Rejecting an ABSTUDY claim 106-07130010

An applicant, who has lodged a claim for ABSTUDY as a student or an Australian Apprentice for themselves or in respect of their student child, may not be eligible for payment because they or the student do not meet the basic qualification, or recipient obligation provisions for payment.

Sometimes, applicants may withdraw their claims voluntarily or have lodged an inappropriate or incorrect claim. In these circumstances, claims must be rejected. Note: ABSTUDY claims that have been withdrawn can only be rejected if they have already been determined. If they have not been determined, the new claim will need to be cancelled.

For more details, see Withdrawal of claims.

ABSTUDY claims lodged before the death of a customer need to be finalised and entitlements paid up to the date of death. Claims lodged after their death need investigation to work out if the customer was going to claim ABSTUDY before passing away.

ABSTUDY Living Allowance may also not be payable due to certain circumstances. For example, claimants exceeding the means tests limit. These claims should be finalised and not rejected. The recipient's ABSTUDY record will show as current with a nil rate. The reason for not manually rejecting the claim is because although the recipient will not receive any ABSTUDY Living Allowance, they may still be entitled to supplementary ABSTUDY benefits, such as Incidentals Allowance.

While many rejection reasons automatically update after details have been input onto the Centrelink computer system, some other rejection reasons have to be coded manually, for example failing to supply documents, failing to reply to correspondence, etc.

When manually rejecting a claim, ensure an advice is sent to the claimant with the rejection reason(s) and review and appeal rights.

When making an unfavourable decision, speak to the customer:

• explain the decision
• give them a chance to provide more information, and
• advise their review and appeal rights