Income Maintenance Period (IMP) 106-05020020

If the customer and/or partner are claiming or in receipt of Austudy, Disability Support Pension (DSP), JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Parenting Payment (PP), Farm Household Allowance (FHA) or Youth Allowance (YA) and are:

• making a new claim, go to Step 2
• single or partnered, and either member of the couple are current on an Income Maintenance Period (IMP) affected payment, see Step 1 in Table 2
• single or partnered, and both members of the couple are current on non-IMP affected payment, see Leave and termination payments paid by an employer. Procedure ends here

For more details on couples where one or both members are impacted by an IMP, see effect of IMP on couples.

Note: if the customer and/or partner have a leave payment and the employee/employer relationship is continuing, for example, a temporary absence from work or a pay out of accrued leave is paid but there is no absence from work, see Leave and termination payments paid by an employer. Procedure ends here.

If details are given verbally by the employer, record the response using the Verbal SU1: Employer Fast Note and complete all relevant fields. When it is not possible to get the verbal SU1, see Employment Separation Certificate (SU1).

If leave and redundancy payments have been reported:

• via Single Touch Payroll (STP), discuss the details that have pre-filled on the EMGI screen. Once the customer confirms and accepts the data, the components will map to the IMPS screen
• verbally by the customer, it is mandatory to either contact the employer to confirm details, or if unable to contact the employer, request an Employment Separation Certificate (SU1) or equivalent evidence, see Employment Separation Certificate for information about equivalent evidence

If all avenues to obtain the required information have been exhausted, the customer should make a statement, covering key evidence that is normally in the SU1 including:

• the date the person stopped work
• the period and amount of any leave or redundancy payment paid at termination of employment
• the amount of the person's final payment
• the amount of any moneys still owed by the employer to the person
• reasons for stopping employment
• if a person left work as a result of industrial action or voluntarily
• any personal injury compensation details

Payment to the customer can then be made, but make efforts to confirm the details later with the employer.

Note: employers may report employment cessation data, and unused leave and termination payments via Single Touch Payroll (STP). Verification is not needed where there are no changes to the pre-filled data and the customer confirms the data provided via STP. If the customer changes the pre-filled data or edits confirmed data, verification is needed. (SU1 or letter from the employer).

Has the customer supplied leave or redundancy documents with their new claim, such as an employment separation (SU1) or equivalent, or is there an Employer supplied Verbal Fast Note available, see Employment Separation Certificate (SU1) > Table 1 > Step 8?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 2
• No, check customer tasks. If not previously requested, request the supporting documents via the appropriate channel
• Process Direct claims use the Request document workflow in the More Options menu
• Customer First claims use the Request and manage customer task guided procedure
• Place claim on hold. Procedure ends here

Determine if any unused leave or redundancy payments have been paid to the customer or their partner upon stopping work if on an IMP affected payment.

• An Employment Separation Certificate (SU1) is still required to assess participation failures for customers subject to mutual obligation
• Customers and/or their partners may need to update their Family Tax Benefit (FTB)/Child Care Subsidy (CCS) estimate to reflect leave or redundancy payments paid, see Helping families provide a reasonable annual income estimate for family assistance payments
• Review the Activity Test Details (ATD) if a customer or their partner receive CCS
• Customers, or their partners, who have received a Fair Entitlement Guarantee (FEG) payment need to provide a copy of the advice they received from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR)
• If no lump sum payments paid, see Cessation of employment income

If lump sum payments paid, have any redundancy payments been paid?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 4

By coding the redundancy details on the IMP screen, the length and daily affecting amount of income will calculate automatically (and can be viewed).

For Process Direct coding, go to Step 3

In Customer First

• Go to the IMP screen by typing 'IMP' in the Nxt: field
• If a previous employer has been recorded and an IMP applied, the IMPS screen will appear. Type 'IMP' in the Nxt: field again to enter a new employer
• Enter the name of the employer the redundancy payment has been received from in the Description: field
• If known, enter the employee reference number in the Reference: field (optional)
• Date Payment Received: field - date the redundancy payment paid by the employer. It may be any day of the week including weekends

Note: if a customer and/or their partner receives a redundancy payment from a previous job and starts a new job before they receive their leave payment, it is recorded on the IMP screen if they are on a payment when received.

If the customer is also serving a waiting period that will be served concurrently, see Interaction between waiting and preclusion periods.

If the customer is incapacitated, see Calculating the start day for an incapacitated customer.

• Type: field - type of payment received = RDN
• Number of days: field - this is the number of working days for which the payment has been made. The system will automatically apply a 5 day week. A 5 day IMP starting on a Wednesday will end on the following Tuesday. Service Officers are not required to re-calculate leave periods for part-time and casual employees. Code the number of days as specified by the employer
• Amount: field - gross amount received, without deductions. Code whole dollars only, ignore any cents
• Rollover $ amount: field - this field must not be coded as rollover amounts have not been allowed since 1 July 2012
• Average weekly wage: field - Average weekly wage is used to calculate the duration of the IMP for redundancy payments if the amount of weeks/days are unknown.
• Note: this field should not be used if a time period is known. An edit will prevent the coding of both 'number of days' and 'average weekly wage' as only one method of calculation can apply
• Press Continue. If other types of leave need to be recorded, a separate line will need to be entered on IMP for the employer. Go to Step 3
• Otherwise, select Continue to return to the IMPS screen.
• IMP end date: field - end of the IMP period. This is system generated dependant on the number of days for this period and other leave entries or current IMPS
• Enter the source of information in the Source: field
• Enter the date of receipt of information in the DOR: field
• Press [Enter] to exit the IMP screen
• If the customer and/or the partner are current and have continuous income for an employer coded on the Employment Income Summary (EANS/EAPP) screen, select the employer and zero the employment income using the Date of Event as date last paid by the employer plus one day. See Determining the Date of Event for employment income
• Record IMP and stopping work details in the IMP documentation details Fast Note

Go to Step 4.

For Service Officers processing statement reporting or new claims in Process Direct.

• Navigate via Super Key to Employment Separation (IMP/IMPS) screen
• if employer details are not displayed select to add a new line
• enter the Date Employment Ceased: field
• Trading name: field - enter any alternative employer name, if known
• Employer Name: field - enter the name of the employer from whom the redundancy payment has been received (mandatory field)
• Australian Business Number (ABN): field - enter ABN, if known
• Separation Reason: field - select the reason the employment has ceased from the drop down menu
• Reason text: field - any additional details from the employer about the reason employment stopped (mandatory field if the Separation Reason is 'Employee ceasing work voluntarily' (VOL), 'Misconduct as an employee' (DIS). 'Unsatisfactory work performance' (PER) or 'Other' (OTH))
• Source: field select 'Employment Separation Certificate' (S), 'Verbal - no documents' (V) or 'Single Touch Payroll' (P)
• Contact name: field - enter contact name of employer (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Contact position: field - enter the position of the person contacted (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Contact number: field - enter employer's contact number (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Contact date: field - enter the date of contact with the employer (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Select Save

After completing the above, add a separate line for each type of leave or redundancy entitlement paid.

• Select in the Employment Separation table to add a new line
• Start Date: field - is the date the redundancy entitlement was paid (Display only - determined by the date entered in the Date Paid field and any concurrent waiting periods)
• Employer Name: field - select employer name from the drop down box
• Date Paid: field - enter the date the redundancy payment was paid
• Leave Type: field - select the type of leave paid out from the drop down box = RDN
• Paid Amount ($): field -gross amount paid by the employer, without deductions. Code whole dollars only, ignore any cents
• Average weekly wage amount ($): field - Average weekly wage is used to calculate the duration of the IMP for redundancy payments if the amount of weeks/days are not known
• Note: this field should not be used if a time period is known. An edit will prevent the coding of both 'number of days' and 'average weekly wage' as only one method of calculation can apply
• Roll over amount ($): field - this field must not be coded as rollover amounts have not been allowed since 1 July 2012
• Number of working days covered: field - this is the number of working days for which the payment has been made. The system will automatically apply a 5 day week. A 5 day IMP starting on a Wednesday will end on the following Tuesday. Service Officers are not required to recalculate leave periods for part-time and casual employees. Code the number of days as specified by the employer
• Note: if redundancy payments are shown in weeks - multiply the number of weeks by 5 to code the number of days

If an employer states the redundancy period in hours, divide the number of hours by the person's average hours worked per day. For example, an employer states 412 hours of 'Redundancy' on the SU1 and the person worked 7.5 hours per day. This would equate to 54.9 days of 'Rec Leave' (round down to 54 days).

If an employer states the redundancy period was for less than a day, these are the only instances where the leave is rounded up to a day.

• Select Save
• Upon returning to the Employment Separation table on IMP, the End Date: field will display the end of the IMP period. This is system generated dependant on the number of days for this period and other leave entries or current IMPs
• If the customer and/or their partner is current and has continuing income for the employer coded on the Employment Income Summary (EANS/EAPP) screen, select the employer and zero the employment income using the Date of Event as date last paid by the employer plus one day. See Determining the Date of Event for employment income
• If the customer has any other leave or termination payments requiring coding, go to Step 4
• Otherwise record IMP and stopping work details in the claim finalisation note or create a DOC/Note

Have unused leave payments been paid to the customer and/or their partner on IMP affected payment?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, and leave payments are expected, tell the customer to notify when the leave or redundancy payments are paid. Set review for return of information. Procedure ends here

Was any leave loading paid?

• Yes, and RECreational leave and leave loading are paid for the same period, add the 2 amounts together and record as 'REC' leave on the IMP screen
• Otherwise, code as separate leave types. Go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 6

If the customer and/or their partner have been paid income that represents a payment of LSL, the formula for calculating the IMP is different. This is because the LSL entitlement may be for a 7 day week, whereas other leave entitlements are for a 5 day week.

Does the payment or part payment, represent a LSL entitlement?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, see Step 1 in Table 3

From information given by the customer and/or their partner on the SU1/letter from the employer, check if the employer has indicated whether the period of LSL includes weekends.

Calculate the amount of the LSL Payment.

If the customer provides information, accept it unless there is reason to doubt the validity. This applies to both verbal information and written correspondence.

If the LSL is a Portability Payment, see Long Service Leave Portability Payments.

Can it be confirmed that LSL includes weekends using the information received?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 8

For instructions on contacting and recording contact with an employer, see Table 1, Steps 7-9 in Employment Separation Certificate (SU1)

Does the employer indicate the LSL paid includes weekends?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, see Step 1 in Table 3

If the LSL period is paid for weekends (a 7 day week) the IMP applied in relation to LSL is:

(no. of working days) divided by 7 x 5 = no. of IMP days

For example:

(90 LSL days) divided by 7 = 12.85 x 5 = 64 days (64.28 rounded down to the nearest whole number)

This can usually be found on the SU1 or redundancy documentation.

Note: when unused leave or redundancy payments pre-fill via Single Touch Payroll (STP), the confirmed data pre-fills onto the IMPS screen. If data is missing, the customer will need to tell Services Australia the number of days of leave and leave type.

If the leave period is in hours worked, phone the employer to get the average daily hours worked. Divide the leave period in hours by the average daily hours worked.

Accept information from the customer, unless there is reason to doubt the validity of the information.

The new IMP end date calculation will be that each 5 days of leave = 7 days and periods less than 5 days are counted as individual days.

For example, leave period keyed with date of receipt (DOR) as first of the month:

• 4 days, IMP end = 4th of the month
• 5 days, IMP end = 7th of the month
• 12 days (2 lots of 5 = 2 weeks + 2 day remainder), IMP end = 16th

Note: Calculated IMP end dates may now also be weekend dates.

For information on how income is assessed using the Income Test, see:

• Income Test for single allowance customers
• Parenting Payment Single (PPS) income and assets test
• Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP) income and assets test
• Income Test for Disability Support Pension customer who is under 21 years, with no dependent children and with affecting income at 19 September 2009
• Income Test for Disability Support Pension customer who is under 21 years, with no children
• For DSP customers with dependent children or over 21 years, see Pensions income and assets tests

By coding the leave details on the IMP screen, the length and daily affecting amount of income will be calculated automatically (and can be viewed). See Interaction between waiting and preclusion periods.

If a customer's or their partner's employment is ongoing and they are paid a leave payment for a public holiday, this payment should be recorded as employment income on the Employment Income Summary (EANS/EAPP) screen. Only record public holidays on IMP if paid as part of a termination payment.

For Process Direct coding, go to Step 5.

In Customer First

• Go to the IMP screen by typing 'IMP' in the Nxt: field of the customer who was paid the termination payment
• Enter the name of the employer from whom the leave payment was paid in the Description: field
• If known, enter the employee reference number in the Reference: field. (optional)
• Enter the date the leave payment was paid, in the Date Payt Received: field, unless customer or their partner is also serving a Liquid Asset Waiting Period (LAWP). In this case, the start date of the IMP is the same as the start date of the LAWP. The date received may be any day of the week including weekends

Note: if leave payments are not paid at the time the claim is assessed, tell the customer to inform within 14 days of receipt.

• Enter the type of leave payment in the Type: field. If the actual leave type is not presented as an option, code 'REC' and indicate the correct leave type on the IMP documentation details Fast Note
• Enter the number of working days for each leave type in the No of Days: field (rounded down to the nearest day unless less than 1 day then round up to 1). If leave payments are shown in weeks, first determine the number of days the customer worked each week and multiply by the number weeks

For example, if the customer or their partner received 4 weeks leave but only worked 3 days a week, a 12 day IMP (2 weeks and 2 days) would apply.

4 (weeks) X 3 (days) = 12 (days) IMP - applying a 5 day week this equates to a 2 week and 2 day IMP. When an employer states the leave period was for less than a day, these are the only instances where the leave is rounded up to a day.

• Enter the total gross dollar amount for the leave type in the $ Amount: field, ignore any cents
• Enter the source of information in the Source: field
• Enter the date of receipt of information in the DOR: field
• Press [Enter] to exit the IMP screen
• If the customer and/or their partner is current and has continuous income for the employer coded on the Employment Income Summary (EANS/EAPP) screen, select the employer and zero the employment income using the Date of Event as the date last paid by the employer plus one day. Record IMP and stopping work details on the IMP documentation details Fast Note
• Only round down to the nearest day where leave payments are paid in a lump sum, that is, 4.5 days leave should be rounded down to 4 days and coded on the IMP screen
• If a person who is subject to an income maintenance period (the first period) and the person is paid another termination payment during that period (the second leave payment), the income maintenance period for the second termination payment starts the day after the end of the first period. The second leave payment is recorded from the date the person receives the second leave payment

Go to Step 6.

In Process Direct

For Service Officers processing statement reporting or new claims in Process Direct

If unused leave and/or termination payments have been reported via Single Touch Payroll (STP), discuss the details that have pre-filled on the EMGI screen. Once the customer confirms and accepts the data, the components will map to the IMPS screen.

Otherwise:

• Go to Employment Separation (IMP/IMPS) screen
• if employer details are not displayed select to add a new line
• enter the Date Employment Ceased: field
• Trading name: field - enter any alternative employer name, if known
• Employer Name: field - enter the name of the employer the termination payment has been received from (mandatory field)
• Australian Business Number (ABN): field - enter ABN, if known
• Separation Reason: field - select the reason the employment has ceased from the drop down menu
• Reason text: field - any additional details from the employer about the reason employment stopped (mandatory field if the Separation Reason is 'Employee ceasing work voluntarily' (VOL), 'Misconduct as an employee' (DIS). 'Unsatisfactory work performance' (PER) or 'Other' (OTH)
• Source: field select 'Employment Separation Certificate' (S), 'Verbal - no documents' (V) or 'Single Touch Payroll' (P)
• Contact name: field - enter contact name of employer (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Contact position: field - enter the position of the person contacted (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Contact number: field - enter employer's contact number (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Contact date: field - enter the date of contact with the employer (mandatory field if the source is Verbal)
• Select Save

After completing the above, add a separate line for each type of termination payment paid.

• Select in the Employment Separation table to add a new line
• Start Date: field - is the date the termination payment was paid (Display only - determined by the date entered in the Date Paid field and any concurrent waiting periods)
• Employer Name: field - select employer name from the drop down box
• Date Paid: field - enter the date the termination payment was paid, unless the customer or their partner is also serving a Liquid Asset Waiting Period (LAWP). In this case, the start date of the IMP is the same as the start date of the LAWP. The date received may be any day of the week including weekends
• Leave Type: field - select the type of leave paid out from the drop down box
• Paid Amount ($): field - gross amount paid by the employer, without deductions. Code whole dollars only, ignore any cents
• Average weekly wage amount ($): field - Average weekly wage is used to calculate the duration of the IMP for redundancy payments
• Note: do not use this field if a time period is known. An edit will prevent the coding of both 'number of days' and 'average weekly wage' as only 1 method of calculation can apply
• Roll over amount ($): field - this field must not be coded as rollover amounts have not been allowed since 1 July 2012
• Number of working days covered: field - this is the number of working days for which the payment is paid. The system will automatically apply a 5 day week. A 5 day IMP starting on a Wednesday will end on the following Tuesday. Service Officers are not required to recalculate leave periods for part-time and casual employees. Code the number of days as specified by the employer
• Note: if redundancy payments are shown in weeks - multiply the number of weeks by 5 to code the number of days
• Select Save
• Upon returning to the Employment Separation table on IMP, the End Date: field will display the end of the IMP period. This is system generated dependant on the number of days for this period and other leave entries or current IMPS
• If the customer and/or their partner is current and has continuous income for the employer coded on the Employment Income Summary (EANS/EAPP) screen, select the employer and zero employment income using the Date of Event as date last paid plus one day. See Determining the Date of Event for employment income
• Record IMP and stopping work details in the claim finalisation note or create a Note/DOC

Go to Step 6.

• Whether their rate of payment will be nil or reduced as a result of the affecting IMP amount
• The period of time they will be precluded from payment (if payment reduced to nil), or
• If the income does not preclude payment, the system will grant or reassess payment at a lower rate and then reassess at the end of the IMP
• If they are partnered let them know the effect the IMP will have on partner's entitlement (if any)
• Their right to request a review of the decision
• The option to assess for a waiver or exemption of the IMP because of hardship. See Assessment of hardship for Income Maintenance Period (IMP)
• Their mutual obligation requirement during the IMP. See Mutual obligation requirements during an Income Maintenance Period (IMP)
• If a customer is affected by a waiting period for an income support payment, they may wish to test their eligibility for a Low Income Health Care Card (LIC)
• For non-stimulus customers with a nil payment period:
• less than 4 weeks: The customer is to remain assessed ('ASS') with a grant letter sent advising the end date of the IMP period. Payment will automatically start at the end of the preclusion period. Procedure ends here
• greater than or equal to 4 weeks: The customer is to remain assessed with a grant letter sent advising of the end date of the IMP. 21 days before the end of the IMP, a letter will be sent asking the customer to contact and tell us if there have been any changes in their circumstances. Customers must respond for payments to start. DSP customers will only be reviewed if the nil payment period is greater than or equal to 26 weeks. Go to Step 7

A Future Activity (FAL) (Activity - REA, Reason - Inc Maint period ends) will be created when the 21 day review period starts. If the customer contacts during the 21 day review period:

• select the FAL activity
• update any changes in circumstances
• finalise the FAL activity

This will allow the payment to start on the start date.

• If the customer fails to contact by the payment start date (end of IMP) their payment will not start.
• Allowance customers will have their payment suspended (SUS-PIM)
• Parenting Payment and Pension customers will have a zero rate due to the IMP and a status of CZR-IMN
• The customer will have a further 13 weeks to contact before their payment will be rejected
• A FAL activity will be created at the start of the 13 week review period
• If the customer contacts within the 13 week review period, select the FAL activity, update any changes in circumstances and restore the payment from the start date

Family assistance: If an income support payment is suspended due to an IMP (SUS/IMN), the customer is not considered to be on income support and their rate of Family Tax Benefit (FTB) is income tested during this period. As the income support payment has suspended, a new estimate should be recorded. See Helping families provide a reasonable annual income estimate for family assistance payments.

Special Benefit (SpB): A person serving an IMP should generally not receive SpB. Individual circumstances should be taken into account and customers subject to an IMP may be eligible. A SpB claim should still be lodged for assessment. See Eligibility for Special Benefit (SpB) for further information.