7.11 Under 16 Boarding Supplement

Introduction

This chapter contains details about the Under 16 Boarding Supplement.

7.11.1 Summary of the Under 16 Boarding Supplement

Summary table

The table below summarises the Under 16 Boarding Supplement

Features of Allowance	Details
Availability	To boarding schools that cater for a significant proportion of Indigenous students. To qualify for the Supplement, the school must have at least 10% Indigenous students within its overall student population. For schools to be eligible to receive a payment on behalf of Indigenous students under 16 years of age, the school must be included on the list of eligible boarding schools sent annually to the Centrelink Manager by DETYA.
Purpose	To assist boarding schools that cater for a significant proportion of Indigenous students to overcome the shortfall between boarding costs and the amount of ABSTUDY Living Allowance payable to students aged under 16 years.
Eligibility conditions	The School: is a boarding school defined at 7.11.3.3, and at least 10% of students must be Indigenous students. The Student: meets the schooling B Award criteria, and is younger than 16 years old on the relevant census date, ie 15 February for the first semester and 15 August for second semester, and is boarding at a school that is eligible for the payment, and is receiving the away rate of Living Allowance
Entitlement	Per capita rate paid to school for each eligible student
Rates	$1,711.50 each semester
Payment features	Processed and paid on receipt of a claim lodged by school; payment made for each semester; paid to the school.
Taxation status	Non-taxable.
Indexation status	Indexed each year calculated from Living Allowance rates.

7.11.2 Introduction to the Under 16 Boarding Supplement

DIFFERENT TO YA/AUSTUDY PAYMENT

7.11.2.1 Purpose

The purpose of the Under 16 Boarding supplement is to provide financial assistance to boarding schools which cater for a significant proportion of Indigenous students.

7.11.2.2 Qualification

Boarding schools may qualify for the Under 16 Boarding Supplement where at least 10% of the total numbers of students at the school are Indigenous.

School eligibility

Assessment of whether a school qualifies is carried out against three criteria:

the school must demonstrate that the boarding school facilities are integrated with the school's infrastructure;
the school must be included on the annual list of eligible boarding schools. This list is determined by the data provided for the non-government schools census conducted by DETYA in August each year and provided to Centrelink.
the school must be a boarding school where at least 10% of the total school enrolment from the previous year's DETYA census are Indigenous students to be eligible for the current year of study per capita payment.

The school must submit a list of students for whom they are seeking the allowance in the year of study in Centrelink (see Policy Manual 7.11.3.1 for student eligibility). On approval by Centrelink the school may receive a per capita payment for each student who meets the criteria. For some students whose ABSTUDY applications have not been finalised at the ABSTUDY census dates of February and August in the year of study, but who are subsequently assessed as eligible for the away rate of living allowance at these dates, payment may also be made (see Policy Manual 7.11.4.4).

Note: Hostels are not eligible for payment of the Under 16 Boarding Supplement.

7.11.3 Eligibility for the Under 16 Boarding Supplement

7.11.3.1 Eligibility

A student meets the criteria for the Boarding Supplement if s/he:

meets the Schooling B Award criteria; and
is under 16 years old and enrolled and attending school on the relevant census dates (ie. 15 February for Semester 1 and
15 August for Semester 2); and
is boarding at a school where the proportion of Indigenous students is at least 10% of the overall student population; and
is receiving the away rate of Living Allowance (ie. the student must qualify for the away rate and must meet the parental income, assets and family actual means tests).

7.11.3.2 Entitlement

The school may receive a per capita payment for each student who meets the criteria.

7.11.3.3 Definition of Boarding School for Approval of the Boarding Supplement

The ABSTUDY Under 16 Boarding Supplement is available to schools which can demonstrate that the boarding school facilities are integrated with the school’s infrastructure, that is:

the facilities must be owned or leased by the school for the sole purpose of providing boarding facilities, including homework supervision and recreational programs;
the facilities must meet the standards for occupancy set by the local Council or other relevant approval authorities;
the staff and house parents must be employees of the school; and
there must be a full-time staff presence within the facilities to look after, for example, children unable to attend school because of illness.

For a boarding school or college to be approved, it must be able to demonstrate that it meets the eligibility criteria for the boarding supplement. This could be evidenced through documentation about the leasing arrangements for the school property, employment conditions for the staff and contractual agreements for house parents.

7.11.4 Payment of Under 16 Boarding Supplement

7.11.4.1 Number of Payments Per Term

The Under 16 Boarding Supplement can be made on behalf of a student only once for a semester. There are no pro rata payments of Boarding Supplement.

7.11.4.2 Student Changes School During Term/Semester

If a student changes school during a semester, the payment of Boarding Supplement is made to the school where the student was boarding on the census date.

7.11.4.3 Student Discontinued During Term/Semester

If a student leaves the school during that semester, no overpayment is raised.

7.11.4.4 Delayed Assessment

Where a student who is enrolled and attending a boarding school on the census date has not been assessed as eligible for ABSTUDY entitlements at the time of payment of the Boarding Supplement assessment and payment may be made following confirmation of the student’s eligibility. This will generally be included in the following semester’s payment rather than payment being made on an ad hoc basis.

7.11.4.5 Overpayment of Under 16 Boarding Supplement

Overpayments will occur only where payment for a student is made and the student is subsequently found ineligible for Living Allowance.

7.11.4.6 Responsibility for Overpayment

Refer to Policy Manual 7.1.2 to identify the responsible payee where an overpayment of this allowance has been made.

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