Alignment of Care
1/07/2010The Family Assistance Office (FAO) and the Child Support Agency (CSA) now use the same rules to work out the percentage of care you provide your child or children.
Why are the FAO and CSA aligning care?
By aligning the rules for determining care percentages, parents will only have to tell one agency about a change in care – not both.
What do I need to do?
If you receive Family Tax Benefit and pay or receive child support, you will only need to have your percentage of care assessed once by either the FAO or CSA. The other agency will then be notified of any changes in your percentage of care and will update your details automatically.
It’s important you tell the CSA about changes to your care as soon as they happen. If you do not tell them within 28 days of the change, your child support assessment may only be able to be changed from the day you tell them. This 28 day time limit does not apply for family assistance purposes.
You can also apply to have your percentage of care worked out under the new rules, even if the care arrangements have not changed.
You can talk to the FAO or CSA about your care arrangements. If you have other questions about your child support payments or family assistance you will need to talk to the relevant agency.
Changes to your percentage of care could affect your eligibility or rate of payment for other entitlements. If you’re receiving a payment such as Parenting Payment or Newstart you must also tell Centrelink about changes in your circumstances.
Sam and Sandy*
Sam calls the FAO to say that there is a change to the care of his son Eric – Eric now stays with Sandy for 56 nights in a year. The FAO confirms the new care arrangements with both Sam and Sandy and reassesses Sam’s Family Tax Benefit. The new care percentage is sent to the Child Support Agency and applied to the child support assessment.
*This is an example only.
Where can I get more information?
For more information about these changes, you can call 13 6150 or speak to your local Centrelink Customer Service Centre or Medicare office. To speak to Centrelink in a language other than English call 13 1202.
You can also visit www.csa.gov.au or call 13 1272. If you don’t speak English, call the Translating Interpreting Service on 13 1450 between 8.30am and 4.45pm (local time), Monday to Friday
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