Care Cuba Process Help - Care levels notified before 1 July 2018 and WA ex-nuptial child support periods 277-18052503

From 1 July 2010 (3 March 2011 for WA ex-nuptial cases), customers who have both a Child Support and Centrelink assessment and/or record:

• are mutual customers, and
• can notify either agency of a change to the care of a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) eligible/dependent child

The agency notified first will:

• record the change in care details
• conduct investigations
• make a care decision
• give effect to the decision

Throughout this process, information is shared between Child Support and Centrelink electronically via data exchange. The final decision is applied electronically to the customer’s Child Support and FTB/income support payment assessments. The same rules are used to determine care percentages.

Note: for care changes before 1 July 2010 (3 March 2011 for WA ex-nuptial cases), staff can search using page history for earlier versions of this document. Seek assistance from technical support.

The Child Support Assessment Act (the Act) was introduced on 1 October 1989, and been amended on occasions since then.

From 23 May 2018, amendments were made to:

• extend the interim period that applies for recently-established court-ordered care arrangements, and
• provide incentives for the person with increased care to take reasonable action to participate in family dispute resolution where a care dispute relates to:
• an older court order
• a parenting plan, or
• a written agreement

From 1 July 2018, the Act was amended further, including changes to ‘care date of effect’ rules.

Both of the above amendments apply for WA ex-nuptial case customers where care changes are notified on or after 15 May 2019.

For changes in care notified from 1 July 2018 (15 May 2019 for WA ex-nuptial case children) see Notification of change in child support care. Use this document for changes notified before the changes taking effect or where WA ex-nuptial ‘Child Support Periods’ are present.

On 15 May 2019, WA parliament passed legislation that adopted all Commonwealth child support laws not previously adopted. The parliament also:

• referred legislative powers in respect of the maintenance of ex-nuptial children to the Commonwealth, and
• repealed the Child Support (Adoption of Laws) Act 1990 (WA)

This means that all changes to care notified on or after 15 May 2019 are managed under the same rules.

Services Australia enhanced the Child Support system on 18 June 2022 to automatically treat WA ex-nuptial customers correctly prospectively where:

• Child Support Periods (CS Periods) are automatically raised on or after 18 June 2022
• New cases are registered or cases are restarted with a Start Date of Liability (SDOL) on or after 18 June 2022

As this enhancement was prospective only, workarounds are needed for change of care notifications:

• on or after 15 May 2019, and
• ‘date of events’ are within CS Periods that reflect a WA ex-nuptial status of ‘Yes’ and:
• care is notified outside of 28 days - late notified care change
• disputed care - possible interim period - is notified
• an amended tax assessment is lodged
• a payee is entitled to child support under an agreement and the care they have of the child in the agreement falls below 35%

Service Officers should follow instructions within relevant Operational Blueprint documents and macros for decision-making and customer management where these circumstances are present. Once initial decisions are made, affected records are identified via reporting and specialised teams action to make sure legislatively correct implementation.

This Cuba Process Help outlines:

• Processes to follow for care changes notified before 1 July 2018 (15 May 2019 for WA ex-nuptials)
• Manual processes needed to update WA ex-nuptial CS Period status for CS Periods starting on or after 15 May2019 to enable Cuba to apply the correct legislation
• Steps required to correctly apply legislation for changes notified on or after 15 May 2019 impacting CS Periods that commenced before 15 May 2019 with a WA ex-nuptial status of ‘Yes’

Note: changes to CS Periods reflecting a WA ex-nuptial status of ‘Yes’ are managed by Service Recovery teams and processes. The system automatically refers them once initial Service Officer decisions are processed. When needing to advise customers, refer to the relevant Operational Blueprint.