Incorrect date of birth recorded 102-06010010

A customer's official DOB for Centrelink purposes is the date advised by:

• State or Territory Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) (if born in Australia), or
• Department of Home Affairs (if born outside of Australia)

Only the dates identified on documents issued by these agencies should, in the first instance, be accepted as the DOB.

Note: this is the case except where it has been established that the birth is not registered. For more information, see Process.

If a customer states that the DOB recorded on an FA081 for their child is incorrect, the customer will need to provide the child's birth certificate.

If a customer's birthday falls on 29 February, it must be coded as this date. The customer is deemed to have the date of birth of 01 March in non-leap years when determining payment eligibility.

If a customer disagrees with the DOB recorded by BDM or Department of Home Affairs, and wishes to change their recorded birth date, they should deal directly with BDM or Department of Home Affairs.

If the customer was born:

• in Australia, they contact BDM in the state or territory of their birth
• outside Australia, they contact the Department of Home Affairs. A Request for amendment or annotation to personal records 424C form can be downloaded from their website

Services Australia has no legal authority to change a customer's birth date. It must match what appears on the legal documents issued by those two agencies.

The Resources page contains links to the BDM in each state and Department of Home Affairs website.

If Department of Home Affairs has rejected a change in personal details application, the customer may seek a review through the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to review a decision made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

In exceptional circumstances where a customer disputes the official DOB issued by BDM or Department of Home Affairs (if born outside Australia), a temporary DOB may be entered as advised by a customer to assess qualification for payment. All exceptional circumstances cases must be referred to the Customer Details Helpdesk by email for approval prior to coding by a Service Officer. If this occurs, the customer must make an application to BDM or Department of Home Affairs to amend their official DOB within 14 days. Service Officers can help customers in making this application by providing BDM or Department of Home Affairs' contact details.

Service Officers need to use their judgement, on a case by case basis, to determine whether the circumstances surrounding a customer's request are 'exceptional'.

Examples of when 'exceptional circumstances' may be established in DOB situations include, but are not limited to:

• a customer's physical characteristics and appearance are inconsistent with DOB details provided by Department of Home Affairs
• a customer provides independent third party official documentation to verify their DOB which is inconsistent with Department of Home Affairs

The phrase 'exceptional circumstances' is not intended to cover situations where a customer asks to record an alternative DOB without any justifiable reason or independent basis. All exceptional circumstance cases must be referred to Identity Program - Customer Details by email for approval prior to any change.

Where the outcome of a review does not amend a customer's official DOB, any temporary DOB details must be removed from the customer's record. The DOB originally issued by BDM or Department of Home Affairs must be used in order to assess qualification for payment. If any incorrect payments have been made based on a temporary DOB, these should be investigated as debts due to the Commonwealth.

Where a customer fails to make an application to BDM, Department of Home Affairs or Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) within 14 days, Centrelink must remove any temporary DOB and use the DOB originally issued by BDM or Department of Home Affairs to assess qualification for payment. If any incorrect payments have been made on the basis of a temporary DOB, these should be investigated as debts due to the Commonwealth.

Where BDM or Department of Home Affairs does amend a customer’s official DOB, this date needs to be amended or confirmed on the customer record.

Department of Home Affairs is the only agency authorised to change the official DOB for customers whose birth is not registered in Australia. This situation is most common among refugee migrants whose original DOB may have been assumed due to the unavailability of official records.

Care must be taken when updating customer details to avoid breach of privacy and to prevent:

• intertwined Centrelink records
• creation of multiple Customer Reference Numbers (CRN), see Centrelink customer has multiple Customer Reference Numbers (CRN)

Service Officers must locate the correct customer record and establish proof of record ownership.

Customers who create or have a myGov Profile when linking member services to their myGov account, will be advised if their date of birth details do not match between their myGov Profile and the Profile member service they are linking to. They will not be able to create the link and will be advised to contact the relevant member service to update their details. Once the updates have been made the customer will be able to create the link in their myGov account.

If a customer with a myGov Profile updates their legal name or date of birth with a linked Profile member service, myGov will automatically update their myGov Profile however they do not share the update with any other linked Profile member services. The customer is required to update their legal name or date of birth directly with member services.