Progress of claim - ABSTUDY 010-19071541

Is the enquiry about the progress of an ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) claim?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, and the customer is
• requesting to make a claim, see Claiming ABSTUDY
• enquiring about ABSTUDY, see Processing arrangements for ABSTUDY claims and enquiries, procedure ends here

Is the customer having difficulties completing an online claim?

• Yes, see Troubleshooting Centrelink self service. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 3

A customer can withdraw or cancel their claim at any time prior to the finalisation of the claim. The finalisation result is displayed as the payment status.

The Payment Status is displayed on the Benefit Status line in Customer First

To view the Payment Status select:

• Workspace
• Customer Summary

The Benefit Status line displays

• ABT/ASS, ABY/ASS or EPA/ASS when the claim has been assessed
• ABT/CUR, ABY/CUR or EPA/CUR when the claim has been granted
• ABT/SUS, ABY/SUS or EPA/SUS when the payment is suspended

Is the contact to withdraw or cancel the claim?

• Yes, and the:
• Claim has been assessed or granted, see Cancellation of ABSTUDY payments or Cancellation of Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and ABSTUDY PES. Procedure ends here
• Benefit Status line indicates the payment has been suspended, see Processing arrangement for ABSTUDY claims and enquiries. Procedure ends here
• ABT, ABY or PES status is not displayed on the Benefit Status line, see Withdrawal of claims. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 4

Current (CUR) or suspended (SUS) customers can claim additional or alternate payments.

Is the ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY PES payment current or suspended?

• Yes, check the Document List (DL) screen in Customer First for any notes regarding the assessment of the additional or alternate payment. See Customer already current on ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES). Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 5

Ask the customer how they claimed ABSTUDY.

If claimed:

• via a paper claim, go to Step 6
• via the ABSTUDY Claiming Tool, go to Step 6
• online or via Assisted Customer Claim (ACC), go to Step 7

If recorded correctly, unprocessed paper and ABSTUDY Claiming Tool claims display on the Customer Summary page in Customer First.

The Benefit Status line will show either:

• ABT/NCL
• ABY/NCL
• EPA/NCL

Does the Benefit Status line display one of the above?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 8

Online and ACC claims are viewed in Customer First via Workspace > Claims online > Search online claims. See Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM) for further information.

If the claim status displays:

• Cancelled - the customer has cancelled or withdrawn the new claim, see Claiming ABSTUDY, procedure ends here
• Rejected (REJ) - claim has been rejected, see Claiming ABSTUDY, procedure ends here
• Approved or Completed - the claim has been assessed, see Processing arrangements for ABSTUDY claims and enquiries. Procedure ends here.
• On Hold - the claim has been submitted however further information has been requested from the customer, see Step 1 in the Checking ABSTUDY claim progress table
• Draft - a claim has not been submitted, see Step 1 in the Checking ABSTUDY claim progress table
• Submitted - required tasks have been completed and claim has been submitted for assessment, see Step 5 in the Checking ABSTUDY claim progress table
• In Process - the claim is waiting to be assessed, see to Step 5 in the Checking ABSTUDY claim progress table

Verbal claims

If ABSTUDY was claimed via ABSTUDY Claiming Tool go to Step 9.

Paper claims

Paper claims are not always recorded using the claim form number as the document type, resulting in delays in claim assessment.

Paper claims and supporting documents are not always located on the student or Australian Apprentice's record, therefore their parent/'s and/or their partner's records must also be checked.

To check for receipt of the claim and/or supporting documents, see Locating digital images, ensuring documents are moved to the correct record if located on another person's record.

Is the paper claim located on the customer's file?

• Yes, check all information required for the new claim has been provided and is acceptable, see Completing an ABSTUDY form then go to Step 10
• No:
• Ask when and how the claim was lodged
• If lodged at a service centre and not yet recorded on the file, see Digital image not located on customer record. Claim may be submitted during this contact via another claiming method, see Claiming ABSTUDY. Procedure ends here
• If claim was posted and a reasonable delivery time has passed, advise the claim has not yet been received. Claim may be submitted during this contact via another claiming method, see Claiming ABSTUDY. Procedure ends here
• If unable to locate the claim, advise the customer. Claim may be submitted during this contact via another claiming method, see Claiming ABSTUDY. Procedure ends here

To ensure prompt allocation for processing, ABSTUDY paper and ABSTUDY Claiming Tool claims must be indexed manually in Customer First.

Paper Claim

For additional information, see Indexing, re-indexing and cancelling claim activities if the claim is for a secondary school or secondary non-school student and the form is one of the following:

ABSTUDY Schooling A form (SY018)

• Claim for ABSTUDY Remote Areas (SY092)
• Claim for ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement form (SY020)
• Claim for ABSTUDY form (SY019)
• Claim for ABSTUDY Allowances and Part-time Award form (SY021)

Check if the claim is for another student type or an Australian Apprentice, and whether the form is a:

• Claim for ABSTUDY form (SY019)
• ABSTUDY Allowances and Part-time Award form (SY021

Go to Step 10.

ABSTUDY Claiming Tool claims

These claims display in Customer First on the Activity List (AL) screen.

• If the new claim is not visible on the AL screen and has not been assessed, see ABSTUDY Claiming Tool process to check if the claim was fully completed during prior contact. If the claim was:
• Not completed, invite customer to claim now, see ABSTUDY Claiming Tool process. Procedure ends here.
• Completed but the ABSTUDY new claim (NCL) activity was not recorded, the claim must be indexed. For further information see Indexing, re-indexing and cancelling claim activities, then go to Step 10

The 'Progress of ABSTUDY Claim' DOC is created either manually or automatically.

If the 'Progress of Claim' DOC is not recorded and the claim was lodged using the ABSTUDY Claiming Tool, the DOC must be recorded during this contact. For further information see ABSTUDY Claiming Tool process, then see Step 1 in the Checking ABSTUDY claim progress table.

Check the 'Progress of ABSTUDY Claim' DOC on the Document List (DL) screen to confirm the information required is available for the claim to be assessed.

If the 'Progress of ABSTUDY Claim' states the claim cannot be finalised due to a system issue, go to Step 4

Have all required supporting claim documents been provided?

• Yes, and the claim is:
• a paper claim or claim submitted via the ABSTUDY Claiming Tool go to Step 2
• an online or Assisted Customer Claim go to Step 3
• No, advise of the supporting documents required for their claim to be assessed. Encourage the customer to provide this information via the Upload documents service, procedure ends here

Paper and ABSTUDY Claiming Tool claims are ready for assessment when all supporting documents have been provided.

To check if the claim is categorised as ready:

• open Customer First
• go to the Activity List (AL) screen, and
• check the Status field

If the claim activity is displaying as HELD (HLD), change the field so it is blank/empty. The resubmit field must also be amended to blank/empty.

Go to Step 5.

Online claims and ACC require further action before the claim is ready to be assessed. If the claim status displays as:

• On Hold - To take the claim off hold:
• Open Process Direct
• Click on the Status icon
• Change status to In process
• Draft - Advise the customer to submit their claim as soon as possible using online services or, use ACC to submit the claim
• In Process - No further action required

Go to Step 6.

The 'Progress of ABSTUDY Claim' DOC states the claim cannot be finalised due to a system issue:

• discuss reason for delay with the customer
• confirm contact phone details, apologise for delay and advise they will be contacted
• for paper claims and ABSTUDY Claiming Tool claims ensure the NCL activity in Customer First displays as HELD (HLD) on the Activity List (AL) screen
• for Assisted Customer Claims and online claims, ensure the claim status is On Hold see Viewing and processing online and Assisted Customer Claim (ACC)

Go to Step 5.

To determine if the customer is in hardship and eligible to have their claim fast tracked, see Immediate new claim and non-new claim priority processing.

Is the customer deemed to be in hardship?

• Yes, follow the procedures in Immediate new claim and non-new claim priority processing. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 6

Advise the customer:

• The claim will be assessed as soon as possible. Refer to Operational Messaging during peak processing times for additional information and scripted messaging
• Annotate the 'Progress of ABSTUDY Claim' DOC on the customer's record recording their contact, advice given and/or action taken
• If claim made online or via the ACC process, the online/express app Claim Tracker can be used to check claim progress quickly and easily