Non-pursuit of employer Child Support debts 277-04250000

Child Support must pursue recovery of a debt owed unless the debt is:

• not legally recoverable, or
• uneconomical to pursue

In these circumstances Child Support can decide an employer debt is not to be pursued.

A non-pursuit decision must only be made if:

• all appropriate collection action has been exhausted, and
• there is no possibility the debt can be collected

When a debt is not being pursued, it is still owed to the Commonwealth until it is collected or waived.

Child Support decides to end proactive recovery action as it has been determined that no collection is possible as:

• the employer has liquidated and all dividends are paid, and
• the employer/liquidator has lodged a waiver application with the Department of Finance

A decision not to pursue a debt can be made for individuals and employers. For more information on individuals see Non-pursuit of individual child support debts.

Delegate

The Secretary of Services Australia has delegated the power to decide not to recover debts to certain Child Support staff, according to the amount of the debt. A Delegate is the person responsible for making the decision to approve or not approve the non-pursuit of a debt.

Employer Services Service Officer (ESO)

Responsible for:

• identifying cases suitable for non-pursuit
• preparing non-pursuit submissions
• recording non-pursuit details on the system, and
• referring submissions to an ES SSO for checking

Employer Services Service Support Officer (ES SSO)

Responsible for:

• providing advice on complex issues or when ESOs require assistance
• checking the non-pursuit submission for completeness, and
• referring to the EL1 or their delegate

There is no regular review process of an employer account where a non-pursuit has occurred. However, if action occurs that reduces the debt on an employer’s account, Cuba checks to see if amounts non-pursued need to be reduced.

Under an employer’s accounting menu is a shadow ‘debt write-off’ account. When amounts in the ‘Written Off' column (on the ‘Debt Write Off’ window) exceed the ‘Outstanding’ debt, the ‘Written Off’ amount is automatically adjusted down so that it equals the balance of the outstanding debt.

If the employer has any debts which were not pursued because the employer was untraceable and their address is updated, Cuba provides an informative message asking the ESO to check if the non-pursued debts need to be re-raised.

For information on how to re-raise debts see Non-pursuit of debt Cuba process help - Re-raise a written off debt.