Supporting People at Risk (SPaR) Income Management and enhanced Income Management 103-01200000

When a SPaR referral Notice is lodged by an approved referring authority, a Services Australia Income Management Contact Officer (IMCO) will determine if the customer meets the eligibility criteria to remain on the IM program or commence enhanced IM.

Where a continuation notice is received for a current SPaR IM customer, without a gap in the notice and from an approved referring authority, the customer may remain on IM. Where there is a gap in the notice period, or the customer is on IM or enhanced IM under a measure lower on the hierarchy, or the customer’s payments are not currently welfare quarantined, the customer will be placed on enhanced IM.

SPaR IM and SPaReIM are compulsory, however, an approved referring authority  contact worker can revoke the notice at any time.

The partner of an enhanced IM customer will not automatically commence enhanced IM. However, the approved SPaR authority may refer both partners where they believe the customers will benefit from enhanced IM.

SPaR is available for the approved referring authority to refer customers located in the Northern Territory only.

A SPaR notice can be for a period of 3, 6, 9, 12 or 24 months. The notice can be extended if the approved referring authority believes this would benefit the customer.

The approved SPaR authority can request IM or enhanced IM be ceased at any point in time by sending a Revocation of Income Management or enhanced Income Management.

A customer must be in receipt of an eligible welfare payment to be eligible for welfare quarantining under the SPaR measure. The customer or their partner must be in receipt of the following dependent on whether they are welfare quarantined under IM or enhanced IM:

IM: A customer or their partner must be in receipt of a category H welfare payment and category I welfare payment (other than instalments of ABSTUDY).

Enhanced IM: A customer or their partner must be in receipt of a Category A payment under enhanced IM. Customers may also receive a secondary category B payment. These will also be quarantined at the same percentage as their Category A payment.

The following payments are income managed under this measure:

• 70% of a customer's regular fortnightly eligible welfare payment is quarantined
• 100% of ABSTUDY (with Living Allowance or Pensioner Education Supplement) payments
• 100% of lump sum payments are quarantined

There are specific payments that are not quarantined.

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. SPaR is ranked third on the hierarchy, only behind the Child Protection and Cape York measures.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) administers payments which are 'Category H' (IM) and therefore recipients of these payments may be eligible for SPaR IM.

The DVA trigger payments are:

• Service Pension
• Income Support Supplement
• Defence Force Income Support allowance (DFISA)
• Age Pension paid by DVA
• Veteran Payment

DVA customers are subject to the same IM rules as Services Australia customers. The task of providing this service to these customers is controlled by the Memorandum of Understanding between DVA and Services Australia.

It will be necessary to confirm that the customer receives one of the DVA eligible payments and that they reside in an area where the relevant measure applies. An Income Management Contact Officer (IMCO) will handle all DVA cases.

The Income Management Contact Officer (IMCO) is responsible for liaising with an approved referring authority about customers referred to Services Australia for IM or enhanced IM.

• Action any requests from an approved referring authority received through the Business Hub
• Be the single point of contact to receive any referrals for IM or enhanced IM sent by approved referring authorities
• Once a customer has been identified, determine if the customer meets all eligibility criteria under the SPaR measure
• Explain how IM or enhanced IM operates, including how to access quarantined funds.
• For IM customers, manage the customer's IM funds to assist them in meeting their and their family's priority needs
• Provide the customer with enhanced IM program, account and SmartCard support whilst they are on enhanced IM, including referring customer to internal and external support services
• Contact the approved referring authority 35 days prior to the end of the IM or enhanced IM notice period to discuss whether IM or enhanced IM should be extended or ceased
• Undertake further reviews/contact during the IM or enhanced IM period as appropriate
• Facilitate the flow of information between Services Australia and the approved referring authorities in relation to the referred customer, for example, change in address or changes in payment

The approved referring authority will:

• make a request for Disclosure of Information (DOI) with Services Australia. This request for disclosure allows the referring authority to gather information to help them decide if a referral for IM or enhanced IM is appropriate
• advise the customer/s they are going to be referred to Services Australia for welfare quarantining under the SPaR measure and explain what this means, including expected duration
• provide Services Australia with a Notice to Commence Income Management or enhanced Income Management for the customer. The notice will include contact details and duration of IM or enhanced IM
• provide Services Australia with a Revocation of Income Management or enhanced Income Management notice if it is to cease before the end of the original period stated in the Notice to Commence Income Management or enhanced Income Management
• advise Services Australia of any changes in the family's circumstances that may impact upon IM or enhanced IM

A customer can request a review of the approved referring authority's decision to refer them to Services Australia for IM or enhanced IM. See Reviews of Income Management and enhanced Income Management decisions.

In this case, Services Australia will refer the customer back to the approved referring authority where regular internal review processes should apply. The approved referring authority will provide customers with information on their review and appeal rights.