2.8.3.30 ACCS (temporary financial hardship) - evidence

Summary

This section sets out the evidentiary requirements for ACCS (temporary financial hardship) and covers:

evidentiary requirements overview
types of evidence required.

Evidentiary requirements overview

Individuals (1.1.I.90) will need to provide evidence that shows:

they have experienced a temporary financial hardship circumstance
the circumstance/s occurred no more than 6 months before the application is made, and
they have experienced a substantial reduction in their ability to pay child care fees, as a result of the temporary financial hardship circumstance.

Types of evidence required

Families who are adversely affected by a major disaster can claim the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP) and Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA).

For individuals who have already been assessed as meeting the AGDRP and DRA criteria, no further evidence of financial hardship is required when claiming ACCS (temporary financial hardship) for that circumstance type.

Individuals who have not been assessed as meeting the AGDRP and DRA criteria, must provide other appropriate forms of evidence of their temporary financial hardship circumstance.

Examples of evidence for each type of circumstance include:

Type of circumstance	Examples of evidence
The unexpected death of a partner or child	death certificate (which may already be available to Centrelink) court documentation signed statement from social worker, counsellor, doctor or other party letter from a hospital or general practitioner or a funeral notice receipts relating to medical or funeral expense statutory declaration
Loss of employment	Employment Separation Certificate letter from employer letter from accountant statutory declaration
Loss of income or failure of a business	legal documents indicating business failure bank statements reports from accountants and financial advisers (where there has been an existing relationship) or similar evidence of loss of income statutory declaration
Loss of income due to the death of someone who paid you child support	verification of death, for example a funeral notice or death notice evidence of the child support arrangements evidence of child support payments, for example, a bank statement showing regular payments from the deceased child support payer letter from an accountant
Adversely effected by a major disaster	fire brigade report police report insurance report statutory declaration eligibility for a state or territory government hardship assistance following a disaster
Destruction or severe damage to your home, necessitating relocation of the family	fire report police report insurance report statutory declaration
Victim of domestic violence	police/incident report medical certificate court documentation signed statement from social worker, counsellor, doctor or other party statutory declaration
Other evidence to support the link between the above circumstance and financial hardship	statutory declaration any other evidence the individual has to explain their circumstances information that links the circumstance to the financial hardship (payment of rental bond, bank statements reflecting reduction of income, essential expenditure and reduction in savings, report from financial counselling service, or debt repayment agreements)