Determining an exclusion from Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR Youth) Income Management and enhanced Income Management 103-01180080

Customers living in a VWPR IM area or enhanced IM location will be identified for VWPR Youth IM or enhanced IM if they are:

• aged under 16 years of age, and in receipt of a Special Benefit (SpB-USY)
• aged 16 years or over and in receipt of an independent rate of Youth Allowance (YA), Disability Support Pension (DSP) or ABSTUDY Living Allowance due to meeting the Unreasonable to Live at Home (UTLAH) criteria, or
• under 25 years and received a Crisis Payment (CrP) within the last 13 weeks due to release from prison or psychiatric confinement

Customers will not be identified for IM or enhanced IM if they are a full-time student or Australian Apprentice, or currently on Voluntary IM or Voluntary enhanced IM. For more information see Income Management and enhanced Income Management for Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipients (VWPR).

IM

Customers who have received less than 25% of their maximum basic rate of payment for at least 4 out of the last 6 fortnights will automatically be granted an exclusion from VWPR Youth IM.

Where an automatic exclusion has not occurred, customers can request to be assessed for an exclusion if they believe they meet the criteria. Manual assessment and coding of these exclusions is completed by IMEAT.

enhanced IM

Customers who have received less than 25% of their maximum basic rate of payment for at least 4 out of the last 6 fortnights will be granted an exclusion from VWPR Youth enhanced IM.

Customers who become a full-time student or Australian apprentice after commencing on VWPR Youth enhanced IM may be eligible for an exclusion from enhanced IM.

Where a customer has been identified for an exclusion or a customer contacts and requests to be assessed for this exclusion if they believe they meet the criteria, manual assessment and coding of these exclusions is required and will be completed by enhanced IM Service Officers who have additional access and undertaken training in manual processes.

Before referring a customer to a social worker for assessment of an exclusion from IM or enhanced IM, consider the customer’s current circumstances.

For more information see Exclusions for automatically triggered Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipients (VWPR) Youth Income Management or enhanced IM for Service Officers.

The assessment of an application for an exclusion is a point in time decision and is applied for a 12-month period.

Customers still eligible for welfare quarantining may need to re-apply for an exclusion after the 12-month period if their exclusion is not automatically re-granted for another 12-month period.

Where it is determined an exclusion has been applied incorrectly, the exclusion can be manually terminated by IMEAT for IM or manual processing Service Officers for enhanced IM and the customer may again be identified for welfare quarantining.

Normal review and appeal processes apply to exclusion decisions. This means customers can apply for a formal review of a decision to reject a request for an exclusion from VWPR Youth IM or enhanced IM.