Notification Handler (NOHL) 111-26010010

The Notification Handler exists to assist in applying the correct business rules for customers who are required to tell Centrelink of changes in their circumstances. The way in which dates of effect are derived depends on the mechanism under which we ask customers to notify us of changes in circumstances.

There are currently two regimes under which customers are required to notify of changes.

Regime 1

The first is for those customers who are stimulus customers, that is, are required to return forms in order to be paid. These customers are required to tell us at the end of an entitlement period of changes in that entitlement period. This includes both fortnightly reporting cases and variable reporting cases. For customers subject to this notification regime, date of effect of a change is the date of event, except for income from employment which is applied to the full entitlement period.

Regime 2

The second regime applies to other customers where they are obliged to notify us when changes in their circumstances occur. These customers are given a specific number of days (their notification period) in which to notify us of changes in their circumstance.

For favourable decisions (decisions where the customer's rate increases), the rule is that increases in rate are effective from the date Centrelink is advised of the change. The incentive is for the customer to notify changes as soon as possible. Where the customer’s rate remains the same, the date of effect for the continuing rate will equal the date of event.

For unfavourable decisions (decisions where the customer's rate decreases), the general principle is that, if the customer notifies the change within the allowable notification period, they do not need to repay money already received. This leads to three variations.

• Variation 1 - If the date of event, date of receipt and date of action of the change all occur in the same entitlement period, we apply the reduction in rate from the date the event happened
• Variation 2 - If the customer notifies in time and we action the change in the period following the period in which the event occurs, then we reduce their rate from the beginning of the period in which we action the change. The customer has notified in time so we do not recover any money for the period in which the event occurs
• Variation 3 - The third variation is basically the change introduced in October 1997. If the customer notifies in time but we don't action the change after the end of the period following the period in which the event occurs, then the customer is allowed to keep monies received up to the end of the notification period. There is a recoverable debt from the day after the end of the notification period until the customer's "date paid to"

If an event leads to a reduction in the customer's rate and they have not notified in time, the reduction in rate is applied from the date of event.

There are many different rules which may appear on the Date of Effect Explanation (DOER) screen, to explain the decision made on a particular date used in an assessment. Not all of the decisions are made by NOHL, some of them are overrides either by Child Support or by the benefit system specific rules that apply.

Note:

• Numbers 1 to 9 and 15 to 18 are business rules, the others (0, 10 - 14, 22, 23, 98, 99) are explanations
• Rules 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 86 indicate that a FAO/NOHL assessment is involved. The Process page contains a detailed description of the NOHL rules.

S126 Debt Period Limit (DPL) allows the period (and therefore the amount) of a debt to be limited to the period for which a circumstance applied to a customer. This is one application of s126(4) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (SSAA). The References page contains a link to the SSAA.

When a change of circumstances that reduces a customer's rate for a period in the past is actioned, the debt period is calculated as follows:

• The start of the debt period is dependent on whether the customer notified the change in time or late. If the change was notified in time (but actioned late), the start of the debt period is generally NPED + 1 (see rule 5). If the change was notified late, the start of the debt period is generally DOV (see rule 6). The Process page contains a detailed description of the NOHL rules, including rules 5 and 6
• The end of the debt period is dependent on whether S126 DPL applies. If S126 DPL applies, the debt period end is the last day on which the circumstance change which reduced the customer's rate applied. If S126 DPL is excluded, the debt period end will be deferred to the later of: a further circumstance change coded within the same activity, a legislative date such as a CPI date, or the DOR of the activity (see rules 1 and 2). The Process page contains a detailed description of the NOHL rules, including rules 1 and 2

For example:

If a customer has been paid $400 per fortnight for the period 1 January 2004 to 30 June 2004 and we are later advised that for the period 1 January 2004 to 28 January 2004 the customer had income of $1000 per fortnight, the customer's calculated rate will change to $0 for the period 1 January 2004 to 28 January 2004.

Assuming a DOR of 1 July 2004, the debt period and amount is:

• If S126 DPL applies:
• Period 1 January 2004 to 28 January 2004
• Amount $800.00 ($400 x 2 fortnights)
• In this case, the debt period is limited to the period of increased earnings
• If S126 DPL does not apply:
• Period 1 January 2004 to 20 March 2004
• Amount $2257.00 ($400 x 5 fortnights + 9 days)
• In this case, the debt period is extended to the next CPI date

S126 DPL has been applied as default processing in activities completed after the September 2003 Major Release; however, as S126(4) is a discretionary section of the SSAA, the S126 screen can be used to exclude S126 DPL within an activity. This action may result in a debt being calculated for a longer period and a larger amount than the system would have calculated had S126 DPL been allowed to apply.

S126 Earnings Debt Reduction (EDR) allows periods of calculated rate increase identified within a debt calculation activity to be used to reduce the amount of the debt to be raised. This is one application of S126(4) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (SSAA). The References page contains a link to the SSAA.

Note: originally, EDR only applied where the activity involved changes to earnings however in December 2005, the EDR principle was extended to include all of the customer circumstances which applied during the debt period (not just earnings).

When a debt is calculated (resulting from an earnings or non-earnings change), there may be some periods within the debt period for which the customer has been underpaid (for example, one off income may have been reported for an incorrect period, or income may have been apportioned incorrectly previously). EDR is a system process which automatically uses these rate increases to calculate arrears which can be used to reduce the debt.

EDR applies in the following circumstances:

• The activity contains earnings or non-earnings updates
• The activity is producing a debt for one of the NSS, PEN or PGA systems
• There is at least one period of underpayment (that lies within the debt period) within the activity
• No EDR exclusion has been coded on the S126 screen

EDR applies to rule 1 and rule 2 calc points. Rate increases are normally deferred to DOR, but EDR allows these rate increase to be applied from DOV (and not deferred). The Process page contains a detailed description of the NOHL rules, including rules 1 and 2.

If EDR results in a net result of arrears, the arrears are automatically suppressed before the AR screen is displayed. This is because the purpose of EDR is to reduce debt amounts raised; therefore any arrears identified which would not have been paid had EDR not applied cannot be paid to the customer.

EDR will be applied as default processing in activities completed after the June 2004 Major Release; however, as S126(4) is a discretionary section of the SSAA, the S126 screen can be used to exclude EDR within an activity. This action may result in a debt being calculated for a larger amount than the system would have calculated had EDR been allowed to apply.