Principal carer of a dependent child 001-04030010

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Scenarios - assessment of principal carer status

Table 1

Item	Scenario
1	Step parents Alison and partner, Derek, do not have any children together, however Derek has a 3 year old child, Ruth, from a previous relationship. Ruth lives with Alison and Derek, and Alison stays home to care for the child while Derek works full-time. As Alison lives with Ruth and Derek and is responsible for the daily care and welfare of Ruth, Alison is eligible for Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP) as the principal carer.
2	Grandparent is the principal carer Ben is 4 years old and lives with grandparent, Polly. Ben's parent, Liz, is legally responsible for Ben, lives with a partner and sees Ben intermittently, however all decisions affecting Ben's daily care and control are left to Polly. As a result, the determination is made that Ben is not in Liz's care. As Ben lives with Polly and Polly very substantially cares for Ben, by providing daily care, and seeing to Ben's welfare, Polly is the principal carer and eligible for Parenting Payment Single (PPS).
3	Grandparent is not the principal carer James is 3 and lives with parent, Sharon and grandparent, Mavis. Mavis contributes towards expenses for James and seems to shoulder a substantial degree of the work associated with James' daily care needs. However, as the natural parent, and with no court order conferring parental responsibility to Mavis, Sharon is legally responsible for James and can demonstrate exercising decisions relating to the daily care and control of James. Sharon is, therefore, the principal carer of James rather than Mavis and is eligible for PPS.
4	Delegation of care Dan and Sarah care for 3 children, Ava, Noah and Georgia. Dan and Sarah work fulltime and shift work therefore the children stay with Dan’s parent Mavis, Monday to Thursday nights. Mavis lodges a claim for PPP claiming 58% care of the children, Dan and Sarah confirm the care arrangements. Dan and Sarah pay for all the children’s needs including school fees, medical expenses and give money to Mavis for food for the children. Dan and Sarah make the majority of decisions regarding the welfare of the children. Mavis would not be the principal carer as this is a delegation of care and the PPP claim will be rejected.
5	Foster carer Julie has started caring for James aged 7. James was living with parent Dan (Juile’s sibling), but Dan is having some personal issues and cannot care for James. Julie does not have legal responsibility for James and is providing informal foster care. Julie is currently receiving JSP but lodges a claim for PPS for James. Dan is currently receiving PPS for James. Dan and Julie have both agreed that Julie will care for James until Dan is able to care for James. Julie will provide daily care and make the majority of decisions regarding James’s wellbeing while in Julie’s care. Julie will therefore be the principal carer for James. Dan’s PPS will be cancelled, and Dan will need to claim for JSP.

Standard text for principal carer determination

Note: if a shared care assessment has been completed, use standard text in Shared care for income support payments and principal carer determination.

Q808 is to be used for a partnered person. Q807 is to be used for a single person.

Under Social Security law, only the principal carer of a child or children is eligible to receive certain Centrelink payments and services. The Law also allows only one member of a couple at a time to be regarded as the principal carer. As both you and [name of other person caring for child] care for (name of child/ren), Centrelink needs to decide who can be regarded as the principal carer.

Your assessment has been completed

We have assessed your situation based on the information provided and taking into account all the relevant circumstances.

We are writing to both you and [name of other person caring for child] to let you know the results of this assessment. This is a notice given under Social Security Law.

The decision

We have made a decision that (you are/[name of other carer] is) the principal carer of [name of child/ren].

This decision may affect what payments and services you are eligible to receive and what activities you have to undertake to receive these payments and services. We will write to you shortly with more information about this.

Q888 text - Inviting Principal Carers to claim Family Tax Benefit

You may be eligible for family assistance based on your circumstances.