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Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

Assistance for Isolated Children

Summarised from Centrelink's Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book and Centrelink's website.

Summary of Centrelink's Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book

General information

Families of primary, secondary and under 16 year old tertiary students who do not have reasonable daily access to an appropriate government school primarily because of geographic isolation can receive assistance under the AIC scheme.

AIC provides four types of allowances

  1. Distance Education Allowance (primary and secondary rates)
  2. Second Home Allowance
  3. Boarding Allowance (basic and additional)
  4. AIC Pensioner Education Supplement (for eligible pensioner students).

The AIC Scheme does not provide assistance for students who live at home and travel to school daily, or for travel costs between the family home and a boarding institution.

AIC cannot be paid for a student at the same time as benefits from another Commonwealth education or training assistance scheme, such as Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY.

Education assistance from other sources, such as state or territory governments, does not affect AIC eligibility.

No AIC allowances are taxable.

Who is eligible for AIC?

AIC is paid to a student's parent or guardian. The student must be under 19 years of age at 1 January the year in question. Benefits may be paid for an extra year in circumstances where it can be demonstrated that the student's educational progress has been seriously disrupted, for example because of illness or language difficulties.

AIC is available for tertiary students (including TAFE students) under 16. Students 16 and over may apply for Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY.

A student who is receiving a Disability Support Pension or Parenting Payment (single) and studying at primary level, may be eligible for the AIC Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) up to age 21.

Approved studies - The student must undertake a full-time workload in an approved course in Australia offered by an approved institution, either

AIC cannot be paid for a student who is in a custodial institution (such as prison, detention, remand or training centre) or State authorised care which is financed wholly or substantially by the State or Territory government.

Geographic isolation - Geographic isolation is normally determined in terms of the distance or travel circumstances between the principal family home and the nearest appropriate school. In addition, there are a few specific circumstances where a student may be deemed isolated. (For details refer to the Centrelink Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book, page 8.)

The 'nearest appropriate government school' is normally the nearest government school offering tuition at the grade or year in which the student is qualified to enrol. Exceptions are

  1. Where the student requires a special school program or special facilities due to a health related condition or special educational needs, the 'nearest appropriate government school' is the nearest government school providing the required program or facilities.

  2. Where the application is for an under 16 year old tertiary student, the 'nearest appropriate government school' is the nearest government school offering the appropriate grade of secondary tuition for the student had he or she continued to study at a secondary school.

  3. Where there is more than one appropriate government school within 56 kilometres of the principal family home, the 'nearest appropriate government school' is the one with a transport service pick-up point nearest to the principal family home.

A student may be regarded as geographically isolated from schooling if

Relatively strict rules apply as to the evidence required. Refer to Centrelink's Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book, page 6, for details.

In addition, the principal family home must be geographically isolated from the school the student actually attends unless the student is living in a special institution.

AIC benefits are not available for reasons such as

Under certain circumstances a student may be eligible for AIC without meeting the distance or travel circumstances rules outlined. This might be the case where

Refer to Centrelink's Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book, page 8, for further details.

AIC allowances

AIC provides four types of allowances.

Only Additional Boarding Allowance is subject to a parental income test. All other types of AIC allowances are free of income and assets tests.

Distance Education Allowance - The Distance Education Allowance is for isolated families whose student children are living at home and studying by State or Territory approved distance education methods (eg School of the Air). In 1999 the primary rate (less than 13 years old) is $1,000 a year and the secondary rate (greater than 13 years old) is $1,500 a year.

Second Home Allowance - The Second Home Allowance is for isolated families who maintain a second home so that their student children can attend school daily. The rate for 1999 is $2,500 a year for each eligible student (up to a maximum of three) living in the second home and attending school. Conditions apply

Boarding Allowance - The Boarding Allowance is for students who board away from home in order to attend school daily. The student must board at a boarding institution (such as school or hostel) or privately. The Boarding Allowance consists of two components

  1. Basic Boarding Allowance, which is not means tested.
  2. Additional Boarding Allowance, which is subject to parental income and the student's actual boarding costs.

The 1999 maximum rates (Basic + Additional) are $167.88 per fortnight ($4,377 per year).

The Basic Boarding Allowance is $3,500 a year.

Basic Boarding Allowance is payable regardless of parental income and student's boarding costs. Entitlement to Additional Boarding Allowance is, however, subject to both parental income and the student's boarding costs. In 1999 the maximum Boarding Allowance (Basic + Additional) is payable if the adjusted parental income is no higher than $23,550. The maximum allowance payable for a student drops by $1 for each $4 by which the adjusted parental income exceeds $23,550. Once the adjusted parental income exceeds $27,057, only the Basic Boarding Allowance is payable.

For details about calculating the adjusted parental income see Centrelink's Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book, page 13.

In rare cases students may qualify for Additional Boarding Allowance without income testing. For details see Centrelink's Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book, page 12.

Applying for AIC

Claim forms are available from any Centrelink office and can be lodged at any Centrelink office. Claim forms should be lodged by 31 March the year in question. According to Centrelink claims normally take three weeks to process.

Sources of information

Internet

The information available on the Internet through Centrelink's homepage is fairly comprehensive and easy to understand. However, the rules are complicated and the information on the Internet is insufficient in order to determine whether one is eligible for AIC. The Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book is also available on the Internet.

Assistance for Isolated Children 1999 Information Book

The 17 page Information Book offers more detailed information than the homepage. In most cases the Information Book will provide sufficient information to determine whether one is eligible for any of the AIC allowances. Customers are advised to contact Centrelink for full details of any entitlements and services for which one may be eligible. It is difficult and time consuming to reach Centrelink on the phone as one has to wait for a very long time.

Claim Form

The Claim Form is comprehensive and is supplemented by The Notes to the Claim Form. This is a document explaining how to fill in the Claim Form correctly. In some cases the documents the applicant has to provide are numerous, and this might cause some difficulty to some applicants. However, all required documents seem relevant and reasonable to require.

Submissions and evidence received

The NSW Branch of the Isolated Children's Parents' Association submitted:

"The Federal Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) is payable for these students, who are geographically isolated and need to board away from home, to access school on a daily basis. Primary students in NSW are no eligible for the NSW Living Away from Home Allowance although they may be in receipt of the Federal AIC.

"Parents do not willingly choose to send their children away, especially at Primary age but there is no consideration given, in NSW, for the problems that may be faced by the parents who cannot cope with Distance Education. They cannot access the NSW Living Away from Home Allowance, even if they meet the adjusted family income requirement.

"For some families this means they are placed in a very difficult financial position trying to access an appropriate education for their children.

"The guidelines set down in 'Assistance for Isolated Children Information Booklet' for approving Serious Educational Disadvantage are very prescriptive.

"ICPA supports the eligibility of students, with significant disabilities or learning difficulties, to receive the AIC Allowance if they cannot receive an appropriate education and support at their local school. It seems ironical, however, that students of outstanding ability whose reasonable expectations cannot be met locally do not receive recognition by the NSW Education and Training Department of their need to bypass."

The submission from the Isolated Children's Parents' Association (Aust) states, among other things,

"The AIC was originally set at 55% of the average boarding fee in 1973 and has only been at that level once since 1991. At present it is slightly below the 55% and with anticipated increases of at least 5% in boarding fees next year, unless there is a corresponding increase in the AIC, this allowance will erode once again and many isolated rural and remote families will have difficulty in coping with the added financial costs of getting their children to the school gate." (Isolated Children's Parents' Association, National)

Submission #18 from South Australia explains how the income support schemes AIC and Austudy prevent regional and rural students from attending tertiary education. The main problems are that AIC is not available for tertiary students and that Austudy (now Youth Allowance) is income and means tested.

"We do not want handouts. Justice and equality in access to education will only be reached when all students who must live away from home for the purpose of education are given the difference in cost, between living at home - and away.. In effect, the current policy says that the Government considers our rural children should be limited to careers and futures for which only a secondary school education is required."

Submission #21 from Queensland explains how the families in Quilpie are disadvantaged by the rules of the Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme. In her opinion the distance rules are out of touch with reality. Quilpie is situated 200kms from the nearest town to the east and 1,000kms west of the capital. The town population is 700 and there is a similar number in the surrounding rural area.

"Because of our geographical isolation, people have sent their children to boarding schools or hostels in order to obtain a Secondary Education, one that puts them on par with their city cousins. Financial assistance from both the state and federal governments lightened the burden considerably. However for the past 4 yrs, this situation has changed. Five years ago, the State Government Education Department decided, with information that was misleading and facts that were misinterpreted, to upgrade the local school to a P - 10 (which is a small secondary department attached to the Primary School), thereby disrupting a system that was working well and one that satisfied everyone's educational needs. This spelt the end of any form of financial assistance to those people living within a 16km radius of the school. Prior to having this system established, there was a Correspondence System for Secondary Students through the School of Distance Education in Brisbane ..."

"The enrolments never reached the predictions, in fact within 6 mths of the status change, families were beginning to see that, what was promised, was not delivered, and started to look elsewhere, only then finding that they had eliminated their choice that existed before ..." "Many of the families have since left town, others have split, with the father staying here to work, and others have tightened their belts and still sent their kids away despite the expense, all in search of a more equitable education for their isolated children ."

"The criteria for the I.C.P.A-instigated A.I.C. (Federal) and L.A.F.H.A.S. (state) allowances is such that it was set out many years ago (some 27 yrs. ago) when cars and roads were nowhere near the standards that they are now. The criteria states that if you live more than 16kms. from a school or 4.5kms from a bus stop, you are eligible for these allowances. With 4 wheel drives and bitumen roads, 16kms can be covered in a very short space of time ..." "Some people who live within an hour's drive of the capital or a large provincial city find themselves eligible for these allowances which are called Assistance for Isolated Children - what a joke! Our children surely come into this category, but are ineligible because they live in a town with High Top (small Secondary dept. attached to a Primary School). Whilst I do not wish to jeopardise any child's education, I do believe that our children are being discriminated against - they too are isolated!"

Public meeting in Boulia Qld, 4 October 1999:

"A lot of parents pull their children out of school after Year 10 because they can no longer afford to educate their children, even with the Government assistance that is currently available. This is especially the case with families on properties who need the children at home to help run the property."

Dr Evan Arthur, DETYA, Canberra hearing, 26 October 1999:

"The claims are processed by Centrelink. The Centrelink system records the results of the claim but not the reasons, so that in 98 there were 12,979 AIC claims and 592 (4.6%) were not approved."

"There is certainly the issue of the definition of "appropriate" in the AIC guidelines. It's a subject of continual close examination in the Commonwealth. As an issue which is continually brought to our attention, so it receives ongoing scrutiny. The application of the definition is of course by state government departments. The ... applications are processed by Centrelink offices, not by DETYA. For that particular element to be satisfied, there has to be a determination by the state government department that the nearest school is not appropriate.

"The reason for that is perfectly straightforward. It would be ... inappropriate for a Commonwealth government department to make a decision as to whether or not a particular school run by another government was or was not appropriate ... State governments have responsibility for education and, with that responsibility, have an obligation, the primary obligation, to deliver our international human rights obligations concerning education and children.

...

"Specifically on the definition of "appropriate", the policy guideline is based on the assumption that it is appropriate to step in and pay that form of income support where there is no appropriate education in the sense of fulfilling the basic requirements of education. It is not the intention of the payment to ensure that the education provided is the full education which an individual might desire. It is designed to be responding to certain requirements for an appropriate education in the sense of an education which takes a person through to the completion of secondary school and the acquisition of an appropriate qualification at the end of secondary school. Therefore, the position that's explicit in the guidelines and is based on the underlying policy decision of governments is that where there are particular subjects that a student may wish to take, . that is not considered to be something which would justify the payment of a Commonwealth income support payment.

"The guidelines contain an overall definition of "appropriate" which essentially goes to that there must be a full range of subjects which allow the acquisition of a secondary certificate ... [The Guidelines are] not intended, as I say, to deal with circumstances where students wish to take a particular type of subject which may or may not be available. It's not that it's not appropriate for them to do so, but that in that circumstance it's not appropriate to take the further step of providing a Commonwealth income support payment.

"... they need to be able to complete an appropriate secondary curriculum. It is not for the Commonwealth government to determine what an appropriate secondary curriculum is. Curriculum matters are definitely a state and territory government responsibility in that sense, for the individual students. The Commonwealth may have some views in a more general policy sense."

Megan McNicholl, Isolated Children's Parents' Association, Canberra hearing, 26 October 1999:

"When the Assistance for Isolated Children was originally brought in, in 1973, it was set at 55% of the average boarding fee because ICPA acknowledges it costs money to keep your children at home, so we have never asked for 100% of the average boarding fee.

"Only twice has it come to 55% of that or close to 55% of that average boarding fee. The last time was with this increase up to 3 and a half thousand which was promised - which was a pre-election promise and was brought in in the last budget. ICPA believes that the Assistance for Isolated Children must be linked to the average boarding fee, not to inflation or the CPI, because at the moment that's negative.

"Boarding fees certainly don't go down. They only go up ...

"The boarding allowance in 2000 has been increased along with - we presume it's the CPI increase because the basic boarding allowance is $3539. If it was 55% it would be $4192, so there's already a shortfall there, without taking into consideration how the boarding fees will increase by 5% and the effect of the FBT and GST. There is a maximum allowance which is means-tested and that's an additional $886, but it still doesn't come anywhere near the cost of boarding.

"[T]he GST is certainly going to impact on the boarding costs, and possibly the tuition costs in schools, and we really still don't know the implications of that; no-one does. The fringe benefits tax certainly has an impact on the residential side of whether it's a hostel or a boarding school. It has the potential to impact on the quality of the staff that schools can employ in those positions. The fringe benefits tax is going to be a deterrent for those I think who want to be residential staff and be good residential staff, because they're going to incur that tax once they identify themselves as being residential staff.

"On behalf of ICPA I think that any sort of taxing on what is basically a supportive pastoral care role for students who are no longer living with their families is something that I guess we find difficult to understand and would strongly believe that there should be no fringe benefits tax at all applied for residential care. It is providing a - it's a surrogate parenting role. So you're taxing effectively surrogate parents."

Your experiences?

What is your experience with the Assistance for Isolated Children scheme?

  1. If you have ever applied for Assistance for Isolated Children, please tell us about your experience.
  2. Were you successful?
  3. If not, what was the reason?
  4. Do you think the distance rules within the Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme are appropriate and fair?
  5. Do you think the rates of allowance are adequate?
  6. What are the actual costs of supporting an isolated child in education?

Please e-mail bushtalks@hreoc.gov.au

Or post your comments to:

Rural and Remote Education Inquiry
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 1042

Last updated 2 December 2001.