“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education to improve the application process online for the LAFHAS Special Circumstances applications, in order to be processed in the same timeframe as Geographical Isolation LAFHAS payments.”
Queensland families appreciate the valuable subsidy that the Department of Education provides in the way of LAFHAS, including Special Circumstances and thank the Department for increasing the LAFHAS payment in 2024.
At present the re-application each year arrives in December, currently payments are not issued until late March. Whilst filling out the online form is relatively easy, it does not have a provision for the Special Circumstances criteria, therefore clients must wait for the initial form to be assessed, with a note in the margin to highlight that it is a Special Circumstances application before it can be resubmitted, thus taking extra time to be processed and paid to the school as well as the travel component deposited to the applicants. By simply adding a Special Circumstances box for families to select in the application process to begin with as well as a prompt to upload supporting documents would solve these delays immediately and streamline the process.
With tuition and boarding fees, along with uniform purchases and books needing to be paid right after the Christmas period, it would be very beneficial to every rural and remote family to receive this payment without delay to budget for Term One account due dates.
(Note: Special Circumstances are applicants that do not meet the residential distance criteria but are still regarded as isolated, for reasons such as impassable roads due to weather conditions, itinerant lifestyle due to employment and other circumstances which are reviewed on a case-by-case basis).
