Customer or partner under the age of consent 106-07120060

Is the customer and/or their partner under the age of consent in the state or territory in which they live?

See the References page for a link to the Social Security Guide to identify the applicable age of consent per state/territory.

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, the customer and/or their partner can be assessed as being a member of a couple. See Change in relationship from single to partnered. Procedure ends here

If there are any concerns about a child’s safety, follow the risk and referral process. This includes circumstances where there is a significant age gap between a customer and their partner, and it is suspected the younger person may be under undue influence from the older person.

Under the relevant law/policy, the customer cannot be assessed as being a member of a couple.

Does the customer have a dependent child in their care aged under 14?

• Yes, the customer will need to claim Parenting Payment (PP)
• The claim will need to be processed as a PPS claim. The rate of PPS cannot be more than the rate of PPP that would be paid if the customer were considered to be a member of a couple, taking into account their and their partner's earnings. Note: variable earnings should be taken into consideration when coding manual assessment details and advising customer of reporting requirements
• Note: manual rate updates are not available in Process Direct. Service Officers need to use the handover function and hand the PP claim to Customer First (CF). Complete the PP claim assessment including coding of the 'partnered' manual rate. For information about coding the manual rate, see Non NSS system coding for manual rate of payment. Go to Step 3
• No, for customers receiving income support paid in the:
• NSS system - code the manual rate of payment. Note: manual rate updates are not available in Process Direct. Service Officers need to use the handover function and hand the transaction to Customer First (CF), then go to Step 4. For information about coding the manual rate, see NSS system coding for manual rate of payment
• Non NSS system - code the manual rate of payment. Note: manual rate updates are currently not available in Process Direct. Service Officers will need to use the handover function and hand the transaction over to Customer First (CF), then go to Step 4. For information about coding the manual rate, see Non NSS systems coding for manual rate of payment

Note: if a customer receiving a manual rate of payment reports income via self service channels, a handoff activity will generate for Service Officers to action. For more information, see Reporting employment income online.

If the customer and/or their partner is under the age of consent and is receiving Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and/or Child Care Subsidy (CCS), the customer is treated as single under family assistance law.

The rate of FTB Part A and CCS is based on the adjusted taxable income circumstances of the customer only.

FTB Part B is not income tested if the customer is assessed as single and receiving an income support payment. If the customer is not receiving an income support payment, FTB Part B is only payable if the customer’s adjusted taxable income does not exceed the Part B primary earner income limit.

If the customer is living as a member of a couple with the parent of their child, they are not required to take reasonable action to obtain child support against that person. The customer will need to have their maintenance action for the applicable child/ren manually coded to show they are passing the Maintenance Action Test (MAT). For more information, see Relationship Status for Family Tax Benefit and Maintenance Action Test (MAT) codes.

In Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:

• Service Reason: customer's payment type
• Review Reason: MAN (Manual Assessment Entitlement)
• Due Date: date the customer reaches the appropriate age of consent
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Notes: 'Review customer's circumstances. Issue a MOD P if both the customer and/or their partner are now over the age of consent. Refer to OB 102-05010000 for action.’
• Keywords: AGECON
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer to Region: leave blank

The review should include the customer's entitlement to both income support and family assistance payments, as well as any child support/maintenance action.

The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action.