Generating participation failures for Youth Allowance and Austudy students 010-07020020

This procedure does not apply to ABSTUDY customers who are assessed under a specific breach framework, or Australian Apprentices receiving YA or Austudy because they are exempt from the full-time study requirements at all times.

A Youth Allowance (YA) or Austudy student may incur a potential participation failure in the following circumstances:

• for tertiary students who do not comply with the agreed requirements in a signed Youth Allowance activity agreement
• for secondary school students who signed an activity agreement for their study, not complying with the terms of the agreement by having excessive unapproved absences
• not attending certain required, participation related appointments (for example, Service Profiling appointments that relate to participation)

For the following situations, select the appropriate procedure:

• action to be taken when full-time students fail to notify they have ceased full-time study
• determining unapproved absences participation failures for YA secondary students
• if the student has failed to attend a required, non-participation related appointment (for example, income and assets or living arrangement service update), suspend payments with the reason FAI (Failed to Attend Interview) from the date of the appointment. Record a DOC on the customer's record

If the customer failed to satisfy the full-time study requirements in another way, go to Step 2.

To make an informed decision on whether or not to generate a participation failure, ensure that all the facts and supporting evidence are available. Depending on the reason for the failure, the facts and supporting evidence will vary.

Some suggestions:

• If a potential failure is discovered while customer is present, such as at a review interview, discuss circumstances and have the customer make a statement
• If customer is not present, contact them by phone and discuss their circumstances
• Ask customer for evidence of their situation such as a medical certificate or letter from the education provider
• Check the customers record:
• Centrelink Appointment System for appointments booked, rescheduled, cancelled
• Document List (DL) screen for any record of contact regarding the event (e.g. record of Compliance activity or notification of workload reduction and no appropriate coding being recorded)
• Newstart Education Status (NES) screen for student status (e.g. concessions to workload), or exemptions to the full-time study requirements
• Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) - for other approved activities
• Check the customers file or appropriate forms, such as Reporting Statement (SU19) forms
• Make any additional enquiries to establish the facts of the case, including contacting the educational provider

Note: if the case has been referred by Compliance, do not alter any review outcomes without first discussing the case with the Participation Solutions Team (PST).

Make a decision whether a failure has occurred based on the evidence facts, Legislation and any other issues that have arisen.

Has a decision been made to cancel the payment because the customer is no longer qualified?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 5

This will generate the potential debt and send the notification of cancellation.

If the customer is present, advise the decision and their review and appeal rights.

Record details of the decision on a DOC. Procedure ends here.

A participation failure activity is to be generated for investigation when a student fails to attend a required participation related appointment.

These appointments are:

• Full-time student compliance service update (SPA)
• Economic and social participation service update (SPP)
• A request to negotiate an activity agreement at a particular time and place

Is a participation failure applicable?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 2
• No, record decision not to apply a failure on a DOC with sufficient detail to justify decision. See Step 2 in Table 2

Record a Participation Failure using the Participation Compliance Hub.

Remind customer of their continuing full-time study requirements and the consequences of failing to comply with these requirements.

For Participation Solutions Team (PST) staff, go to Step 3.

Suspension may be an appropriate option where the person has not attended a required appointment that is not participation related or where the person may not have advised of a change of details. Before suspending payments Service Officers must:

• ensure the customer was sent notification of the time and date of the appointment
• attempt telephone contact with the customer (if a telephone number is recorded on file) to discuss rescheduling the appointment or obtaining the necessary information over the phone

If unable to establish contact with the customer, suspend the payment with reason 'Failed to attend interview' (FAI). For more information, see Suspension of payments (CLK).

Record decision on a DOC.

Note: when suspending a customer's record, always suspend from the date last paid + 1.

Procedure ends here.

The PST Service Officer is required to complete all remaining actions in the Participation Compliance Hub covering the following issues.

• Investigate and determine:
• if a participation failure has been committed
• whether or not an 8 week non-payment period is to be applied if this is the third or subsequent failure in a twelve month period
• Validate the failure by checking:
• the payment was current, and the customer was subject to the full-time study requirements at the time of the failure
• if the customer had an exemption
• the correct failure reason has been selected
• the supporting information provided to ensure that enough information has been provided to investigate the failure
• the failure incident date to ensure that the correct date has been recorded
• if there have been any other failures recorded in the same or previous entitlement period
• Assess whether the customer received reasonable notice of the appointment
• Decide if the customer has a reasonable excuse for not meeting requirements by considering:
• Was the reason for failing to comply with a requirement foreseeable or within the customer's control?
• Was the relevant requirement reasonable for the customer and correctly notified?
• Were there any personal circumstances that may have impacted the customer's capacity to comply with the requirement?

It is a requirement to contact the customer to discuss the participation failure.

• Check any evidence or facts with the customer
• Discuss the reasons for failing to meet requirements
• Contact any third parties as required to verify facts

If unable to contact the customer after two attempts, the Participation Compliance Hub must be updated to reflect that contact was attempted.

Is a participation failure to be applied?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No,
• reject the failure in the Participation Compliance Hub
• book any appointments as required for the customer
• advise student of their requirement to comply with the full-time study requirements
• procedure ends here

Is this the third failure for the same payment type within a 12 month period?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, advise the student of the participation failure, any penalty resulting from the failure and the review of decision process. Tell the student about the requirement to comply with the full-time study requirements. The system will also send an automatic letter advising of the participation failure and the customer's review and appeal rights. Procedure ends here

For third or subsequent failures within a 12 month period the PST should make a recommendation to the Senior PST (SPST).

The SPST will:

• review all existing evidence and facts to check that the decision-making process has been followed
• consult with specialist officers as required

Is the decision to apply the third participation failure?

• Yes, record a failure in the Participation Compliance Hub. An 8 week non-payment period will result. Advise the student of the participation failure, the non-payment period and the review of decision process
• No,
• reject the failure in the Participation Compliance Hub
• book any appointments as required for the customer
• advise student of their obligation to comply with the full-time study requirements