Transferring undisbursed Income Management funds to the General Ledger Account 103-01050130

• To action a stale or stopped cheque, go to Step 2
• For Service Officers who have received a request to follow up a stopped or stale cheque, go to Step 9
• If IMPACT advised by the service centre that customer contact has been unsuccessful, and payment destination details cannot be obtained, see Table 3
• To action undisbursed funds for a deceased Income Management customer, see Table 2
• For delegated staff in the Zone to follow up on identification of a deceased customers Legal Personal Representative (LPR), see Step 3 in Table 2
• To transfer funds to the General Ledger Account, see Table 3
• When a request is received for funds to be reimbursed from the General Ledger Account, see Table 4

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Treasury send a 'stale and stopped customer cheques report' daily to the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT).

The report is sent to the RECOVERIES.IMPACT positional mailbox.

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Manually return the stale cheque. This coding is SAMS restricted and will automatically re-credit the customer's Income Management Account:

• Go to the Payment Summary (PS) screen
• Enter 'T' in the Sel field that aligns with payment to be returned, press [Enter]
• This will flow to the Return Payment (RTN) screen
• In the Notes field enter Stale cheque funds returned to customer's Income Management account. Journal number xxxxxxxxxx
• Finalise, this returns the funds to the Income Management account
• Record details on a DOC, including:
• why payment was returned (i.e. stale cheque)
• Treasury report details (date, number)
• date the original cheque was issued
• amount of cheque

Note: stopped cheques are already returned by IM Finance into customers Income Management account.

To identify whether a returned payment was credited to a customer's Income Management account 15 months prior to the date of the current stale cheque for the same amount, check the customers Income Management account to identify if the cheque becomes stale in 15 months' time, the funds will be transferred to the General Ledger Account if direct credit details are not available on the customer's record. This can be determined by viewing the customer's Income Management Account to identify whether a returned payment was credited to the account 15 months prior to the date of the current stale cheque, for the same amount.

Is this the second time a cheque has become stale?

• Yes,
• and direct credit details are available, go to Step 11
• and there are no direct credit details on the customers record the funds can be transferred to the General Ledger Account, see Table 3
• No, go to Step 5

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

If the customer is current on Income Management, the funds from the stale or returned cheque will be automatically re-credited to their Income Management account when the return payment coding is completed. Customers can access these funds as normal.

Is the customer current on Income Management?

• Yes, the funds will form part of their Income Management Account balance and the customer can access funds as usual. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 6

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Is the customer receiving an Income Support Payment or Family Tax Benefit payment?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Does the customer have a direct credit payment method for their primary Centrelink payment?

• Yes,
• Update the customer's payment destination for Service Reason 'GPY' to align with their primary payment
• From the Payment Destination Summary (PAS) screen, select 'GPY' to go to the Payment Destination Details (PAD) screen and update account details. See Changing payment destination
• Re-disburse funds to the customer by completing the Disbursements workflow. See Disbursement of funds when Income Management ends
• Record details in a DOC. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 8

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Before transferring undisbursed funds to the General Ledger Account, the agency must attempt to contact the customer to obtain payment destination details.

Send a Fast Note to Income Management Contact Officers (IMCOs) requesting they attempt to contact the customer to obtain payment destination details. Select Auto Text, use Income Management > Update > Undisbursed Income Management Funds.

Procedure ends here until IMCO advises outcome of contact.

On receipt of the Fast Note from IMPACT, the IMCO will make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer to obtain payment destination details.

Was contact with the customer successful?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, annotate the Fast Note with details of the unsuccessful contact attempt (including date and time), and finalise the Fast Note.
• Handoff to IMPACT by selecting Auto Text, use Income Management > Update > Disbursement of Income Management Funds, noting that the attempt to contact the customer was unsuccessful.

IMCOs are to ask the customer for direct credit payment destination details so funds can be disbursed.

Where the payment destination is 'cheque', IMCOs are to advise customers this is no longer a payment option and funds cannot be disbursed until direct credit details are provided. If the customer does not have a bank account make appropriate referrals (e.g. to a community organisation who can assist with opening a bank account).

Payment by direct credit:

Update the customer's payment destination for Service Reason 'GPY' with the direct credit details provided by the customer. See Changing payment destination.

Issue the residual funds to the customer by completing the Disbursements workflow. For more information see Disbursement of funds when Income Management ends.

Finalise the Fast Note, noting the outcome of contact with the customer.

Procedure ends here.

Residual funds:

In most cases, a deceased customer's residual funds are automatically disbursed as a lump sum when the Notification of Death workflow in Process Direct or the Notification of death guided procedure in Customer First is completed.

Residual Income Management funds cannot be automatically disbursed when:

• funds have been returned from a financial institution due to the customer's account being closed
• the agency has been advised the customer's bank account has been closed

In these cases, further follow up is required by the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT). Service Officers are to send a Fast Note  to IMPACT requesting follow up. Select Auto Text, use Income Management > Update > Disbursement of Income Management Funds. For more information see Death of an income managed customer.

Re-credited funds:

• Work Item 'I037Q1 - Death action on INM record. IMPACT action required' is created when the Notification of death is run. This prompts IMPACT to investigate expenses paid to Third Party Organisations (TPOs) within the last 12 weeks to determine whether a recall of any monies is required
• Work Item 'I103PI Customer deceased. IMPACT Team action only' is created when funds are credited to a deceased customer's Income Management account after the original residual balance has been paid out

When funds are re-credited to a customer's Income Management Account, IMPACT will investigate to determine the most appropriate disbursement method.

For more information see Death of an income managed customer and Income Management and BasicsCard Work Items.

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

When investigating how a deceased Income Management customer's funds are to be disbursed, IMPACT will refer to the Legal Personal Representative (LPR) or appropriate person/s finalising the estate or affairs of the deceased person (including family members) for instructions on how funds should be paid.

Has the LPR or appropriate person/s been located?

• Yes, disburse funds as instructed by LPR or appropriate person. Procedure ends here
• No,
• where this information is not available on the customer's record, send an 'Income Management Deceased Customer Referral Report' to the positional mailbox of the relevant Zone for attempts to be made to locate the customer's LPR or appropriate person/s finalising the estate or affairs of the deceased person (including family members)
• Once the 'Income Management Deceased Customer Referral Report' is completed and returned to IMPACT, go to Step 3

Delegated staff in the Zone will undertake all reasonable efforts to locate the deceased person's Legal Personal Representative (LPR) or appropriate person/s finalising the estate or affairs of the deceased person (including family members), irrespective of the amount to be disbursed.

All attempts, successful and unsuccessful, must be recorded in a DOC on the customer's record.

Reasonable efforts should take into consideration the following:

• Remote servicing schedules
• Accessibility to family members (e.g. unable to contact due to 'Sorry Business', vast geographical location of family members etc.)
• The challenges of verifying Indigenous kinship claims
• The need for involvement of specialist staff, such as Indigenous Specialist Officers and the availability of such staff
• Available evidence
• Time elapsed since notification of the customer's death
• Likelihood of any change to the current situation

Has the LPR or appropriate person/s been located?

• Yes,
• record details in a DOC on the customer's record. Complete the 'Income Management Deceased Customer Referral Report' and email the IMPACT team. Procedure ends here
• IMPACT update the customer's payment destination for service reason 'GPY' and disburse funds to the LPR or appropriate person as instructed by the relevant Zone. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 4

Once satisfied all reasonable efforts to locate the LPR or person/s finalising the estate or affairs of the deceased (including family members) have been exhausted, a delegate at the SO5 level or higher can make a decision that funds should be transferred to the General Ledger Account.

The reasons for making this decision must be clearly recorded in a DOC on the customer's record.

• A  Fast Note  is to be created  requesting the balance of the deceased customer's funds be transferred to the General Ledger Account. The logon of the delegate authorising the transfer must be included. Select Auto Text, use Income Management > Update > Transfer Funds to General Ledger Account
• Complete the 'Income Management Deceased Customer Referral Report', noting the request to transfer funds to the General Ledger Account has been sent via Fast Note. The completed form is to be emailed to the IMPACT team. Procedure ends here

IMPACT, see Table 3.

A customer's Income Management account balance can be transferred to the General Ledger Account when:

• an IMCO creates a stopped/stale cheque Fast Note to IMPACT advising the customer could not be contacted
• it is the second time a cheque has become stale for the customer
• the LPR or person finalising the estate or affairs of a deceased Income Management customer (including family member) cannot be located
• Income Management funds have been returned from a financial institution and no new payment destination details can be obtained from the customer
• the customer has been contacted, but they have stated they do not wish to receive the undisbursed funds, usually due to being a minimal amount.

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

From the Income Management menu in Customer First, select Account Adjustment. Complete the fields on the Account Adjustment screen:

• Date: This will default to today's date
• Adjustment Type: Select administrative error from the dropdown menu. (This option is to be used until system enhancements provide a dedicated adjustment reason)
• Journal reference: For stale and stopped cheques, enter the journey number in the report provided by Income Management Finance team. If no journal number is applicable to the adjustment, leave field blank
• Decision ID: Enter TFR to General Ledger Account
• Amount: The amount to be transferred to the General Ledger Account. This will be a negative amount
• Notes: Include any relevant details (e.g. Undisbursed funds - customer could not be contacted; original cheque issued xx/xx/xxxx; LPR could not be located etc.)

Select Finalise to complete the workflow.

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Send an email from the positional mailbox to IM.FINANCE requesting funds be transferred to the General Ledger Account.

At the end of each month, Treasury will transfer all requests to transfer funds from the IM Record bank account to the General Ledger Account.

Does the transfer relate to a deceased customer?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 4

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Create a Display on Access (DOA DOC) on the customer's record, using code CIM, with the following standard text:

• Subject: Income Management funds tfrd to GL Acct
• Payment returned on/cheque stopped on/stale cheque notified on [insert date]. Attempt made to contact customer on [insert date and time]. Date referred to Treasury to transfer funds to the General Ledger Account: [insert date]

If customer contacts, funds can be reclaimed by lodging an SF030 Notice to prepare a Refund Account form. See the Resources page for a link to the form and a sample form. Procedure ends here.

For the Income Management Payments and Contact Team (IMPACT)

Create a Display on Access (DOA DOC) on the deceased customer's record using code CIM. The following standard text is to be used:

• Subject: Income Management funds tfrd to GL Acct
• Decision made by (IMPACT APS 5/6 logon) to transfer Income Management (IM) account funds to the General Ledger Account. Reason: Attempts to locate Legal Personal Representative (LPR) or person/s finalising the estate or affairs of the customer (including family members) were unsuccessful. Refer to DOC [##/##/####]. IMPACT referred to Treasury to transfer IM funds to the General Ledger Account: [insert date]

If LPR or person finalising the estate or affairs of the deceased person (including family member) contacts, funds can be reclaimed by lodging an SF030 Notice to prepare a Refund Account form at a Centrelink service centre. See the Resources page for a link to the form and a sample form Procedure ends here.

A customer, or a Legal Personal Representative (LPR) of a customer, can request funds be retrieved from the General Ledger Account.

To access funds, a SF030 Notice to prepare a Refund Account form must completed

Note: when completing an SF030 for income managed purposes extra information is required to be included on the form. See the Resources page for details on how to complete the form and a sample SF030 form.

As indicated on the form, Service Officers and/or appropriate delegates are to prepare the SF030 Notice to prepare a Refund Account form and confirm the claimant's eligibility to receive the funds. See the Resources page for an example of the form and a link to the Financial Delegations Schedule 1 - To approve a commitment of relevant money table.

Note: In the Financial Delegations table, refer to column D12 'General Expenditure' and then to the Service Zone to see who is qualified to sign as the spending delegate.

To confirm the claimant is eligible:

• appropriate Identity Confirmation requirements must be met, and
• in the case of deceased customers, supporting evidence has been obtained and recorded on the customer's record as per usual business process when confirming the LPR or appropriate person finalising the estate or affairs of the customer (including family member)

The completed SF030 form is to be scanned onto the customer's record. The SF030 and a copy of the DOA DOC is to be sent via email to Accounts Payable Team for processing, with a copy to the Income Management Policy Helpdesk.

Service Officers completing and accepting the form are to annotate the original DOA DOC on the customer's record as follows:

• SF030 form lodged by (name of claimant) on [insert date]. Form sent to ACCOUNTS.PAYABLE.HELP (cc Income Management Policy Helpdesk) on [insert date]

Note: the DOA DOC is not to be closed until payment has been made to the claimant.

On receipt of the SF030, Shared Services (Accounts Payable) will pay the funds to the customer through SAP Essentials as an Administered payment to the claimant's nominated payment destination.

These payment requests are generally processed within 24 hours of receipt.

For the Income Management Policy Helpdesk.

As the refund of monies from the General Ledger Account are not visible on a customer's record, the Income Management Policy Helpdesk will monitor SAP Essentials to identify when funds have been paid. The first review will occur 2 days following the lodgement of the SF030 form.

When payment to the customer has been confirmed, the Income Management Policy Helpdesk will annotate and end date the original DOA DOC with information obtained from SAP GUI as follows:

• Amount paid to claimant: $[insert amount paid]
• Date paid: [insert date]
• Payment Destination: BSB/Account details
• Document No. (internal reference): [insert ESSentials reference]
• Clearing Document No. (claimant's reference): [insert from ESSentials 90xxxxxxx]