Child Support's information gathering powers 277-04210000

Determine the information required before starting any searches and select the most appropriate information source. This makes it more likely that initial searches or requests succeed and saves time and effort by avoiding unnecessary or multiple searches.

Check if the information is already on the system (Cuba). The information sought may be recorded:

• on any of these windows:
• Client Benefits
• External Information
• External Information Address
• External Information Phone Numbers
• View Correspondence, or
• in a notepad on any of these windows:
• Communication
• Case
• Client Income

Check the Collection/Capacity To Pay windows, if:

• a recent request has been made for the same information; and
• the response was followed up

Example

If a customer's bank details are needed:

• the customer may have submitted a bank statement as part of a Non Agency Payment claim
• a Change of Assessment application or response (or NTD) may have the information
• the customer may have supplied the details previously for a refund or disbursement
• the information may be on a returned request for information, for example an s120 notice sent to an employer
• the other customer may have supplied the customer's account details

Services Australia is responsible for ensuring customer privacy and personal information is protected at all times. This includes obtaining information about the correct customer.

When information is received from a third party that is not an exact match to the information on the customer record, careful consideration must be taken to check the information provided.

Obtaining details about an incorrect person and adding these to a customer’s record can have significant impacts. For example, if that information is relied upon to subsequently issue a garnishee notice for an unintended person.

In some circumstances, a customer's record will need updating. To change a customer’s:

• personal information (including adding an alias)
• contact details
• Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• tax file number (TFN)

See Updating Child Support customer information.

If the customer does not have a current postal address, see Customer location (tracing).

Note: if search results do not provide an exact match for the customer’s name and date of birth, do not update the customer’s record or commence collection activity. Seek assistance from a Service Support Officer.

Informal information gathering does not require a formal legal notice to be issued. The information is usually gathered via phone or by accessing electronic resources such as Centrelink.

Where possible, information should be sought informally as it can be faster and easier for both Child Support and the customer.

If Service Officers are concerned that a person:

• may not respond to an informal information gathering request
• states that they will comply, but have not after a specific time

Issue a formal notice, see Table 3.

This includes issuing a notice on the customer directly, if they have refused or failed:

• to comply with an informal request on this and/or previous occasions, and
• are identified as the likely sole holder of the required information

If there is a formal arrangement for requests between Child Support and a source, Service Officers must follow the established procedures. Examples include:

• issuing a legal notice to formally seek information from a bank or financial institution
• before accessing ATO systems directly for information relevant to a particular customer, issue an electronic ATO legal notice. See Legal notice for Child Support access to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data and systems

See also Table 2 or Table 3.

See External searches guide for the various sources of information and how to access those sources.

See also Table 2 or Table 3.

Informal information gathering will usually be via telephone or through electronic searches.

Often the best informal source are the customers of the assessment. Contact the customer first unless it may jeopardise collection action. Make genuine efforts to contact both customers with methods specific to the customer. See Contact with Child Support customers.

When seeking information informally from a customer:

• Tell the customer why the information is required including the type of information that will be relied upon to make a decision
• Consider the customer's cultural background and individual needs when supporting them to comply with the request for information
• Make sure the customer is given a reasonable opportunity to provide relevant information taking into account individual circumstances
• Ensure the customer understands the potential consequences of not complying with the request for information, that is, the information may be sought from elsewhere and/or a formal notice may be issued
• Consider all relevant available information before making a decision, including whether to undertake more formal information gathering

If information is obtained, see Item 2 in Table 4.

Other sources that may provide information informally are the other customer in the case, employers, or business associates of the customer.

When seeking information informally from any source:

• Allow a reasonable timeframe to provide the information
• Be careful not to breach the customer's privacy as informal information gathering from the other parent or third party often occurs in a very conversation way
• If the source refuses to provide information or is uncomfortable providing the details informally, or there is reason to believe the source will not comply with an informal request, issue a formal notice requiring the information be provided

Note:

• Many organisations must comply with privacy legislation and issuing a formal notice ensures that the source is not in breach of their own privacy considerations
• If seeking detailed, complex, or extensive information it is preferable to issue a formal notice so that the information required is clearly communicated to the source and the source provides the response in writing

If information is obtained, see Item 2 in Table 4.

Formal information gathering means that a notice is issued in writing requiring specified information be provided in a certain manner by a certain date.

Set clear and reasonable timeframes for information to be provided. In limited circumstances, discretion may be applied to allow more time to respond, if necessary. See Standard response times.

Issuing multiple notices to a source within a short period, requesting the same information, could delay the response. Service Officers must not collect information that is unnecessary or intrudes unreasonably on a person's privacy. This includes seeking information already held, or requesting information already provided by a third party, which is unlikely to result in a different outcome for the purpose of assessment or collection. Document the reasons for issuing a second notice within a short period.

Notices must be generated and issued in Cuba.

When issuing a notice, the customer must be locked to an officer as per Customer Management Approach (CMA) for Child Support. This is to ensure that a contact officer is listed on the notice.

Note:

• Notices are tools to gather information. They must not be used or issued to intimidate or coerce a customer
• A warning message will appear when issuing s120 and s161 notices if the customer has current aliases which may need to be included on the notice/s

Child Support must use a notice for formal requests of information.

The Child Support Guide outlines the information that can be sought under:

• s120 of the Registration and Collection Act, which relates to collection and objections to decisions, and is issued using the Collection window for payees/payers
• s161 of the Assessment Act, which relates to the particulars of a formula assessment and is issued using the Capacity to Pay window for payees/payers

See References for a link.

Service Officers must select Melbourne Central from the Office dropdown list when issuing a notice through Cuba.

Issuing a notice will generate an intray 21 days after the notice has issued. For large organisations (such as banks) allow the full 21 day response timeframe. Contact the organisation if no response is received after this time. See Item 1 in Table 4.

Notices may be issued by facsimile in certain circumstances. If serving a notice by fax:

• Financial institutions must consent to a notice being served by fax, see Letters for Child Support customers
• Some employers and financial institutions can elect to have their notices sent electronically via Child Support Business Online Services (CSBOS)

If information from an employer is required to determine a customer’s employment status, use an employer questionnaire (EF1). See Service Officer role in setting up Employer Withholding (EW) linking. Issuing a s120 notice to an employer could delay the linking process.

See External searches guide, which outlines the processes for conducting and requesting external searches for Child Support customers.

Choose the correct Child Support Reference Number (CSRN) for an organisation when issuing a notice in Cuba.

This makes sure the right officer and business area at the required address receives it.

Not selecting the correct CSRN can lead to a delayed response and impact follow-up on compliance. For commonly used CSRNs, see Banks and organisations.

Standard schedules are available in the s120/s161 function windows in Cuba to request the most commonly required information.

Financial institution notices

Issuing a notice with the FINANCIAL INST schedule questionnaire, Cuba will auto select:

• FD01 - Residential, business and postal addresses. Telephone numbers including mobile phone number
• FD02 - For all accounts held, the account number, balance, regular deposit/a list of transactions

The FD01 and FD02 questionnaires will request the information needed in most cases.

For information about a term deposit, loan details or a credit card, select:

• FD03 - Term deposit details: Maturity date/When and how interest payments are distributed
• FD04 - Loan details: Start date/Original loan and repayment amount/Balance/A copy of loan application
• FD05 - Credit card details: Credit limit/Available credit/A copy of the credit card application

Note:

• Carefully consider the need to request additional information. For example, copies of loan applications and the intended purpose to use this information
• A request for loan documents may delay the response timeframe, as information may be held in different locations, such as a branch or archives

If information needed, is not covered by questions in the Cuba schedules, generate a unique Other Schedule.

Endorsed schedules for a range of organisations are available via Cuba or unique schedules in Separated parents letter and email templates > Schedules - s161 and s120.

If an endorsed schedule is not used, this must be authorised by a Team Leader.

Document the reasons for issuing the unique schedule in the notepad.

Notices issued through Cuba are issued under the delegation of the Chief Operating Officer. Decision Makers are delegated to issue notices on their own authority, but that notice must be issued through Cuba.

Pre and Post-conference: Decision Makers must issue system generated s161 notices to gather information through Cuba. Manually issued notices must not be used except for Reason 4 Change of Assessment. See Section 120/161 notice Cuba Process Help.

Exception: Reason 4 Change of Assessment

There is currently no capacity for Cuba to issue s161 notices seeking information about a child (who does not have a role as a payer/payee) in a change of assessment Reason 4 application.

When a s161 notice is required to gather information about the income, earning capacity, property or financial resources of a child and the child does not have a role as a payer/payee, a manual s161 notice must be issued. Where a notice cannot be issued through Cuba, see Letters for Child Support customers.

If a notice is issued manually, the schedule must be copied into a notepad. Also a hard copy of the actual notice must either be:

• batch filed or
• stored in the file relevant to the proceedings. For example, Change of Assessment or Objections

When issuing a notice to request information, document the reason for the decision. See Documenting Child Support information.

Clearly document:

• reasons for issuing a s120 or s161 notice or requesting a search. Include reasons why notices are being re-issued within a short timeframe
• information being sought from the request. For example, available funds to garnishee, possible employer information
• if the customer was asked to provide the information. If not, why was the customer was not asked
• how the lead was obtained. For example, bank account details supplied by employer

Child Support will usually seek information to identify capacity to pay to improve Child Support's negotiating power, before taking garnishee action.

Financial institutions may tell a mutual customer that Services Australia has made enquiries, which could result in the customer withdrawing funds to avoid garnishee action.

In limited circumstances, it may be appropriate to issue s72A and s120 notices at the same time to that organisation.

Service Officers must be certain that:

• the customer is non-compliant
• the customer has no intention of meeting their debt responsibilities, and
• the s72A notice should not leave the customer without access to funds to meet immediate essential living expenses and expected regular payments. Contact a SSO for support with this decision, see Technical support in Child Support

Note: the customer may be unable to access their bank account/s where the balance of the account is less than the amount requested in the notice.

Document the reasons for the decision and evidence that supports the decision in the s120 notepad and the s72A notepad.

To issue s72A notices, see Collection of child support debts through third parties (s72A and s72AC).

See References for a link to The Child Support Guide 5.2.9: Collection from third parties.

Serving a notice requiring a person to attend an interview requires authorisation at the SO5 level or above. A person should only be required to attend when doing so will produce a necessary outcome that a written response would not.

The notice must clearly state the information required and give the person a reasonable amount of time to arrange their affairs to attend the interview and bring any documents that have been requested. The person should also be given the option to reschedule the interview to a mutually convenient time.

Both Child Support Regulations specify out of pocket expenses to be paid to a person attending an interview, however there is no provision for such payments if the person is the payer, the payee or their representative.

When there is reason to believe a customer is in receipt of a Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) pension or benefit and attempts are being made to update the customer's income or explore avenues for collecting child support, it may be appropriate to issue a request to DVA for more detailed information. There are 2 ways this can be done:

• Child Support can directly request information from DVA when it relates to determining:
• the tax free pension or benefit component of a customer's adjusted taxable income. See References for a link to The Child Support Guide 2.4.4: child support income, or
• if the customer receives 1 of the 6 DVA payments from which Child Support can collect debt. See References for a link to The Child Support Guide 5.2.7: Collection from veterans pensions and allowances. For direct requests, see Direct Requests for Information from Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA)
• For all other information requests, Child Support must issue a notice under s120 or s161 using the appropriate schedule

Check for a response in the Issue Section s120/s161 Notice window > Responses and the View Correspondence window.

For a notice issued to an Employer

If a response is not received by the specified date or an incomplete response is received, check the employer record.

Allow the third party time to respond. See Standard response times.

Is the employer record locked to an Employer Services Officer (ESO) or has paying parents linked:

• Complete a search to locate the organisation record. Open the organisation record:
• check if the details of an ESO is recorded in the Owner Details field
• if there are no ESO details, select the close button to be navigated to the Organisation List screen
• From the Organisation List screen:
• look at the EW PYR column
• a number in the EW PYR column indicates the number of paying parents linked

If this column is blank there are no paying parents linked to the employer.

Is the employer managed by an ESO or has paying parents linked for deductions?

• Yes,
• create an Organisation Follow Up intray
• document a request to follow up compliance with the notice
• No, make 3 contact attempts on all available numbers over 48 hours to discuss the notice, the obligation of the recipient and expected timeframe to respond

Document all attempts of contact in the Collection window and Employer/Organisation Communication window.

Make sure the source understands the legal requirements in providing information and negotiate any blockers to compliance.

Compliance is not merely acknowledging a request for information. It means responding to every question/request as completely as possible.

Confirm that the source acknowledges receipt of the legal notice and understands what information has been requested. If the notice was not clear it may be appropriate to issue another notice.

For a notice issued to a financial institution

See Banks and organisations, contacting and following up notices to financial institutions.

When a response is received, consider the reasons the information was requested and document all relevant details.

Example

A response is received to a s120 request to a bank seeking information to determine a customer's capacity to pay. Record the following items:

• date of response
• account type, numbers and balances
• current address and contact details
• source of any regular credits to the account and details of amounts of most recent payments
• details of any lump sum payments including source, amounts, dates
• details of any joint accounts or business relationships
• details of any mortgage or loan accounts including the asset for which the loan was obtained
• any details that suggest further investigation may be warranted, and
• details of any spending patterns of interest, for example, regular restaurant dining, or other expenses indicating disposable income

See the View, update and finalised a s120/161 table.

All discussions, calculations and decisions in relation to the information obtained must be documented in the relevant notepad. The documentation should be easy for any other Service Officer to understand what has happened and why. See Documenting Child Support information.

Note: if a response cannot be opened due error 1695: letter/document not found, log an incident through mySupport. See Resources page for instructions. Do not re-issue the notice or contact the financial institution to respond again. If possible, these responses will be accessed from Child Support Business Online System and loaded onto the View Correspondence in Cuba.

If the information provided by a third party conflicts with other current information held by the agency, seek clarification from the third party/employer.

Note: this does not apply to Employer Withholding (EW) notices because Employer Services manage all interactions with employers for EW related enquiries or follow up.

Contact the third party/employer

Check the Organisation details on Cuba Organisation screen, click on ‘contacts’. If the record indicates that this third party has elected to be ‘ESO contact only’:

• The Service Officer is to create an organisation follow up intray on the employer, which will auto-route to the owning ESO. In the notes, document clearly what information the agency holds that is contradicting the information the employer has already provided

Employer Services Action

• The Employee Service Officer (ESO) will contact the Organisation's payroll officer telephone to confirm they understand what information has been requested and the expected timeframe to respond
• Advise the employer if appropriate, the information the agency holds which conflicts with the information they have provided. For example, the employee’s current bank statement indicates regular deposits from the employer when the employer states they have no record of the employee. If the information still conflicts refer to the Notice complied with but information still conflicts section, below
• The ESO will document the outcome of the discussion on a Linking/Attributes response intray on the paying parent which auto routes to the owning Service Officer

If the Organisation is not ESO contact only:

• The Service Officer should contact the Organisation’s payroll/contact officer directly by telephone to confirm they understand what information has been requested and the expected timeframe to respond. If the notice was not clear it may be appropriate to issue another notice
• Advise the employer, if appropriate, the information the agency holds which conflicts with the information they have provided. For example, the employee’s current bank statement indicates regular deposits from the employer when the employer states they have no record of the employee

Recruitment agencies and large organisations may have permanent and casual employees and hold their records on different systems.

Make sure the source understands the legal requirement to provide the information and negotiate any blockers to compliance.

Document any conversation with the source even though they are expected to formally respond in writing.

Notice complied with

If the source subsequently complies with the notice, see Item 2.

Notice complied with but information still conflicts

If the Service Officer or the ESO have contacted the source and not been able to clarify the situation and the Service Officer remains dissatisfied with the response, refer the matter to the SSO to determine whether further escalation is warranted.

See Customer referral guidelines.

See Customer Management Approach (CMA) for Child Support.

In some limited circumstances it may be appropriate to refer the matter for prosecution; see Fraud.

Continue seeking information from alternate sources. See Item 1 in Table 1.

A failure or refusal to comply by a third party must be fully documented, as well as any reasons the source gave for non-compliance.

Refer the case to Employer Services, if an EF1, s72A, s72B, s120 or s161 notice has not been complied with by a third party (except for financial institutions - see Item 1) and:

• there is an indication of no intent to respond or action the notice, and
• all contact attempts to discuss the notice with the source have been made and are unsuccessful
• complete the Non-compliance with notice referral template, see Resources>Template
• copy the information into a General Follow Up intray (for customers) or an Organisation Follow Up intray (for employers) titled Non Compliance With Notice and route to:
• Region: NATIONAL OFFICE
• Office: NATIONAL OFFICE
• Stream/Team: MC SEW NAT EMP SERVICES
• Position: A – ES LEGAL NOTICE GATE

Employer Services will reissue the notice to the third party with the appropriate signature, ensure the notice is appropriately addressed and monitor for 14 days.

If the notice is not complied with, Employer Services will:

• report suspected fraud, and
• add a note on the Client Profile window and document a report of suspected fraud has been made, see Documentation Cuba Process Help

Continue seeking information from alternate sources. See Item 1 in Table 1.