ABSTUDY students experiencing disrupted travel 010-02100240

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

• not commenced their journey due to circumstances beyond their control (for example, weather or transport delays)
• commenced their journey 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

For student and non-student travellers who did not commence their journey due to circumstances not beyond their control (for example slept in), refer to No show for ABSTUDY travel.

Has the advice regarding the travel disruption been received by the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team or the Geelong 24/7 Team?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, immediately complete an announced (warm) transfer to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team via Services Australia Workspace NBG ABSTUDY Travel. See Office Locator and select Lists at the top of the screen to locate National Transfer Numbers. If the transfer to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team is:
• successful, procedure ends here
• unsuccessful, go to Step 2

If the person contacting is unable to be transferred to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team, complete the ABSTUDY Travel Disruption Checklist on the Resources page to obtain all relevant information needed to escalate the issue to the appropriate stakeholders.

The Service Officer must immediately notify their Team Leader, who will contact a Team Leader in the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team.

The Team Leader in the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team will take over managing the travel disruption. To locate the transfer number, see the Resources page for a link to Office Locator.

The ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team or Geelong 24/7 Team have been advised a student or non-student traveller did not board all or part of their pre-booked journey.

Complete the ABSTUDY Travel Disruption Checklist on the Resources page to obtain all relevant information needed to escalate the issue to the appropriate stakeholders.

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?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 3
• No, and the disrupted traveller is:
• under 18 years of age, go to Step 4
• over 18 years of age, see Step 1 in Table 2

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

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

• Fares icon
• Relevant booking ID impacted by the disrupted travel
• Overview tab

If the 1st emergency contact is uncontactable on the 2nd 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 2nd emergency contact is uncontactable on the 2nd 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.'

Has contact been made with the emergency contact?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 5

Where the emergency contacts are unavailable, attempt to contact the following:

• Approved traveller's parent/guardian (obtain phone number from parent record -parents CRN can be found via the Household Income and Assessments (NHI) screen of the approved travellers CRN)
• Approved traveller's education provider/boarding facility

Has an alternative responsible contact been reached?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 9

If a Safe Travel Plan (STP) is in place, the STP is immediately enacted:

• the emergency contact/s will:
• liaise with the student traveller, the parent/guardian and boarding school/hostel (where required), to make alternate travel/supervision arrangements, and
• tell the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team/Geelong 24/7 Team if accommodation or other travel arrangements are required
• the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team/ Geelong 24/7 Team will authorise accommodation or other travel arrangements if required with the Travel Management Company (TMC)

Go to Step 8.

• Liaise with the student traveller, parent/guardian and boarding school/hostel (where required), to make alternate travel/supervision arrangements, and
• Contact the Travel Management Company (TMC) to authorise accommodation or other travel arrangements if required

Go to Step 8.

Geelong 24/7 Team must:

• Document the student traveller's record with details of the disruption and outcome. See the Resources page for required text
• Complete the disrupted travel email template (see the Resources page) and send via email to the ABSTUDY travel team for action

ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team must:

• Document the student traveller's record with details of the disruption and outcome. See the Resources page for required text
• Record the new amended travel arrangements, see Coding pre-booked Fares Allowance (FAA) entitlements for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Determine if a travel penalty will apply, see No show for ABSTUDY travel

Procedure ends here.

Advise the details to an ABSTUDY Smart Centre Team Leader or Geelong 24/7 Team Leader.

Where travel that has already commenced is disrupted and the emergency contacts and alternative responsible contacts are unavailable, it can be determined the STP for the traveller has failed.

When a STP failure occurs, the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Team Leader or Geelong 24/7 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.

When the escalation process is complete, the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Team Leader or Geelong 24/7 Team Leader must contact:

• the local police at the in-transit location, to notify of the unsupervised young person. See Risk identification and management of threats to the safety or welfare of a child
• the first emergency contact listed on the travel booking and leave the following message:
• 'As we have been unable to contact you and the 2nd emergency contact, we have now contacted [location of police station] on [police station phone number] advising them [student's name] location.'

Note: it is not appropriate to contact police if travel has not yet commenced, even if the emergency contacts are unavailable, since the student is either at home or at school.

Go to Step 10.

Where the STP is in place and the emergency contacts were uncontactable, or unable to manage the disruption effectively, the student traveller is now subject to a period of mandatory supervision until 1 March of the following calendar year. See Fares Allowance (FAA) authorised in advance of travel for ABSTUDY.

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

To record the mandatory supervision requirements:

• Go to the student's record in context in Process Direct
• Select the Fares icon
• Select the Travel ID of the booking which has been 'disrupted'
• The TMA will open and display the Overview tab
• Confirm an STP is in place under the Travel Requirements heading in the middle left of the screen
• If not already coded, complete the mandatory supervision fields under the Travel Requirements heading as follows:
• Mandatory Supervision: Yes
• Mandatory Supervision Start Date: defaults to today's date
• Mandatory Supervision End Date: 1 March in the following calendar year
• Mandatory Supervision Reason: Other Reasons
• Select Save
• Go to the Notes tab to record the disrupted travel information. The Resources page has the note text to be used for disrupted travel booking records
• Determine if a travel penalty will apply, see No show for ABSTUDY travel

Procedure ends here.

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.

Where rebooking of travel is required, arrange accommodation, meals and transport with the Travel Management Company (TMC) for disrupted travellers.

If required, arrange with the TMC (or via alternative arrangements such as a taxi) for the disrupted traveller to be collected and taken to their accommodation.

Notify the disrupted traveller of the new booking arrangements.

Geelong 24/7 Team must:

• Document the student travellers record with details of the disruption and outcome
• Complete the disrupted travel email template and send via email to the ABSTUDY travel team for action. Procedure ends here

ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel Team must:

• Record the new amended travel arrangements, see Coding pre-booked Fares Allowance (FAA) entitlements for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Determine if a travel penalty will apply, see No show for ABSTUDY travel

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 work should be handed off to avoid any further delays.

Service Officers must collate all details of the handoff including any actions taken in the ABSTUDY Travel Disruption Template on the Resources page.

Service Officers are to send the completed template and all necessary information to their Team Leader via MS Teams for approval and allocation.

Has the Team Leader responded within 10 minutes?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 2

When a Team Leader does not respond within 10 minutes, alert all ABSTUDY Travel Team Leaders via the ABSTUDY Travel Group Chat in MS Teams using the @Travel Team Leaders tag.

Go to Step 3.

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

Remote Team Leader is to handoff details to a Bunbury Team Leader for urgent action via MS 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 via MS Teams. Allocate to an available Service Officer after a response from the MS Teams request. Procedure ends here