Real time payments to Farm Household Allowance (FHA) and Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) customers 003-10030040

Eligibility for payment via RTGS is limited to when:

• FHA has been granted or restored, and the pending payment exceeds system limits
• FHA has been:
• restored or stimulated through late reporting, and
• Centrelink contributed to any delays, and
• customer cannot wait one day for payment delivery
• FHA customer cannot wait one day for payment delivery after the approval of a:
• Crisis Payment,
• hardship advance, or
• urgent payment

RTGS is not to be used:

• where FHA has been granted, and the first payment is within system arrears limits, or
• for advance payments to FHA customers

Does the customer meet eligibility criteria for an RTGS payment?

• Yes:
• For urgent payments, see Table 2 of Processing urgent payment requests
• For any other reason, go to Step 2
• No:
• Advise the customer that the payment will be delivered via direct credit in the next payment strip
• Procedure ends here

After the payment has been granted, restored or outstanding reports have been completed; the following action must be completed before payment will be available to issue via RTGS.

From the Customer Summary page, select:

• Cases tab
• Farm Household Allowance Benefit Case
• Activities tab
• Release EPED Action hyperlink
• Scheduled Actions tab
• Execute hyperlink next to Release EPED Action. Note: this action may need to be completed twice for the status in the Executable column to update from 'Yes' to 'Done'
• Save

The payment can now be released via RTGS. Go to Step 3

Note: standard system limits apply to payments made via the Issue RTGS Payment guided procedure. Payments above system limits will reject with no warning or error messaging and cannot be reissued without ICT intervention.

• Access the guided procedure by Workspace > Financial Customer Care > Issue RTGS Payment
• The guided procedure comprises 3 steps:
• Select benefit type: Farm Household Allowance, then select Next
• Select payment for issue: a table showing due payments will display. Select a payment for issue by RTGS, then select Next
• Issue RTGS payment: enter the amount to be paid by RTGS for the selected payment, then select Finish
• Record the outcome of the decision and payment, use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > Update > FHA RTGS Paid Fast Note
• If customer is present, confirm outcome and delivery date/s.
• Final payment details can be viewed on the Financial Customer Care ‘Open Item list’
• If the payment is to be split between RTGS and Direct Credit, separate payment lines will display

Procedure ends here.

Eligibility for payment via RTGS is limited to:

• when an urgent payment has been approved due to Centrelink delay or error, and
• the customer is in severe financial hardship

Has the urgent payment request been assessed?

• Yes, and the payment was:
• Approved: go to Step 2
• Rejected: advise the customer that the payment will be delivered via direct credit in the next payment strip. If the customer is in financial hardship, see Department of Home Affairs and contracted Service Providers responsibilities for SRSS payment. Procedure ends here
• No
• The urgent payment request must be assessed
• See Urgent payments due to Centrelink delay
• Procedure ends here

Note: standard system limits apply to SRSS payments made via the Issue RTGS Payment guided procedure. Payments above system limits will reject with no warning or error messaging and cannot be reissued without ICT intervention.

Access the guided procedure by Workspace > Financial Customer Care > Issue RTGS Payment

The guided procedure comprises 3 steps:

• Select benefit type: SRSS, then select Next
• Select payment for issue: a table showing due payments will display. Select a payment for issue by RTGS, then select Next
• Issue RTGS payment: enter the amount to be paid by RTGS for the selected payment, then select Finish
• Record the outcome of the decision and payment, use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Multicultural > Update > SRSS RTGS Outcome
• Note: a reference to SSAA 1999 Section 55 (payment into bank account etc.) can be included, but is not compulsory as payment delivery is not the significant decision,

If customer is present, confirm outcome and delivery date/s.

• Final payment details can be viewed on the Financial Customer Care ‘Open Item list’
• If the payment is to be split between RTGS and Direct Credit, separate payment lines will display

Procedure ends here

RTGS payments can take a few business hours to appear in the customer’s account after issue. Exact timing for payment delivery depends on the receiving financial institution’s processing capability.

If a customer advises an expected RTGS payment has not been received, staff must:

• confirm the payment has been processed
• issued to the correct account. Do not provide the customer with account details due to fraud risks - have the customer confirm the account details
• and has not been returned

To confirm payment delivery, check the following guided procedures or screens:

• Payment List (Financial Customer Care) guided procedure
• Returned payments will display as a separate line to the original payment, with the reason for return recorded in the ‘text’ field
• Payment Delivery Search guided procedure
• Document List (DL) screen
• Payment Destination (PASB) screen (Process Direct only)
• When a payment is returned, a ‘lock’ will display against the payment destination

Has the payment been processed and issued to the customer?

• Yes, and the payment destination is confirmed as:
• Correct, go to Step 2
• Incorrect, go to Step 3
• No. Confirm the payment is eligible to be delivered via RTGS before issuing the payment. For payments to:
• FHA customers, go to Table 1
• SRSS customers, go to Table 2

Does the payment show as returned?

• Yes, either:
• Raise an incident using mySupport for the lock to be removed, the payment should automatically reissue as a regular payment
• If the payment is to be reissued via RTGS contact Local Peer Support for an ICT Service Desk escalation
• Procedure ends here
• No, and payment was issued today
• Ask the customer to contact their financial institution to confirm expected RTGS processing times
• Give the customer the payment reference number, as the financial institution may request it to locate the payment
• Procedure ends here
• No, and payment was issued before today
• Request evidence (bank statements) that the payment was not credited to the customer’s account
• Contact Local Peer Support to refer the matter to the relevant helpdesk
• Procedure ends here

Does the payment show as returned to Services Australia?

Yes:

• Update the payment destination per Changing Payment Destination
• The payment will automatically unlock and reissue via direct credit once the payment destination has been updated
• If the customer requires the funds immediately, reattempt RTGS delivery
• for FHA see Table 2 > Step 3
• for SRSS see Table 3 > Step 2

No:

• See: Request the return of a payment made to an incorrect recipient