[ADVICE] how long does it take for FTB and BB payments to come in?

I'm asking because DS2 is 9 weeks old, all the forms were sent off straight away, and we still haven't received anything ...

Will the FTB be back paid? And when will we start receiving the baby bonus payments?

We got a letter a while ago, saying that we'd be hearing back within 21 days, but that ended a little while ago, and there's still nothing online or in our letter box ... or our bank account ...

We've tried calling up, but the phone system warns that the wait is 90 minutes :o I'm guessing there are lots of people with lots of questions following the budget announcements ...

DH is considering trundling down to the office itself to ask, but I'm wondering whether he'll end up being there for just as long ...

Any ideas?

Thanks ...

A long time! I was advised 50-60 days when I called two weeks ago. We are still waiting, my DD2 is 4 months today although we didn't lodge till a few weeks after she was born, it has been well over 60 days now.

FTB is backpaid. BB starts from when it is processed and goes for 6 months from that point.

I wouldn't go into your local branch because they will just direct you to a phone.

i think DS was about 10 weeks when ours finally came through, try calling at a different time of day. they should be able to tell you that they have all the forms at least.

Thanks girls :)

we just got ours in 3 weeks. not sure why it was so fast when everyone else seems to be waiting ages.

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worth calling, going in hun, mine hadnt been processed properly

For some reasoning got mine processed in less than 4 weeks - rang earlier this week as I needed to clarify something for them after receiving a letter. Received payment this week - go figure as I was expecting it to take much longer given everyone's warning

ETA when I took my form in to the FAO at my local c'link the lady who served me said a lot of people forgot to put their CRN on the form which makes things take longer

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We put the forms in on Friday and it's getting paid tomorrow, so less than a week. We got a phone call off centrelink on Monday to check your income the next 6 months and he was approving it that day. It was heaps quicker than I thought it would be. I was expecting to wait for months.

we're still waiting :(

and the last 4 times we've called up, there's been an estimated 90 minute wait!!

DH will try again tomorrow ...

It makes no sense! We are still waiting too...

Call at 8am. If you call after 9, its usually too busy to get through.

IF you feel like a drive the seymour office is not busy, and were very helpful when i went in.

PN mine took 3 months this time ...(better than the 5 it took for DS)

there are an abnormally high number of arrears claims at the moment - so taking about 5 weeks on average. if there is any additional information required, it can take longer. there are staff that are temporarily helping process baby bonus and ftb claims, but they're not touching PPL due to the higher level of training needed for those claims. there are also baby bonus claims that are more complex and outside of the scope of those staff so are given back to processing teams to look at

there is no point calling at 8am for processing assistance. the processing centres open later than the call centres so they can't get you through to processing staff at that stage. staff in the local offices can't help either - all they can do is put through a request for the application to be looked at - and there are hundreds of those requests daily, it really doesnt speed up the process.... if you can call up the call centre, they can look at the notes on your file to see if anything is missing. if they look and everything is there (they can check if the paperwork is received and make sure it's all completed properly, see any requests for further info etc) - they will be able to put you across to processing staff to discuss getting it processed asap. this only happens after it's been on file for over five weeks though (which appears to be the case for PN and jellyfish).

thanks, BG!

I'll pass that on to DH ... I think he's on the phone at the mo - I tried to call and got the engaged signal ;)

Kim - yep, we're coming up to 3 months ... and if that's how long it takes, so be it - we all only have 2 hands and 24 hours, etc, I just want to make sure that everything is there, and we'll get it back paid ... credit cards are due soon!

ftb will definitely be backpaid
bb won't - it will start, and will be paid for 13 installments after the start date

DH got through - 65 minutes all up! But he got answers ...

They have said that all the info etc has been provided no worries, it's just that they have literally thousands of applications backlogged, and unless it's over 50 days of you're about to starve to death you basically just have to suck it up and wait.

And that's not a big issue - again, two hands, 24 hours ... there are human limitations, and we get that they're busy, but trying.

They also said that the 50 days and all back payments are only counted from when you did the online part of the process - not when you actually submitted your forms!! WTF? 'Cause that makes a difference of five weeks for us - that's a fair slab of FTB, to be honest ...

Is that correct?

no, that's not correct with FTB at all! FTB will be backpaid to date of birth (or july 1 if child born in previous financial year) for ANY claim. a newborn, dependent on how long before the end of fin year they are born, can be backpaid the installments to DOB, but it may be withheld until taxes are done if there has been a gap between birth and claiming kwim?
PPL won't be backpaid prior to the info being received in most circumstances
baby bonus doesn't get backpaid at all - it's paid two days after processing (first installment) then another 12 installments after that

It was over 50 days when I last called and they said they were emailing someone to follow it up.... over a week later still nothing... it has been 3 months :( on hold now because they've reduced our payments... so confused...

super, thanks!

yes, I knew BB wouldn't be back paid but I was surprised by what she said about fam tax ... good to know she was mistaken!

thanks again :)

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It was over 50 days when I last called and they said they were emailing someone to follow it up.... over a week later still nothing... it has been 3 months :( oh hold now because they've reduced our payments... so confused...

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are you claiming PPL? there are many "steps" to PPL claim - the FAO processing team do their bit, then they send the info to your employer - and give them 14 days to respond. so it may be that it's been processed and is waiting on your employer to accept the payment.
drop in payment may relate to it having been completed - if your estimates were updated on the paperwork to something higher than what you had previously....

Not claiming PPL, claiming baby bonus. When I called last week they said they hadn't noted on my file I had actioned maintenance for DD1 which I had a year ago, lucky I wrote down that reference number and they got Child Support people on the line like a 3-way? And said it was sorted, today I got a random payment saying "arrears" for $130 (my payment is usually next week or last week) then next week my payment has dropped from 170$ to less than 60$? How can there be an arrears and then we get less, doesn't seem to make sense to me! And still nothing for DD2?? No idea what is going on and the online letter I recieved didn't have any information other than the numbers...

ETA: the online letter also had my old address which I have updated both times I have called?

the arrears would likely be ftb for the drop for not having taken child support action, up until your most recent payment (so last week) - the drop in payment would be because the system has now received the information about your child support assessment and is reducing the payment for balance of financial year to counter any over payment. the system can't stop arrears being generated to offset overpayments for csa assessments and mandatory adjustments - that can only take place from the day the information is received. so the child support assessment may have had a date of, say, July last year - so the system has received that information this week and recognised that you were underpaid for no child support action from july to may and paid the arrears BUT, the child support assessment meant your payment should have been reduced by part of that amount that you were paid in arrears, and is now reducing the rest of the payments for this financial year to counter that over payment. unfortunately it's a limitation of the system. i have discussed this exact scenario at length with people higher up than me so that it can be addressed. none of us can understand why the system pays arrears and then reduces future payments for to counter that "overpayment" - but it is what it is kwim?

as to the address thing - that is probably because your ftb claim is on the system and preventing updates from occurring. it would be noted on the system that it needs to be done though.

So our payment should go up a little after the end of this financial year? Still on hold so will ask them about it, thanks for explaining though, that makes sense... even if they can't change the system they could provide more details in the letters perhaps? When I get through I will be pushing till they give me some proper timelines about DD2's payments, today is day 90 since they recieved the paperwork (March 2nd, that date is from their system)... :(

yeah it should go up in July - it definitely sounds like there is some adjustment there.

call centre staff can't do much to give you a guaranteed time frame. unfortunately we don't know until it's processed.

Just got off the phone to a very nice man! He called up processing then and there, more waiting on hold but it is being processed as we speak with lots of apologies for it being this long but no real explanation, just a lot of backlog at the moment. Said it will be done today and money should be in our account by Monday! Hooray :)

ETA: Thanks BG. Feeling so relieved now.