Determining unapproved absence participation failures for Youth Allowance (YA) secondary students 010-07020030

Customer Compliance Division has advised a student has had more than 5 days of unapproved absences in a school term and has arranged for the student to attend an interview at a service centre to discuss the situation.

At interview:

• check the Document List (DL) screen on the student's record for evidence of an Activity Agreement being negotiated and signed. A DOC should have been recorded for this purpose
• if using Customer First, locate existing Activity Agreement information by selecting 'Study' then subheading 'Student Activity Agreement'

Is there a Student Activity Agreement in place?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, a participation failure cannot be generated or determined if an Activity Agreement is not in place. See Negotiating Activity Agreements for YA secondary students with unapproved absences. Procedure ends here

Check the details of the Activity Agreement as recorded on the DOC and compare the dates of the agreement with the dates of the absence as advised by Compliance.

Does the previously negotiated Activity Agreement cover the period of unapproved absences?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, negotiate another Activity Agreement using the manual, printable SY072 for the YA secondary student with unapproved absences. Procedure ends here

Gather the evidence to establish the facts of the case.

Note: if a student disagrees with the decision that they had more than 5 days of unapproved absence in a term, they must provide a letter from the provider advising of their amended attendance details to support their claim.

In order to make an informed decision on whether or not to generate a potential participation failure, ensure all the facts and supporting evidence has been produced.

Some suggestions include:

• Ask student for evidence of their situation, such as a medical certificate or letter from the provider.
• Make any additional enquiries to establish the facts of the case, including contacting the educational provider.
  Note: the Participation Solutions Team (PST) will consider any extenuating circumstances or reasonable excuse for not complying with full-time study requirements. Document any facts or evidence provided by the customer clearly

Note: do not alter any review outcomes without first discussing the case with Customer Compliance Division staff.

Is it confirmed the student has had more than 5 days of unapproved absence in a term?

• Yes, generate a potential participation failure. Go to Step 6
• No, a potential participation failure is not to be generated. Go to Step 5

Record decision not to generate participation failure on a DOC with sufficient detail to justify the decision.

• Scan the evidence with on the student's Centrelink record
• Remind the student of their continuing full-time study requirements and the consequences of failure to comply with these requirements
• Record details of the decision on a DOC

Procedure ends here.

In Process Direct:

• Select Customer Summary from the Process Direct landing page
• Enter the customer's CRN, select Go
• Go to the Participation Compliance Hub (BIPCW) screen will display
• Select Generate Compliance Action
• From What payment type does this compliance action relate to?, select 'Youth Allowance - Student'

Update the following fields:

• What is the event date of this compliance action? - enter the date the incident of non-compliance occurred. This should be the date the sixth unapproved absence in the term occurred
• What is the nature of the compliance action? - select 'Participation or Activity Test Requirements'
• What is the reason for this compliance action? - select 'Unapproved Absences - Secondary student (PSS)'
• Information to support this compliance action - enter the reasons and evidence gathered that will assist the Participation Solutions Team to investigate the potential participation failure
• You are about to generate a compliance action activity. Are these details correct? - review your responses and then select Yes
• Complete Receipt Date and Channel fields
• Select Generate Compliance Action
• Select Assess

The Participation Solutions Team (PST) will determine whether or not:

• the customer has a reasonable excuse for their actions
• a participation failure has been committed
• an eight week non-payment period is to be applied if this is the third or subsequent failure in a 12 month period

Has the PST determined that a participation failure has been committed?

• Yes, see Table 2, Step 1
• No, then:
• file the evidence with the student's file
• advise student of their obligation to comply with the full-time study requirements
• ensure that the failure is rejected using the Participation Compliance workflow
• no reconnection is required for these cases. The reconnection item to be coded is 'Reconnected - Advised restart activity/program'

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

• Investigate and determine:
• whether or not the customer has a reasonable excuse for their actions
• if a participation failure has been committed
• whether or not an eight week non-payment period is to be applied if this is the third or subsequent failure in a 12 month period
• Validate the failure by checking:
• that 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
• 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 on the customer's capacity to comply with the requirement at the time the failure occurred? Consult with a specialist of required, and document advice. No reconnection is required for these cases. The reconnection item to be coded is 'Reconnected - Advised restart activity/program'

Contact with the customer to discuss the potential failure is a requirement. If unable to contact the customer after two attempts, the Participation Compliance Hub workflow in Process Direct must be updated to reflect that contact was attempted.

• 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

Is a participation failure to be applied?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, reject the failure in the Participation Compliance Hub workflow in Process Direct. Advise the student of their obligation to comply with 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 4
• No, advise the student of the participation failure, any penalty resulting from the failure and the review of decision process. Advise the student of the requirement to comply with 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 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 workflow. An eight week non-payment period will result. Advise the student of the participation failure, the non-payment period and the review of decision process. Note: where a decision is made to apply a repeated failure, the student cannot waive some or all of the eight week non-payment period through participation in a Compliance Activity. Serious failure hardship provisions do not apply to these non-payment periods
• No,
• reject the failure in the Participation Compliance Hub workflow in Process Direct
• advise student of their requirement to comply with the full-time study requirements