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

This matter concerned an appeal by an applicant regarding the payment of youth allowance and entitlement to newstart allowance. The applicant sought to have a decision of 7 August 2016, which resulted in the payment of youth allowance, reviewed. The core dispute revolved around whether the applicant was correctly paid youth allowance and whether he was entitled to arrears of newstart allowance. The decision was made by Emeritus Professor P A Fairall, Senior Member.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the decision to pay the applicant youth allowance from 2 August 2016 was correct, and consequently, whether the applicant was entitled to newstart allowance for the period from 2 August 2016 until 18 January 2018. A further issue was the application of sections 107 and 109 of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* (Cth) concerning the date of effect of a favourable determination and the payment of arrears.

The Tribunal found that the decision to pay the applicant youth allowance from 2 August 2016 was correct, as he satisfied the general qualification requirements for youth allowance, including the activity test for full-time study. The Tribunal reasoned that the payment of youth allowance had the legal effect of cancelling any entitlement to newstart allowance under section 593(1)(i) of the *Social Security Act 1991* (Cth), as newstart allowance is not payable to a person enrolled in a full-time course. Furthermore, the Tribunal noted that there was no evidence the applicant satisfied the separate activity requirements for newstart allowance during the relevant period. The Tribunal determined that section 109 of the *Administration Act*, which deals with the date of effect of favourable determinations when notice of the original decision was not given, was the more appropriate provision to consider regarding arrears, rather than section 107 which applies to rejected claims.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision that no arrears of newstart allowance were payable. The Tribunal found that the applicant was correctly paid youth allowance and that this entitlement extinguished his eligibility for newstart allowance. The Tribunal also found that the date of effect for any favourable determination regarding newstart allowance would be the date of the original decision, and as the applicant was already in receipt of youth allowance, arrears were not payable.