Nominee arrangements under Income Management and enhanced Income Management 103-01010020

For the purposes of income management, a correspondence nominee is a person or organisation who has been nominated to help another person (the customer) in their dealings with Services Australia.

The actions correspondence nominees can take is different under Income Management and enhanced Income Management. For more details on what the correspondence nominee can do on behalf of the customer, see Process – Role of correspondence nominee.

For the purposes of income management, a payment nominee is a person or organisation who has been nominated to receive payments on behalf of another person (the customer).

A payment nominee includes:

• an appointed nominee
• the parent to whom payments for an under 18 year old Youth Allowance (YA) dependent customer are directed
  • Note: once a YA customer turns 18, payment must be directed to an account in their own name or a formal payment nominee arrangement must be made

A payment nominee is responsible for managing the IM account or enhanced IM account of the customer.

The actions payment nominees can take is different under IM and enhanced IM. For more details, see Process – Role of payment nominees.

The appointment or cancellation of a payment nominee can impact a customer’s eligibility for income management.

If a customer adds a payment nominee who is income managed under one of the measures listed below, the customer will be income managed under the same measure, unless they are already income managed..

• Child Protection
• Supporting People at Risk, or
• Compulsory IM or enhanced IM (Disengaged Youth and Long Term Welfare Payment Recipients)

For more details, see Nominee enhanced Income Management (NeIM).

Customers who appoint an excluded payment nominee, are not eligible to be income managed.

A customer is not eligible for IM or enhanced IM if they have an excluded payment nominee. An excluded payment nominee is a payment nominee who is:

• a public trustee
• an individual whose payments are not income managed, or
• an organisation

Care needs to be taken to ensure a payment nominee arrangement is not used to avoid IM or enhanced IM.

If a customer referred to IM or enhanced IM has a payment nominee, review the arrangements to ensure the payment nominee is acting in the customer's best interests and, where relevant, the best interests of their family.

If the agency determines the nominee is not acting in the customer's best interests, carefully consider whether to cancel the nominee arrangement and place the customer on income management. A Services Australia social worker may help to determine the most appropriate approach before a nominee arrangement is cancelled.

Unless the court has appointed the payment nominee, the customer can choose to cancel the arrangement to volunteer or access a compulsory measure of IM or enhanced IM.

If a customer is excluded from income management because of their payment nominee and the nominee arrangement ends, the customer may become eligible for income management.

Payment nominees who become eligible for income management under any measure, must have their nominee arrangement reconsidered to determine whether the arrangement is appropriate. Payment nominee arrangements should be cancelled or revoked if it is not in the best interests of the customer.

For IM and enhanced IM purposes, the customer is:

• for a nominee appointed under section 123B or 123C of the Administration Act, or section 219TB of the Family Assistance Act, the person for whom the nominee was appointed
• for Youth Allowance paid under subsection 45(1) of the Administration Act, the person on whose behalf the payments are made (for example, a dependent customer under 18 years of age whose payments are made to their parent)

Note: there is currently no functionality to apply nominee IM or enhanced IM to dependent Youth Allowance customers under 18 years of age who do not have a formal payment nominee arrangement, even if they meet the criteria.

A review of the payment nominee arrangement must occur in all circumstances, whether a person:

• is or becomes a payment nominee, or
• has or appoints a payment nominee, and
• is referred or identified as eligible for income management

Service officers must determine if the nominee arrangement is in the best interests of the customer regardless of whether the nominee is an excluded payment nominee.

If staff identify or decide at any time that a nominee arrangement is not in the best interests of a customer, they must review the appointment. For details on nominee reviews, see Reviewing nominee arrangements.

Before suspending, revoking, or rejecting a customer’s payment nominee, service officers must consider:

• the customer and their dependant’s needs
• their ability to manage their unqualified funds
• available alternatives such as Centrepay and RDS

The appointment and removal of payment nominees should consider the following:

• Payment nominee arrangements are not used to avoid income management
• How the customer came to be referred to income management
• Whether the current nominee arrangements are in the best interests of the customer and their dependants
• Any negative consequences of the direct payment of the customer’s unqualified funds to the customer or payment nominee