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Payment delivery overview, including payment delivery processing times 103-03000000

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This document outlines how Services Australia delivers a variety of payments on behalf of a range of government agencies.

Government intent

The agency delivers payments to customers on either a weekly or fortnightly basis, depending on the customer's circumstances. All payments are passed to the Reserve Bank of Australia, (RBA), who then transfers the payments to the customer's financial institution (e.g.a bank, building society, or credit union).

It is important to remember that payments paid via the EMG, ERP, FHA, some GPY, and NSS system are delivered the next business day, payments via the COS and SVB systems are delivered in 3 business days, and all other payments (e.g. FAO, PEN, PGA, etc.) are delivered to the customer's account in 2 business days.

Payment destination

A payment destination is the account details used to deliver payments to the customer’s account. The account must be owned and operated by the customer, or an account they have legal access to (either solely or jointly). It is a requirement that all payments must be paid to a bank building society, or credit union account unless an exemption has been granted, Customers can request that their payment be made to a payment nominee This request must be made via a payment nominee arrangement and the request must be in writing.

For more information, see:

Payment methods and processing (strip) times

Used Payments can be delivered via the following payment methods:

  • Direct credit
  • Priority direct credit:
    • Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card
    • New Payments Platform (NPP)

Real Time Gross Settlement Payment (RTGS) For payments delivered via the direct credit payment method Service Officers must ensure the activity, including QOL/QMA if selected, is completed by the relevant payment processing time. Where the activity is not completed in time, or was completed outside of business hours, the payment will be processed the next business day.
See Resources page for payment processing (strip) and deliver times.

Payments delivered via the EBT card or NPP payment methods are delivered in real time, i.e. the activity can be completed during or outside business hours, including weekends and national public holidays.

For payments delivered via the RTGS payment method, Service Officers must ensure the activity including QOL/QMA if selected, is completed by the relevant RTGS processing times. Where the activity is completed outside of business hours, i.e. after 3:00pm AEST, weekends, and national public holidays, the payment will be processed the next business day.

For more information, see:

Holiday Processing

Holiday Processing allows for payments that are due to delivered on or around a national public holiday to be processed and delivered to customers earlier, to avoid any potential financial hardship.

For more information:

Entitlement Period End date (EPED)

The EPED is the customer’s payment’s processing (strip) date, not the payment’s delivery date. All customers will have an EPED, which is the last day of their entitlement period

The customer’s payment cycle is identified via the EPED code, (EPEDC) corresponding to each working day in a fortnight period (A, B, C, D, E, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). These can be found in the Centrelink Payments Calendar to determine the delivery day of a payment.

Customers receiving an income support payment and Carer Allowance, Family Tax Benefit, or Double Orphan Pension can also choose to offset their payments, so they are received on alternating weeks.

For more information, see:

Rejected payments

A payment may reject (REJ) due to the following reasons:

  • Rejected due to payment system and arrears limit reached
  • Rejected by the Payment Utility
  • Rejected by the financial institution

Each payment system has a limit on how much can be delivered in a payment. If the payment amount is higher than the limit, the system will reject the payment. These will need to be reissued in smaller amounts, and potentially over several business days.

Payments rejected by the Payment Utility will be automatically reissued via the NPP payment method and does not require any further action.

For more information see:

Returned payments

A financial institution may return (RTN) a payment for a number of reasons, the most common are:

  • the BSB and/or account number is incorrect
  • the account is closed
  • the financial institution has been requested to return the payment (see Request for Refund)

If a payment has been returned and the customer is entitled to the payment, the returned payment can be reissued once the payment destination is updated.

For more information see:

Request for Refund (RFR)

A Request for Refund (RFR) can only be initiated if the payment was incorrectly delivered to an account the customer does not have legal access to (either solely or jointly), or after the death of a customer.

When an RFR is initiated, a letter is sent to the financial institution requesting the return of the full amount to Centrelink. If the full amount, cannot be returned, the financial institution is requested to return any portion that remains in the account and provide the name and address of the account holder. This information is used to raise a debt against the incorrect recipient (i.e. the account holder) for the remaining amount. If the full return is not received in 28 days, a debt shell is automatically created.

For more information see:

Reissuing payments

If it has been determined that a payment was made to an account the customer does not have legal access to (either solely or jointly),or a payment was not received, the payment can be reissued so that the customer is not put into financial hardship (e.g. after a Request for Refund has been initiated).

For more information, see:

Code of Operation

The Code of Operation is a non-legally binding agreement between Services Australia, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and many financial institutions. It ensures customers will have access to at least 90% of their income support payment when their account is overdrawn. This is to ensure customers can access basic food and accommodation for themselves and their families and is not left in a vulnerable position.

For more information see:

Payments to customers overseas

Customers who leave Australia permanently can receive their payments via additional payment options, depending on the country they reside in. These customers can receive their payments:

  • into an Australian payment destination
  • into an overseas payment destination (for some countries)
  • by cheque (or some countries where payments into an overseas payment destination is not possible)
  • by overseas payment voucher (OVP) (in exceptional circumstances only)

For more information, see:

Payment reconciliation

Payment reconciliation is an automatic process performed daily to check that the payments calculated for customers, match the actual payments issued by the system. If a discrepancy is identified between calculated entitlement and the actual payment delivered, a work item will be created on the customer’s record for staff to review and ensure the customer has not been under or over paid.

Common reasons for a payment reconciliation discrepancy are:

  • Customers reporting late
  • Advance, arrears, or urgent payments
  • Weekly payments
  • Holiday Processing

For more information, see:

Frequency of payments

Payment deductions