Assessing satisfactory progress for Youth Allowance (YA) secondary students 010-06070060

Is the customer attempting or intending to attempt Year 12 studies for a third time (or more)?

Note: there are no minimum time rules for other secondary studies, for example, for Years 7-11.

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, the customer meets the minimum time rules. Go to Step 4

Can a previous attempt at Year 12 be disregarded for any of the following reasons:

• the person is, or has been, disabled by an illness or other medical condition (permanently or temporary)
• the person has suffered family trauma
• the person has experienced a natural disaster
• the person is obliged to relocate, necessitating repeating part of a course of study, or starting a course again (because of the requirements of the educational provider concerned)
• the person has caring responsibilities for another member of their family
• another exceptional circumstance that interferes with the person's ability to complete a course of education or study within the standard minimum length of time, for example:
• failed because English was not the student's first language
• studied part-time
• completed or discontinued studies in that year within six months of the start of the academic year, or
• failed the year because of an illness that had not been diagnosed when the student started study in that calendar year, or other circumstances beyond the control of the student that were not evident before the student started study in that year

The customer must provide evidence

Tell the customer to provide evidence. Customers can also provide a statement and lodge the statement online or at their preferred service centre

Assess information provided by the customer

Under exceptional circumstances, students who have failed 2 attempts at Year 12 for reasons other than those above may be able to study Year 12 subjects at a tertiary institution such as TAFE as an approved activity under YA as a job seeker. These customers would not be a full-time student but would have a Job Plan with the completion of Year 12 as their activity.

• Yes, the customer meets allowable time rules and therefore qualifies for YA. Go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 3

Complete the following tasks:

• Either reject the claim or cancel the payment, depending on whether it is a new claim or the customer is currently receiving YA
• If the customer is under 22, consider whether they meet their mutual obligation requirements in other ways, for example, by doing a combination of activities for YA job seeker
• If the customer is 22 or older, consider whether they qualify for other income support, for example, JobSeeker Payment
• Tell the customer their review and appeal rights

Go to Step 5.

Tell the customer:

• they qualify for YA and have an allowable time to complete the course
• who is 22 or over, they will not qualify for YA if they withdraw from the course or cease a full-time study load
• who is under 22 and has entered a Job Plan:
• penalties for not undertaking full time study may apply if they fail to complete the course
• penalties may not apply if there are circumstances beyond their control
• to notify within 14 days any changes. For example, changes to their study-load, ceasing studies or withdrawing from a course and starting another course
• of the consequences of failing to notify changes and participation failures

Update or code education details on the system.

Record the decision:

• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > Allowable Time Assessment, or
• Type 'Allowable' into the Search field:
• Select Allowable Time Assessment from the available menu options
• Select the Display on Access (DOA) DOC button, if not already ticked. This automatically populates the DOA DOC field with the correct reason of 'SCC', which does not require an expiration date. See Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)

Make sure the DOC includes:

• the name, academic level, and allowable time of the student's current course
• a summary of the student's previous study, semester by semester (including all other levels of study if this is available. Although it will not be counted in this assessment it may be useful if the student applies for another course under another payment type)
• details of any study that has been disregarded and the reasons for disregarding the study
• the total of the previous study
• the period of payability (if any) that remains