JobSeeker Payment (JSP) cancellations, suspensions and restorations 001-19051508

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, and record an application for a formal review of the decision if requested

Make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer before finalising the decision.

Generally, JSP should only be suspended when:

• a decision has been made that the customer is not qualified, or the payment is not payable, temporarily or for a specific period as a result of changes in their circumstances, or
• the customer has not complied with a request that was reasonable and relevant to determining their eligibility for payment, for example, to provide information held by the customer, to attend an interview, or to take action (for example, to obtain a foreign payment)

A JSP cannot be suspended pending investigation (INV). Before a payment is suspended or cancelled, the decision maker must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence that the customer is either not qualified for the payment or the payment is not payable. If there is not, information must be requested from the customer via a notice under the appropriate section of the Social Security (Administration) Act; section 63, 67, 68, or part 5, division 1.

Notices must include details as to the information/action required, the timeframe for response (noting that this must be reasonable), the consequences of non-compliance, and the reference to the relevant Act that the request has been made under.

If the customer fails to comply with the notice within the reasonable timeframe by not providing the requested information and/or taking the required action, the decision maker may, after considering all the available evidence, decide to suspend or cancel the payment.

Note: when assessing a reasonable timeframe, as a general rule, 8 additional days may be added to the original timeframe to allow for mail delivery by Australia Post. For example, customer is given 14 days to provide information, a reasonable timeframe to comply would be 22 days from the date of the original notice.

If the customer provides the requested information, the customer's retrospective and/or continuing entitlement should be assessed.

If a decision is made to manually suspend a customer's payment in conjunction with the above, a review must be coded by the Service Officer to follow up the suspension at a later date. See Suspension of JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (YA).

If the decision to cancel JSP is made, an advice must be sent to the customer with the cancellation reason and review and appeal rights.

If deciding to suspend or cancel a customer's JSP, advise them straight away to avoid placing them in financial hardship.

This advice must clearly outline

• their payment type
• why their payment was suspended or cancelled
• the date of effect
• the relevant section of the legislation
• their review and appeal rights.

Restoration of suspended or cancelled JSP may occur when a customer's qualification for payment has been re-established or if payment becomes payable after a cancellation or suspension.

Suspended payments are reviewed within 13 weeks of the suspension. If a customer does not contact or provide requested information, the suspended payment may be cancelled as a result of the review and notification of the cancellation will be issued.

A payment may be restored when the customer re-establishes their qualification for the payment or provides the required information.

See:

• Restoration of JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (job seeker) and Special Benefit (SpB)
• Cancellation at customer's request of JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker)

If a vulnerable and at risk customer remains without income support payment for a minimum of 6 weeks due to an automatic suspension or cancellation, the customer may be eligible for manual intervention. Customers who are overseas permanently are not eligible for this initiative.

For more information, see Manual review after automatic payment suspension and cancellation of vulnerable customers.