Assessing and coding a transfer to Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA) student claim from another payment 010-20020548

Customers must lodge a claim for Austudy or YA if they want to transfer to either of these payments.

The Re-claim or Transfer for Austudy or Youth Allowance (SY089) paper claim is no longer accepted.

The transfer date for an Austudy or YA claim depends on a customer's circumstances and the payment the customer is transferring from. Depending on payment qualification and what is most beneficial for the customer, it may be the:

• date the claim is lodged
• day after previous study ended
• study start date, or
• date paid to plus one (DPT +1)

See:

• Activity Test for Austudy
• Youth Allowance student full-time study requirements

A customer may qualify for Austudy or YA as a student and another income support payment at the same time.

Customers receiving qualifying payments for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) may apply for Austudy or YA by mistake, instead of Pensioner Education Supplement (PES). It may be more beneficial to remain on the existing payment. See Identifying the most beneficial payment for students or Australian Apprentices.

When a transfer without a break from another payment to Austudy or YA occurs, the same fortnight end-date is maintained, but the day the payment is received may change.

Austudy or YA customers are automatically entitled to a Health Care Card (HCC). When transferring from a current payment with a HCC, the system automatically determines which concession card is the most beneficial to the customer.

If a customer currently holds another type of concession card, the customer can continue to use the card until the expiry date or until they receive a HCC.

Customers transferring from YA (job seeker) keep their current HCC and receive a new card when it expires.

Job seekers can self-declare study through their Workforce Australia Online account. Self-declared study information does not appear in the customer's Job Plan and can be viewed on the Point Based Activation Summary (PBAS) Dashboard in Process Direct.

Employment Service Providers may approve study for short courses. This can be viewed on the Activity and exemption summary (AEX) screen.

Generally, a person who is studying full-time should test their eligibility for a student payment. However, some short courses of less than 12 months may be approved where the:

• job seeker is unlikely to find work with their existing skills, and
• course will enhance their immediate employability

Full-time study in a short course will preclude a job seeker from qualifying for JSP only where:

• they have been advised by their provider that their full-time study will not meet their mutual obligation requirements, and
• the job seeker is not willing to undertake other approved activities, such as job search, to meet their requirements

Job seekers who no longer qualify for JSP will be advised to claim YA (student) or Austudy. As the decline of a short course approval is not displayed on Centrelink records, customer contact is required to determine which payment is appropriate and payable.

For JSP purposes, the assessment of 'calendar year' or 'academic year' does not apply. If the full-time course, from the course start date to course end date, is less than 12 months in duration, the course may be approved for JSP.

Because of this assessment, there may be situations where the customer is considered to be in a:

• one year course for student payments, and
• course less than 12 months for JSP

As this makes the customer eligible for both JSP and a student payment, the most beneficial payment will need to be determined.

Customers receiving the following participation payments are not granted any exemption from their mutual obligation requirements while their claim for YA or Austudy is being assessed:

• JobSeeker Payment (JSP)
• Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker)
• Parenting Payment (PP) with mutual obligation requirements
• Special Benefit (SpB) with mutual obligation requirements

If the customer has failed to comply with any mutual obligation requirements before the YA/Austudy claim is finalised, compliance action may have been generated or applied in the period since the new claim was submitted.

Outstanding compliance action, such a participation suspension, should not prevent finalisation of the YA/Austudy claim.

After the YA/Austudy claim has been finalised and payment granted, background processing will finalise any outstanding compliance action that is no longer required.

Where payment suspension for a participation reason is before the start date of the YA/Austudy claim, the customer may need to contact either their provider, or the Participation Solution Team (PST) as previously notified. No additional action is required as a part of the student claim processing. For more information, see Services Australia's responsibilities for managing compliance with compulsory requirements.