Manual follow up (MFU) review of circumstances to identify vulnerability after payment suspension and cancellation 008-03130050

Check the customer's record to review if the status of the payment related to the MFU has changed (restored, cancelled or customer is deceased):

In Customer First, check the:

• Benefit Status (XBS) screen (PEN or NSS system)
• Pension Status History (PNSH) screen (PEN system)
• Allowance/benefits history (ABH) screen (NSS system)
• Document List (DL) screen to see if any DOCumented contact by the customer/nominee or from Service Australia about the payment suspension or cancellation exists

If the payment status has:

• changed, (for example, payment is now restored, cancelled or customer has died) since the MFU was created, see Table 2 > Step 3 to finalise the MFU.
• not changed, check for a DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN or other DOCs related to the MFU allocated. If there are:
• previous DOCs relating to the MFU, go to Step 2
• no previous DOCs relating to the MFU, go to Step 3

The customer/nominee is responding to a Request to contact (Q164) letter about this process because they did not have phone details recorded or attempts to contact them were unsuccessful.

Staff must:

• check if the customer/nominee has no telephone details recorded, discuss this with them and update if appropriate
• review each annotation in the DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN, go to Step 7

Review all DOCs and action the MFU. Where:

• a second contact attempt may be required, go to Step 7
• the customer and/or nominee has:
  • provided requested documents within the required timeframe. From Workspace > select Document Tools under Quick Links - review scanned documents provided and go to Step 14
  • not responded to the request for information (RFI) letter (previously issued as part of the MFU process) within the required timeframe, go to Step 8
  • not responded to the Q164 (previously issued as part of the MFU process) and the MFU becomes due, go to Step 13

Refer the case to Centrelink International Services (CIS) when the:

• MFU has generated, and
• customer resides overseas

Check the Country of Residence (CRES) screen to see if the customer is already recorded as residing outside Australia.

If the current country of residence is:

• not Australia, the customer resides overseas
• Australia, check if this needs updating. See Deciding if a customer is residing in Australia

If the Service Officer decides that a change of residence is required, before sending to CIS:

• Code the new country of residence on the CRES screen, and
• DOC that decision

If the customer now resides in Australia, a referral to CIS is not required.

Does the customer reside overseas?

• Yes, refer the case to CIS, use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Centrelink International Services > Update > Investigate SUS/CAN reason:
• Include the following:
  MFU activity with the keyword SUSVULFU has been cancelled
  Referred to CIS as customer resides overseas
  • Do not close DOC
  • Non-CIS staff, see Table 2 > Step 1 to cancel the MFU
  • CIS staff who are allocated the Fast Note, continue with this process to action the activity, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 4

Check the status, reason code and date of effect (DOE):

• Service reason summary (SRS) screen (PEN or NSS system)
• XBS screen (PEN or NSS system)
• PNSH screen (PEN system)
• ABH screen (NSS system)

Locate the activity in Customer First:

• go to the Event Summary (ES) screen
• find the suspension/cancellation activity, and
• check the requirements for payment to be restored, see:
  • Cancellation, suspension and rejection codes for Disability Support Pension (DSP)
  • Cancellation, suspension and rejection codes for Carer Payment (CP)
  • Cancellation, suspension and rejection reason codes for Age Pension

Review any evidence that shows the customer has contacted Services Australia, provided required details, rescheduled or attended a required appointment and/or returned any required documentation:

• From Workspace > select Document Tools under Quick Links - review scanned documents
• Check the DL screen for any DOC supporting customer contact or provision of requested documents, and
• Check Online diary, to confirm if the customer has rescheduled or attended any appointments

Go to Step 5.

Check the customer's record for any Managed Service Plan (MSP) servicing restrictions including an assigned Personalised Services Service Officers (PSSO) or Zone One Main Contact (OMC)/Back up One Main Contact (BOMC).

To check if managed by PSSO or OMC/BOMC:

• Open the Managed Service Plan and select the General Details tab
• Under the Restrictions section, and the Channel Phone, select View note

The option in this note indicates if there is PSSO management or Zone OMC/BOMC:

• Personalised Services - Customer must call OMC/Backup on PS 1800 312 004, option 1 - not to be served by Smart Centre
• Zone One Main Contact - Customer must call OMC/Backup on PS 1800 312 004, option 2 - not to be served by Smart Centre

If the customer is:

• not being managed by a PSSO or OMC/BOMC, go to Step 6
• being managed by a PSSO or OMC/BOMC, select the relevant section below

Contact the PSSO, see Referring customers to and handling customer enquiries and correspondence for Personalised Services.

If the PSSO/OMC:

• advises they will follow-up the SUS/CAN with the customer:
  • Add a DOC on the record: Vulnerable customer SUS/CAN
  • Add extra details to advise the MFU was allocated, and it has been reassigned PSSO to contact customer about SUS/CAN
  • Reassign the Workload Management (WLM) activity to the PSSO. See Work Optimiser for staff
  • Procedure ends here for processing staff
• is not available and contact with Personalised Services is made by email:
  • Hold the MFU for 2 business days
  • Add a DOC on the record: Vulnerable customer SUS/CAN
  • Add extra detail in the DOC that Personalised Services has been emailed to follow-up contact with the customer about SUS/CA
  • Procedure ends here for processing staff

OMC, see Managed Service Plan (MSP) - Customer service delivered through a One Main Contact (OMC).

If the OMC/BOMC:

• is not available or advises they will follow-up the SUS/CAN with the customer:
  • Add a DOC on the record: Vulnerable customer SUS/CAN
  • Add extra details to advise the MFU was allocated, and it has been reassigned to OMC or BOMC to contact customer about SUS/CAN
  • Reassign WLM activity to the OMC/BOMC in Work Optimiser. See Work Optimiser for staff
  • Procedure ends here for processing staff
• advises processing staff the work item can continue:
  • Get their advice on required action/s
  • Confirm if the Service Officer should advise the OMC of the outcome of the work item
  • Document the record clearly based on this advice, adding a DOC to the record: Vulnerable customer SUS/CAN
  • Continue processing the work item based on the advice of the OMC/BOMC. Go to Step 6

Is the suspension/cancellation reason 'CFP - fail to claim foreign payment'?

• Yes, refer the case to CIS, use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Centrelink International Services > Update > Investigate SUS/CAN reason:
  • Include the following:
    MFU activity with the keyword SUSVULFU has been cancelled
    Referred to CIS as customer resides overseas
  • Do not close DOC
  • Non-CIS staff, see Table 2 > Step 1 to cancel the MFU
  • For CIS staff allocated the Fast Note, see:
    Table 2 > Step 2 in Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension, and Foreign Pension System (FPS) status and reviews for details about the Comparable Foreign Payment (CFP) claim process, requirements and exemptions.
    Go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 7

Can the payment be restored?

• Yes, go to Step 14
• No, go to Step 8

Staff must:

• check the customer's record to determine if the customer may be experiencing vulnerability and/or be at risk. For help, see Identifying customer vulnerability and risk issues
• consider the customer's circumstances and the impact these may have when making contact, or if contact cannot be made with customer and/or nominee

Indicators may include:

• A history of mental illness
• Intellectual disability coded on the Medical Conditions (MC) screen
• Recent grant of Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• DSP (Blind) and Age Pension (Blind)
• Homelessness or an identified risk of becoming homeless
• A lack of or disconnection from supports and community
• Frail or aged
• Residing in residential care or a care assessment has been completed (RCA/CUR)
• Vulnerability indicators
• Circumstances impacting compliance
• Recent hospitalisation, including of a carer or care receiver
• Recent grant of Carer Payment (CP)
• In a bereavement period
• Nominee arrangements
• Weekly payment arrangements
• A history of incidents of aggression
• Family and domestic violence

If the:

• MFU has been allocated, go to Step 9, or
• Customer has contacted to respond to a Q164, go to Step 11

Staff must:

• when phone contact details are recorded, make genuine attempts to contact the customer/nominee to discuss their circumstances
• if the customer/nominee is subscribed to Electronic Messaging (EM) and where available, issue a pre-call SMS before each contact attempt. To check their EM subscription, see Electronic Messaging and Online Letter Services (EMOL) screen
• document all contact attempts, interactions and follow up in a DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN

When:

• the contact attempt is successful, go to Step 11
• the first contact attempt is unsuccessful on all available numbers for the customer and nominee if applicable:
  • Hold the MFU until the next working day when a second contact attempt will be required, see Table 2 > Step 2
• both contact attempts have been unsuccessful, or there are no phone details for customer and/or nominee, go to Step 10

Issue a Request client to contact (Q164) letter to the customer, and correspondence nominee (if applicable):

• When:
  • the customer has no contact details, or
  • all attempts to contact the customer and/or nominee have been unsuccessful
• Annotate the DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN with the reason for the request. If a DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN has not been created, create a DOC
• Hold the MFU for the required time to respond. See Table 2 > Step 2:
  • Procedure ends here until the customer contacts, or MFU becomes due

Restoration of the payment may be possible when the customer's qualification for payment has been re-established.

When contact is successful, staff must explain the reason for suspension or cancellation and discuss what is needed to restore payment.

Where evidence previously requested has not been provided or the evidence provided does not meet requirements, ask the customer to provide the requested evidence/information within 24 hours. The MFU will be placed on Hold for an assessment to be made about restoration when this again allocates to staff. Requesting information be provided within 24 hours allows staff to quickly assess if payment can be restored.

If there have been any changes in the customer's circumstances, record these before restoring payment to avoid incorrect arrears being generated.

For help, refer to the relevant payment restoration file to establish if there are payment specific requirements:

• Restoration of Age Pension
• Restoration of Carer Payment (CP)
• Restoration of Disability Support Pension (DSP)

Can the payment be restored in this contact?

• Yes, go to Step 14
• No, see below

Can the customer provide evidence/information within 24 hours?

• Yes, tell the customer/nominee:
  • to upload documents using their Centrelink online account or their Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
  • they can provide the details at their local service centre
  • if they do not provide the evidence within 24 hours, their payment will remain suspended or cancelled
  • Hold the MFU for 2 business days, see Table 2 > Step 2
• No, go to Step 12

Where the customer is required to attend an appointment:

• Follow the relevant process to rebook the appointment or ask the customer to rebook appointment
• Tell the customer if they do not attend the rebooked appointment, their payment will remain suspended or cancelled
• Hold the MFU for 14 days, see Table 2 > Step 2
• Add a DOC titled Vulnerable customer SUS/CAN and add text to advise details of contact with customer and rebooked appointment

Go to Step 15.

Tell the customer/nominee if:

• they do not provide the evidence; their payment will cancel (if the payment is currently suspended) or remain cancelled
• any further information is required that has not previously been requested, a verbal request for additional information is being made and they will have 14 days (28 days if overseas) to provide the information. See Requesting information (CLK)

Hold the MFU. If this is for:

• the first contact attempt, see Table 2 > Step 2
• a second contact attempt:
  • Annotate the DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN with full details of the discussion
  • Hold the MFU to the due date of the RFI
  • procedure ends here until customer responds or MFU falls due

If the customer and/or nominee does not respond to the Q164, action based on the customer's circumstances. Staff must check to ensure sufficient time to respond has been given. See time allowed to respond. If the MFU has come off hold before sufficient time to respond has passed, see Table 2 > Step 2 to place the MFU on hold until the appropriate date.

The customer:

• is experiencing vulnerability and/or at risk, go to Step 16
• not vulnerable and/or at risk:
  • annotate the DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN - detail the lack of response to the Q164
  • select the MFU activity from the Activity List (AL) screen and finalise via the Assessments Results (AR) screen
  • payment will remain suspended or cancelled and no further manual intervention is required until the customer contacts
  • procedure ends here

Follow the below details to decide if the payment can be restored.

Staff must check if the customer:

• is under income management (INM on the Benefit Status line). If INM is present, and if the restoration will result in eligibility to arrears:
  • contact the Income Management Contact Officers (IMCO) to allow income management to be turned on for the arrears payment.
    Do not make any changes to the record before contacting the IMCOs
• has received a Crisis Payment (CrP) in the period the change is applied, as a manual reassessment of CrP may be required. For more details, see Reviewing and reassessing Crisis Payment (CrP)
• is having trouble accessing their Centrelink online account, Express Plus Centrelink mobile app or Centrelink phone self service to report their employment income or other change in circumstances. See Troubleshooting Centrelink self service
• has DSP suspended and commenced working more than 30 hours per week. See Commencing or returning to work or self-employment Disability Support Pension (DSP)

Refer to the relevant payment Operational Blueprint file to help with completing restoration actions in the customer's record:

• Restoration of Age Pension
• Restoration of Carer Payment (CP)
• Restoration of Disability Support Pension (DSP)

Was a DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN previously created in the MFU?

• Yes:
  • annotate the DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN with: 'refer to Restoration DOC dated DDMMYYYY for full details of restoration'
  • select the MFU activity from the AL screen and finalise via the AR screen
  • procedure ends here
• No, see Table 2 > Step 1

Tell the customer/nominee:

• To assess if their payments can be restored, they need to provide all requested documents/information within 13 weeks of the date of suspension/cancellation advice
• To make sure payments are reviewed, they should make contact once they have lodged the documents/information to request a review of the suspension/cancellation, and
• If they do not provide the evidence/information, the payment will cancel (if the payment is currently suspended) or remain cancelled

If the:

• MFU is placed on Hold waiting for the customer/nominee to provide information/evidence or for them to attend an appointment, procedure ends here
• customer advises they cannot provide the requested information/evidence, attend a required appointment or contact with the customer has been unsuccessful, go to Step 16

Staff must review the customer's record and assess the level of risk.

After taking all reasonable action, consider using the most appropriate resource below for the customer's circumstances to re-engage.

• Staff must follow the correct referral process, and make sure the referral is appropriate, based on the customer's circumstances
• All specialist referrals must include:
  • the payment SUS/CAN reason
  • the date payment will CAN if currently SUS, or the date from which payment can no longer be restored
  • action required if the customer wants the payment to be restored (if applicable), and
  • the identified vulnerability/risk

Referral resources for customers residing in Australia

• Social worker, see Referral to a social worker
• Multicultural Service Officer (MSO), see Multicultural Service Officers (MSO)
  Note: requiring an interpreter is not a sufficient reason to refer a customer to an MSO, other vulnerabilities/risk must be identified
• Community Engagement Officer (CEO), see Community Engagement Officers (CEO)
• Indigenous Services Officer (ISO), see Specialist staff for Indigenous customers
• Customer Critical Response Team (CCRT), see the Resources page
• For more details about Specialist Officers and other supports, see Specialist Officers and other internal supports for customers

Referral resources for customers residing overseas

• Social worker, see Referral to a social worker
• Customer Critical Response Team (CCRT), see the Resources page

Was a DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN previously created in the MFU?

• Yes:
  • annotate the DOC titled Vulnerable Customer SUS/CAN with full details of the discussion with the customer
  • select the MFU activity from the AL screen and finalise via the AR screen
  • procedure ends here
• No, see Table 2 > Step 1