Income Management and enhanced Income Management for Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipients (VWPR) 103-01180000

Item

Scenario

1

Job seeker has no money for food

Bill is a job seeker aged 23 years on JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and has been on payment for the last 8 weeks.

Bill lives their grandfather who has a gambling problem.

Bill attends the local Alice Springs Service Centre to apply for an urgent payment as Bill’s grandfather has stolen Bill’s wallet. Bill tells the Service Officer they have not eaten in 2 days because they do not have any money for food.

A Display on Access DOC indicates Bill has a history of applying for urgent payments due to their wallet being stolen. The Service Officer is concerned Bill's grandfather may be stopping Bill from having enough money to pay for their essential expenses.

The benefits of volunteering for welfare quarantining are explained to Bill but they are not interested. Bill is offered assistance from a social worker.

The social worker meets with Bill and discusses strategies to improve their situation. After considering all options available, the social worker determines welfare quarantining would be the most beneficial for Bill and they are assessed as a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient. Bill is placed on VWPR Notice (social worker assessed) for 12 months.

Note: as the IM program has been closed to new customers since 4 September 2023, if the social worker determines welfare quarantining would be beneficial for Bill, they will commence on enhanced IM.

2

Customer owes rent to Housing Authority

Jodie is receiving the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and rents a unit from the State Housing Authority.

Jodie is 3 months in arrears with their rental payments and the State Housing Authority has sent a referral to Services Australia for Jodie to be assessed under the Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient measure.

The social worker meets with Jodie and discusses various options. Jodie was not assessed as a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient by the social worker, but regular Rent Deduction Scheme deductions were set up to pay arrears and ongoing rent commitments.

3

Unreasonable to Live at Home (UTLAH) payment granted

Adrian is a 17-year-old on Youth Allowance (YA) who has been granted the UTLAH rate of payment.

An automatic trigger will occur to commence Adrian on the VWPR Youth measure under the UTLAH category.

Adrian contacts the local Service Centre extremely distressed and says they do not want to be welfare quarantined. Adrian pays rent to friends and is about to become homeless because they do not want to have anything to do with Services Australia.

The Service Officer refers the customer to a social worker because they may be eligible for an exclusion as welfare quarantining may be detrimental to their wellbeing.

4

VWPR social worker assessed - Notice ends

John has been on JobSeeker Payment (JSP) for 14 months. Twelve months ago, a social worker determined John to be a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient and John’s Jobseeker Payment has been welfare quarantined for the last 12 months under the VWPR Notice measure.

When the Notice is due to end, the social worker reviews John's circumstances and decides not to issue a new Vulnerable notice.

However, as John meets the criteria under the Long Term Welfare Payment Recipient (LTWPR) measure, John will be identified by the system as eligible for welfare quarantining under that measure once the Vulnerable notice ends.

Note: as the IM program has been closed to new customers since 4 September 2023, John would commence enhanced IM under the LTWPR measure. John would be sent a letter advising they have commenced enhanced IM under the new measure.

5

VWPR Youth (UTLAH) - customer no longer a full-time student

Jill receives Youth Allowance (YA) at the UTLAH rate and was automatically identified for VWPR Youth (UTLAH) IM.

Two months after commencing IM, Jill became a full-time student and their welfare quarantining was ended, as they no longer met the eligibility requirements due to being a full time student.

Four months after ending IM, Jill dropped out of their studies.

As it has been less than 12 months since Jill first commenced VWPR Youth IM, they would commence enhanced IM as a new customer for the remainder of the 12 month period. This is because IM has been closed to new customers since 4 September 2023.

Note: this scenario also applies to customers placed on VWPR Youth (UTLAH and SpB) where it has not been 12 months since welfare quarantining first commenced:

• they stop being a full-time student or Australian Apprentice (only when they commenced full-time study or apprenticeship after welfare quarantining commenced)
• an exclusion is manually or automatically ended before the end of the 12 month period
• ineligibility coding for IM under the IIE (Incorrectly identified as eligible) or EPN (Excluded payment nominee) reasons is removed
• the higher measure to which they were transferred ends

The customer only needs to be receiving an eligible welfare payment and does not need to be living in a declared area for welfare quarantining to be reinstated.

6

VWPR Youth (CrP) - customer becomes a full-time student

Jack receives JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and was automatically identified for VWPR Youth (CrP) as they were granted a Crisis Payment (CrP) on release from prison.

Three months after commencing welfare quarantining, Jack became a full-time student and welfare quarantining was ended.

Two months after welfare quarantining ends, Jack dropped out of their studies.

Although it has been less than 12 months since Jack’s welfare quarantining first commenced, they are not reinstated on VWPR Youth (CrP) as it has been more than 13 weeks since they received the CrP which made them eligible for welfare quarantining.

Note: if the CrP which made them eligible for welfare quarantining was paid within the last 13 weeks, VWPR Youth (CrP) is reinstated when:

• the customer is no longer a full-time student or Australian Apprentice (where they became a full-time student or Australian Apprentice after welfare quarantining commenced)
• an exclusion is manually or automatically ended
• ineligibility coding is removed for the EPN (Excluded payment nominee) reason
• the higher measure to which they were transferred ends

The customer does not need to be living in an IM declared area or enhanced IM location, or under 25 for welfare quarantining to be reinstated.