Objections, complaints and reviews – your rights following Child Support Agency decisions

If you do not agree with a decision made by the Child Support Agency (CSA), you may have the right to have the decision reconsidered. This fact sheet provides information on:

Objecting to CSA decisions

What should you do first?

Most CSA decisions are advised to customers in writing. First, you should read any letter and attachments carefully. If you think a decision is unclear or contains inaccurate information, contact a CSA Customer Service Officer on 131 272* to discuss your concerns. The Customer Service Officer can also provide information about the objections process and your rights if you disagree with the objection decision.

What is an objection?

An objection is a request to the CSA to formally review a decision. You may wish to object if you believe the CSA has:

Decisions to which you can object

You can object to most CSA decisions. For example, you can object to the CSA’s decision:

For a full list of CSA decisions you can object to, visit the website www.csa.gov.au (search for ‘objections’), or call 131 272*.

Decisions to which you cannot object

There are a number of CSA decisions that you cannot object to. The main ones are:

How to object to CSA decisions

To object to a CSA decision (other than care percentage decisions) you must send a letter or email explaining why you object and asking the CSA to review the decision. If you want to object to a care decision, please see “How to object to care percentage decisions” below.

You can check the full list of decisions you can object to at www.csa.gov.au, or to discuss your options by calling 131 272*.

Your objection should include the following information:

To email your objection to the CSA, go to the CSA website, www.csa.gov.au, select ‘Contact’ then ‘Enquire online’ and complete the online form, including your case number and daytime telephone number. A Customer Service Officer will contact you within 28 days to discuss your objection.

You can also post your objection to the CSA at GPO Box 9815, in your capital city, or check your decision letter or the CSA website for our postal address.

IMPORTANT:
The CSA is required by law to pass on all information relevant to the objection to the other parent. This means—apart from your address and phone number—your objection letter or email and any evidence you supply (that is relevant to your objection) will be sent to the other parent.

How to object to care percentage decisions made by the CSA or the Family Assistance Office (FAO)

The CSA and FAO now use the same rules to work out the percentage of care you provide. This means that one care decision will be used for both family assistance and child support.

If the CSA made the original care percentage decision and you disagree with it, you can lodge your objection over the telephone or in writing.

When calling the CSA, please have the letter containing the decision you are objecting to as you will need to provide the CSA with:

If the FAO made the original care percentage decision and you disagree with it, please call the FAO on 136 150*. The FAO will have all the necessary background information used to make the original decision. If you are not a FAO customer, you can contact the CSA in the first instance.

Timeframe

For CSA decisions (excluding care percentage decisions), you have 28 days to object from the date the CSA’s letter advising you of the decision was delivered to your address. If you live overseas in a reciprocating jurisdiction, you have 90 days to object. Applications received outside these timeframes are not valid and cannot be considered. If you want to object after this period, you must also make a request for an extension of time, explaining why you were unable to object within the timeframe and provide supporting documentation if appropriate. You can make the request for an extension of time in writing, or by calling the CSA on 131 272*.

If the CSA refuses your request for an extension of time to object, you can apply to the SSAT for a review of the extension of time decision.

If you are objecting to a care percentage decision, you can lodge your objection at any time. However, if you do not lodge your objection within 28 days (or within 90 days if you live overseas in a reciprocating jurisdiction) the CSA will only be able to give effect to any changes to the decision from the date you lodged your objection. If there are special circumstances that prevented you from lodging your objection within the timeframes mentioned above and you would like the decision to take effect from an earlier date, you must contact the CSA as soon as possible to discuss your circumstances.

After you object to a CSA decision

A dedicated Objections Officer will handle your objection. This Officer will:

While your objection is being considered, the original decision will still apply. During this time, you may be contacted by the CSA for more information or clarification and the other parent may be provided with a copy of your objection and supporting information. You can also contact the Objections Officer handling your objection for information about the process and an update on your objection.

Open exchange of Information

During the objection process, relevant information provided to the CSA by a customer must be exchanged with the other party, either by providing them with a copy of the information or discussing it with them over the phone.

This open exchange of information is necessary to ensure a fair and reasonable decision making process. It gives any person who may be affected by the information an opportunity to respond before it is used by the CSA.

If you have any questions about open exchange of information please contact the CSA.

The other parent’s response

The CSA will contact the other parent to discuss the objection and may send them a copy of your objection letter and any additional evidence you have supplied that is relevant to the decision. If you lodged your objection over the phone, the CSA will phone the other parent to discuss your objection. The other parent has 28 days to respond (90 days if they live overseas in a reciprocating jurisdiction) and provide their own documents and evidence. If they do not respond within these timeframes, their response may not be considered. The parent responding to the objection may provide their own information and documents to CSA and copies of these documents may be provided to you.

An Objections Officer will discuss the response and evidence with you, if it is relevant to the decision.

Objection decision

The CSA will make a decision about your objection within 60 days. If one parent resides overseas, this may take up to 120 days. In most cases, an Objections Officer will attempt to call both parents and advise them of the proposed objection decision.

Once the decision is made, you will be advised in writing as to whether the objection is allowed, partly allowed or disallowed. The CSA will amend your child support records and/or assessment if necessary and confirm this in writing.

If you don’t agree with the objection decision

You may be able to appeal to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) for a review.

Seeking further review of a CSA decision



Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT)

The SSAT is an independent tribunal that can review most objection decisions made by the CSA. Because the SSAT is an independent body, the CSA can only be involved in the SSAT process by providing documents relevant to the objection decision being reviewed, or attending hearings if required. The CSA cannot help you prepare your SSAT appeal.

The SSAT can affirm, vary or set the CSA decision aside and substitute a new decision, or send the matter back to the CSA for reconsideration in accordance with any directions or recommendations of the SSAT.

How does the SSAT work?

IMPORTANT:
If you or the other parent appeals to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT), the CSA is required to provide all the information that is relevant to the decision to the SSAT for review. The CSA is also required to provide this information to both parents. This could include information you provided to the CSA before an objection was lodged.

Decisions that the SSAT cannot review

The SSAT cannot review an objection decision about a Change of Assessment where the CSA has decided that the issues raised by the application are too complex and should be referred to the courts. In these cases, parents must apply to a court to change the assessment.

The SSAT cannot review decisions made before 1 January 2007. These decisions can be reviewed subject to an application to the courts.

How to apply to the SSAT

IMPORTANT:
Before applying to the SSAT, one parent must have already objected to a CSA decision (or FAO if related to a care percentage decision) and received a decision on that objection.


Timeframe

You must apply to the SSAT for a review within 28 days of receiving the CSA’s objection decision. If you live overseas in a reciprocating jurisdiction, you have 90 days to apply.

If you do not apply within the timeframe, you may write to the SSAT requesting an extension of time. You cannot apply for this extension over the phone. If the SSAT refuses to grant an extension of time, you may lodge an appeal with the AAT to review the decision not to grant extra time.

Further appeal

If you do not agree with the SSAT decision, you can usually appeal to a court but only on a question of law. A question of law is how the law or legal principle was applied to the facts of the case or whether the process was legally correct. In other words, you cannot apply to a court if you simply disagree with the decision. You may wish to seek further legal advice about questions of law if you are considering appealing a SSAT decision.

If you are dissatisfied with a SSAT decision in relation to the percentage of care for a child, you may apply to the AAT for a review of the decision.

More information

To get an SSAT appeal form or for more information call 1800 011 140, visit www.ssat.gov.au, or write to GPO Box 9943, in your capital city.

Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and the courts

You can apply to have some decisions reviewed by the AAT. The AAT reviews a broad range of administrative decisions made by Government agencies. The AAT can only review a limited number of decisions about child support.

For more information about the AAT process, the decisions they can review and how to apply, call 1300 366 700 or visit www.aat.gov.au

You can also take a matter to court in certain circumstances. Before applying to a court, you should obtain legal advice. For more information, visit the Family Law Courts website www.familylawcourts.gov.au.

Using CSA’s complaints process

If you are not satisfied with the service the CSA has provided you can make a complaint. Your experience can help the CSA improve the service it provides to customers.

Please note that asking the CSA to review a child support decision that you think is wrong—i.e. objecting—is different from making a complaint about the service you have received.

If you would like to make a complaint you should follow these steps:

Step One: Contact CSA on 131 272* to speak to a Customer Service Officer. They will try to solve the problem or let you know if you can object to a CSA decision.
Step Two: If you are still not satisfied, you may ask to speak to the Customer Service Officer’s Team Leader.
Step Three: If you are still not satisfied, call the CSA’s Complaints Service on 132 919* and speak to a Complaints Resolution Officer who will take a fresh look at your case and your complaint.

Commonwealth Ombudsman

If you have been unable to resolve a complaint with the CSA you may wish to contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s role is to consider and investigate complaints from people who believe they have been treated unfairly or unreasonably by an Australian Government department or agency.

Call 1300 362 072 or visit www.ombudsman.gov.au

What about customer privacy?

The information requested by the CSA is needed for child support purposes and is required by child support law. We don’t pass your personal information on to the other parent, unless this is required by law or necessary to make a decision that would affect the other parent.

Some information may be passed to Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office, the Family Assistance Office or the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. The CSA may provide your contact details to people contracted by us to deliver services to separated parents, or to carry out research to help improve our services. You are not obliged to participate in any programs or research.

If you are a mutual customer of the CSA and FAO, we may disclose details of determinations about the percentage of care provided to a child to the FAO. This will enable the FAO to apply the same care percentage when assessing Family Tax Benefit amounts in relation to that child.

Our guidelines on privacy are in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988. For more information about how we treat your personal information, see the Guide on the CSA’s website at www.csa.gov.au. For more information about the Privacy Act and privacy generally, see the Privacy Commissioner’s website at www.privacy.gov.au.

Useful contacts



Child Support Agency Phone 131 272* www.csa.gov.au
CSA Complaints Service Phone 132 919*  
Social Security Appeals Tribunal Phone 1800 011 140 www.ssat.gov.au
Administrative Appeals Tribunal Phone 1300 366 700 www.aat.gov.au
Legal Aid   www.nla.aust.net.au
Family Relationship Advice Line Phone 1800 050 321 www.familyrelationships.gov.au
Family Law Courts Phone 1300 352 000 www.familylawcourts.gov.au
National Association of Community Legal Centres   www.naclc.org.au
Commonwealth Ombudsman Phone 1300 362 072 www.ombudsman.gov.au
Office of the Privacy Commissioner Phone 1300 363 992 www.privacy.gov.au

*Call charges may apply

CSA 1313.09.09

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