Suspension of Youth Allowance (YA) (students and Australian Apprentices) 010-21081343

Payments may be suspended if a customer is temporarily not qualified or not payable because of:

• a change in their circumstances that means they no longer qualify
• failure to comply with the requirements for payment,
• information that has not been provided to ensure payments are correct. For example a valid address or bank account details

Before suspending a payment, issue an appropriate request for information and allow the appropriate time for a response.

A decision to suspend a payment potentially has a great impact on a customer and must be made in accordance with legislation and the relevant process.

Suspension does not necessarily indicate a loss of qualification. Payment of arrears may occur after restoring payment.

For:

• a list of reasons for suspension of YA, see Cancellation, suspension and rejection reason codes for Newstart System (NSS)
• restoring YA after requirements have been met see Restoration of Youth Allowance (YA) or Austudy for full-time students and Australian Apprentices

Reasons for suspension of payment may include:

• a financial institution returning a direct credit payment
• the customer failing to reply to letters
• customer separating from their partner
• a customer or their partner in prison or psychiatric confinement
• the customer's mail is returned to Centrelink 'whereabouts unknown'

See Suspension of payments (CLK) for information on:

• Customer contact
• Date of effect
• Reviewing suspension - cancellation or restoration of payment
• Vulnerable or at risk customer

Before suspending a payment, request information from the customer under the appropriate section of the Social Security (Administration) Act; section 63, 67, 68, or part 5, division 1. The Decision Maker (DM) must be satisfied there is sufficient evidence the customer is either temporarily not qualified for the payment or the payment is not payable.

For information on requesting information, see Requesting information (CLK).

All decisions to suspend Youth Allowance (YA) are made under section 80 of the Social Security (Administration) Act.

Nominee arrangements

If the customer has a correspondence nominee, attempt contact with the nominee before suspending the payment.

Notification of suspension

Advise customers of the decision to suspend their payment. If an automatic letter is not issued by the system, see the Process page for more information.

Customer contacts after suspension

Explain the reason for suspension. Provide information about the required documentation or advise the customer what is required so the payment can be restored if applicable.