Child Care Subsidy (CCS) payments and adjustments 007-17103124

Customers may contact Services Australia enquiring about a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) reconciliation or change of circumstance arrears payment.

Check the:

• Process Direct - Current Issues for any payment delivery issues, and
• DOC (DL) and Notes (NOTES) screens to confirm if payment lock should be removed

Is there a Payment Lock on customer's Payment Destination Summary (PAS) screen in Process Direct?

• Yes, go to go to Step 2
• No, procedure ends here

Check bank account details.

If the:

• customer confirms current bank account details are correct, go to Step 5
• the reason code displayed is:
• Bank details invalid, go to Step 3
• Wrong payment method, go to Step 4

Update bank details. See Change the payment destination.

• Tell the customer any eligible arrears may be offset against Child Care debts and any entitled payments will be received within 5-7 business days into their nominated bank account
• Document the customer’s record
• Procedure ends here

Note: payment lock can take up to 24 hours to be lifted.

Payment lock has been placed on the customer’s record as a payment nominee arrangement was ended, and no new payment destination details were provided at the time of cancellation.

• Update bank details. See Change the payment destination
• Raise an incident to ICT. Use Digital Assistant Roxy in Process Direct and include the following:
• 'Customer's record escalated as there is a ‘wrong payment method’ payment lock on the PAS screen'
• 'Remove payment lock’
• 'Bank account details have been confirmed'
• Go to Step 6

Raise an incident to ICT. Use Digital Assistant Roxy in Process Direct and include the following:

• 'Customer's record escalated as there is a payment lock on the PAS screen'
• 'Remove payment lock to issue arrears’
• 'Bank account details have been confirmed', and
• Arrears amount and date range

Go to Step 6.

ICT will:

• lift the payment, and
• issue any arrears payable to the customer's nominated bank account. The payment lock will no longer display on the PAS screen

Tell the customer:

• to allow 5-7 business days for payment to be made to their nominated bank account, and
• once completed, they can view their payment in online services

DOC the customer's record with:

• incident has been raised to ICT to remove the lock, and
• customer knows to allow 5-7 business days for the payment to be made

Procedure ends here.

Note: payment lock can take up to 24 hours to be lifted.

Before finalising the activity, check the assessment outcome is correct.

To check the outcome on the Assessment Result/SSP screen:

• navigate to the Planned Payments Table > Net Amount > Provider and Customer Entitlement Overview
• if the activity generates arrears over $10,000, a payment lock is applied. This is before any debt offsetting occurs. The amount payable to the customer's nominated bank account will be made after any applicable CCS debts are fully recovered

Note: for assessment outcomes for CCS, see Reviewing assessment outcome for Child Care Subsidy (CCS).

Seek LPS for technical support if required, see Tier 0 technical support - self-sufficiency.

If the assessment outcome has been checked and is correct, and any CCS arrears can be fully explained:

• finalise the activity. This will automatically refer the customer's record to ICT for review
• take note of the Transaction ID to include in the DOC
• a confirmation email may be received with the subject heading 'Delivered: Payment lock applied for CRN XXXX'

View the payment lock on the PAS screen in Process Direct. Payment locks created due to arrears over $10,000 will have:

• a lock image next to Benefit type, and
• Reason as 'CCS Entitlement Amt. Exceeds Limit'

If any arrears are payable to the customer after any debt offsetting has occurred, tell the customer:

• the completed update has been sent for checking to confirm the amount payable is correct
• allow 5-7 business days for payment to be made to their nominated bank account, and
• once completed, they can view their payment in online services

DOC the customer's record with:

• the completed update, including the Transaction ID
• the outcome, and
• confirmation that the 'Customer knows to allow 5-7 business days for the payment to be made'

ICT will:

• lift the payment, and
• issue any arrears payable to the customer's nominated bank account. The payment lock will no longer display on the PAS screen

Procedure ends here.

Where the Entitlement table displays a customer's percentage and number of hours, the Weekly Subsidy table:

• summarises the customer's entitlement for the week based on that entitlement and the session report received, and
• indicates if the entitlement was paid to the child care service or the customer

In Process Direct:

• Select Child Care Icon within the customer's record
• Expand the Weekly Subsidy twisty
• Use the Previous Period and Next Period buttons to navigate and view payments relevant to a specific week
• Select the date period to bring down a dropdown list to select a particular date period.
• The Child column shows
• names of children in the care of the individual, and
• a session report has been lodged for the date period
• The Enrolment ID column shows the enrolment ID of the child care service where the child has a CWA enrolment
• The Service column shows the name of the child care service where the child is enrolled
• The Service Payments column shows the amount of CCS or ACCS that was paid or any negative adjustments to the child care service for that date period and row of the table
• The Customer Payments column:
• shows the amount of CCS or ACCS that was paid or any negative adjustments to the customer for that date period and row of the table, and
• includes any withholdings amounts that have been withheld or adjusted
• The Total columns within the Service Payments and Customer Payments section shows a total of the amount of CCS/ACCS entitlement the customer or service has received for that row on the table. it also shows adjustments made for CCS and/or ACCS
• The Processed Date column indicates when the session was assessed/reassessed. This is not necessarily the date the payment was released to the service or customer
• The Hours Subsidised column shows the amount of hours child has attended the service within the week. There may also be negative adjustments made to the subsidised hours
• The Preschool Hours Subsidised column shows the total hours used against their preschool hours eligibility, if applicable
• The Below School Age column indicates if the child is below school age Y/N
• The Total row values on the bottom row is a final total of entitlement for the customer and service

The Resources page has an example of the Weekly Subsidy table.

CCS is generally paid directly to child care services and applied as a reduction to customer's fees.

However in some situations (such as delayed granting of a CCS claim or a reassessment of entitlement following a Change of Circumstances), the arrears will be made to the customer's nominated bank account.

• select Child Care Icon within the customer's record
• expand the Payments twisty
• the Posting date is the date when the payment was issued. (noting that once an activity or reconciliation has been completed it can take 1-2 working days for a payment to be posted). The customer will generally receive the payment in a minimum of 2 working days after the Posting date
• expand the relevant payment to view a breakdown of the payment

If unable to find the customer payment in Process Direct go to Customer First and:

• enter the customers CRN details
• select Financial Customer Care in Workspace and then select Payment List to view the payments

To see when the payment was issued, select the Payment Amount hyperlink and the Item Display will present, giving a breakdown of the payment.

Note: if a payment displays as a Returned payment, this will be automatically reissued when customer bank account details are updated in Process Direct. See Change the payment destination.

Go to the Weekly Subsidy table on the Child Care summary page. This shows:

• a customer's entitlement for a week, and
• where the payment would have been directed

If the payment is displayed under Service Payments it has been paid to the provider. Use the previous and next period navigation options to view payments relevant to specific period.

Note: the Processed Date field indicates when the sessions were assessed/reassessed. It does not necessarily reflect the date any payments were issued.

Customers can view CCS payments made to the provider by selecting the Child Care Subsidy submenu in their online account and:

• Child Care Subsidy Summary. This shows all CCS eligible children
• View Details for the relevant child. This shows a summary of the last payment made
• the View CCS Recent Payments to view payments made to the provider

Note: this provider payment history is only for the last three months.

Customers can also view CCS payments made to themselves by selecting the Child Care Subsidy submenu in the online account and:

• Child Care Subsidy Summary. This shows all CCS eligible children
• View Payment History then filter to identify all past payments

Service Officer has been allocated ZALL_CCS_RTN_PYMT to complete.

When selecting the work item, an error message ‘An error occurred that is preventing the workflow item from opening. Please exit the application and try opening the workflow item again.’ may present. If it does, go to Step 9.

This work item opens in Debt Management Information System (DMIS) in Process Direct.

A message will display:

'Please update the bank details using Customer Summary Screen (PAS screen) and then action manual refund or reallocate using Debt App.

Do you want to complete this work item? If you are completing the required action now click on the ''Complete now'' button, otherwise Cancel will leave the work item open.'

• Select Cancel
• Obtain customer’s CRN from DMIS screen
• Go to Customer First, enter CRN
• Check if payment is displaying on Payment List in Customer First to updated bank account

In Process Direct, go to the Customer Summary tile.

• Enter CRN
• Check the DOC (DL) and Notes (NOTES) screens to confirm if bank account has already been updated
• Check if a payment lock is displayed on the customer's Payment Destination Summary (PAS) screen

Is the payment lock still displaying on the PAS screen on the customer’s record?

• Yes:
• If the bank account has already been updated, go to Step 8
• For deceased customers, see Table 5, Step 7 in Reissue a payment returned from a financial institution - includes deceased customers
• Otherwise, contact customer. Go to Step 2
• No:
• Reopen work item via the inbox in Work Optimiser
• Select Complete
• Procedure ends here

Before contacting the customer, check if the customer is outside of Australia. If the Immigration Advised Movements (RSIM) screen indicates customer is outside of Australia, see Calling a customer or returning a customer's call.

Make one genuine attempt to contact the customer by phone to obtain updated bank account details.

If the customer is subscribed to Desktop Messaging, send a pre-call notification SMS through Desktop Messaging before calling them. For pre-call messages, allow a lead-in time of 5 minutes in case there is a delay sending the message.

Authentication must be successfully completed for every customer at every contact.

Staff must be certain the record belongs to the correct person before commencing to discuss CCS payment return.

See Centrelink customer authentication - quick guide.

Has the customer been successfully contacted and authenticated?

Yes:

• If after Q164 letter has been received, go to Step 7, otherwise
• go to Step 3

• No. If:
• contact is unsuccessful,
• no contact details are available ,or
• authentication was refused, then
• go to Step 6

Tell them their CCS payment has been returned from the bank due to their bank account details being either invalid or closed. To reissue the payment, their bank account details need to be updated.

Does the customer want to update their bank account details?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 5

Go to the Payment Destination workflow and update bank account details, see Change the payment destination. DOCument the customer record.

• Tell the customer:
• any eligible arrears may be offset against CCS debts, and
• any entitled payments will be received within 5-7 business days into their nominated bank account
• Reopen work item via the inbox in Work Optimiser
• Select Complete

Procedure ends here.

• Tell the customer:
• that any returned funds cannot be reissued until a valid bank account is provided
• any eligible arrears may be offset against Child Care debts
• to update their bank account details through their online services, or by contacting the agency on the main business line
• to allow 5-7 business days, after the account is updated, for the payment to be received into their nominated bank account, and
• they can then view their payment in their online services
• Create a Bank details required Display On Access (DOA) DOC. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > Payment Lock for Child Care Subsidy, and complete all fields
• Reopen work item via the inbox in Work Optimiser
• Select Complete

Procedure ends here.

• Record the following details on the customer’s record:
• What numbers were called (for example, ‘mobile number called’)
• The date and time of the call
• The result of the call (for example, no answer and no message facility, message left and details of the message)
• If customer has no contact details: include reason contact not attempted
• Send Q164 request to contact letter. See Creating a manual letter or Online Advice (OLA)
• Create a Bank details required DOA. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > Payment Lock for Child Care Subsidy, and complete all fields
• Reopen work item via the inbox in Work Optimiser
• Select Complete

Procedure ends here.

Refer to the Bank details required DOA DOC.

• Update bank details. See Change the payment destination.
• Tell the customer:
• any eligible arrears may be offset against Child Care debts, and
• to allow 5-7 business days for the payment to be received into their nominated bank account, and
• they can view their payment in their online services
• Expire the DOA DOC. See Table 4 in Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)

Procedure ends here.

• Raise an incident to ICT using Digital Assistant Roxy in Process Direct and include the following:
• 'Customer's record escalated due to payment lock on the PAS screen'
• 'Bank account details have been confirmed', and
• <Arrears amount and date range>
• 'Remove payment lock to issue arrears’
• DOC the customer's record that an incident has been raised to ICT to remove the payment lock for $ amount and date
• Reopen work item via the inbox in Work Optimiser
• Select Complete

ICT will:

• lift the payment, and
• issue any arrears payable to the customer's nominated bank account

The payment lock will no longer display on the PAS screen.

Procedure ends here.

When the message ‘An error occurred that is preventing the workflow item from opening. Please exit the application and try opening the workflow item again. If this problem persists consult IT.’ displays:

• Escalate the work item to mySupport - Use the Child Care Subsidy and Additional Child Care Subsidy Issues webform. Include the following:
• What is the Customer Reference Number (CRN)? enter Unknown (if CRN is unknown)
• Enter the Work item ID
• Complete all required fields and submit webform
• Place work item on Hold to User. See Table 6 in Work Optimiser for staff

Procedure ends here.