Advance payments of Family Tax Benefit (FTB) 103-05040040

A partner or third party (who is not a correspondence nominee), although they might have permission to enquire, cannot claim an advance payment on behalf of the customer.

Direct customers to their online account, Express Plus Centrelink mobile app or the phone self service to:

• check eligibility and apply for an FTB advance payment
• determine when they are next eligible to apply for an advance payment
• receive details of previous advances including any outstanding balance

Customers may be unable to use digital channels due to one of the following reasons:

• are 'at Risk'
• have a nominee
• have a physical or intellectual barrier to using self managed services
• self service channels are currently unavailable (confirmed by NNU, Newsflash and Bulletins)
• are on a manual rate

While customers are strongly encouraged to use digital options, some customers may have other barriers that prevent this and should be helped to claim an advance payment.

Is the customer unable to use digital channels for these reasons?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 2

• Advance Payment online - see Advance payment options online. Note: the Services Australia website has an online tutorial for customers wishing to apply for an advance payment using their Centrelink online account
• Express Plus mobile app - see Services available via Express Plus Centrelink mobile apps
• Phone self service options - see Accessing and using Centrelink self service

The Resources page contains online tutorials to assist customers with claiming an Advance using digital channels, including Online services and Express Plus mobile apps.

Procedure ends here.

Where the customer is unable to use self service options, use one of the following:

• The Advance Payment workflow in Process Direct
• Manage Advances in Process Direct, or
• The Advance Payments workflow in Customer First

If the customer wants to:

• apply for an FTB advance payment and their rate is automatically calculated, go to Step 4
• apply for an FTB advance payment but are on a manual rate, if customer is otherwise eligible, refer to ICT Service Desk via mySupport. Use the form 'Support when assisting families'. Ensure all relevant information is recorded on the customer record. Procedure ends here
• cease their regular FTB advance payment arrangement. To complete this using Process Direct, see:
• Step 1 of Table 2 when using the Advance Payments workflow, or
• Step 1 of Table 4 when using Manage Advances

This procedure does not apply where the customer requests to:

• vary or suspend the repayment arrangement of an existing FTB advance, see Changes to the repayment rate of an advance payment
• make a lump sum repayment to an existing FTB advance payment, see Lump sum repayment of advance payment

Options are Regular or One-off FTB advance payment types:

• Are paid to the customer as a single lump sum
• The amount is negotiated with the customer, based on their financial circumstances (affordability) and eligibility
• Customers may have one or more one-off advances in place at any one time (including at the same time as a regular FTB advance payment)

• Are automatically paid to the customer and are set at the minimum FTB advance payment amount
• Customers can only have one regular FTB advance in place at any one time. A rejection message will show when a customer applies for a regular advance and already has a regular advance in place
• Once the advance payment period of 26 weeks has passed and the advance is paid in full another is automatically paid to the customer if they remain eligible
• Automatic payment of regular FTB advance payments will continue until the customer cancels the arrangement or entitlement is lost
• Customers can nominate a date up to 26 weeks (182 days) in the future as their first regular advance assessment day. A future regular advance will show as Pending Approval
• If the assessment day for a subsequent regular advance falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the assessment day will become the next available working day

To be eligible for a FTB Part A advance payment the customer must:

• receive FTB Part A for an FTB child via instalments (this includes FTB instalment customers who elect to defer part or all of their FTB Part A entitlement)
• not have an outstanding debt to the Commonwealth on the day they apply for the advance payment that can be recovered from their FTB payments (this can be checked on the Debt List (OPDL) screen)
• have an ongoing entitlement equivalent to at least the base FTB Part A rate payable for one child under 18 years of age
• have repaid in full (or have a balance less than $0.05) any previous FTB advance payments received more than 12 months ago (the Advance Payments Summary (AVCS) screen will show if previous advance payment details exist)
• have the minimum advance amount available

Note: there is no limit to the number of FTB advance payments that can be in place at any time.

Approved Care Organisations are not eligible for an FTB advance payment.

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, see:
• Table 1 on the Assisted - Process Direct tab when using the Advance Payment workflow, or
• Table 3 on the Assisted - Process Direct tab when using the Manage Advances

Identify the type and then select the appropriate option.

The Service Officer must first identify whether the arrangement is voluntary or involuntary:

• Select nominee arrangement from Nominee Link Summary (NOLS) screen
• The Basis: field should be VOL (voluntary) or INV (involuntary)
• The Nominee Relationship Summary (NORS) screen also shows the Reason for arrangement:
• for voluntary arrangements, this may be Voluntary, Voluntary Power of Attorney or Centrelink Appointed
• for involuntary arrangements, this may be Court Appointed or Involuntary Power of Attorney

• If a correspondence nominee or involuntary nominee has applied, process the claim. Annotate the DOC to indicate that the applicant was the nominee including the name of the person and the organisation if an involuntary nominee. Go to:
• Table 1 on the Assisted - Process Direct tab when using the Advance Payment workflow, or
• Table 2 on the Assisted - Process Direct tab when using Manage Advances
• If a voluntary payment nominee only or a third party who only has Person Permitted to Enquire (PPE) has applied, tell them that only correspondence nominees can apply on behalf of the customer. See Obligations of nominees for more details. Procedure ends here
• If the person applying on the customer's behalf is both a voluntary correspondence and payment nominee, treat them as a correspondence nominee

If the customer has applied and they have a:

• Voluntary correspondence or voluntary correspondence and payment nominee arrangement, if the Service Officer has concerns about the customer's capacity to understand what an advance payment is and their ability to make regular fortnightly repayments at the set rate, contact the nominee before processing the advance payment request. Details of contact must be recorded in a DOC
• Voluntary payment nominee only arrangement, contact with the nominee is not required
• Involuntary arrangement (usually will be with a State Trustee organisation), contact must be made with the organisation. The advance payment can only be approved with the nominee's permission. Details of the organisation and also person contacted must be recorded in the DOC. In most cases, the Trustee organisation will not approve an advance payment for the customer
• Go to:
• Table 1 on the Assisted - Process Direct tab when using the Advance Payment workflow, or
• Table 3 on the Assisted - Process Direct tab when using the Manage Advances

Tell the customer how often they can be paid an advance, so they have a chance to change the amount before any advance is finalised.

Go to the Customer Summary in Process Direct

• Select the Advance Payments workflow from the Task Selector
• On Advance Payments overview:
• Select the Advance payment type: field, select Family Tax Benefit Advance
• Select Next
• Family Tax Benefit Advance will show

Does a warning show?

• Yes, and the warning message shows:
• income managed, go to Step 2
• automatic rejection, go to Step 3
• nominee, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 10

When an income managed customer applies for an advance payment, the following message will show:

'This customer’s payment is subject to Income Management (IM).'

Tell the customer:

• any advance payment is 100% income managed (except for Special Employment Advance which is not subject to IM)
• the total amount of the advance will be paid to their Income Management account and not their nominated bank account
• payment of expenses or transfers to BasicsCard can be made once the advance payment has been credited to the customer’s Income Management account
• their fortnightly income managed funds will be reduced due to the compulsory advance repayments. This may cause an over allocation of funds resulting in undelivered expenses

If the customer wants to:

• continue with the application, and Work Item 'I064Q1-More than 100% of the Income Management fund is allocated' generates because of this activity, refer the customer to either:
• an IM trained staff member
• the Enhanced Income Management line
• withdraw the application, reject the claim by selecting Claim Withdrawn

See the Resources page for a link to Welfare Quarantining Programme Management Team.

Procedure ends here.

A warning message shows advising the customer's circumstances have been checked and automatic rejection reasons have been identified.

A rejection can only be overridden for the following rejection reason and circumstances.

• Rejection reason: POD - Person has an overpayment/debt

Can be overridden when:

• the debt has been repaid and is not yet updated on the system (and there is evidence the payment has been made such as an official receipt)
• the debt is less than 5 cents, or
• there is no debt

In Override rejection?, select Yes or No

If:

• Yes is selected, complete the following fields:
• Override rejection reason? :select the appropriate option
• Go to Step 5
• No is selected, complete the following fields:
• Reject/Withdraw claim?: select the appropriate option
• Select Next
• Advance payment application result will show
• Tell the customer the outcome of the advance
• Select Next
• Select Assess and address any errors/warnings
• Select Assess again, then select Finish
• Add additional notes if required
• Select Finalise
• Go to Step 4

If:

• Yes, go to Step 16
• No, procedure ends here

If the customer has a nominee, a warning message and details of the nominee arrangement will show.

Does the customer have a nominee?

• Yes, and the arrangement is for:
• an Involuntary Nominee, go to Step 6
• a Voluntary Nominee, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 10

The nominee must be contacted and give approval before any advance being granted. See Table 2 in Advances

Has the nominee been contacted and approved the advance?

• Yes:
• Who did you speak to?:enter the details
• Go to Step 10
• No:
• A warning message will show advising the customer is unable to apply for advance
• Reject/Withdraw claim? Automatically defaults to Claim Withdrawn
• Select Next
• The Advance payment application result page will show
• Tell the customer the outcome of the advance
• Select Next
• Select Assess and address any warnings or errors on the Errors (SWE) screen by ticking the relevant box. The error message should link to the applicable screen. For help, see Using Digital Assistant Roxy in Process Direct
• Select Assess
• Review the Entitlements (ELD) screen for correct entitlement
• Select Finish
• Review the pre-filled DOC and add any more details, such as any conversations
• Select Finalise to complete the transaction
• Procedure ends here

Customers who have voluntary nominee arrangements are not prevented from applying for an advance payment but if the staff member considers the customer does not understand how having an advance will reduce their fortnightly payment, then contact nominee (if possible) before granting the advance. See Table 2 in Advances.

Does this customer understand the impact on their payment of having the advance?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 8

A warning message will show prompting Service Officers to consider contacting the nominee.

Has the nominee been contacted and approved the advance?

• Yes, complete the question set to continue with the workflow. Go to Step 10
• No, a warning message will show advising the customer is unable to apply for advance:
• Reject/Withdraw claim? Automatically defaults to Claim Withdrawn
• Select Next
• The Advance payment application result screen will show. Tell the customer the outcome of the Advance
• Select Next
• Select Assess and address any errors/warnings
• Select Assess again, then select Finish
• Record details of the update
• Select Finalise
• Go to Step 9

If:

• Yes, go to Step 16
• No, procedure ends here

The Family Tax Benefit Advance will show.

Update the following fields:

• Date of processing: the date will pre-populate with date of contact
• Payment type: pre-populated based on the advance type selected on the previous screen
• Via which contact channel is the customer requesting the Advance?: select from the options
• Please choose payment frequency of Family Tax Benefit Advance: select either:
• One Off advance, then go to Step 11
• Regular Advance, then go to Step 13

The first assessment question determines if the customer can afford to repay the advance payment without being placed in financial hardship.

Ask the customer to think about their current fortnightly expenses to determine how much they can afford to repay for the next 26 weeks (13 fortnights).

If the customer cannot afford to repay the minimum amount the claim will be rejected.

The amount the customer may apply for will change depending on the fortnightly repayment amount entered.

Use the Hardship explanation table to help the customer work out their regular expenses and how much they can afford to repay each fortnight. See What should be included when the customer is working out their available funds? for details of what are regular expenses.

Update the following fields on the Family Tax Benefit Advance screen:

Thinking about your current fortnightly income and expenses; how much do you have left to repay your advance at the end of every fortnight?: enter the amount in the text field

• If the customer advises of an amount that would not allow repayments for the minimum advance amount, the following pop-up will show:
• Based on your current circumstances, you are not eligible for the minimum advance allowed, therefore the Advance will be rejected
• The Reject/Withdraw claim? field will show Cannot afford repayments as the rejection reason
• Tell the customer they are not eligible for an advance payment as they cannot afford to meet the repayments
• Go to Step 15
• If the customer advised of an amount that would meet at least the minimum repayment amount the following pop up will show:
• ‘Based on your current circumstances, you may apply for between $xxx.xx and $xxx.xx’
• How much do you want to apply for? enter the advance payment amount the customer wants to apply for
• Go to Step 12

Read the customer the following and confirm they understand:

• Your future payment will be reduced for the next 13 fortnights by:
• the system will calculate and pre-populate this field
• This will be on-going until the advance amount is fully repaid:
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood
• If your payment stops before you have repaid the Advance, you will have to repay the amount still owing:
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood
• If your payment stops before you have repaid the Advance, you will have to repay the amount still owing:
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood

Go to Step 15.

The first assessment determines if the customer can afford to repay the advance payment without being placed in financial hardship.

Ask the customer to think about their current fortnightly expenses to determine how much they can afford to repay for the next 26 weeks (13 fortnights).

If the customer cannot afford to repay the minimum amount the claim will be rejected.

The amount the customer may apply for will change depending on the fortnightly repayment amount entered.

Use the Hardship Explanation table to help the customer work out their regular expenses and how much they can afford to repay each fortnight. See What should be included when the customer is working out their available funds? for details of what are regular expenses.

Update the following fields on the Family Tax Benefit Advance screen:

Thinking about your current fortnightly income and expenses; how much do you have left to repay your advance at the end of every fortnight?: enter the amount in the text field

• If the customer advises of an amount that would not allow repayments for the minimum advance amount, the following pop-up will show:
• Based on your current circumstances, you are not eligible for the minimum advance allowed, therefore the Advance will be rejected
• The Reject/Withdraw claim? field will show Cannot afford repayments as the rejection reason
• Tell the customer they are not eligible for an advance payment as they cannot afford to meet the repayments
• Go to Step 15
• If the Customer advised of an amount that would meet at least the minimum repayment amount the following pop up will show:
• ‘Based on your current circumstances, you may apply for between $xxx.xx and $xxx.xx’
• How much do you want to apply for? enter the advance payment amount the customer wants to apply for
• Ask the customer the date they wish the FTB regular advance to be paid on and update the Regular advance start date field
• Go to Step 14

Read the customer the following and confirm they understand:

• You can have only one regular advance at any one time. If you remain eligible further regular advances will be paid automatically 26 weekly. You can stop this arrangement at any time:
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood
• Your future payment will be reduced for the next 13 fortnights by:
• the system calculates and pre-populates this field
• This will be on-going until the advance amount is fully repaid:
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood
• If your payment stops before you have repaid the Advance, you will have to repay the amount still owing:
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood

Go to Step 15.

Complete the following:

• Reject/Withdraw Claim? (leave blank if not rejecting the claim)
• Select Next to continue
• The Advance payment application result page will show
• The advance amount
• If the advance is in instalments
• The date the advance will be repaid
• The repayment amount
• Tell the customer the outcome of the Advance
• Select Next to continue
• The Warnings and Errors (SWE) screen will show. Address any errors/warnings
• Select Assess
• The Entitlements (ELD) screen will show
• Key ‘PS’ in the Super Key, select Enter
• The Payment Summary (PS) screen will show
• For a one-off advance, the advance will show the expected delivery date
• For a regular advance, the details will only show if the payment is granted today
• Select Execute to view and confirm the advance payment will be paid
• Select Finish. Add additional notes if required
• Select Finalise to complete the workflow

Procedure ends here.

Refer the customer to financial management support services if the FTB advance payment has been rejected due to:

• affordability (HAR)
• less than minimum advance amount available (LMA)
• reduced or suspended recovery in place for any advance payment (RSR)
• the customer is repaying an FTB advance payment granted more than 1 year prior (ROA), or
• the customer has had 4 or more FTB advance payments granted or rejected within the previous 6 month period

If a customer cannot afford the minimum advance amount the request for advance will be rejected for Hardship (HAR) and an indicator for Commonwealth Financial Counselling (CFC) referral will be displayed:

• If a customer chooses Yes to a CFC referral:
• a message 'please refer to Operational Blueprint 003-11020000 to set up a referral to the Commonwealth Financial Service for this customer' will be displayed. See Helping customers to build their financial capability
• a keyword FINHAR will be included into the DOC by the system
• If a customer chooses No to a CFC referral, no message will be displayed and no keyword will be included into the DOC by the system

Go to the Customer Summary in Process Direct:

• Select the Advance Payments workflow from the Task Selector
• Select Next

Advance payments overview will show.

On Current advances:

• Select the most recent regular FTB advance that has been paid from the advance payment types:
• Select Modify

The Modify Advance payment window will show:

• Indicate if the request is being made by phone, mail or in person
• Under Change Action select Cease Regular Payment
• Do you want to discontinue this advance? Select 'Yes'
• Select Save
• Assess through to the ELD screen and select Finalise on the Finalise Doc

If cease/discontinue advance in Process Direct is unavailable, action in Customer First. See Table 2 on the Assisted - Customer First tab.

Tell the customer how often they can be paid an advance, so they have a chance to change the amount before any advance being finalised.

• Run the Manage Advances action in Process Direct
• From the Customer Summary screen, select > Manage Advances

Manages Advances will open with the Overview screen.

The Overview screen will provide the following options:

• Customer information
• Advance payment overview (this shows the next possible advance date)
• Current advances
• Previous advances
• Recent lump sum payments

Does the customer wish to proceed with applying for an advance payment?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, reject claim for advance (claim withdrawn - 'WDR'). Procedure ends here

Under the Claims tab:

• Select Apply for Advance
• Select advance type

The Advance Details screen will show.

Does the customer have a nominee?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

If the customer has a nominee the following questions (A,B and C) will show:

• A. Have you checked if there are any restrictions preventing the issue of an Advance before continuing?
• Yes, question B will show
• No, reject claim - reason HAR. Tell the customer advance cannot be granted. Procedure ends here
• B. If nominee is involuntary, has the nominee approved the advance?
• Yes, question C will show
• No, reject claim - reason HAR. Tell the customer advance cannot be granted. Procedure ends here
• C. Name and phone number of person contacted. (Note: this screen also appears for voluntary nominees)
• If involuntary nominee arrangement - enter the name of organisation and contact person and their phone number
• If voluntary nominee arrangement - if nominee has been contacted, enter details. If contact with nominee is not required, code 'not required'

Go to Step 4.

Is the customer eligible for an advance payment?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 5

If customer is ineligible the following will show:

• Advance type (this will populate from advance type selected on previous screen)
• Channel
• Rejection reason (this will be populated by the system)
• Override rejection (yes/no answer required)

Is rejection to be overridden?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, select Submit to finalise if rejection is not to be overridden. Process Direct does not record a DOC for the rejection. Manually create a DOC with details of why the request was rejected. Go to Step 6

Refer the customer to financial management support services if the FTB advance payment has been rejected due to:

• affordability (HAR)
• less than minimum advance amount available (LMA)
• reduced or suspended recovery in place for any advance payment (RSR)
• the customer is repaying an FTB advance payment granted more than 1 year prior (ROA), or
• the customer has had 4 or more FTB advance payments granted or rejected within the previous 6 month period

Procedure ends here.

A rejection can only be overridden for the following rejection reason and circumstances.

• Rejection reason: POD - Person has an overpayment/debt

Can be overridden when:

• the debt has been repaid and is not yet updated on the system (and there is evidence the payment has been made such as an official receipt)
• the debt is less than 5 cents, or
• there is no debt

On the Advance Details screen complete:

• Advance type (this will populate from advance type selected on previous screen)
• Channel
• Rejection reason (this is to be left blank if not rejecting the claim)

The first assessment question determines if the customer can afford to repay the advance payment without being placed in financial hardship.

Ask the customer to think about their current fortnightly expenses to determine how much they can afford to repay for the next 26 weeks (13 fortnights).

If the customer cannot afford to repay the minimum amount the claim will be rejected.

The amount the customer may apply for will change depending on the fortnightly repayment amount entered.

Use the Affordability question set to help the customer work out their regular expenses and how much they can afford to repay each fortnight. See What should be included when the customer is working out their available funds? for details of what are regular expenses.

Customers may have one regular advance and several one-off advances in place as long as the total amount of the advance payments does not exceed their maximum FTB advance payment amount.

The maximum FTB advance payment amount is subject to the FTB advance payment ceiling.

The customer will only be offered an advance amount that they can afford, based on their financial circumstances, even though they may be eligible to claim a greater amount.

Note: regular FTB advance payments are set at the minimum FTB advance payment amount.

The determined amount will be based on the affordable repayment amount and the days in the advance period. The advance repayment period is generally 26 weeks, however where it is known that the customer's FTB entitlement will cease within that time, a shorter repayment period may apply.

Ask the customer how much they wish to apply for and enter this amount.

The workflow will assess basic eligibility for an FTB advance payment.

The workflow will complete an online Note.

If the customer's advance payment is to be:

• granted, go to Step 12
• rejected, go to Step 13

Read the customer the following and confirm they understand:

• 'If your payment stops before you have repaid the Advance, you will have to repay the amount still owing, do you understand'?
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood
• 'Your future payment will be reduced for the following 13 fortnights by XXX'
• the system will calculate and pre-populate this field
• 'This will continue until the advance amount is fully recovered, do you understand this arrangement'?
• select the box to confirm the customer Understood

If the customer has requested a regular advance, confirm the following

'You can only have 1 regular advance at any 1 time. Subsequent regular advances, if you remain eligible, will be paid automatically every 26 weeks. You can stop this arrangement at any time'

If the customer answers yes to all the above statements, select Submit.

Go to Step 14.

Refer the customer to financial management support services if the FTB advance payment has been rejected due to:

• affordability (HAR)
• less than minimum advance amount available (LMA)
• reduced or suspended recovery in place for any advance payment (RSR)
• the customer is repaying an FTB advance payment granted more than 1 year prior (ROA), or
• the customer has had 4 or more FTB advance payments granted or rejected within the previous 6 month period

If a customer cannot afford the minimum advance amount the request for advance will be rejected for Hardship (HAR) and an indicator for Commonwealth Financial Counselling (CFC) referral will be displayed:

• If a customer chooses Yes to a CFC referral:
• a message 'please refer to Operational Blueprint 003-11020000 to set up a referral to the Commonwealth Financial Service for this customer' will be displayed
• a keyword FINHAR will be included into the DOC by the system
• If a customer chooses No to a CFC referral, no message will be displayed and no keyword will be included into the DOC by the system

Procedure ends here.

Process Direct does not record a DOC for the grant of an advance payment. Manually create a DOC with details of why the request was granted. Include:

• Amount granted
• The amount the customer advised was available after paying regular expenses
• If the customer has a nominee, if the nominee was contacted (name of person contacted, that they approved the payment of the advance)

Tell the customer:

• Centrelink online account and Express Plus applications can be used to view their FTB advance payment details
• The amount of the FTB advance granted and that it will be credited to their bank account within 2 working days
• The advance payment start and end date
• The amount to be deducted from their ongoing FTB payments to repay the advance payment. If a customer is repaying additional FTB advance payments each one will have its own reduction amount and these will make up the total reduction. If the customer chose to defer all FTB Part A, their fortnightly rate will now be equal to the advance payment repayment amount

Note: when running the Advance Payments claim process for Income Management customers, check the advance payment on the Payment Summary (PS) screen after finalising the activity. The advance is identified as being income managed by the $0.00 amount in the $Net payment column.

Funds will be credited with the nightly payment strip and available in the Income Management account the next day. This means customers who are granted an advance on a Friday can access these funds on the weekend using self service options to transfer to their BasicsCard. For more details, see:

• Coding Income Management expenses and
• Transfer of funds between Income Management Account and BasicsCard online

Issue appropriate receipt advising the customer of the decision and FTB advance information.

Issue a verbal receipt to the customer.

Give the customer the choice of receiving an immediate printed receipt or a letter by mail or online letter advising them of the decision and information of their advance. If the customer is not given an immediate receipt, it is to be placed in the classified waste and not posted. A copy can be reprinted at a later date. See Viewing or reissuing a letter or electronic message.

Grant letters are no longer sent to customers with the exceptions of customers with a nominee, under 18 years of age or who are income managed.

• Run the Manage Advances action in Process Direct
• From the Customer Summary screen, select > Manage Advances

Manages Advances will open with the Overview screen.

Select Current advances.

Select the most recent regular FTB advance that has been paid from the advance payment types.

• Select Discontinue advance
• Indicate if the request is being made by phone, mail or in person
• Do you want to discontinue this advance? Select 'Yes'
• Select Submit

Process Direct does not record a DOC for ceasing a regular FTB advance payment. Manually create a DOC with details of why the future payment was ceased.

If cease/discontinue advance in Process Direct is unavailable, action in Customer First. See Table 2 on the Assisted - Customer First tab.

Run the Advance Payments workflow.

The Advance Payment Overview page shows information on the customer's current and historical advance payments (includes FTB and other advance payment types). Use the Ready Reckoner to tell the customer advance repayment amounts for specific advance amounts.

Select Family Tax Benefit Advance from the advance payment types.

Customer not qualified:

• A warning will show if the workflow determines that the customer is not qualified for an advance payment. This may happen at any point during the assessment
• The workflow will end and will automatically reject the application
• If the warning shows that the person has a debt or outstanding balance, check the details on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS) and the Document List (DL) screens to determine if a debt is still outstanding

If the customer is identified 'At Risk', before the application is processed, check the customer fully understands the consequences of taking an FTB advance, including that there will be a reduction in their fortnightly FTB rate for 13 fortnights after the advance is paid.

Note: when an income managed customer applies for an advance payment, a message will show. Read the information to the customer and make sure they understand before proceeding with the workflow.

Indicate if the application is being made via phone, mail or in person.

Override Rejection

Staff can override rejections due to a debt. This field will default to the No option upon generation of the screen. The rejection can be overridden when:

• the debt has been repaid and is not yet updated on the system
• the debt is less than 5 cents, or
• there is no debt

If the customer meets one of the above criteria, select the 'Yes' option and input any further details.

Type of FTB advance payment

Select the payment frequency of the FTB advance payment. The options are One-off or Regular FTB advance payment:

• One-off FTB advance payments
• Are paid to the customer as a single lump sum
• The amount is negotiated with the customer, based on their financial circumstances (affordability) and eligibility
• Customers may have one or more one-off advances in place at any one time (including at the same time as a regular FTB advance payment)
• Regular FTB advance payments
• Are automatically paid to the customer and are set at the minimum FTB advance payment amount
• Customers can only have one regular FTB advance in place at any one time. A rejection message will show when a customer applies for a regular advance and already has a regular advance in place
• Once the advance payment period of 26 weeks has passed and the advance is paid in full another is automatically paid to the customer if they remain eligible
• Automatic payment of regular FTB advance payments will continue until the customer cancels the arrangement or entitlement is lost
• Customers can nominate a date up to 26 weeks (182 days) in the future as their first regular advance assessment day. A future regular advance will show as Pending Approval
• If the assessment day for a subsequent regular advance falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the assessment day will become the next available working day.

Terminology: before 1 July 2011, automatic FTB advance payments were known as 'continuous' FTB advance payments. From 1 July 2011, these advances are known as regular FTB advance payments.

The first assessment question determines if the customer can afford to repay the advance payment without being placed in financial hardship.

Ask the customer to think about their current fortnightly expenses to determine how much they can afford to repay for the next 26 weeks (13 fortnights).

If the customer cannot afford to repay the minimum amount the claim will be rejected. The amount the customer may apply for will change depending on the fortnightly repayment amount entered.

Use the Affordability question set to help the customer work out their regular expenses and how much they can afford to repay each fortnight. See What should be included when the customer is working out their available funds? for details of what are regular expenses.

Customers may have one regular advance and several one-off advances in place as long as the total amount of the advance payments does not exceed their maximum FTB advance payment amount.

The maximum FTB advance payment amount is subject to the FTB advance payment ceiling.

The customer will only be offered an advance amount that they can afford, based on their financial circumstances, even though they may be eligible to claim a greater amount.

Note: regular FTB advance payments are set at the minimum FTB advance payment amount.

The determined amount will be based on the affordable repayment amount and the days in the advance period. The advance repayment period is generally 26 weeks, however where it is known that the customer's FTB entitlement will cease within that time, a shorter repayment period may apply.

Ask the customer how much they wish to apply for and enter this amount.

The workflow will assess basic eligibility for an FTB advance payment.

Assessment of affordability (HAR)

The workflow will assess if the customer meets the advance eligibility based on affordability and the minimum advance amount.

The workflow will prompt the affordability question:

'Thinking about your current fortnightly income and your expenses, how much money will you have left to repay your advance at the end of every fortnight?'

If a customer cannot afford the minimum advance amount the request for advance will be rejected for Hardship (HAR) and an indicator for Commonwealth Financial Counselling (CFC) referral will show.

• If a customer chooses Yes to a CFC referral:
• a message 'please refer to Operational Blueprint 003-11020000 to set up a referral to the Commonwealth Financial Service for this customer' will be displayed
• a keyword FINHAR will be included into the DOC by the system
• If a customer chooses No to a CFC referral, no message will be displayed and no keyword will be included into the DOC by the system

The workflow will complete an online DOC.

If the customer's advance payment is to be:

• granted, go to Step 6
• rejected, go to Step 7

Tell the customer:

• Centrelink online account and Express Plus applications can be used to view their FTB advance payment details
• The amount of the FTB advance granted and that it will be credited to their bank account within 2 working days
• The advance payment start and end date
• The amount to be deducted from their ongoing FTB payments to repay the advance payment. If a customer is repaying additional FTB advance payments each one will have its own reduction amount and these will make up the total reduction. If the customer chose to defer all FTB Part A, their fortnightly rate will now be equal to the advance payment repayment amount

Note: when running the Advance Payments workflow for Income Management customers, check the advance payment on the Payment Summary (PS) screen before finalising the activity. The Advance is identified as being income managed by the $0.00 amount in the $Net payment column.

Funds will be credited with the nightly payment strip and available in the Income Management account the next day. This means customers who are granted an advance on a Friday can access these funds on the weekend using self service options to transfer to their BasicsCard. For further information see, Coding Income Management expenses and Transfer of funds between Income Management Account and BasicsCard online. Issue appropriate receipt advising the customer of the decision and FTB advance information.

Issue a verbal receipt to the customer.

Give the customer the choice of receiving an immediate printed receipt or a letter by mail or online letter advising them of the decision and details of their advance. If the customer is not given an immediate receipt it is to be placed in the classified waste and not posted. A copy can be reprinted at a later date. See Viewing or reissuing a letter or electronic message.

Grant letters are no longer sent to customers with the exceptions of customers with a nominee, under 18 years of age or who are income managed.

The workflow automatically rejects an FTB advance payment if the customer is not eligible. Tell the customer that they are not eligible for an FTB advance payment and advise the reason for the rejection.

Applicable FTB advance payment automatic rejection reasons show within the workflow and also on the Advance Payment Result (AAR) screen once the advance request is recorded on the Request Advance Details (AVR) screen.

Refer the customer to financial management support services if the FTB advance payment has been rejected due to:

• affordability (HAR)
• less than minimum advance amount available (LMA)
• reduced or suspended recovery in place for any advance payment (RSR)
• the customer is repaying an FTB advance payment granted more than one year prior (ROA), or
• the customer has had four or more FTB advance payments granted or rejected within the previous 6 month period

Issue a verbal receipt to the customer.

Give the customer the choice of receiving an immediate printed receipt or a letter by mail or online letter advising them of the decision and information of their advance. If the customer is not given an immediate receipt, it is to be placed in the classified waste and not posted. A copy can be reprinted at a later date. See Viewing or reissuing a letter or electronic message.

Grant letters are no longer sent to customers with the exceptions of customers with a nominee, under 18 years of age or who are income managed. Procedure ends here.

Run the Advance Payments workflow.

Select the most recent regular FTB advance that has been paid from the advance payment types:

• Select Modify
• Indicate if the application is being made via phone, mail or in person
• Do you want to change the outstanding balance? Select No

Select Cease regular advance request from Reject/Withdraw Claim? drop down list:

• Select Continue
• Finalise the activity