Voluntary Income Management and enhanced Income Management 103-01190000

Customers needed to request to be income managed and be eligible to participate in IM under the VIM measure before 4 September 2023, to have been eligible to enter into a VIM Agreement with the agency.

They also needed to:

• be in receipt of a category H welfare payment
• live in a declared IM area
• not have an excluded payment nominee for IM purposes

To be eligible for VeIM, a customer must:

• request and agree to enter into a Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement with the agency
• reside in a specific enhanced IM location
• receive an eligible (not CAN or CZR or SUS/IMP) qualifying payment
• not have an excluded payment nominee arrangement
• not be currently subject to, or eligible for another IM or enhanced IM measure

The customer cannot enter into a Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement if:

• an agreement was terminated by the customer within the last 21 days (the agency must not enter into another agreement with the customer within 21 days after the termination), or
• an agreement was terminated by the customer on 4 or more occasions during the 12 month period that precedes the date when the new agreement is to come into force

A customer’s correspondence nominee may request to enter the customer into a Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement.

To volunteer for enhanced IM, customers or their correspondence nominee must attend a service centre, visiting Remote Servicing team or call the SmartCard eIM hotline.

The customer can also get access to a temporary SmartCard during their visit, or the customer can call the SmartCard eIM hotline.

Note: if the customer resides in the Cape York and Doomadgee region, they cannot volunteer for enhanced IM through the agency. They must contact the Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC).

A compulsory period of 13 weeks applies when a customer enters a VeIM Agreement.

Customers or their correspondence nominee may request to terminate the VIM or VeIM Agreement at any time after completing the mandatory 13 week period, by contacting the agency.

Services Australia can also terminate the VIM or VeIM Agreement if certain events occur.

Customers that move out of location, will continue their participation under the rules of their originating location and remain on VIM or VeIM for the mandatory period. After the mandatory period, customers will remain on VIM or VeIM until they choose to terminate their voluntary agreement.

For more details, see Customer moves out of an Income Management (IM) or enhanced IM area.

• 50% of a customer's regular fortnightly eligible payment is quarantined
• 100% of lump sum and arrears payments are quarantined

There are specific payments that are not income managed.

A customer can be eligible for more than one IM or enhanced IM measure at the same point in time. In these cases, a hierarchy is used to determine which measure the customer will be subject to.

For more details, see Hierarchy and movement between Income Management and enhanced Income Management measures - Overview.

Customers on VIM whose payment is restored or re-granted with no payment gap are deemed to have maintained continuous eligibility for IM and may remain on VIM or enter into a Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement.

Customers on VIM whose payment is restored or re-granted with a payment gap must have their voluntary agreement ended. If the customer would like to continue to have their payments income managed, they must commence VeIM as a new customer by entering into a new voluntary agreement.

For more information, see Enhanced Income Management (enhanced IM).

If VIM is no longer suitable for the customer’s circumstances, customers can choose to end their VIM agreement at any time. For more information see: Disbursement interview for Voluntary Income Management.

Customers or their correspondence nominee can terminate their Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement at any time:

• if they moved from the Cashless Debit Card program to the enhanced IM program on 6 March 2023, or
• after the completion of the 13 week mandatory participation period

If a customer moves out of an enhanced IM location, enhanced IM will continue unless the customer requests to terminate their Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement.

If the customer wishes to terminate their agreement, they or their correspondence nominee may do so via the SmartCard eIM hotline, in person in a service centre, or with a visiting Remote Servicing team. The customer’s verbal request and agreement to the conditions of termination will be taken as their written notice to end their agreement.

After the customer or their correspondence nominee requests to terminate their agreement, and agrees to the conditions of termination, their participation in enhanced IM will end immediately, and their next payment will be paid to their nominated bank account.

Note: when a customer terminates their agreement, they may become eligible to participate in enhanced IM under a compulsory measure.

If the customer’s payment is suspended or cancelled while their Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement is active, they will be placed on the enhanced IM program again if that payment is restored or re-granted within 13 weeks of the suspension or cancellation date.

If the customer’s payment is suspended or cancelled for 13 weeks or more while their Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement is active, the customer or their correspondence nominee will need to request a new Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement to commence enhanced IM.

The agency can also terminate the Voluntary enhanced IM Agreement.

For more information, see Ending enhanced Income Management.