View and update a child's immunisation status and assess or update immunisation exemptions for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) 011-10170030

The Child Immunisation Summary guided procedure displays child immunisation information for the assessment of:

• FTB Part A from 1 July 2018
• FTB Part A supplement for financial years 2012-13 to 2017-18, and

It will display all children on the customer's record.

A child's immunisation status is provided by the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) via a link between the AIR and the child's Centrelink record.

The guided procedure in Customer First displays:

• the link status
• the child's immunisation status for FTB Part A for financial years 2018-19 onwards
• the child's immunisation status for FTB Part A supplement for financial years 2012-13 to 2017-18
• the date of birth recorded for the child on the AIR
• information about immunisation evidence that has been provided; and
• immunisation overrides that have been recorded

For Child Care Subsidy (CCS), the immunisation status is displayed on the Child Immunisation Details in Process Direct. A child can be selected to display more information for the child on the Child Summary.

Information about how immunisation status is determined and how it impacts specific payments can be found via Related Links below.

The Child Immunisation Summary guided procedure can be used to view the status of a child's AIR link.

The status will display as:

• Awaiting link (AWA) for up to 14 days if a link has been attempted but a response has not yet been received from the AIR
• Not linked (unsuccessful) if a link has not been attempted or a mismatch has been returned, or
• Linked if a successful link with the AIR has been established

Once the child's record is linked with the AIR, the AIR will provide the child's immunisation status (and Last Immunisation Update Event (LIUE) date, if relevant) and the child's date of birth (as recorded on the AIR). This information is updated each time the child's immunisation status changes on the AIR.

If a child's record is not linked, see Establish a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) link for a child between Centrelink and the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

The Child Immunisation Summary guided procedure can be used to view a child's current immunisation status for FTB and a past period milestone immunisation status for FTB Part A supplement (for financial years prior to 1 July 2018).

The FTB immunisation status will display as:

• Yes (Met) if the child meets the immunisation requirements, or
• No (Not Met) if the child does not meet the immunisation requirements

If a child does not meet the immunisation requirements and the customer is serving an FTB immunisation grace period, the grace period start and end dates are also displayed. For more information, see Immunisation reviews and reminders for FTB.

Mutual FTB and Child Care Subsidy (CCS) customers

A child's immunisation status for CCS is not displayed in the guided procedure. If a customer is receiving both FTB and CCS for a child, check both the guided procedure (for FTB) and Process Direct (for CCS). Due to differences in how these payments are assessed, a child may have a different status and/or immunisation grace period dates for each payment.

For more information, see Immunisation requirements for Child Care Subsidy (CCS).

From 1 July 2018, the AIR will include the Last Immunisation Update Event (LIUE) date each time that a positive (Yes/Met) status is transmitted to Centrelink.

The system will automatically use the LIUE date when determining the date of effect of the child's immunisation status for FTB Part A rate assessments.

The LIUE date is sent by the AIR based on information provided by the child's vaccination provider. If a customer requests more information about how this date is determined, they can be transferred to the AIR to discuss.

A warning displays when the immunisation information is for children aged 14 years and over. Because of privacy policy, information about their immunisation status can only be discussed with the young person. See Authentication and release of information for Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) for more information.

Each time the AIR provides an immunisation status update, the child's date of birth as recorded on the AIR is also transferred. A Customer Issue displays if the date of birth recorded on the AIR does not match the date of birth on the Centrelink record.

The Customer Issue must be actioned to make sure the child's date of birth is checked. An incorrect date of birth on either the AIR or Centrelink record can result in the child's immunisation status being incorrectly applied FTB. For information on how to action the Customer Issue, including any corrective action, see Immunisation reviews and reminders for Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

Centrelink

Customers do not need to provide documentary immunisation evidence to Centrelink. When a child receives a vaccination or starts a catch-up schedule, the vaccination provider will update the AIR, and any changes to the immunisation status will be provided to Centrelink.

A Service Officer cannot update a child's immunisation status using evidence provided by the customer, this includes Baby Books and Immunisation history statements. If any of the information on a child's Immunisation history statement is incomplete or incorrect, the customer needs to contact their vaccination provider. Only a vaccination provider can provide updates of a child's immunisation details to the AIR.

If a customer lodges immunisation evidence with Centrelink, the customer should be advised to contact their vaccination provider. Only a vaccination provider can provide updates of a child's immunisation details to the AIR. From 4 June 2022, a customer will no longer be able to upload immunisation documents on Centrelink online or the Express app.

For all vaccinations received overseas, the customer will need to provide evidence to their Australian vaccination provider.

For more information on checking and scanning evidence lodged with Centrelink, see Management of immunisation evidence.

AIR

The Child Immunisation Summary guided procedure is used to see whether immunisation evidence lodged by the customer with Centrelink resulted in an AIR update. From 4 June 2022, this will be historical data only, AIR will no longer accept evidence from customers (it will only accept evidence from vaccination providers)

If evidence does not result in an AIR update, a reason will display in the guided procedure to help with customer enquiries.

Immunisation history statements (UNSIH)

These must not be transferred to the AIR, as these statements are evidence of what is/was already recorded on the AIR.

Immunisation overrides and exemptions are managed by Centrelink and can only be recorded and removed by Service Officers with the relevant delegation.

These can be completed in the following scenarios:

• The child met the FTB immunisation requirements and Services Australia was notified before the end of the allowable timeframe (which is generally the lodgement year) but the AIR did not provide the child's immunisation status until after the end of the allowable timeframe (FTB Part A supplement for financial years prior to 1 July 2018 only)
• The child was immunised overseas and remains overseas at reconciliation (FTB Part A supplement for financial years prior to 1 July 2018 only)
• The customer or child is eligible for a Secretary determination exemption from immunisation (for example Family and Domestic Violence)
• In rare cases, the child met the FTB immunisation requirements but Centrelink was not notified by the AIR because a more recent immunisation event has occurred and this is the LIUE date that has been supplied. If an FTB Part A rate reduction has been applied for the child due to immunisation requirements and the reduction would be removed by the earlier immunisation event, it may be necessary to record a LIUE date override (FTB Part A for financial years 2018-19 onwards)

Note: if a Secretary initiated review:

• takes place more than 52 weeks after the date of decision, and
• results in a retrospective change of the immunisation requirements from a No to a Yes, then
• the DOE can be no earlier than 1 July of the financial year prior to the date of the determination

This limiting provision does not apply to reassessments where there is change to the income details from either:

• the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), or
• Child Support

A Centrelink immunisation override is not used to record medical exemptions or temporary unavailability of a vaccine. These exemptions are updated by the AIR and the customer's AIR record is updated appropriately.