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Actioning Approved Care Organisation (ACO) advice of transfer, discharge or absence of a young person 102-05050030

For ACO processing staff.

This document outlines information relating to the transfers, discharges and absences of young persons to or from Approved Care Organisations (ACO).

On this page:

Transfers, discharge and absences for ACOs

Responding to enquiries from ACOs

Transfers, discharge and absences for ACOs

Table 1

Step	Action
1	Claiming/eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Who is claiming/eligible for FTB an ACO, go to Step 2 another party for a child listed as being in the care of an ACO, go to Step 3
2	ACO spreadsheet received An ACO admission, transfer or discharge spreadsheet is received via email advising Services Australia the young person: has been discharged from the ACO's care, go to Step 5 has absconded from the ACO, go to Step 3 is on a temporary absence from the ACO, go to Step 4 has been admitted to an ACO, see Processing Family Tax Benefit (FTB) claims of Approved Care Organisations (ACO)
3	Young person has left, absconded or is missing from the ACO If a young person has left the care of, absconded or is missing from an ACO, FTB/DOP payments to the ACO for the young person must cease from the date the young person left care, go to Step 5. The Child out of care without consent 14 week rule, which generally applies when a young person leaves a parent/individual care without the parent/individual's consent, does not apply in the case of ACOs.
4	Young person is on a temporary absence If the young person is on a temporary absence, such as an admission to hospital or transfer to another facility closer for arraignment, and is still a client of the ACO, continue payment of FTB/Double Orphan Pension (DOP) to the ACO Record details on a DOC Procedure ends here.
5	Cancel FTB/DOP If the young person has been discharged from the ACO, or the ACO is no longer eligible to receive FTB for the child, cancel FTB/DOP from the date the young person left their care. Child is not a customer In the other carers record, ‘S’elect the child from Child Selected (CHS) screen Code ‘CHC’ in Nxt to go to the Child in Care (CHC) screen On the CHC screen code ‘LCC’ using the correct Event Date, code number corresponding to ACO in 'Carer' field Child has their own PER record Key the Child's CRN in the CRN field to go to the child record On the CHS screen, 'S'elect 'Self' Code ‘CHC’ in Nxt, to go to the Child in Care (CHC) screen On the CHC screen code ‘LCC’ using the correct Event Date, code number corresponding to ACO in 'Carer' field As FTB shared care legislation only applies to individuals, the FTB Shared Care (FSC), SSA Shared Care (SSC) and the Care Alignment Details (!CADDS) screens are not required to be coded. Child changes recorded on one customer's record will 'ripple' to other customers linked to the child. Any changes recorded affecting the 'losing carer' will need to be merged, or left started to make sure the changes flow on correctly, before completion: On the Assessment Results (AR) screen: stop at the Ripple Manager (RMC) screen to update the ripple activities to the related carers change the assessment instruction for the respective customers from Complete to Start for the affected ACO select continue to go to the AR screen and finalise the activity on the child/other carer’s record Enter the record of the ACO and select the ripple activity from the Activity List (AL) screen created by the ripple, check the result is correct and finalise the activity Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > ACO discharge, to DOC the record. Change the Extra details of the Fast Note to add the child’s name Has activity resulted in a debt? Yes, go to Step 6 No, procedure ends here
6	Select debt shell Select the debt shell activity from the Activity List (AL) screen. Go to the Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) screen and note the: Debt ID estimated amount, and start and end dates Use this information to confirm the details pre-populated in the Raise A Debt guided procedure: Go to the Component Amount (OPCA) screen within the debt shell activity. Note the: components of the overpayment start and end dates of each component amount of each component Confirm the total received (old rate) and the total entitled (new rate) for the Letter Details section of the guided procedure. Open the ADEX for the debt shell with the source AMR of the ripple activity. For details on how to view ADEX, see Using ADEX to explain a system generated debt. ADEX displays the total amounts under the Old Rate (amount received) and New Rate (amount entitled) for the debt period. Note these amounts with the other details already noted from the OPMA and OPCA screens.
7	Raise the debt Use the Debt Action script, if possible, to record the details and outcome of the debt. When the Debt Action script reaches the Confirm Period and Amount - Raise screen, the debt period and debt amount defaults to the details on the Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) screen. This information may need to be updated. For more information, see Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS).
8	Finalise the activity On the Account Payable (OPAOD) screen: the Debt Id field will default with a unique identification number for the debt the Debt Status field will default from information on the Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) or Add Debt (OPAD) screens. This is a display only field key text under the Why you owe money heading. For example: This is because you received Family Tax Benefit for a child not in your care. in the Total Received $ field, key the amount of payment the customer received: this is the total of all amounts paid for the debt period this is used to calculate the amount entitled in the Contact Name field: Services Australia in the Contact Telephone field: 1800 076 072 the Total Entitled $, Amount due $, Debt Start Date and Debt End Date fields are protected fields. The values are taken from information in the system select [Enter] The debt will be determined when all relevant fields on the OPAOD screen are complete. Otherwise, an undetermined debt will remain on the record. The system will go to the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen: complete the activity on this screen record details of the debt on a DOC Procedure ends here.

Responding to enquiries from ACOs

Table 2

Step	Action
1	Email received from ACO Identify the reason for the email. Check the approved email templates on the Letters > Centrelink templates > Families > Approved Care Organisations subsite. Is there an email template that can be used to respond to the reason for the contact? Yes, go to Step 2 No, go to Step 4
2	Send approved email to ACO In the positional mailbox, use the appropriate approved ACO email template, make sure to follow all formatting instructions. Does the email response relate to an overpayment? Yes, go to Step 3 No, send the email, procedure ends here
3	Attach the Account Payable letter to the email Go to the HS screen Open the twisty next to the Account Payable letter Select Print Local Change the Copy field to Y on the LPA screen Key the [local printer ID] in the Printer ID: field. Report will be printed locally. Staff must collect the letter from the local printer Scan the Account Payable letter via the printer and select Email icon on the printer Select keyboard icon and enter personal Services Australia email address Select OK then select Start. (This will then scan the document and send to Service Officer’s email) Account Payable letter will be emailed to the Service Officer’s personal email as a PDF document Attach the PDF to the email in the positional mailbox and send it Delete the personal email and pdf. Put the hard copy in the secure bin to be destroyed. Procedure ends here.
4	Outbound call to respond to ACO enquiry If none of the approved email templates answers the reason for contact, make a genuine attempt to contact the ACO by phone to discuss their enquiry. If the contact is unsuccessful, record the contact attempts on the ACO’s record include the information that would have been provided to the ACO procedure ends here successful, authenticate the person on the phone provide them with a response to their email record the information on the ACO's record if their email relates to an FTB claim, save the email into the relevant ACO eFolder within Content Manager. See the Resources page for a link to further information on Content Manager on the intranet