Payment Pending Review (PPR) of decision to apply a penalty for non-compliance 001-10130010

PPR is the process of continuing payment during a UNPP or serious failure period while the decision is under review with includes being:

• quality checked by a Subject Matter Expert (SME)
• under review by an Authorised Review Officer (ARO)
• under review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) (first review), or
• under review by the AAT (second review) if a stay order has been issued against the imposition of the penalty prior to the AAT review

Note: a priority review due to no income should not be made if PPR has been granted.

PPR is not available for review of a decision to apply a connection failure, non-attendance failure, reconnection failure or No Show, No Pay failure. If a CDP participant is currently in a reconnection failure period payment will only recommence from the date the CDP participant either complies with the further reconnection requirement or a decision is made that they are no longer required to comply with this requirement.

PPR is also not available for any failures under the Targeted Compliance Framework.

If a CDP participant disagrees with a decision to apply a serious failure or UNPP the CDP participant has access to the internal review framework and may request a review of the decision.

If a serious failure or UNPP decision is being quality checked or is under review by either an ARO or the AAT, payment is restarted and arrears are generally paid for any non-payment period that has already been applied. Payment may also continue during an AAT second review but only if the AAT has issued a stay order against the imposition of the penalty.

When a review is requested after the non-payment period has been reinstated for not attending a waiver re-engagement appointment or attending but not entering into a new Job Plan, PPR applies from the start date of the new (that is, reinstated) serious failure period.

If a CDP participant is concurrently serving a UNPP with other preclusion or waiting periods, payment will not recommence under PPR provisions until the other waiting or preclusion periods have been served or have also become subject to PPR (if applicable).

During the period the CDP participant is receiving PPR they are required to comply with all of their compulsory mutual obligation requirements. As part of the process associated with reinstating payments the Participation Solutions Team (PST)-skilled Service Officer (WNPPD) or Service Officer (UNPP) must attempt to re-engage the CDP participant with their CDP provider.

If the CDP participant fails to comply with their mutual obligation requirements while a decision is under review, a further failure may be reported. Subsequent failures may result in an additional serious failure. If this occurs, a new serious failure penalty period may apply. CDP participants who become voluntarily unemployed without reasonable excuse or are dismissed due to misconduct while receiving payment under PPR provisions may incur an additional UNPP.

Once the quality check or review has been finalised, if the decision to apply the failure that resulted in the serious failure period is affirmed, and no party is taking further review and appeal action or if the next stage of review is the AAT second review and a stay order has not been issued, the reapplication of the failure ends the PPR provision and the UNPP or serious failure penalty period recommences.

A UNPP or serious failure penalty period recommences from the start date of the next entitlement period if the:

• CDP participant withdraws a request for review of the decision
• AAT dismisses the case without a decision (for example, in cases when the CDP participant does not appear at the hearing or cannot be contacted), or
• UNPP or serious failure is affirmed

The above does not apply if the AAT first review has specified a different period for the UNPP or serious failure period and this decision is not being further appealed.

If a decision to apply a UNPP is affirmed, the CDP participant will be required to serve the re-applied UNPP in full, noting that the duration of the re-applied UNPP may be shorter than 8 (or 12) weeks when the CDP participant had 'self-served' part of the non-payment period prior to claiming.

Note: it is possible for a CDP participant to incur an additional UNPP or serious failure penalty period while receiving PPR.

When a CDP participant transfers to a provider type other than a CDP provider, any serious failure periods and UNPPs will continue to affect their payment for the duration of the serious failure period or UNPP until either a waiver or PPR is recorded.

The CDP participant continues to be eligible for PPR when a serious failure or UNPP decision is being quality checked or is under review by either an ARO or the AAT.

Service Officers will continue to record PPR for serious failure and UNPP decisions made before or after the transfer, and reapply these decisions if appropriate following review.