Farm Household Allowance (FHA) customer going overseas 002-02080020

Transfer customer to the Farmer Assistance hotline.

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers only

While conducting the portability interview, the Service Officer will be able to determine if the customer has to contact when they have returned to Australia, and discuss this before the customer's departure.

Check if the customer has employment income and, if yes, use the Earnings and Reporting workflow to allow changes to the event date on the Employment Income Paid Details (EAPP) screen.

The customer may contact after using the Travelling outside of Australia service within their Centrelink online account. If the online service has already coded the absence, details are recorded on a DOC. The online service may refer the customer to contact to have their absence coded, or explore further portability for their situation.

The following questions will determine if a Service Officer can complete a portability interview or must refer the information to a processing team or Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Note: the Portability Script - Departures and Returns cannot be used for assessing portability entitlement for Farm Household Allowance.

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

Ask the customer:

• date of departure
• date they expect to return to Australia
• reason for travel
• country they are travelling to

Is the customer leaving Australia to live in another country?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 5

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

Note: if the customer is leaving Australia to live in another country, the Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officer completes the portability interview without the need to refer the customer to Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Stop the customer's payment from the date of departure:

• Explain the decision to the customer and advise them of the requirement to reclaim if they do return to Australia
• Check if the customer has employment income or is a 2WE reporter. If yes, see Recording and correcting employment income details
• Give the customer the contact details for Centrelink International Services (CIS) - contact details for customers so they can contact Centrelink while overseas
• If the customer was being paid any add-ons such as Rent Assistance (RA) they will also cease on departure from Australia
• If the customer is also in receipt of family assistance payments, see Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Paid Parental Leave scheme customer/child going overseas

If the customer is partnered and their partner:

• receives FHA as the partner of a farmer, and
• will be remaining in Australia, and
• will not be adopting the responsibilities of the farm business, FHA is to be cancelled from the departure date of the farmer
• will be adopting the responsibilities of the farm business, they can be reassessed as a farmer in their own right. See Change of circumstance for Farm Household Allowance (FHA)

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

• If the customer has provided new address details, Record change of address on Address Details (AD) screen. Note: it is not mandatory for the customer to provide an address outside Australia
• Update the Customer Advised Travel Details (RSCD) screen
• Update the Country of Residence (CRES) screen
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and check payment will cease for a residence related reason from date of departure
• do not inhibit the advice
• finalise the activity

Go to Step 9.

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

Ask the customer why they are travelling overseas to establish if it is for an approved reason.

For help, see:

• Overseas absences for eligible medical reasons
• Overseas absences for humanitarian reasons
• Overseas absences for acute family crisis
• Overseas absences for Armed Forces Reserves

All final decisions relating to portability where the customer's absence meets the criteria for ongoing payments and is of a temporary nature must be done by CIS.

Approval by Centrelink International Services (CIS) for one of these reasons will allow payment to continue for a specific negotiated period (usually 2 to 3 weeks). It would be unusual for a customer to be required overseas for the maximum portability period and this length of portability is rarely granted.

Does the customer have an approved reason for travelling overseas?

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

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

• Determine if the customer has to contact when they have returned to Australia. Discuss this before the customer's departure to correctly assess the customer's ongoing entitlements
• Advise the customer they may meet the requirement for payment overseas but they must speak to a Service Officer from CIS for a decision on their ongoing portability
• If the customer has evidence for their travel, tell them that if they are registered for online services they can use Upload documents to provide the evidence. If they are not registered, they can either take the evidence to a service centre for scanning to their record, or post it. For address details, see Centrelink International Services (CIS) - contact details for customers
• Transfer the call to CIS and explain the customer's circumstances. See CIS - contact details for staff. CIS will take over and complete the portability interview with the customer
• Once transferred, complete a DOC advising what action has been taken, that is, call has been referred to CIS and details of travel, especially the reason
• If it is not possible to transfer the customer immediately to CIS, create a referral:

Process Direct

• Select > Referral
• Referral type: International Services (CIS)
• Referral reason: Portability
• Referral detail: Restricted Portability
• Check Payment type is FHA - Farm Household Allowance
• Select Next
• Referral details display. Update the following as required:
• Vulnerable or suspended customer
• Call customer required
• Translation required
• Appeal request
• Add additional information, ensuring to record the travel details including dates and reason for travel and confirm current telephone contact details
• Select Next
• Select Finish

Customer First

• Create a Fast Note. Select Auto text > Centrelink International Services > Portability > CIS Restricted Portability Referral
• Record the travel details including dates, reason for travel and current telephone contact details

Tell the customer a Service Officer from CIS will contact them as soon as possible. Go to Step 9 to code a review

Note: once CIS make the decision they will code the Customer Advised Travel Details (RSCD) screen and send the activity to the Farmer Assistance hotline staff who are responsible for finalising the assessment and ensuring correct payment is made. If approval is given after the customer has left Australia, Farmer Assistance hotline staff will restore payment and/or issue an arrears payment for the relevant approved period.

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

The customer's payment must stop from date of departure. Payment will be suspended or cancelled from the date of departure from Australia:

• if the customer was being paid any add-ons such as Rent Assistance (RA) they will also cease on departure from Australia
• explain the decision to the customer and advise them about the continuation of payment on their return to Australia
• determine if the customer has to contact when they have returned to Australia, and discuss this before the customer's departure to correctly assess the customer's ongoing entitlements

If the customer is also in receipt of Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and/or Child Care Subsidy (CCS) a new estimate will be required upon cancellation of FHA. See Effect of income support entitlement on Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

Check if the customer has employment income or is a stimulus customer

• Check if the customer has employment income or is a 2WE or 6WE reporter. If yes, see Recording and correcting employment income details

Finalise interview

• Give the customer the contact details for Centrelink International Services (CIS) - contact details for customers so they can contact Centrelink while overseas

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

Note: the customer may advise of their travel using the Travelling outside of Australia service within their Centrelink online account. If the online service has already coded the absence and details are recorded in a DOC, go to Step 9.

• If the customer has provided new address details, Record change of address on Address Details (AD) screen. Note: it is not mandatory for the customer to provide an address outside Australia
• Update the Customer Advised Travel Details (RSCD) screen
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and finalise the activity

Farmer Assistance hotline Service Officers

A review activity must be created to ensure the customer’s payment is stopped on the correct date.

In Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:

• Service Reason: FHS
• Review Reason: OTH (Susp - Other reasons)
• Due Date:
• for unapproved (including request for payment for an approved reason that has not yet been assessed by CIS) or permanent absences record the day after the customer's intended departure date
• for approved absences (approved reason has been assessed and approved by CIS) record the day after the approved period ceases, (see approved portability coding on RSCD screen). This will be no more than 6 weeks from the date of departure
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Notes: specify details of the customer's intended absence and if the customer has income to report the day before they leave. If the customer is awaiting an assessment for an approved absence, include the following 'Check if CIS has granted payment overseas for an approved reason. If assessment has not yet been completed, suspend payment from date of departure. If assessment has been completed, suspend payment from approved period end date +1.'
• Keywords: ACTFHA and OVERSEAS
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer to Region: leave blank

The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action.

Record the details on a DOC.

The review will appear on the customer's FAL screen with the status of REV.

FHA Processing Staff

When the review is allocated:

• confirm the customer’s departure date via the RSIM screen. If there is no date of departure, request the immigration link via the RSIMME screen. See Residence and Portability screens
• for customers with no portability stop the payment from the date of departure with reason code OVS. See Suspending, cancelling and restoring Farm Household Allowance (FHA):
• payment is to be cancelled for permanent absences
• payment is to be suspended for temporary absences
• for customers who have been granted approved portability and are still overseas, suspend the payment from the day after the approved portability end date with reason code POC
• process any outstanding reports, except if the customer indicated they would have employment income to report in their pre-departure interview, but the income was not declared before departure.
• finalise the review activity:
• select the manual review from the AL screen and select Continue
• finalise the activity via the AR screen
• record the details on a DOC