Effect on Income Management when payment is suspended, on zero rate, cancelled, or an Unemployment Non-Payment Period applied 103-01050080

When a customer, whose payments are income managed has their income support payment suspended, a serious failure period, or UNPP has been applied, or the customer has a current zero rate the customer's income managed expenses will be affected.

Income Management expenses will continue to be paid in most cases where the customer has available income managed funds.

Income Management expenses can be viewed under the 'Income Management' menu in workflow, by selecting 'Income Management summary'.

The Income Management summary screen will display 'Expense allocations scheduled' that are due to be paid from income managed funds.

The available balance confirms the amount of income managed funds remaining in the customer's Income Management account.

• For customers subject to a Non-Payment period, go to Step 2
• For Participation Solutions Team (PST) staff and Service Officers applying a compliance failure which will affect the customer's payment, refer to Effect of a compliance action on Income Management
• If the customer's payments have been suspended, or the customer has a current zero rate, and the customer is:
• not present, go to Step 3
• present, go to Step 4
• If the customer's payments have cancelled, go to Step 6

A customer in a non-payment period is still able to access their income managed funds as normal, providing their Income Management account has a credit balance and the allocations are for priority needs.

There are three likely scenarios for an income managed customer entering a non-payment period:

• If the customer has a nil balance remaining in their Income Management account, their allocations will not be made for the non-payment period
• Where the customer has a small balance that would soon be fully used if their normal deductions remain in place, allocations should be re-prioritised by modifying existing deductions (e.g. lowering the dollar amount of deductions), or make alternative personal arrangements to meet these priority needs
• Where the customer has a large balance, and has existing allocations in place, these deductions should be maintained, unless the customer advises to cease or change the existing allocations

Where the customer has not contacted to discuss the implications of the non-payment period, existing allocations should be maintained while their Income Management account balance remains in credit, and there is evidence that they are accessing their income managed funds.

When the non-payment period ends, new Income Management allocations will need to be created for the customer in line with their priority needs, or any temporarily suspended allocations resumed, on the advice of the customer.

When the customer's payments have been suspended or have a current zero rate, all Income Management allocations will continue to be paid until income managed funds are exhausted or Income Management ceases.

Important: Expenses should not be ceased while the customer is suspended or a zero rate applies without a discussion occurring with the customer.

Insufficient income managed funds will result in an undelivered expense, which should be discussed with the customer at the next contact. For further information refer to Undelivered expenses and actioning work items.

No action should be taken without the customer present.

Procedure ends here.

Are the customer's payments going to be restored during this assessment?

• Yes:
• For Service Officers trained in Income Management (IM), go to Effect on Income Management when payment is restored or re-granted
• For Service Officers not trained in IM, complete all business as usual, then transfer the customer to the IM Line.
• For Service Officers not trained in IM, seek assistance from a specialised Service Support Officer (SSO) (if available), or contact the Technical Support Line (select option 7)
• For Participation Solutions Team (PST) staff, complete the restoration of the customer’s payment and all associated PST business, then transfer the customer unannounced to the IM Line
• No, go to Step 5

Advise the customer Income Management expenses will continue to be paid until income managed funds are exhausted.

If the customer has sufficient funds they may request that expenses continue. The customer must be given access to these funds to meet priority needs even while the customer's income support payment is suspended.

Discuss with the customer current allocations and make any necessary changes. See Changes to Income Management expenses.

If the customer does not have any available funds, advise the customer Income Management expenses will not be paid during the suspension, or zero rate period to ensure they can make alternative arrangements.

DOC any relevant discussions.

Procedure ends here.

If you will be restoring the customer's payment, see Effect on Income Management when payment is restored or re-granted.

When the customer's payment is cancelled, Income Management will be automatically cancelled for the reason 'Customer either has no Trigger Payment or it has ceased'. A work item 'Income management has ended - review expenses and disbursement' will be generated prompting a disbursement interview to be conducted with the customer.

When Income Management ends, the expense allocations will continue to be paid for 14 days and then expense payments are automatically ended.

Before issuing remaining Income Management funds, Service Officers must be satisfied that the individual is not likely to become subject to Income Management again under the same or another measure within 60 days of cessation.

This can be viewed on the Income Management Summary screen under the IM menu:

• Notice/Agreement:
• If the customer has a current notice, the notice will be applied when the customer's payments are restored
• Compulsory/Vulnerable Income Management eligibility:
• This screen displays the customer's ongoing eligibility under a compulsory measure

The Auto Disbursement rules are used to disburse any remaining income managed funds 60 days after cancellation, if the customer has not contacted and completed a disbursement interview.

For more information see:

• Disbursement of funds when Income Management ceases
• Disbursement interview for Disengaged Youth (DEY) and Long Term Welfare Payment Recipient (LTWPR) Income Management
• Disbursement interview for Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipients (VWPR) Income Management
• Disbursement interview for Child Protection Income Management
• Disbursement interview for Voluntary Income Management

Procedure ends here.