When to consider Emergency Maintenance Allowance for split care

You can pay an Emergency Maintenance Allowance where a sole parent:

• is not entitled to any other benefit
• is unable to earn sufficient income for themselves and their family and
• their childcare responsibilities prevent them from earning sufficient income

If the sole parent does not qualify for any other benefit and is unable to earn sufficient income to support themselves because of their current childcare commitments, you can pay an Emergency Maintenance Allowance.

If you identify an existing sole parent client in a split care situation, or an existing client requests a transfer to the Emergency Maintenance Allowance, you should review their benefit in accordance with the above guidelines.

When a transfer to the Emergency Maintenance Allowance is appropriate, you should review the benefit and all supplementary assistance and transfer them from either:

• the first available date - if there is no financial advantage to the client to transfer from an earlier date and the client is in agreement, review their benefit and transfer them to the Emergency Maintenance Allowance from the first available date
• 12 December 2000 - was the date of an earlier Social Security Appeal Authority decision on this policy issue. This date of review should be used where a client has earnings/other income. They will then receive an increased rate of payment due to the different income tests, and have entitlement to the Emergency Maintenance Allowance from 12 December 2000.

You can review any particular case from an earlier date if you are satisfied that this is more appropriate.

For more information see:

• Court ordered split care arrangements
• No court ordered split care arrangement
• Determining whether a care arrangement is sanctioned by the Family Court
• Privacy Act implications
• Assistance for the parent not qualified for Sole Parent Support