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This document outlines the procedure for ABSTUDY student and non-student travellers who experience a disruption to their journey.

On this page:

ABSTUDY travel disruption notification

Emergency and alternative contacts unavailable

Amended new travel arrangements for disrupted ABSTUDY travellers

Managing ABSTUDY travel disruptions after hours

End of day handoff expectations when managing ABSTUDY Travel disruptions


ABSTUDY travel disruption notification

Table 1

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Step

Action

1

Disrupted travel for ABSTUDY travellers

A travel 'disruption' for ABSTUDY Fares Allowance (FAA) refers to when a student or non-student traveller has:

  • not commenced their journey or trip due to circumstances beyond their control (for example, weather or transport delays)
  • commenced their journey or trip but then missed a travel connection mid-journey due to circumstances beyond their control (for example, weather, transport delays)
  • chosen to miss a connection of travel mid-journey or trip

If a disruption has occurred:

  • ABSTUDY Smart Centre Telephony, go to Step 2
  • ABSTUDY Travel and Away from Base Service Officers, if they have received:
    • advice of a new disruption during business hours, go to Step 5
    • an afterhours notification from the Geelong 24/7 team, go to Step 4
  • Geelong 24/7 Service Officers, see Table 4 > Step 1

If no disruption has occurred:

  • all ABSTUDY Smart Centre Service Officers, for student and non-student travellers who did not commence their journey due to circumstances not beyond their control (for example, slept in), see No show for ABSTUDY travel
  • Geelong 24/7 Service Officers, tell the caller the traveller should return home or to the study location and to rebook travel during business hours. Record details of the conversation on the booking in Travel Management Application (TMA). Procedure ends here

2

Announced transfer

Immediately complete an announced (warm) transfer to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team using the Services Australia Workspace Transfer Options list.

If the transfer is:

3

Escalate the call to a Team Leader

Service Officers must:

  • obtain all relevant information using the Disruption handoff template on the Resources page
  • immediately notify their Team Leader

Team Leaders must contact an ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team Leader by tagging @Travel Leaders in the ABSTUDY Leadership Daily Chat - Group Microsoft Teams chat.

The ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team Leader must take over managing the travel disruption.

If the disrupted traveller is:

4

After hours disruption notification

Disruptions that occur outside of Services Australia's usual business hours are managed by the Geelong 24/7 Team who can authorise:

  • rebooking travel arrangements
  • accommodation/meals, and
  • terminal transfers

When an afterhours disruption is finalised, the Geelong 24/7 Team must:

  • record details of the disruption on the Notes tab of each impacted Booking
  • upload all emails relating to costs requiring delegate approval to the group or individual Booking(s)
  • email the details to the ABSTUDY Travel positional mailbox for action

The Geelong 24/7 Team do not complete any coding in the Travel Management Application (TMA).

ABSTUDY Travel Service Officers must record the amended travel arrangements, see Authorising and coding pre-booked Fares Allowance (FAA) entitlements for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES).

Procedure ends here.

5

Determining end of day handoff appropriateness

If a disruption is received less than 15 minutes before the end of the Service Officer's scheduled shift and is expected to take longer than 15 minutes to complete, this should be handed off to avoid any delays.

Has the incident/disruption been received less than 15 minutes before the end of the Service Officer's scheduled shift and is expected to take longer than 15 minutes to complete?

6

Local emergency contact details

When a disruption occurs during business hours for a traveller under 18 years of age, an emergency contact must be notified if they are not providing the advice. If a Safe Travel Plan (STP) is in place, this is enacted by the emergency contacts.

To locate the emergency contact details, in Process Direct, select the:

  • Fares icon
  • relevant Booking ID# impacted by the disrupted travel
  • Overview tab, and check the information under the Emergency Contact Details heading

Is an emergency contact providing the disruption advice?

7

Notify emergency contact

Make 2 attempts to call each emergency contact person to advise them of the travel disruption.

If the first emergency contact is uncontactable on the second attempt, leave the following message:

We are calling you due to [name of student]'s travel being disrupted, we will now attempt to contact the second emergency contact listed on the booking.

If the second emergency contact is uncontactable on the second attempt, leave the following message:

We are calling you due to [name of student]'s travel being disrupted. Our calls to the first emergency contact [name of first emergency contact] have been unsuccessful. We will now attempt to call [name of student]'s family and education provider. If we are unsuccessful, we will contact the police.

Was contact successful?

  • Yes, if a Safe Travel Plan (STP) is in place, tell the emergency contact that it must be enacted immediately. See Table 3 > Step 1
  • No, go to Step 8

8

Notify alternative contact

Where the emergency contacts are unavailable, attempt to contact the traveller's:

  • supervisor or other linked non-student traveller 18 years of age or over (where applicable). To locate linked travellers, check the Parties tab in the disrupted Booking
  • parent/guardian (obtain phone number from parent record -parents CRN can be found via the Household Income and Assets/Parental Income (NHI) screen of the approved travellers CRN)
  • education provider/boarding facility using the Travel Contact Information via the Organisation Summary Application tile in Process Direct. For navigation assistance, see TMA overview table in Travel Management Application (TMA)

Has an alternative contact been reached?


Emergency and alternative contacts unavailable

Table 2

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Step

Action

1

Traveller under 18 not in transit

When travel has not yet commenced, an escalation is not required even if the emergency or alternative contacts are unavailable.

Attempt to call or speak with the young person if the disruption advice has been provided by:

  • Corporate Travel Management (CTM), or
  • someone other than the student, for example an airline employee

Tell the traveller:

  • they must follow their Safe Travel Plan (STP)
  • an emergency or alternative contact must call Services Australia as soon as possible

Check that the young person is not in immediate danger or risk of harm.

Record details of the disruption on the Notes tab using the Disrupted Travel DOC template. See the Resources page for the ABSTUDY Travel Minimum DOC Standards.

Procedure ends here until an emergency or alternative contact calls.

2

Traveller under 18 in transit

Provide details of the disruption to an ABSTUDY Smart Centre Team Leader.

Where travel that has already commenced is disrupted and the emergency and alternative contacts are unavailable, the STP has failed. When a STP failure occurs, the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Team Leader is responsible for having the Escalation Template completed immediately. This ensures travel incidents are escalated to the relevant stakeholders effectively.

Guidelines for completing the Escalation Template are on the Resources page.

Distribute the Escalation Template to the Smart Centres North National Manager and Service Delivery Support Team North Director as per the guidelines.

If the traveller is in transit, the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Team Leader must contact the:

As we have been unable to contact you and the second emergency contact, we have now contacted [location of police station] on [police station phone number] advising them of [student's name] location.

Go to Step 3.

3

Recording mandatory supervision requirements

The student traveller is now subject to a period of mandatory supervision until 1 March of the following calendar year where the STP is in place and the emergency contacts were:

  • uncontactable, or
  • unable to manage the disruption effectively

ABSTUDY Travel Staff must record the mandatory supervision requirements in the Travel Management Application (TMA).

To record the mandatory supervision requirements:

  • Select the most recent Booking ID#
  • The TMA will open and display the Overview tab
  • complete the Mandatory Supervision fields under the Travel Requirements heading as follows:
    • Mandatory Supervision: Yes
    • Mandatory Supervision Start Date: key the date of the travel disruption
    • Mandatory Supervision End Date: 1 March in the following calendar year
    • Mandatory Supervision Reason: Other Reasons
  • Select Save

Notify the education/board/scholarship provider of the student's mandatory supervision requirements using the Unsuccessful Safe Travel Plan for travel on {travel date} email template.

Continue to manage the disruption, authorising accommodation or other travel arrangements if required with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) as directed by the Team Leader.

To finalise the disruption, see Table 3 > Step 3.


Amended new travel arrangements for disrupted ABSTUDY travellers

Table 3

Expand table

Step

Action

1

Managing the travel disruption

For travellers under 18 years of age, emergency or alternative contact(s) must:

  • liaise with the student traveller, parent/guardian and/or education/board/scholarship provider to make alternate travel/supervision arrangements, and
  • tell the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team if other travel arrangements and accommodation are required

Travellers 18 years of age and over must:

  • liaise with the education/board/scholarship provider to make alternate travel arrangements if they submitted the travel request on the traveller's behalf
  • tell the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team if other travel arrangements and accommodation are required

Go to Step 2.

2

Rebooking travel arrangements

Where rebooking of travel is required, the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team must liaise with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) to authorise the following where required:

  • transport
  • accommodation and meals
  • terminal transfers

For further information about additional costs that may be approved, see Additional costs associated with travel for ABSTUDY.

Note: while a disrupted traveller 18 years of age or older does not require supervision, it is common for a secondary student 18 years of age or older to travel in a group with other students who are under 18 years of age. It is preferred students travelling together be kept together and supervised as a group. This circumstance could allow for informal supervision of the student group under 18 years of age.

Go to Step 3.

3

Finalising and recording amended travel arrangements

To finalise the amended travel arrangements:

  • with the correct Booking ID# in context, select the Notes tab, Edit and New
  • record details of the disruption using the Disrupted Travel DOC template on each impacted Booking. See the Resources page for the ABSTUDY Travel Minimum DOC Standards
  • select Create Note and Save

To record the new amended travel arrangements, see Authorising and coding pre-booked Fares Allowance (FAA) entitlements for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)

Tell the student, parent/guardian or education/board/scholarship provider that an updated itinerary will be issued.

Procedure ends here.


Managing ABSTUDY travel disruptions after hours

Table 4: This table describes the process staff in the Geelong 24/7 Smart Centre must follow when notified of an ABSTUDY travel disruption after hours.

Expand table

Step

Action

1

Geelong 24/7 after hours disruption notification

To locate linked travellers, check the Parties tab in the disrupted Booking. For navigation assistance, see TMA overview table in Travel Management Application (TMA).

For disruptions notified by:

  • a traveller:
    • under 18 years of age without a supervisor or other linked non-student traveller 18 years of age or over, go to Step 2
    • under 18 years of age with a supervisor or other linked non-student traveller 18 years of age or over, or 18 years of age and over, tell the traveller to call Corporate Travel Management (CTM) after hours number located on their itinerary. Procedure end here
  • a travel provider representative, for example an employee of a charter or transfer company or another organisation. Tell the representative to call the CTM after hours number. Procedure ends here
  • CTM, go to Step 3

2

Unsupervised traveller under 18 years of age

If an unsupervised young person contacts Services Australia to notify that their travel has been disrupted, Service Officers must ensure they are not in immediate danger or risk of harm.

Is the traveller stranded mid-journey or trip?

  • Yes, and the young person is:
  • No:
    • tell the young person to follow their Safe Travel Plan (STP) and return home or to the study location
    • travel may be rebooked during business hours
    • record details of the discussion on the Notes tab
    • procedure ends here

3

CTM disruption notification

CTM is required to contact the Geelong 24/7 team to authorise expenditure when they receive notification about a travel disruption outside Services Australia's usual business hours.

See the Resources page for unique scenarios.

Is the traveller stranded mid-journey or trip?

  • Yes, go to Step 4
  • No:
    • tell CTM the traveller should return home or to the study location
    • travel can be rebooked during business hours
    • record details of the discussion on the Notes tab
    • procedure ends here

4

Discuss new travel arrangements

Ask CTM whether:

  • same day travel can be rebooked, or
  • the traveller will be required to stay overnight at the in transit location until the next available flight, bus or train

Can same day travel be rebooked?

5

Additional costs

Overnight accommodation and meals can be approved for student and non-student travellers if they are required to stay one or more nights:

  • at an in transit location
  • where the location is not the permanent home or for students, the study or orientation location, and
  • if it is not the responsibility of the travel provider, for example accommodation is provided by an airline due to a flight cancellation

Terminal transfers can also be approved where the traveller(s) require transport between an airport, bus or train terminal and the accommodation provider.

Staff can determine if the travel type by checking the travel reason field in the bookings tab of TMA.

Note: travellers can choose to stay in private accommodation, for example with family. In these cases, transfers between the transport terminal and private address can be approved.

Go to Step 6.

6

Expenditure delegation
  • Ask CTM what the cost of the travel, accommodation and meals is
  • Make sure that the expenditure is within the delegation level per traveller

For delegations and examples, see the Resources page of Determining the appropriate mode of transport for ABSTUDY Fares Allowance (FAA).

Does the Service Officer have the delegation level to approve the amended travel arrangements?

  • Yes, go to Step 8
  • No, escalate the travel arrangements for approval:
    • Service Officers must email their Team Leader using the After hours transport expenditure email template on the Resources page and alert their Team Leader to the email by Microsoft Teams direct message. Note: staff must only share sensitive data, including Customer Reference Numbers (CRN), in a Microsoft Teams one-to-one chat. Once a response is received, go to Step 8
    • Delegates, go to Step 7

7

Costs requiring delegate approval

For ABSTUDY Fares Allowance, expenditure delegation levels apply.

  • Service Officers must escalate amounts above their delegation to their Team Leader for approval
  • Team Leaders must escalate amounts above their delegation, to their site EL1 or EL2 for approval

The delegate must:

  • review the request provided within the template
  • determine whether the expenditure can be approved, and
  • respond to the Service Officer via email with an outcome

Note: where EL1 or higher delegation is required, the delegate must respond to the email from the Service Officer and include the ABSTUDY and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) team in their response.

For examples, see the Resources page of Determining the appropriate mode of transport for ABSTUDY Fares Allowance (FAA).

The amended travel arrangements must be practical, reasonable and cost-effective in the circumstance.

Procedure ends here.

8

Finalising amended travel arrangements

Tell CTM what travel arrangements are authorised. CTM will book the travel, accommodation, meals and transfers as required and issue an updated itinerary to the traveller.

To finalise the amended travel arrangements:

  • with the correct Booking ID# in context, select the Notes tab, Edit and New
  • record details of the disruption using the Disrupted Travel DOC template on each impacted Booking. For the ABSTUDY Travel Minimum DOC Standards, see the Resources page
  • select Create Note
  • upload all emails relating to costs requiring delegate approval, see Adding attachments in the TMA table in Travel Management Application (TMA). For:
  • select Save
  • complete the After hours disruption email template on the Resources page and send to the ABSTUDY Travel team immediately

Procedure ends here.


End of day handoff expectations when managing ABSTUDY Travel disruptions

Table 5

Expand table

Step

Action

1

End of day handoff

To handoff a disruption, Service Officers must:

  • collate all details of the handoff including any actions taken in the Disruption handoff template on the Resources page
  • send the completed template and all necessary information to their Team Leader via Microsoft Teams direct message for approval and allocation. Note: staff must only share sensitive data, including Customer Reference Numbers (CRN), in a Microsoft Teams one-to-one chat

Has the Team Leader responded within 10 minutes?

2

No Team Leader response

Alert all ABSTUDY Travel Team Leaders by:

  • tagging @Travel Team Leaders end of day disruption handoff in the ABSTUDY Travel - Group Microsoft Teams chat, and
  • noting the:
    • name of the caller
    • reason for the handoff
    • number of travellers

For example, @Travel Team Leaders - end of day disruption handoff - Jane Doe from (name of education provider/organisation) - X PAX.

Go to Step 3.

3

Team Leader expectations

Team Leaders must complete all the following:

  • Respond immediately to the Remote Team Leader or Service Officer, acknowledging the handoff
  • Check to ensure the Service Officer has satisfied the handoff process
  • Allocate the handoff to an available Service Officer to manage the disruption

Is there an available Service Officer for the Team Leader to allocate the disruption to?

  • Yes, allocate to available Service Officer. Procedure ends here
  • No, handoff required to Bunbury Smart Centre, go to Step 4

4

Handoff to Bunbury

Remote Team Leader is to handoff details to a Bunbury Team Leader for urgent action via Microsoft Teams.

Was there a response within 10 minutes?

  • Yes, allocate to the Bunbury Team Leader for handoff to an available Service Officer. Procedure ends here
  • No, alert the Bunbury Travel Team using the @Bunbury Travel tag in the ABSTUDY Travel - Group Microsoft Teams chat. Allocate to an available Service Officer after a response from the Microsoft Teams request. Procedure ends here