Commencing or returning to work 102-09010000

When a customer is a notification reporter and starts work, whether full-time, part time, casual, on-call, etc, they must advise Services Australia within 14 days .They can also advise up to 30 days before being paid by their employer. Notification reporters will be automatically changed to 2 weekly statement reporters when:

• they commence work with an employer who reports income via Single Touch payroll (STP), and
• the STP data is received from the employer

When a customer is a statement reporter and starts work, whether full time, part-time, casual, on-call, etc, they must advise on their Entitlement Period End Day (EPED) of any paid employment income. They may advise in advance that they will be starting work but must still report their paid gross employment income on their reporting day.

If a customer has worked but not yet been paid, they must report the hours they worked in their reporting period, but are not required to report any employment income until this is paid.

Service Officers must ensure they discuss the importance of reporting correctly during this contact.

Promote the use of self service to update employment status online, report employment income and assist eligible customers to register and navigate the tools. Support customers to check, confirm or change employment income data displayed via Single Touch Payroll (STP). Where there has been a self service failure, resolve the issue wherever possible and encourage customers to reconnect to their desired self service channel.

When advising commencement of (or returning to) work, the customer must provide information about their employment circumstances. On commencement of employment, a customer may be eligible for Special Employment Advance (SEA).

Any employment income a customer is paid may affect their payments under the appropriate Income Test. When the customer has employment income:

• and is under Age Pension age - Working Credits or Income Bank may enable the customer to keep some of their income support payment while they are working
• and is over Age Pension age - and in receipt of a pension (excluding Parenting Payment Single) they may be entitled to the Work Bonus. Note: the Work Bonus is not used in the customer's transitional rules calculation, however the Work Bonus will still be used in the comparison calculations and partners may still benefit by the reduction in total income
• that reduces their fortnightly rate to nil, the customer's payment may remain current at nil rate for up to 12 fortnights and they may retain certain benefits as long as they still remain qualified for the income support payment
• and is under the age of 25, in receipt of Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker) or JobSeeker Payment (JSP), and placed in employment by their Workforce Australia provider, they may be eligible for the Youth Bonus Wage Subsidy (YBWS) initiative. At either the completion of the employment income nil rate period or if they cease to qualify for YA (other) or JSP for an employment related reason, the YBWS customer will commence a 26 week suspension period

ABSTUDY, Austudy or YA is payable to customers who meet the definition of an Australian Apprentice (apprentice or trainee). If the customer is returning to work as a full-time Australian Apprentice consider entitlements to these payments if their current income support payment will be cancelled or if it is to their financial advantage to change income support payments. Customers receiving ABSTUDY, Austudy or YA as an Australian Apprentice are subject to the same income and assets tests that apply to students.

If the customer or customer's partner is in receipt of an allowance and is on variable reporting they will be returned to two weekly reporting when they commence employment.

Notification reporters will be automatically changed to 2 weekly statement reporters when:

• they commence work with an employer who reports income via Single Touch payroll (STP), and
• the STP data is received from the employer

All customers are required to report 2 weekly if they, and/or their partner, have employment income and an exception does not apply. See Recording and correcting employment income details.

It is advisable customers keep their own records of the hours worked and employment income paid during their entitlement period so their payment is not delayed while waiting for payslips from the employer. Employment income worksheets are available to help customers calculate and report the right details to the agency.

Before cancelling a customer's payment, care must be taken to establish the customer no longer meets the qualification and/or payability provisions for their current income support payment. Any entitlement to Working Credit, Income Bank or the Work Bonus may enable the customer to keep some of their income support payment while they are working. If the customer's income reduces their fortnightly rate to nil and some of that income is from employment, the customer may remain current at nil rate for up to 12 fortnights and retain certain benefits. If the customer is in receipt of a 'grandfathered' payment, the differences in current status and possible future entitlement must be explained.

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

If the customer is not qualified for payment and the decision is to cancel payments, a letter must be sent to the customer with the cancellation reason and their review and appeal rights.

Where the customer has lodged a claim for payment and advises they have returned to work and been paid employment income, if there is no entitlement to the payment the claim must be rejected

Note: employment details are automatically pre-filled in new claims when data is available from Single Touch Payroll STP employers.

Every customer's address (including postal address) and telephone details (including mobile phone numbers) must be checked at every contact, and updated if required. Note: if the customer has authenticated themselves via Self Service (phone), address details do not need to be confirmed.

If the customer or partner receives Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or Child Care Subsidy (CCS), check if the customer needs to revise their current family assistance income estimate and advise the customer of the choices available to help reduce the chance of an overpayment during the reconciliation process.

Customers whose employer reports income via Single Touch Payroll (STP) may be contacted by Services Australia to update their current annual income estimate when it does not align with their projected STP annual estimate.

In general, customers who advise they have ongoing full-time work under casual conditions must not be treated as 'casual' if the work is likely to continue for more than 12 weeks. Parents must also advise a return to work after a period caring for a child to check their entitlement to the FTB Part B quarantine.

PPL customers claiming for a child born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023 are able to return to work without losing eligibility.

To be paid a PPL day, a customer cannot be performing more than one hour of paid work on this day. The customer can be receiving paid leave.

Permissible purpose provisions, including Keeping In Touch provisions, do not apply.

See Claiming and managing Paid Parental Leave (PPL) days for children born or entering care on or after 1 July 2023.

PPL customers claiming for a child born or adopted before 1 July 2023, who return to work during their PPL period will lose their remaining PPL period entitlement unless:

• they return to work for a permissible purpose, or
• an allowable exception reason applies

See Parental Leave Pay (PPL) customer, for a child born before 1 July 2023, returns to work.

If they return to work before the end of the PPL period the PPL period will end. The customer may still be eligible for up to 30 Flexible PPL days

PPL claimants returning to work before the end of their PPL period can transfer any unused PPL to an eligible secondary or tertiary claimant.

If a customer returns to full time ongoing employment that is expected to last more than 12 fortnights, the employment status field is to be coded to 'full time ongoing'. This will allow correct reassessment of the customer's entitlement to income support taking into account any working credits.

If the customer is a job seeker and declines to advise details of employment income, code the appropriate screen to cancel their income support payment from the date last paid plus one day.

If a customer who is not a job seeker declines to advise details of employment income, payment must be manually cancelled from date paid to plus one day.

All details of employment income including the gross amount paid and other relevant information must be clearly documented.