Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM) 133-02160000

Customers who have EM will get a message at day 9 after they have:

• accepted the claim Declaration, and
• moved to the Next steps page of the claim

The message will tell the customer to complete all Required tasks.

If the customer has outstanding Required tasks at day 19, they will get another message. It will tell them to complete all outstanding Required tasks and submit their claim.

SMS: Complete and submit your claim to be assessed from the earliest date. Sign in to your online account or Express Plus mobile app.

SMS for Aged Care claims only: Complete and submit your claim for it to be finalised from the earliest date. Sign in to your online account or Express Plus mobile app.

Email: We notice that you have started a draft claim. If you still wish to make this claim, you will need to complete the outstanding tasks and submit your claim to be assessed from the earliest date possible.

Email for Aged Care claims only: We notice that you have started a draft claim. If you still wish to make this claim, you will need to complete the outstanding tasks and submit your claim for it to be finalised from the earliest date possible.

To do this, sign in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account or use your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

For Age Pension or Aged Care combined partner claims, both the customer and their partner will receive these messages.

This message will tell the customer that the system is unable to identify what documents the customer uploads and needs further details.

The message will send when:

• there are multiple tasks pending and a single document is scanned
• an unknown file format is scanned
• the customer uploads an unstructured document that the system is unable to identify

SMS: We have received your documents. You now need to submit your claim. Sign in to your online account or use your Express Plus mobile app. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: We have received your documents. You now need to submit your claim by signing in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account or use your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

These messages will tell the customer and partner about their Age Pension, Aged Care or Farm Household Allowance combined online claim progress.

Call to action message

The partner of a customer who starts either an Age Pension, Aged Care or Farm Household Allowance claim on their behalf will receive this message. The partner needs to agree or reject this action.

SMS: Your partner has started an <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> claim for you. Tell us whether or not you agree by [date]. You can do this by signing into myGov to access your Centrelink online account. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: Your partner has started an <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> claim online for you.

You need to tell us if you agree to them claiming for you by [date]. If you do not tell us by this date, you will need to lodge a claim for yourself as soon as possible. If you agree to your partner claiming for you, they can submit or withdraw it on your behalf at any time until the claim has been completed. If your partner withdraws their claim, your claim will also be withdrawn automatically.

Permissions message

When the customer's partner completes the Age Pension, Aged Care or Farm Household Allowance combined partner online claim task, they will receive a permission message.

Partner agrees:

SMS: Your partner agreed for you to claim <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> for them. To submit your claim sign in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: Your partner has agreed that you may claim <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> on their behalf.

You now need to submit your claim.

Partner rejects:

SMS: Your partner does not want you to claim <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> for them. You can submit your claim by signing in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: Your partner does not want you to claim <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> for them.

You can submit your claim for yourself.

Customer proceeds with claim without waiting for partner agreement

The partner gets this message when the customer:

• does not wait for their partner to complete the <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> combined claim partner task and
• submits their own Age Pension or Aged Care claim

SMS: Your partner has decided not to claim <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> for you. You can claim by signing in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account and selecting 'Make a claim'. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: Your partner has decided not to claim <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> for you.

If you want to claim <Age Pension/Aged Care>, you will need to submit a claim for yourself.

Withdrawn or cancelled claim

The partner will get this message if the customer withdraws or cancels their claim. This action will also withdraw or cancel the partner's claim.

SMS: Your partner is not continuing with their <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance> claim. You can claim by signing in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account and select 'Make a claim'. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: Your partner is not continuing with their claim for <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance>.

If you want to claim <Age Pension/Aged Care/Farm Household Allowance>, you will need to submit a claim for yourself.

Customers will get this message when they submit their claim. It tells the customer they can track their claim using either:

• their Centrelink online account, or
• the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

SMS: Your claim has been submitted successfully. Sign into your online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app to track the progress of your claim. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: Your claim has been submitted successfully. You can track the progress of your claim by signing in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account or use your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. You can withdraw your claim at any time.

Customers will get 'progress' messages at day 9, 21 and 32 when the Social Application (claim workflow) status is In Process. This will tell the customer that their claim is progressing after submission. Family Assistance claims do not have a 32 day notification.

Day 9

SMS: We are working on your claim. You don't need to do anything. Use your online account or Express Plus mobile app to track the progress. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: We are working on your claim. You don't need to do anything. You can track the progress of your claim by logging in to your Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

Day 21

SMS: We're still working on your claim. You don't need to do anything. Use your online account or Express Plus mobile app to track the progress.

Email: We are still working on your claim. You don't need to do anything. You can track the progress of your claim by logging in to your Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

Day 32 (Non-Complex)

SMS: We're still working on your claim. You don't need to do anything at this stage. We will contact you when the decision is made. Do not reply by SMS.

Email: We are still working on your claim. You don't need to do anything at this stage. We will contact you when the decision is made. You can track the progress of your claim by logging in to your Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

This message is sent when a Service Officer requests the customer to supply more information using:

• Process Direct: Request Documents process
• Customer First:
• Request and Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure,
• Request Documents Q777 guided procedure (Families claims), or

The requested information will show as a Required task on the customer's online Task list.

A Claim on hold notification will tell the customer when the claim needs further action to progress. See the Resources page for the delivery process for the request for information.

This message will tell the customer and partner that their Age Pension or Aged Care combined partner claim is complete. Customers can access their Centrelink online account or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app to check the assessment outcome.

Granted claim outcome

• SMS (for concession card claims): Your claim has been assessed. To see the outcome, sign in to your online account or Express Plus app. Your card will arrive within 14 days. Do not reply by SMS
• SMS (for Families pre-birth claims that are pending child's birth): We have assessed your claim for your expected <child/children> and sent a letter with info about what you must do after they are born. Do not reply by SMS
• SMS (for PPL claims awaiting nominated start date): Claim update: your payment will start after your nominated start date. Sign in to myGov or the Express Plus app to see the letter we sent. Do not reply by SMS
• SMS (for Aged Care claims): Your claim has been finalised. A letter will be sent with more info. Do not reply by SMS
• SMS (for all other claims): Your claim has been assessed. To see the outcome, sign in to your online account or Express Plus app. A letter has been sent with more info. Do not reply by SMS
• Email (for concession card claims): Your claim has been assessed. To see the outcome, please sign in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account or use your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. Your card will arrive within 14 days
• Email (for Families pre-birth claims that are pending child's birth): We have assessed your claim for your expected <child/children> and have sent you a letter with information about what you must do after they are born. Please note that you cannot receive Paid Parent Leave scheme payments or Newborn Supplement with your Family Tax Benefit Part A until you have registered or applied to register the birth of your newborn child with your State or Territory. Registering your child's birth is free. For more information, please sign in to myGov or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app to view a letter we have sent you
• Email (for PPL claims awaiting nominated start date): We have assessed your claim and your payment will start after your nominated start date. For more information, please sign in to myGov or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app to view a letter we have sent you
• Email (for Aged Care claims): Your claim has been finalised. A letter will be sent to you with important information
• Email (for all other claims): Your claim has been assessed. To see the outcome, please sign in to myGov to access your Centrelink online account or use your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. A letter has been sent to you with important information

Rejected claim outcome

• SMS: Your claim has been assessed. To see the outcome, log on to your Centrelink online account or Express Plus app. A letter has been sent with more info. Do not reply by SMS
• Email: Your claim has been assessed. To see the outcome, please sign into myGov to access your Centrelink online account or use your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

Electronic Messages created:

• before 8:00am Monday to Friday, will not be sent until 9:00am AET that day
• before 8:00am on weekends will not be sent until 9:00am AET the next working day
• after 8:00pm on any day will not be sent until 9:00am AET the next working day

Business rules exist where expiring a draft claim does not occur on a public holiday or weekend.

Customers who use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app and are subscribed to push notifications will get the following:

Unfinalised claim

• Customers who have a started claim with outstanding tasks will get a push notification on day 3
• Customers with a submitted claim who have been requested to provide more information, will get a push notification on day 10

When the customer selects the push notification on their device, they are taken to the Next steps page in their online claim to complete outstanding tasks.

Claim outcome

For JobSeeker Payment (JSP) claims only:

• when a claim has been granted, the customer will get a claim outcome push notification
• when they select the push notification on their device, they will be exited from the app and taken to the JSP claim granted outcome page in their Centrelink online account. This page shows:
• Payment start date
• Payment rate
• Next reporting date

See Accessing and using Centrelink self service for more information on push notifications.

The customer has submitted their online claim.

The customer can check the:

• date of submission, and
• Estimated Completion Date Range (ECDR) - this is a date range based on current processing timeframes and not the KPI for that payment type (excluding Mobility Allowance and Special Benefit claims). There will be regular ECDR reviews to make sure they align with the most recent processing timeframes

The claim is ready for processing. The tracker will move to this status after the customer submits the claim.

Service Officers can send a request for more information if needed to complete the claim. This will change the claim status to On hold.

Note: On hold status does not automatically apply for Aged Care claims in Customer First.

The customer's Centrelink online account homepage will show Outstanding claim tasks. This will tell the customer what they need to do and a link. The task will also show on the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app home screen.

• For claims processed on the:
• old platform, the date the information is due by will show on the customer's Claim Details page, see Item 6
• current platform, customers need to select Additional Information under their task list to see the Required tasks due by date. The previous Estimated Completion Date Range will no longer show
• When the customer supplies the new task information, the claim status of In Progress will show in the tracker. The Estimated Completion Date Range will show again and will update to reflect additional days based on time on hold

When the customer uploads and submits the information, the claim status will return to In Progress. This status will remain until staff complete the claim assessment.

If the customer does not give the required information by the due date, these claims will be rejected automatically:

• Age Pension with reason FRC (failed to reply to correspondence)
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card with reason FSD (failure to supply documents)

To manually reject Carer or Home Equity Access Scheme claims, see:

• Assessing Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) applications
• Rejecting a Carer Payment (CP) claim

Make Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Parental Leave Pay (PPL) and Child Care Subsidy (CCS) claims Not Effective (NEF) in Process Direct. See:

• Not effective, rejection or withdrawal of claim for Parental Leave Pay (PPL)
• Not effective, rejection, or withdrawal of claim for Family Tax Benefit or Stillborn Baby Payment
• Processing Child Care Subsidy (CCS) claims

When manually rejecting a claim, see Advising verbally of an unfavourable decision.

For streamline rejections in Process Direct, see:

• Rejecting an ABSTUDY claim
• Rejecting Disability claims
• Rejecting JobSeeker Payment or Youth Allowance (job seeker) claims
• Rejecting student and Apprentice claims for Youth Allowance
• Rejecting student and Australian Apprentice claims for Austudy

When the claim assessment is complete, the claim tracker status will change to Completed. This will show on the My online claims page. Select View claim, to read more information.

The claim outcome will show on the My online claims page as Approved or Rejected for 14 days. After 14 days it will show as Completed.

More information shows in the claim tracker when a customer submits a claim that is still on the old platform. When they select View claim on the My online claims page, this will take them to the Claim details page.

This page will continue to show the:

• claim tracker
• Estimated Completion Date Range (ECDR)
• date the customer submits the claim
• Notifications tab
• A history of messages the customer got during their claim progress at each stage
• Tasks tab
• Customers with Supplementary tasks have until the claim is finalised to complete these tasks. For example, lodging of a Rent Certificate. This tab is also part of the On Hold process
• Claim details tab
• Expands to show all claim responses

Managing customer tasks is essential to enable a customer to submit their online claim.

A notification reminding the customer of outstanding Required tasks, will appear on the homepage in their:

• Centrelink online account, and
• Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

When a customer provides a Required document, mark as Provided, otherwise the customer's claim may expire. If this occurs, the customer will have to start the claim again.

To manage a customer's task in:

• Process Direct, see Table 5
• Customer First, see Table 7

When submitting a claim, mark the task as Submitted when the customer provides the information. Otherwise, the claim will reject failure to supply documents on the Due By Date plus 1. See Table 2, Item 4.

Tasks appear at Next steps of a claim. They can be Required or Supplementary for the claim outcome.

• Required tasks - documents or actions a customer must provide or complete to submit a claim. Most Required tasks have a corresponding Upload button that will launch the Upload documents service to complete the task. When complete, the task status changes to Done. When all Required tasks have a status of Done, the customer can submit the claim
• Supplementary tasks - documents not essential for a customer to submit a claim. They will help to confirm additional assistance, for example, a rent certificate for Rent Assistance (RA)

Tasks where the customer does not need to provide documents

There are tasks where the Upload button will not show and a View or Book button will show instead.

• View provides information to the customer. For example, 'Documents to confirm your identity':
• the customer needs to supply photographic identity to a service centre through an Agent site (Silver service remote areas only), by post (return document to customer by registered post), online or phone, and
• the Identity Confirmation Dashboard in Process Direct has not been updated

Go to Identity Confirmation for information about identity document lodgement options and coding identity documents.

• Book allows customers:
• claiming JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (YA) (student, Australian Apprentice or job seeker), Austudy (student or Australian Apprentice) to book a video chat appointment if they need to confirm their identity
• claiming JSP or YA job seeker to book their new claim appointment. This will appear after the customer uploads their documents, go to Item 3
• aged under 18 years claiming unreasonable to live at home (UTLAH) to book a Social Work UTLAH appointment, go to Item 4. This will appear after the customer uploads their documents
• Other tasks include:
• Age Pension/Aged Care combined partner claim partner task - go to Item 2

The Age Pension combined partner claim and Farm Household Allowance partner task will show on the partner's record. This occurs when a customer indicates they wish to submit a combined claim. Additional messages will help the customer and partner understand the progress of their combined claim.

The new claim appointment task will show for those claiming JSP or YA job seeker. When the customer completes all other Required tasks, the Book button will appear. This allows them to book their new claim appointment before submitting their claim.

Customers must submit their claim after booking their new claim appointment. If they do not do this, the appointment will cancel on the day of the appointment. When an appointment cancels, the new claim appointment task status will change from Done to Required. The customer will not get any notification. They must book a new job seeker online claim phone appointment and submit their online claim.

New claim appointment booking exceptions

JSP or YA job seekers will not be able to Book their new claim appointment if any of these circumstances apply:

• they have not booked and attended a video chat appointment to complete their identity linkage
• they indicate they need an interpreter. A View button will show in the appointment task. This will provide the customer with information and a phone number to contact to book their appointment
• they do not have a phone number (home or mobile) on their Centrelink record. A View button will show in the appointment task. When they select this, an information page about contacting Services Australia to book the appointment will appear. On this information page, a Book button shows. Customers who provide a contact number can then book an appointment. The system will not update the customer's record with the contact number they provide

Customers aged 16-17 years claiming independent status based on unreasonable to live at home do not need to lodge any forms. They must undertake a UTLAH assessment with a social worker.

Customers under the age of 18 years can book their own UTLAH appointment at a time and date that suits them. This is part of the online or Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) process.

The UTLAH appointment will show as a Required task but will not prevent the customer from submitting their claim.

For more information, go to Next steps in Youth Allowance and Austudy students and Australian Apprentices online claims and Assisted Customer Claims and ABSTUDY unreasonable to live at home (UTLAH).

• Yes, for all claims except CCS, go to Step 2
• No, follow the steps outlined in Requesting Information (CLK)

Note: there are current issues with the request document function in Process Direct for Child Care Subsidy (CCS). It cannot be used until further notice. See Processing Child Care Subsidy (CCS) claims.

Before making a new request:

• check the Tasks icon to make sure the additional information wasn't already requested
• check the partner's Documents icon to make sure requested documents weren't uploaded on the partner's record. If they are there they don't need to be provided again by the customer

Mark tasks as Not Required if:

• the customer contacts and the Service Officer can confirm they made a mistake in their claim and the requested document does not need to be provided
• Services Australia already has the existing information on file, or
• the documents were uploaded on the partner's record

See Table 5, Step 5 for instructions on how to mark tasks as Not Required.

To request more information for CCM claims in Process Direct:

• enter the claim, do not select Process
• select > Request Documents

On the Maintain screen update:

• *Benefit: from the dropdown menu, select the relevant claim type
• *Benefit Status: from the dropdown menu, select New Claim
• Authority to request: from the dropdown menu, select Social Security (Admin) Act 1999
• Customer required to: from the dropdown menu, select Upload documents
• Request: from the dropdown menu, select 1^st
• Information to be supplied within: this is the date the customer must return the document/s by and defaults to 14 days
• Note: Service Officers may need to change this date to make sure the customer gets the Total Days Given to Respond. See 'Working out a review date' in Requesting Information (CLK)
• If the customer does not supply the documents by the Total Days Given to Respond + 1, the claim may be rejected. See Table 2, Item 4
• Customer to contact: from the dropdown menu, select Call Centre
• Invite Reverse Charge Call: select No

Free Text for letter

On the right side, if Yes is selected, Default Text and Free Text for Letter will show. Staff must only select Yes to Free Text for Letter and enter free text when instructed to do so in Operational Blueprint.

Is free text required?

• Yes, enter the free text in the Free Text for Letter box. The text will:
• show in the letter, check spelling and grammar before proceeding
• not show in:
  the online task list
  messages sent to customer subscribed to Electronic Messaging
• No, go to Step 5

In Staff Notes, include:

• why the additional information was requested, and
• all relevant information to assist processing staff when the customer does or does not complete the task

Staff Notes does not leave a DOC on the customer's record. Annotate the claim progress DOC with details of what information was requested and why. This will assist inbound staff not trained in claims processing when customers contact about the progress of claim.

To access Staff Notes:

• Select the Tasks icon
• View Staff Notes under View/Create Note by selecting the image of the clipboard
• Staff Notes cannot be edited. Additional notes can be added by selecting the image of the page with a star

Under Available Documents, enter the document name in the search bar and select it from the list. See Request for Information (RFI) letter for the full list of available documents.

Note: if the required form or document is not in the list, check if suitable to create a manual letter. See Creating a Q999 or Q888 letter.

Once a document is selected, Additional Details will show. More fields may populate that must be completed. For example, a Business Tax Return will require Business Name and Financial Year. Bank account balance will require the relevant calendar date.

Under Additional Details (if applicable):

• Select who the document is for: customer, partner, both, parent/guardian
• Add free text for each task (where applicable) to record details of what is being requested. If requesting a Centrelink Module, include the full name of the document
• Customers will see this text:
• above the added task in their online claim summary
• in their task list in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
• in their letters, next to each task in the 'What you need to do' paragraph
• Select the double arrow >> to move the document to the Selected Document list
• Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation before proceeding

When the letter shows in the Selected Document list, it cannot be edited.

If any details are incorrect, select Cancel at the bottom to start again.

Note: Multiple documents can be requested one after the other without exiting. When the double arrow >> is selected, another document can be requested under Available Documents. Each document will show as a separate task.

Select Finish (at the bottom of the screen).

This will:

• Place the claim On Hold - Customer to Provide Information
• Change the customer's claim tracker from Processing to On Hold
• Add a task to the Online Claim Summary task tab in the customer's Centrelink online account
• Add a task to the customer's task list in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
• Add a task under:
• the Tasks icon in Process Direct, and
• the Request and Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure in Customer First
• Send a Request for Information (claim on hold notification). See Resources page for the delivery process for the request for information
• Add a keyword to the claim to auto REJ/NEF if the customer does not supply the requested task by the Due By Date + 1. See Table 2, Item 4. Note: not required for Age Pension CCM aligned claims

Annotate the progress of claim DOC explaining why the claim is on hold.

Customers who get the SMS or email version will get advice to access their online claim. They must complete their outstanding tasks by the due date or their claim will:

• be rejected, or
• be made not effective

Customers can sign in to their online account or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app to action a new task.

Correcting request for information (claim on hold notification) letters issued in Process Direct

If a claim on hold notification letter needs correcting, mark the tasks requested today as 'Not Required'. See Table 5, Step 5 for instructions.

Request the task again using > Request Documents (see Step 2). This will create a new letter to replace the existing letter. This will mark the existing letter as 'Consolidated' and it is not sent to the customer.

Withdrawing request for information (claim on hold notification) letters issued in Process Direct

Under exceptional reasons, it may be possible to remove a letter from the customer's view if the letter was

• created more than one working day ago, and
• it is an online letter

To request the removal or a letter:

• Send an email to EOC.PROD.SUPPORT and copy in CORRESPONDENCE.GATEWAY
• Include the details of the letter

Go to the CORRO screen to get the required details. Details needed include:

• Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• Object ID
• History ID
• reason for deleting the letter

The Resources page contains a link to mySupport.

SMS and email messages cannot be withdrawn.

When a claim is re-indexed the CCM functionality is no longer available. When requesting a document in Process Direct:

• a 'request for additional information' letter is issued online to the customer's myGov inbox if the customer is subscribed to letters online, or
• it will be sent by mail

To view, select the Tasks icon in Process Direct.

Tasks (requested documents) will appear on this page:

• if they show on Next steps of the claim and/or
• staff have requested more information

This screen includes:

• Category (type of form)
• Customer task - customer/partner parent/guardian
• Action ID: form/document code
• Status: Required, Not Required, Submitted, Provided, Required to be Resubmitted, Accepted
• Due By Date:
• field left blank when the task appears at Next steps, or
• staff can add a date when requesting more information
• Requested date:
• Requirement: Required/Supplementary. Use Required when requesting more information
• View/Create Note: staff notes when requesting more documents. This will duplicate from:
• Staff Notes in the Request Documents workflow in Process Direct and
• the Request and Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure in Customer First

Before requesting more information, make sure the documents have not already been requested.

Staff must first check if there is an outstanding task when a customer:

• attends a service centre and provides paper documents, or
• uploads documents outside of a task

Select the Tasks icon.

Is the status listed as Required?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, action the document as required on the customer's record (if applicable):
• For paper documents, go to Scanning Centrelink documents using an MFD
• For scanned documents, go to Viewing Centrelink customers' digital images

A customer's task list updates in their Centrelink online account and Express Plus Centrelink mobile app by changing a Required Task to:

• Not Required or
• Provided

Note: if the customer has uploaded the requested documents by selecting the task in their Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app, the Tasks icon in Process Direct will show these as Submitted.

If the final remaining Required task is marked as Not Required, the customer can submit their claim using their Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

• To mark a Required task as:
• Provided, go to Step 4
• Not Required, go to Step 5
• To extend the due date, go to Step 6

If the customer attends a service centre and supplies a Required document:

• Select the dropdown box under Status field and select Provided if the customer:
• contacts and confirms the agency has existing information, or
• confirms the document is already available on file, or
• provides the document
• Select Save

For information on how and when to scan documents using a Multi-Function Device (MFD), go to Scanning Centrelink documents using an MFD.

Select the Documents icon to view documents that have been:

• scanned at a service centre, or
• uploaded by the customer

Procedure ends here.

At times, customers may incorrectly answer the online claim questions, prompting the request to supply non-required documents at Next steps. To allow customers to Submit their online claim, mark these tasks (requested documents) as Not Required.

• Select the dropdown box under Status field and select Not Required
• Select Save
• Update the customer's Progress of claim DOC to explain why the task is no longer required

The time allowed to respond can be extended where there are special circumstances preventing the customer and/or their partner, or correspondence nominee from lodging the requested documentation for the claim. For more information, go to Request to reassess a rejected claim and Intent to claim and vulnerable customers.

Separate action is required depending on whether additional information has been requested or information is outstanding after a claim is submitted. A claim can be submitted without all required information when a special case exception applies.

Updates must be made within the specific claim Transaction:

• Select Transactions
• Select appropriate Claim ID
• Select Tasks
• Key the new date into the Due By Date field
• Select Save
• Update the customer's Progress of claim DOC with details of the extension and the new Due By Date

If the Due by Date cannot be extended:

• Select Status
• Select Edit
• Add On Hold Reason - Customer to Provide Information
• Select extended due date using the calendar
• Select Save
• Update the customer's Progress of claim DOC with details of the extension and the new Due By Date

• For Families claims, use the Request Documents Q777 guided procedure. See Information requests for FTB and PPL claims, and Add Newborn and PPL change of circumstances activities
• If the CCM claim is using Process Direct, see Table 4
• For claims not subject to CCM, see Requesting Information (CLK)

The Request and Manage Customer Tasks is in Workspace > Guided Procedures.

Service Officers should save this as a Favourite.

The Request and Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure is not available in Customer First for these claims:

• ABSTUDY Apprentice and Tertiary
• Age Pension
• Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment
• Austudy student and Australian Apprentice
• Carer Allowance
• Carer Payment
• Child Care Subsidy
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
• Crisis Payment - all categories
• Disability Support Pension
• Disaster Recovery Allowance
• Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Card
• Farm Household Allowance
• Foster Child Health Care Card
• Home Equity Access Scheme
• JobSeeker Payment
• Low Income Health Care Card (LIC)
• Mobility Allowance
• Parenting Payment
• Pension Bonus Scheme
• Pensioner Education Supplement
• Special Benefit
• Tertiary Access Payment
• Youth Allowance (YA) job seeker, student and Australian Apprentice

After selecting the guided procedure, a Summary page will show:

• Existing Open Claims
• Customer tasks (requested documents) from Next steps of the customer's claim

Select the grey box next to the Claim ID to see the tasks for that claim

The Summary page shows:

• status Provided, Required or Not Required
• requirement - whether the task is Required or Supplementary for claim finalisation
• Due by date - defaulted to 14 days

Check tasks before making a new request to make sure the additional information was not already requested. Check the partner's Document Tools to make sure these weren't uploaded on the partner's record. If they are there, they don't need to be provided again by the customer.

Note: there is a system limitation when sending more than one request on the same day. The request for information (claim on hold notification) letter may not include the task(s) recorded earlier in the day. This impacts customers who:

• are subscribed to myGov Inbox, or
• are not subscribed to Electronic Messaging, or
• have a correspondence nominee

In these cases, mark the tasks as 'Not Required' and request again as a new task. This ensures all tasks requested on the same day will show on the customer's letter.

Table 5 explains the process to update these tasks.

Staff can select Add Task under the Customer Tasks heading on the Summary page to ask for more information.

Staff can request documents the customer needs to provide on the Maintain page. Only one document can be added at a time. See Table 6, Step 5.

Requested for: this will automatically default to Customer

Document: select the document tile next to Option Code to type the name of the document being requested, for example MOD JY. Staff can also select Search for a full list of documents that can be requested. A description of the form will default. For a list of forms and official document names, see the Resources page for a link to Online forms.

Note: if the required form or document is not in the list, check suitability to create a manual letter. See Creating a Q999 or Q888 letter.

Customer Notification: up to 400 characters of free text is available. Use this to provide the customer with additional information to support the request. Do not use free text to request documents. This text will show to the customer on their online claim summary page. It will also show as a task in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. If the customer gets a letter, the free text will show in the second paragraph of the letter. Check spelling, grammar and punctuation before proceeding.

Staff Notes: this is for staff to explain why they are requesting the document. This does not leave a DOC on the record and a separate annotation must be made to the claim progress DOC explaining what information was requested and why. This will assist inbound staff not trained in claims processing in the event a customer contacts about the progress of their claim.

Status and Requirement will default to Required.

Due by: Section 63 of the Social Security (Admin) Act supports reasonable time when requesting more information. This will default to 14 days.

Note: Sections 44-24 and 44-26C of the Aged Care ACT 1997 supports reasonable time when requesting more information for an Aged Care claim. This will default to 21 days.

• The time to supply more information is 14 days. Add additional days for delivery. However, consider accessibility and the type of information/document when deciding how long to give the customer
• If requesting TFN or bank details for a Families claim, allow 28 days
• If an online letter will issue, allow an extra 2 days for delivery to the myGov Inbox
• If a paper letter will issue, allow extra days for mail delivery by Australia Post
• See the Resources page for the delivery process for the request for information

If the customer does not supply the documents by Due by date + 1, the system may automatically reject the claim. See Table 2, Item 4.

Once these fields are complete, select Next.

If the customer needs to supply more than one additional information document (task), select Continue at the top to return to the Maintain page. Select Add Task and follow the same instructions from Step 4.

Repeat this process until all additional information has been requested. Then select Next at the top.

The Review page gives staff an opportunity to:

• confirm the information they have requested is correct, and
• make sure the customer notification is correct

Select the Finish button if satisfied with the request.

This will:

• place the claim On Hold
• change the customer's claim tracker status from In Progress to On Hold
• add a task to the Online Claim Summary Task tab in the customer's online account for claims on the old platform only
• add a task to the customer's Centrelink online account homepage for claims on the new platform
• add a task to the customer's task list in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
• send a Request for Information (claim on hold notification). See the Resources page for the delivery process for the request for information
• add a keyword to the claim to auto REJ if the requested task is not supplied by Due by date + 1. See Table 2, Item 4

Customers who get the SMS or email version can access their online claim to complete outstanding tasks by the due date or their claim will reject. Customers can sign in to their online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app to action a new task.

Correcting request for information (claim on hold notification) letters issued in Customer First

If a claim on hold notification letter needs to be corrected, mark the tasks requested today as 'Not Required'. See Table 7. Request these tasks again. This will create a new letter which replaces the existing letter. This letter will have the status 'Consolidated' and will not be sent to the customer.

Withdrawing request for information (claim on hold notification) letters issued in Customer First

It may be possible to remove a letter from the customer's view if the letter was:

• created more than one working day ago, and
• is an online letter

There would need to be exceptional reasons.

Submit the mySupport webform 'Enterprise Outbound Communications (EOC) Issue' (search mySupport using keyword 'outbound'). To get the required details for the webform use the Search Outbound Correspondence workflow from Workspace > Guided Procedures. Details needed include:

• Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• LIR Number
• History ID
• Date of correspondence
• Code/Title of correspondence
• reason for deleting the letter

The Resources page contains a link to mySupport.

Electronic messages (SMS and email) cannot be withdrawn.

When a claim is re-indexed, the CCM functionality is no longer available. Using the Request and Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure will issue

• a 'request for additional information' letter to the customer's myGov inbox if the customer is subscribed to letters online, or
• it will be sent by paper

The Request and Manage Customer Tasks is in Workspace > Guided Procedures.

Service Officers should save this as a Favourite.

After selecting the guided procedure, a Summary page will show:

• Existing Open Claims
• Customer tasks (requested documents) from Next steps of the customer's claim

Select the grey box next to the Claim ID to see the tasks for that claim

The Summary page shows:

• status Provided, Required or Not Required
• requirement - whether the task is Required or Supplementary for claim finalisation
• Due by date

Depending on what the customer has lodged, advised, or requested, staff can:

• mark the Required task as Provided or Not Required, or
• extend the Due by date

Select the grey box beside the Claim ID, the relevant Customer task, then Next at the top. The Maintain page will show.

Select the Provided box on the right if:

• the customer contacts and the Service Officer can confirm they made a mistake in their claim and the requested document does not need to be provided
• Services Australia already has the existing information on file, or
• the documents were uploaded on the partner's record

The Provided box will show a tick when selected.

If the customer:

• attends a service centre and supplies the document. Mark the task as Provided and scan the document to Store. For more information, see Scanning Centrelink documents using an MFD
• supplies the document by mail, it will be scanned and classified and the checklist will update. The customer will get a message. It will ask them to confirm all documents are lodged and to submit their claim

Note: it takes approximately 48 hours to classify scanned documents. Encourage customers to submit their documents online if possible.

Select Next to move to the Maintain page. Make sure spelling and grammar is correct before selecting Finish.

This will mark the task as Done in the task list.

If it is the final Required task, the customer can submit their claim using either:

• their Centrelink online account, or
• the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

When all Required tasks are complete but the customer does not submit their claim, it will stay in Draft. Customers have 13 weeks from the start date to submit their claim or it will expire. The customer must start a new claim if this occurs. See Table 9, Step 1.

At times, customers may incorrectly answer online claim questions, prompting the request to supply non-required documents at Next steps. To allow customers to Submit their online claim, mark these tasks (requested documents) as Not Required.

On the Summary page of the guided procedure, select the grey box beside the Claim ID, the relevant Customer Task, then Next at the top. The Maintain page will show.

On the Maintain page, go to the Requirement field on the right and use the drop down arrow select Not Required. Select Next to go to the Review page, then select Finish.

This will mark the task as Not Required in the customer's task list.

If it is the final Required task and is marked as Not Required, the customers can submit their claim using their:

• Centrelink online account or
• Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

Annotate the customer's Progress of claim DOC to explain why the task is no longer required.

Service Officers can extend the time allowed to respond when there are special circumstances preventing the customer and/or their partner, or correspondence nominee from providing the requested documents for the claim.

For more information, see:

• Request to reassess a rejected claim, and
• Intent to claim and vulnerable customers

If the customer and/or their partner, or correspondence nominee have special circumstances that warrant an extension:

• On the Summary page of the guided procedure, select the grey box next to the Claim ID and the Required task, then Next
• On the Maintain page, go to the Due by field and select the calendar icon. Select the relevant extension date. If the system does not accept the date, an error will show on the top right. Select the red exclamation mark to see the warning or error message and if required, correct the date

Select Next to go to the Review page, then select Finish.

Annotate the customer's Progress of claim DOC with the reasons for the extension and the new Due by date.

Customers may have outstanding Required tasks that would normally prevent them from submitting their claim. However, if they indicate in their claim they are in crisis or meet other exception criteria:

• a keyword is applied to the claim activity
• they will be able to submit the claim (when all the questions are answered), without uploading all required documents
• the system will advise the customer, when they submit their claim, to complete outstanding Required tasks
• they can still upload their documents at the end of the claim if they are able to

If an exception applies, and the customer submits their claim without providing all required documents:

• the documents will appear on Next steps as Required, and
• they must provide the documents by the due date for their claim to be processed

For all claims (except Families claims, Transfer to Age, Home Equity Access Scheme and Pensioner Education Supplement), the customer can indicate if they are in a crisis situation at the start of their claim by answering Yes to:

• "Do any of the following circumstances currently apply to you?"
• family and domestic violence
• prison or psychiatric care for more than 14 days
• humanitarian entrant into Australia
• had to leave home due to an extreme circumstance

Other exception criteria is identified by the customer's answers to certain questions in the claim. These include:

• Claims that are time critical, for example, lump sum claims close to the end of the financial year
• Where only parental income details are outstanding for Youth Allowance claims

There is a different exception criteria for each claim type. These are listed below from Item 2.

Identify an exception case claim

Process Direct:

• Check the Pre-Claim Circumstance Summary (PRECLM) screen
• Inside the claim:
• the information message 'Special Case Exemption' will show at the top of the page below the customer's name and CRN
• selecting the Keyword icon will show the URGVULN keyword

Customer First:

• Check the Pre-Claim Circumstance Summary (!CUPC) screen
• Inside the claim activity on the Activity List (AL) screen, the Keywords (KWD) screen will show the URGVULN keyword

Note: exception case claims can be made not effective (NEF) or rejected FSD or FRC (check claim type for appropriate reason, see Table 2, Item 4) if the Required tasks are not completed by the due date.

For Age Pension, the customer:

• indicates they are permanently blind
• has a Residential Care Assessment CUR or NCL indicator on their or their partner's record
• separated due to illness

For Carer Payment or Carer Allowance, the customer is:

• caring for an adult care receiver with a terminal illness who is not expected to live for more than 3 months
• a carer under 18 years of age

For Parenting Payment, the customer:

• was widowed within the last 13 weeks from date of claim
• is PPS/PPP CUR or SUS (not including CZR) and submits a transfer claim to the other rate of Parenting Payment due to a change in relationship status

For Disability Support Pension, the customer:

• is manifestly eligible
• has a current or recently expired serious illness exemption
• is receiving Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) Disability Compensation Payment at Special Rate (Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI)), paid under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986
• is illness separated
• is Indigenous and lives in a remote area
• is under 18 and attends a special school
• is in psychiatric confinement
• is also claiming JSP Provisional and the tasks for JSP are complete

Family Tax Benefit (FTB):

• Family Tax Benefit (FTB) lump sum claims - when the customer starts the claim between 1 June and 30 June of the relevant lodgement year
• Family Tax Benefit (FTB) - 'Add newborn child' service - when the customer starts the service between 1 June and 30 June of the relevant lodgement year

Parental Leave Pay (PPL):

• For children born or adopted before 1 July 2023
• Parental Leave Pay(PPL) - when a child is 34 weeks (238 days) of age or more at the time of online claim declaration (or PPL child's 'in care' date is 34 weeks or more in the past) See Time limits for claiming the maximum PPL period
• Parental Leave Pay (PPL) - 'Add newborn child' service - when a child is 40 weeks (280 days) of age or more at the time of starting the service (or PPL child's 'in care' date is 40 weeks or more in the past). See Eligibility for Parental Leave Pay (PPL) as a primary claimant for children born or entering care before 1 July 2023
• For children born or adopted after 1 July 2023
• Parental Leave Pay (PPL) - single customers (single as at date of PPL claim lodgement) when a child is 32 weeks ( 224 days) of age or more at the time of the online claim declaration (or PPL child's 'in care' date is 32 weeks or more in the past)
• Parental Leave Pay (PPL) - partnered customers (partnered as at date of PPL claim lodgement) when a child is 34 weeks (238 days) of age or more at the time of online claim declaration (or PPL child's 'in care' date is 34 weeks or more in the past) See Time limits for claiming the maximum PPL period
• See Eligibility for Paid Parental Leave (PPL) for children born or entering care on or after 1 July 2023.

For Youth Allowance (YA), the customer:

• is applying for Unreasonable to Live at Home (UTLAH) in their claim
• identifies as being in State care or an orphan in their claim

For YA Parental Income Test, a dependent YA customer can submit their claim if they complete all Required tasks:

• except for their parental income details, and
• if they meet any of the following criteria:
• Has a dependent sibling current on YA
• Has a dependent sibling who has submitted a YA claim in the current calendar year
• Has a dependent sibling who has been on YA in the current calendar year, or
• Has been on payment within the current calendar year

These claims do not meet the submission exception rules.

The customer must complete all Required tasks prior to submitting their claim.

The keyword SUPVULN on the claim is for Management Information only.

When the customer indicates they are submitting a combined partner claim, they will be unable to submit their claim until the partner task has been completed or has expired.

If the customer does not submit their claim, it will expire after 13 weeks. The customer will usually need to reclaim. However, there are some instances where staff can assess an expired claim. The following can assist with the determination:

• Started online claim not submitted by the customer and the claim has expired
  Process: Reclaim required. Advise customer to claim online or run ACC
• ACC claims, where the customer returns all documents within 13 weeks but does not submit the claim. It must be clearly documented that the customer was advised and agreed to submit their claim online after the Service Officer started the ACC
  Process: Reclaim required. Advise customer to claim online or run ACC
• CCM claims started through ACC that have not been submitted, and the customer did not supply requested documents (including the CDF or verbal declaration) as documented on the customer's record within 13 weeks
  Process: Reclaim required. Advise customer to claim online or run ACC

For scenarios not covered above, refer to the relevant Helpdesk for more help.