination details via STP, they may not need to provide an SU001. They will need an SU001 if:

• changes are made to amounts paid or
• there is doubt about the number of days covered by the leave or termination payment

Customers with mutual obligation requirements need to provide additional information if the reason for ceasing work is voluntary cessation or dismissal.

If the SU001 is not available at the time of the customer's new claim interview, Service Officers must make one genuine attempt to contact the employer(s) to get a verbal Employment Separation Certificate information. If this is unsuccessful, an SU001 or equivalent is required.

A Q267 First/Second request to employer, refuses to issue ESC (SU001) letter is a formal notice, issued to the employer under Social Security Law. The letter advises them they are required to provide an SU001 for their ex-employee. The employer has 14 days from the date of request to provide the SU001 to Services Australia.

Issue the first Q267 letter to an employer if they do not reply explore alternative options for getting the information, see SU001 not yet provided by employer.

Service Officers can request equivalent documents or evidence from the customer, such as a payslip, at the same time they send the Q267. This means when the held activity expires, if the employer has not responded, the claim may be able to be processed without further interaction.

Note: only send Q267 letters to Australian-based employers. For processes for overseas employers - see Overseas Employers below.

Service Officers must:

• first check if there are circumstances where an SU001 is not required, see Table 1 Step 2 on the Process page, if an SU001 is required, check if the:
• information been provided in another format
• employer been contacted by a Service Officer to provide a verbal SU001
• Q267 letter been sent
• then try all avenues to get the required information:
• contact the employer to source a verbal SU001
• send a Q267
• request equivalent documentation

If a person advises they are experiencing difficulties obtaining an SU001 and are in crisis, suffering financial hardship, or has certain vulnerabilities (see Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM)), the claim can be submitted with a request for the outstanding supporting documents to be provided within 14 days.

If a customer contacts to advise they cannot submit their claim as they cannot get an SU001 or alternative, and do not satisfy any of the reasons mentioned above, Service Officers should determine:

• has the customer attempted to get the information
• why they cannot get the information from the employer
• do they have anything else that may provide the same information included in the SU001

There are no provisions in Social Security Law exempting a customer from providing an SU001 for overseas employers.

While Social Security Law authorises Services Australia to request relevant information from persons or entities based outside Australia, requesting a written or verbal SU001 from an overseas employer is generally impractical.

Single Touch Payroll data is not available from overseas employers.

Attempts to call the employer and/or issuing letters to overseas employers is not appropriate. Service Officers should source the required information using the alternative methods - including other written letters the customer may have, or accepting the information from the customer directly.

If the Service Officer is aware an employer will have large numbers of staff leaving, suggest the employer registers for the Business Hub to provide SU001 information online or contact the National Business Gateway (NBG), and have a third party portal user code and password activated. This will allow the employer to complete future SU001 details online.