Completing the Youth Allowance and ABSTUDY 'Unreasonable to live at home' Statement by Parent(s) (SY016) 010-06010070

Youth Allowance and ABSTUDY Statement by Parent(s) (SY016) is used to assess independence where the young person claims it is unreasonable for them to live at home. The rate of Youth Allowance (YA) and ABSTUDY is not affected by parental income if the young person meets guidelines for independence.

To meet the guidelines, it must be unreasonable for the young person to live at home with their parents because of one of the following reasons:

• extreme family breakdown or similar exceptional circumstances
• it would be unreasonable to expect the customer to live at home as there would be a serious risk to their physical or mental well-being due to family and domestic violence, sexual abuse or other similar unreasonable circumstances
• the parent(s) are unable to provide a suitable stable home for the customer

The young person must not be receiving:

• continuous support (financial or otherwise) from a parent or any other person who is acting as a long-term guardian, or
• continuous payments in the way of income support from an Australian Government agency/department or a state or territory authority

The statement is to be completed by both parents jointly if they reside together. If they are not living together each parent needs to complete a separate form. If they are unable to complete the form or would like to speak to the UTLAH Assessment Team, they can contact the Youth and Students line on 13 2490 or the ABSTUDY line on 1800 132 317. The parents can ask to speak to a Service Officer in the relevant UTLAH Assessment Team, only where the young person claiming UTLAH has provided permission to do so.

This permission can be declared:

• within the online claim responses, under 'Unreasonable to live at home - Parent details' section
• within the completed Statement by Young person (SY015) form, or
• documented on the young person's record

Without this permission, the parent/s must not be transferred to the O18 UTLAH Assessment Team.

Customers 18 years and over must provide 2 statements:

• Statement by Young person (SY015) or if claiming online, complete the digital version within the Youth Allowance claim
• Statement by Parents (SY016)

For claimants over the age of 18 years, this is assessed by a Service Officer within the O18 UTLAH Assessment Teams that process these claims. These customers will generally be assessed via statement forms (as above) only.

Youth Allowance customers under 18 years of age applying to be assessed as independent because it is unreasonable to live at home, are to be booked in for an interview with a social worker. The social worker must make the assessment of the young person's entitlement.