Briefing interviews or notification when youngest child is 5 years and 9 months Service Update for Parenting Payment 102-01090030

Is the customer contacting due to not understanding the notification or what they need to do next?

• Yes:
• Tell the customer there is nothing they need to do at this time. These notifications outline upcoming mutual obligation requirements and the Compulsory Participation Appointment. Further notification of the appointment will be sent after the child's 6th birthday
• Make sure the customer understands that when their youngest child turns 6, they will have compulsory part time mutual obligation requirements. The customer will need to undertake approved activities to continue to receive their PP. These activities are aimed at increasing their chances of finding work and they could include looking for work, undertaking study, participating in an approved activity or working part time
• Procedure ends here
• No. If customer is contacting due to a change in circumstance or incorrect details on record, go to Step 2

When a PP customer contacts as a result of receiving a notification, check to see if any PP children have come into the customer's care and not been coded. There are occasions where a PP briefing interview is booked (as youngest PP child is due to turn 6 years of age) however, they have other younger children that would qualify as PP children, who have not been coded. For example, where a customer has 4 children, oldest child was PP child but subsequent children have only been assessed for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) so not coded as PP children.

Is the customer the principal carer of a PP child who has not been coded on their record?

• Yes, code the PP child. If the age of this child is under 6 years, the customer will not have compulsory requirements within the next 3 months
• No, discuss with the customer their change in circumstance. Procedure ends here

If the customer did not attend their scheduled briefing interview, see Table 4.

If the customer's youngest child is turning 5 years and 9 months, see Table 3.

Note: this is not to be confused with a PPS Compulsory Participation Interview conducted after the child turns 6.

If the customer contacts to reschedule their PP briefing interview, see View, reschedule or cancel an appointment in the Centrelink Appointment System.

If the customer has contacted as their payment has been suspended for non-attendance at a briefing interview, see Table 4.

Service Officers should create a pre-call notification (SMS only) using Desktop Electronic Messaging Capability (DEMC). After sending the SMS, wait 1 or 2 minutes and call the customer at the scheduled appointment time.

First contact attempt - If contact is unsuccessful, wait 15 minutes before attempting a second attempt to contact the customer.

Sufficient detail about the outbound contact attempts must be included in a DOC.

Was contact with the customer successful?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 2 in Table 4

Tell the customer that when their youngest child turns 6 they will have compulsory part time mutual obligation requirements. The customer will need to undertake approved activities to continue to receive their PP. These activities are aimed at increasing their chances of finding work and they could include looking for work, undertaking study, participating in an approved activity or working part time.

Check to see if any PP children have come into the customer's care and not been coded. There are occasions where a PP briefing interview is booked (as youngest PP child is due to turn 6 years of age) however they have other younger children that would qualify as PP children, who have not been coded. For example, where a customer has 4 children, oldest child was PP child but subsequent children have only been assessed for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) so not coded as PP children.

Is the customer the principal carer of a PP child who has not been coded on their record?

• Yes, code the PP child. If the age of this child:
• means the customer will not have compulsory requirements within the next 3 months, the interview is not required. Go to Step 4
• is 5 years and 9 months or older (PPS), go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 5

The briefing interview is not required due to a younger PP child being in the customer's care. Cancel the appointment and resulting 'STA' service component. Make sure the customer's details are up to date. Procedure ends here.

Assess the customer's current circumstances to determine if they are already meeting their mutual obligation requirements.

Is the customer already meeting their mutual obligation requirements?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 7

PPS customers who are already meeting their requirements but require a Job Plan as part of their eligibility for income support payment, may be eligible for JSRO registration.

JSRO customers need to be registered as job seekers in order to access other help. If they do not want to volunteer to participate in Workforce Australia, they are not referred to a provider and do not have access to Employment Service Providers.

To register a jobseeker in Process Direct:

Select > Participation Summary > Job seeker registration & provider referral information > Start job seeker registration to register the customer as Job Seeker Registration Only (JSRO).

• Select PCP Meet Requirements for Set to Job Seeker Registration Only No Provider Referral Required?
• Select Next
• Principal Carer question set presents, complete as per the customers response
• Select Next
• Select No for Do you wish to conduct Job Seeker Snapshot for this customer
• Select Next to finalise the workflow

See Eligibility and Registration as a (NSSRR)/No RJCP Referral Required (NRRR) job seeker.

Tell the customer that they will need to attend a compulsory participation interview when their youngest child turns 6. See Conducting, rescheduling or failure to attend a Parenting Payment Single (PPS) Compulsory Participation Interview.

Complete any outstanding activities if required.

Provide details in a DOC of the mandatory information provided to the customer during the conversation, including key dates and any activities the customer is presently participating in that will meet future mutual obligation requirements.

Launching the Service Profiling Update Workflow directly from the relevant appointment by selecting the ‘execute’ button in Customer First. This will automatically update the status of the Service Component to 'COM' (completed) and update the appointments status to Completed. See Service Component and Service Actions.

Once the Service Component is completed, it cannot be restarted.

Has the customer contacted as a result of being suspended for not attending a briefing interview?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 2

Parenting Payment customers need to attend a 5 year, 9 month Parenting Payment briefing interview. The customer should contact Services Australia before the appointment if they can not attend, or reschedule.

If contact can not be made with the customer after two genuine attempts, finalise the appointment as 'Did Not Attend' in the Centrelink Appointment System (CAS).

If the customer did not:

• attend a scheduled briefing interview, their payment should be suspended for failing to attend an interview (FAI)
• contact to arrange an appointment for a briefing interview after a letter has been sent, their payment should be suspended for failing to respond to correspondence (FRC)

Suspension may not be appropriate in exceptional circumstances where there is clear evidence on the customer record of recent events or known factors that have impacted on the customer's capacity to comply. When considering if to suspend payment, take into account:

• the existence and type of any vulnerability and its impact on the customer's capacity to comply
• any recent events (as documented) that may impact on the customers capacity to comply, or
• any other known factors that may indicate customer was unable to comply, or had a reasonable excuse for not doing so
• for example, family and domestic violence, bereavement or significant mental health issues

Has the Service Officer decided that suspension is appropriate?

• Yes,
• code the suspension manually via the Benefit Action (BA) screen with a date of effect being the date of the missed interview (or the date the determination is being made if DNA occurred before date paid to +1), for reason 'FAI'
• clearly document the reason for suspending the customer's payment using the SUS CAN reason Fast Note
• procedure ends here until customer contacts
• No, reschedule the briefing interview. Procedure ends here

Customer makes contact following suspension of payment for non-attendance at a briefing interview. Tell the customer:

• they have been suspended due to missing their appointment
• if they are unable to attend any appointment requested of them, they must make contact before the appointment to reschedule and avoid suspension
• in future they may be asked to attend more frequent participation related appointments

Restore the payment from date of suspension with arrears, if entitled.

Does the customer indicate that they do not want to attend the briefing interview?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, reschedule the briefing interview. Procedure ends here

Outline the importance of attending the interview before compulsory mutual obligations requirements start due to the age of their youngest child.

A briefing interview will tell the customer they will have compulsory requirements when their child turns 6 years old.

Does the customer still choose not to attend the briefing interview?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, reschedule the briefing interview. Procedure ends here

Tell the customer they will need to attend a compulsory participation interview and enter into a Job Plan to remain qualified for PP when their child turns 6.

Restore their payment if appropriate.