Determining Activity Test breaches for unapproved absences for ABSTUDY secondary school students 010-02090010

To qualify for payment, ABSTUDY secondary school students must study full-time. If an attendance check with the education provider reveals the student has had more than 5 full days of unapproved absences in a term, they may be required to sign an Activity Agreement.

Once the Activity Agreement is signed, an Activity Test breach penalty occurs if the secondary school student has more than 5 full days' unapproved absence in a subsequent school term.

Note: the Activity Agreement process does not apply to students who are ABSTUDY Schooling A students as they are normally still of compulsory school age and are the responsibility of the relevant State/Territory education authorities. Technical and Further Education (TAFE) secondary level students do not have attendance checks and will not have unapproved absences.

If an education provider advises that an ABSTUDY secondary school student has continuously failed to meet compulsory attendance requirements for longer than 2 weeks without an acceptable reason, the secondary school student will be deemed to have discontinued full-time study.

An ABSTUDY secondary school student has no entitlement to Living Allowance, Rent Assistance, Remote Area Allowance or Pharmaceutical Allowance for a period during which they are expelled, suspended or excluded from school.