Claiming a Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) loan 065-19060359

If a customer or nominee contacts to enquire about applying for a HEAS loan, see Initial contact by customers applying for the Home Equity Access Scheme. Discuss HEAS eligibility criteria with the customer to determine if they are likely to meet the requirements.

If the customer is partnered and their partner also wants to apply for a loan under the HEAS, staff can complete this as a combined HEAS claim if they meet the criteria. Staff must complete eligibility checks for the applying partner.

Note: a nominee can submit a HEAS online claim on behalf of a customer. Nominees cannot submit combined HEAS online claims.

Does the customer meet the basic eligibility requirements for HEAS?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, tell the customer or nominee they are not eligible for the HEAS and refer them to Payment and Services Finder to see what other payments they may be eligible for. Record the details of the discussion in a DOC via the Document List (DL) screen. Procedure ends here.

If the customer or nominee wants to proceed to apply for a HEAS loan, an online claim must be offered first. Explain the benefits of applying for HEAS online, such as:

• Help to apply for the right payment through streaming questions and early warnings if they may not be eligible
• Less information for them to provide, as details from their Centrelink record will be pre-populated into the online claim
• They can monitor the progress of their claim through their Centrelink online account
• They can complete a combined HEAS partner claim if their partner also wants to apply

Note: a nominee can submit an online claim on behalf of a customer. Nominees cannot submit combined online claims.

Is the customer or nominee willing and able to complete the HEAS claim online?

• Yes, ensure they are registered with an active Centrelink online account and help them to start their claim online. For help see the Self-managed tab
• No, go to Step 3

ACC may be used by Service Officers when a customer or nominee is unable or unwilling to claim online. ACC replicates the questions in the online claim and must only be used when the customer or nominee is available to answer the questions in ACC.

Does the customer or nominee wish to proceed with an ACC?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, if the customer or nominee wants to apply using the paper application form (SA310/SA496) see the SA310/SA496 tab. If they do not wish to proceed with a current application for HEAS :
  • encourage the customer or nominee to seek independent legal or financial advice before making a decision to apply for a HEAS loan
  • advise the customer or nominee of the Payment and Service Finder which they can use to see what other payments they may be eligible for
  • record a DOC via the Document List (DL) screen to document the discussion
  • procedure ends here

Before starting ACC:

• check the Document List (DL) screen for any DOCs relevant to a claim for HEAS
• update the customer's personal details via Customer Summary, using the Task Selector in Process Direct and, if required, update their contact and interpreter details via the Other Contact Details (OCD) screen in Customer First, as these questions are no longer asked in ACC.

If ACC was started before the updates were made, the HEAS claim can be exited and the updates made outside HEAS the claim before submitting it. The updates will appear on the Review page in ACC.

Access ACC via the Assisted Claim desktop icon. Enter the customer’s CRN and press Go.

A list of customer’s current and historical HEAS claims will display.

If a claim has already been started and has a status of Incomplete, select Continue claim. If not, start a new claim:

• Select Make a Claim
• Select the Get started link in the Older Australians heading
• Read the details about HEAS to the customer
• Select Apply for a loan under the Home Equity Access Scheme
• On the Eligibility Check page:
  • read the privacy message in full to the customer and select the customer's response
  • complete the streaming questions based on the customer’s answers then press Continue

Once the Eligibility Check has been completed and Continue pressed, a started HEAS claim is registered.

The customer or nominee has 13 weeks from this date to complete and submit the claim.

Customer can do this via their Centrelink online account or continue via ACC. The HEAS online claim will expire if not submitted within 13 weeks. See Circumstance Change Monitor (CCM) for more details.

If the customer would not be eligible for a HEAS loan based on their answers, advise the customer or nominee of the reason why and refer them to the Payment and Service Finder to see what other payments they may be eligible for. Select Back to return to Make a Claim page to begin another claim type.

Once the HEAS claim is started, an Introduction page is displayed. Read the details to the customer or nominee about what to expect and the instructions to:

• complete the claim and upload any supporting documents
• submit the HEAS claim for processing, and
• advise if anything changes

If the customer or nominee wants to proceed via ACC, press Continue to start progressing through the HEAS claim.

The HEAS claim will guide the Service Officer through the questions to ask the customer or nominee, with question sets broken down into sections.

The sections of the HEAS claim must be completed in order and the next section cannot be started until the previous section is complete.

The first sections are accessed by selecting the Start button.

Each section has pages of relevant questions. On each question page, there are options to select:

• Back to go back to the previous question or page
• Next to progress forward to the next question
• Continue to save the HEAS claim answers and continue to the next page of questions

When each module is completed and the end of the section reached, the Start button becomes enabled for the next section. Answers in previously completed sections can be updated by selecting Edit.

Based on details the customer or nominee has provided, if they meet the combined HEAS claim criteria, this is where the customer or nominee will be asked if they would like to submit an application for both themselves and their partner.

When all questions have been completed, the Review and Confirm section provides a summary of all of the details provided by the customer or nominee. Confirm the details with the customer or nominee to make sure it is correct.

If updates are required, select the Update button for the applicable section. This will go to My profile or the relevant section of the claim to review and make updates.

Declaration and Acknowledgement

Once all information is correct, the customer and/or nominee must complete the Declaration and Acknowledgement

Encourage the customer or nominee to access the HEAS claim via their Centrelink online account to read and accept the declaration and acknowledgement. The customer or nominee can then submit the HEAS claim which will allow them to monitor the progress of their claim through the Claim Tracker and get notifications about their claim.

If a customer or nominee is willing to complete their HEAS claim online, remind them to submit the HEAS claim as soon as possible or it will expire after 13 weeks.

If the customer or nominee declines the offer to complete the claim declaration online:

• Read the verbal declaration and acknowledgements script to the customer or nominee, ensuring they accept the statement. Ask the customer or nominee to acknowledge the declaration and agree that they understand and accept their obligations. Once this has been read to the customer or nominee and they have accepted their obligations, identify this by ticking the boxes
• Record a DOC on the Document List (DL) screen with 'Verbal declaration script read and accepted by customer or nominee for the Home Equity Access Scheme claim via ACC'

Note: applicants who complete a verbal declaration are required to provide a physical signature via the SA310 or SA496 Part A. This will either be requested on the Next steps page of the HEAS claim, or the Home Equity Access Scheme National team will send a written request when the HEAS claim is assessed.

If the customer or nominee is unable or unwilling to provide a verbal declaration:

• do not proceed further with the claim
• advise the customer the HEAS claim will be withdrawn
• exit and cancel the HEAS claim via the My online claims page
• record a DOC confirming the customer or nominee did not accept the verbal declaration and the claim has been withdrawn

The last section of the claim is the Next steps page which advises if the customer or nominee needs to provide any documents or complete tasks they or any applying partner need to complete before submitting their HEAS claim.

Combined HEAS claims require the customers partner to complete a few tasks including reading and agreeing to the answers the customer provided in the HEAS loan application. The partner is also be asked to provide consent to applying for a HEAS loan for themselves and the customer.

The partner must complete their tasks in their own Centrelink online account within 21 days.

Tasks may be supplementary or required. The claim cannot be submitted until all required tasks are completed.

If a task is supplementary, encourage the customer to still complete it if they can, as it will help Services Australia to assess the claim and identify if the customer can get additional payments and services.

Note: a nominee can submit a HEAS online claim on behalf of a customer. Nominees cannot submit combined HEAS online claims.

Where a task requires the customer or nominee to provide a document, there is an Upload button next to the applicable task. The customer or nominee can use this to upload documents directly into the HEAS online claim. Encourage the customer or nominee to access their Centrelink online account via myGov to upload documents and submit their HEAS claim. This is the quickest and easiest way for customers to complete their tasks and allow claim submission.

If needed, help the customer or nominee to upload the documents and submit their HEAS claim online. Once the customer or nominee has selected a document to upload, they submit it as follows:

• Select Next
• Complete a Declaration about the document(s) by ticking the box, and
• Select Submit documents

Once the uploaded document(s) have been submitted, the associated task(s) will display a status of Done.

If a task requires a customer or nominee to attend a Service Centre to provide documents, provide the customer or nominee with details of the required documents and advise them to attend their local Service Centre as soon as possible. Upon receiving the documents, Service Officers should:

• scan the documents
• code identity documents in the Identity Confirmation Dashboard in Process Direct. If the Identity Confirmation Status is updated to Confirmed, complete the associated identity task
• for all other documents, run the Request & Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure to complete the associated task

If the customer or nominee uploaded or provided documents before starting the HEAS online claim or ACC, the document displays as Required on the Next steps page. The customer or nominee can either:

• upload the document again on the Next steps page, or
• contact Services Australia to have the Request & Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure run to complete the task. Before completing the task for the customer, Service Officers must first check that the document has been provided

Help the customer or nominee to upload the documents and submit their HEAS claim online.

If necessary, scan the documents and run the Request & Manage Customer Tasks guided procedure to submit ACC for the customer or nominee. Note: if this is done the customer or nominee will not have access to the Claim Tracker or notification.

Once all required tasks display a status of Done, the Submit button will become enabled. Encourage the customer or nominee to submit the HEAS claim via their Centrelink online account. If needed, the HEAS claim can be submitted via ACC however if this is done, the customer or nominee and any applying partner for a combined claim, will not have access to the Claim Tracker or claim notifications.

Note: a nominee can submit a HEAS online claim on behalf of a customer. Nominees cannot submit combined HEAS online claims.

To be assessed from the earliest possible date, the customer or nominee must provide all the requested information and submit the HEAS claim as soon as possible.

Once submitted, a message will display to confirm the HEAS claim has been successfully submitted. Advise the customer or nominee of the following details:

• claim submission date
• Estimated Completion Date Range (ECDR)
• claim ID

Once a HEAS claim has been submitted, the customer or nominee cannot update the HEAS online claim details. They must contact Services Australia if they want to provide more details about their HEAS claim.

The customer or nominee can withdraw their HEAS online claim at any time after it has been submitted via My online claims. Once a HEAS claim has been withdrawn it cannot be reinstated. The customer or nominee can apply again by starting a new HEAS online claim at any time.

Upon lodgement of the HEAS claim, a Work Item will be automatically created and allocated to the Home Equity Access Scheme National team for assessment and processing.

For details about the assessment process see Assessing Home Equity Access Scheme applications.

'Channel hopping' allows:

• the customer or nominee to start a HEAS claim online and have it continued by a Service Officer via Assisted Customer Claim (ACC), or
• a Service Officer to help a customer or nominee with starting a HEAS claim via ACC, which would then be completed by the customer online (an active Centrelink online account is required)

If the customer or nominee chooses to pause ACC at any time, press Home to exit the HEAS claim and advise the customer or nominee that to view or update their HEAS claim they need to:

• sign into myGov and access their linked Centrelink online account
• go to the:
  • homepage desktop menu and select Payments and claims > My online claims, or
  • main menu and select Payments and claims > Claims > My online claims

A list of all their historical and current online HEAS claims will display. If the status of the HEAS claim is Incomplete, they can choose to either:

• Continue claim to display the next question set to be completed
• Cancel claim and confirm they want to do this. Once cancelled, they will not be able to view or continue their HEAS online claim, and the cancellation cannot be undone. No claim details will be saved or recorded. The customer or nominee can start a new online claim at any time

Digital Assistant (DA)

The Digital Assistant (DA) provides help text on each question. This include static help text which displays in a blue box underneath the question, and a dynamic DA which provides pre-programmed responses to questions the customer or nominee enters. The customer or nominee can access the dynamic DA by selecting Click here to launch the digital assistant which appears under each question.

System issues

If a system issue or fault is experienced when running the ACC for an online claim, report it via mySupport using the Home Equity Access Scheme issues form. Note: open mySupport before opening the HEAS issues form link.