Assessing and coding claims for Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme 010-03020040

The applicant must lodge a claim:

• in full for the first year of claiming AIC
• by 1 March in the year following that for which assistance is sought, and
• for each individual child

The applicant must reapply every year using the AIC End of Year process.

When an applicant lodges a claim for AIC, Service Officers must:

• ensure a full assessment is undertaken
• check the details held in the claim to see if the applicant would be entitled to a higher rate of payment or additional allowances

An AIC claim will be rejected if the applicant and/or the student do not meet either:

• eligibility requirements
• isolation conditions, or
• an approved living arrangement qualification for payment of an AIC allowance

Most claim rejections occur automatically, after coding the claim details. A letter will be sent to the applicant with the relevant rejection reason. If the letter provides incorrect information, AIC Smart Centre staff will suppress the letter and send the applicant a Q679 AIC Rejection letter, or in some circumstances, a Q999 letter.

Some claim rejections will need to be coded manually, for example, failing to supply documents. When manually rejecting a claim, a Q679 Rejection letter is the main letter to be sent to the customer, with the rejection reason(s) and their review and appeal rights. There are some approved Q999 letters that may be issued. These are located on the Letters and electronic messaging sub-site.

When making unfavourable decisions, speak to the customer:

• explain the decision
• give them an option to give more details, and
• tell them their review and appeal rights