How we protect customer information
We collect information about our customers, including data reported through STP, to deliver payments and services.
We follow tax, social security and privacy laws to keep customers’ information safe and secure. For example, we don’t get all the data reported about our customers through STP. We only get the data we need, under the law, to deliver our services.
Find out how we collect and manage information in our Privacy Policy. Our data matching protocols have technical details about the information we collect through STP.
What customers need to do
Our customers are responsible for providing us full and accurate information about their situation.
Reporting
We may pre-fill all or some employment details we already have for customers in their reporting task. This saves customers entering all their details themselves.
We get this information from the STP reports employers send to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) when they pay their employees. We get this as a year-to-date figure for each pay period reported, which is broken down into pay components. For each STP report, we calculate the amount paid for the pay period by comparing the latest year-to-date figure with the previous year-to-date figure. The STP reports made by employers to the ATO may be weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
It’s important for customers to check the pre-filled STP information against their payslip and change it if needed. This includes adding pay details that are missing. Customers can change it using the edit or add pay button, before they submit and continue with their report.
We only have access to STP data relevant to administering the social security system. Customers may need to provide extra information about their employment that is not available in STP data. If the customer has a partner, their partner’s STP data doesn’t pre-fill in the customer’s report.
The customer can do the following in the next step of the report:
- add any other employment income they or their partner got that hasn’t pre-filled yet
- add hours worked if needed
- answer the questions that display in the report.
To finalise a report, the customer must agree to the list of conditions and submit the update. Customers will get a receipt page when they successfully complete a report.
Claiming a payment
When a customer claims an income support payment, we may pre-fill details for current or previous employers for them to check.
This can include asking if they’re working for an employer or details from when they last worked for a previous employer. This may include the date they stopped working, the reason and any unused leave or redundancy payments that they got paid.
Customers may still need to ask their former employer to complete an Employment Separation Certificate if we need more information.
If they need to do this, we’ll tell them when they’re completing their online claim.
Customers who need help with STP can find out about when we pre-fill their information.