Cancellation at customer's request of JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker) 102-10020190

Is the customer currently receiving their income support payment?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, they lodged a claim and:
• they wish to withdraw their claim before it is assessed, go to Cancel or withdraw an online claim
• the claim has a claim status as assessed but they have not yet received a payment, go to Rejecting a claim for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker)
• No, the payment has already been cancelled, if the job seeker:
• would like a review of the decision, see Restoration of JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (job seeker) and Special Benefit (SpB)
• does not want a review, Procedure ends here

Note: if the customer has a nominee, see Nominees.

If the request was:

• made in person or by phone, go to Step 4
• by letter, email or a failed online attempt, go to Step 3

The Service Officer must make genuine attempts to contact the job seeker to initially discuss an unfavourable decision, go to Advising verbally of an unfavourable decision

Failed online attempts result in a generated Manual Follow Up review allocated by Workload Manager.

Was the attempt to contact successful, including all required contact attempts?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, proceed with manual cancellation, see Table 4

Attempt to clarify with the job seeker the reason they want to cancel their payment.

If the reason is:

• work related, see Step 1 in Table 3
• not work related, see Step 5 in Table 3
• customer does not wish to disclose, see Step 6 in Table 3

Make sure the customer understands they will not be entitled to any supplementary or add on payments, which may include:

• Rent Assistance
• Energy Supplement
• Pharmaceutical Allowance
• Telephone Allowance
• Utilities Allowance (available to people who receive youth rates of Disability Support Pension (under 21, no children) on the test days)
• Approved Program of Work Supplement
• Language, Literacy and Numeracy Supplement
• Pensioner Education Supplement

Advise the customer they may:

• no longer be able to use their Concession Card
• need to serve the relevant waiting period if they reclaim an income support payment
• impact their partners payment

Note: advise of possible entitlement to a Low Income Health Care Card.

On cancellation of their ISP, customers must

• provide an updated income estimate to continue ongoing FTB entitlement
• update their Child Care Subsidy information, including their activity test details

If a customer says they are commencing or returning to work, they may still have access to payment or final payment pending cancellation, which may include their working credit balance. See Working Credit

Clarify if the employment is:

• full time ongoing or non-ongoing now or in the future
• an increase in casual employment or part-time hours
• self-employment

Note: full-time Australian Apprentices may be eligible for ABSTUDY, Austudy or YA. If the customer advises they have become a full-time Australian Apprentice, investigate entitlement to one of these payments. See Existing customer starts an Australian Apprenticeship.

If the employment is:

• full time ongoing, go to Step 2
• non-ongoing full time, go to Step 3
• a return to, or increase in hours for part-time or casual work, go to Step 4

Has the customer already commenced full time ongoing employment or do they know what date they are due to commence?

• If they have already commenced, go to Commencing or returning to work for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (job seeker)
• If the customer is due to commence full time employment in the future, advise them:
• they may have entitlement to employment income nil rate period
• to continue to report and to notify us when they commence employment

Does the customer still wish to proceed with cancellation?

• Yes, see Commencing or returning to work for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (job seeker)
• No, if the job seeker is on variable reporting, change to standard reporting cycle so that the job seeker may lodge a final Reporting Statement as soon as possible, see Reporting requirements for job seekers

Procedure ends here.

Does the customer know how long they will be employed?

If it is:

• less than 12 fortnights, advise the customer to continue reporting fortnightly
• longer than 12 fortnights, and the customer has not received an income support payment during this period, their payment will automatically cancel

Does the customer still wish to proceed?

• Yes, go to Commencing or returning to work for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (job seeker)
• No, advise customer to continue to report

Procedure ends here

Advise the customer they may still be eligible for part-payment.

Payments automatically cancel when reported earnings result in 12 consecutive fortnights of zero payment. This is subject to fluctuations in the customers earnings.

Does the customer wish to proceed with payment cancellation?

• Yes, see Commencing or returning to work for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (job seeker)
• No, advise customer to continue to report

Procedure ends here.

The customer may want to cancel due to the following non work related reasons:

• Becoming partnered, see Change in relationship status from single to partnered
• Inheritance or other windfall
• Moving overseas permanently
• Undisclosed

Advise the customer they may still be eligible for a final part-payment before cancellation.

Does the customer still wish to proceed with cancellation?

• Yes, see Table 4
• No, advise the customer to continue reporting

Procedure ends here

If the customer does not disclose their reason for cancelling their payment, see Table 4.

If the job seeker is on a variable reporting cycle, go to Step 2.

If the job seeker is reporting 2 weekly they can submit a final reporting statement.

If the customer's request to cancel payment is received prior to the last day of their entitlement period (EPED), cancel their payment from the day the customer requests cancellation.

If the job seeker normally reports 2 weekly but does not intend to report anymore:

• Cancel their payment with the date of event (DOV) as DPT + 1
• For coding, go to Step 3

If the job seeker is on variable reporting and wants to submit a final report, update their reporting on the RPRS/RPRD screens or use the Reporting Summary workflow to standard reporting cycle so the customer can submit their final Reporting Statement without risk of a possible overpayment

To proceed with the cancellation, including customers that do not want to submit a final report:

• Cancel their payment with the date of event as the day following the 'authorised to date', that is, the EPED + 1 of the last Reporting Statement lodged. For coding, go to Step 3
• If the job seeker receives any payments after that date the system will treat these as overpayments and create a debt
• Record details on a DOC

Procedure ends here.

The date of effect can differ depending on the date of event and where the event is reported before the end of the entitlement period in which it occurred.

• Access the Benefit Action (BA) screen - code 'BA' in Nxt: and press [Enter]
• Svc Rsn field key 'JSP' or 'YAL' as applicable
• Action field key 'CAN'
• Reason field key 'CLR' (withdrawn/voluntary surrender). The job seeker will not be able to access any working credits or employment income nil rate period

Date of effect is:

• EPED + 1:
• variable reporter, this will be the EPED + 1 of the last reporting statement they lodged
• statement reporter and reporting statement received on or after EPED
• any outstanding reports must be processed before the payment is cancelled
• DOR:
• statement reporter and reporting statement received before EPED
  - in order to receive any outstanding partial payment, tell the customer to report their employment income immediately after cancellation, either online or using the Centrelink Express mobile App
• DPT + 1:
• statement reporter not intending to lodge any outstanding reports

When coding a voluntary cancellation of a job seeker’s payment:

• select CANC CLR - requested by CUS for (PAYMENT TYPE) Fast Note
• record all relevant details of the cancellation in the template. Clearly document the conversation with the customer and the reason they wish to cancel their payment, following the GIR DOC minimum standards
• proceed to attach the Fast Note to the CAN activity
• 'S'elect the CAN activity and complete the Assessment Results (AR) process

Notes:

• a payment will not be generated until the Reporting Statement is lodged via self-managed service channels (Online account, Express Plus application or phone), in person or in writing (SU19)
• if a customer is cancelled CLR they will not be eligible for the Youth Bonus Wage Subsidy 26 week suspension period
• if the customer received a Crisis Payment in the period the updates were applied, a manual reassessment of Crisis Payment may be required. For more information, see Reviewing and reassessing Crisis Payment (CrP)