Hall and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an appeal by an applicant against a decision of the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding the start date for carer allowance payments. The applicant had created an online claim for carer allowance on 24 October 2017, which was never submitted, and uploaded a blank medical report on the same day. This initial online claim expired on 24 January 2018. A subsequent online claim was created and submitted on 29 January 2018, with a medical report uploaded on 14 February 2018. The Department granted carer allowance from 29 January 2018. The applicant contended that she had contacted the Department on 24 October 2017 regarding a claim for carer allowance, and that this contact should be considered the date of her claim.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant had made a valid claim for carer allowance on 24 October 2017, or if the circumstances of her contact with the Department on that date could deem a claim to have been made. Specifically, the Tribunal considered the provisions of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* (Cth) relating to the making of claims and the deemed claim provisions. The core legal issue was whether the applicant met the criteria for a deemed claim under section 13 of the Act, which requires the Department to provide written notice acknowledging contact and the claimant to lodge a written claim within a specified period.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant's initial online claim was never submitted, and therefore did not constitute a lodged written claim under section 16 of the Act. While the applicant had contacted the Department on 24 October 2017, the deemed claim provisions under section 13 were not satisfied because the Department had not provided written acknowledgement of this contact, nor had the applicant lodged a written claim within the prescribed 14-day or extended 13-week period. Consequently, the Tribunal found that the applicant had not made a claim for carer allowance before 23 January 2018.

The decision under review was affirmed.