Immediate payment by payment method Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card 003-10030020

In most situations, the maximum amount of an EBT card is $200. In many cases a much lower amount should be paid, if less is needed to meet the hardship.

However, if a Centrelink delay has occurred, a payment with a maximum of $1,000 can be paid by EBT card if the:

• NPP and RTGS are unavailable
• the customer cannot wait for a direct credit, and
• the customer's nominated bank account is not enabled for the NPP (see the Resources page for a list of banks that use NPP)

The customer must be paid the amount required to meet their immediate needs.

There is no payment limit for the amount that can be issued for:

• AGDRP and NZ DRP
• Crisis Payment
• hardship advance or anticipated payment

When issuing a Crisis and hardship payment to a customer, consider if both payments need to be on an EBT card. If possible, issue one payment on an EBT card and the other to the customer’s bank account via direct credit, NPP or RTGS.

EBT cards are payable in denominations of either $20 or $50. If the amount is not payable in these multiples, such as $10 or $30, round the amount up, not down, to make sure the customer's immediate need is met.

Customers must withdraw the entire amount loaded on the EBT card in one transaction.

Only use EBT if payment by direct credit, NPP or RTGS is not an option.

Customers requesting an urgent payment should be referred to a Smart Centre to make a request for an urgent payment. Customers can contact the Smart Centre either via:

• the Self Help phone or any available phone in the service centre (if attending the service centre), or
• a home, mobile phone or public telephone

Customers can also apply for an urgent payment due to exceptional and unforeseen circumstances only, using the IVR service or Centrelink online account. Customers using these services cannot request payment by EBT card. Only Service Officers can approve EBT cards.

In some circumstances, it is appropriate for the urgent payment request to be assessed at the service centre or by a Processing Team.

An EBT card should only be issued if:

• NPP and RTGS are unavailable
• The customer has been authenticated. Ask the customer to give identity documents including 1 photo identity document for a manual-visual comparison and/or ask questions from information on their customer record to verify Proof of Record Ownership. If the customer cannot confirm their identity or establish Proof of Record Ownership, do not issue the EBT. See Authenticating a Centrelink customer
• The customer advises a fee will be charged to get the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment. Services Australia no longer has access to information relating to the processing time or fees for RTGS payments
• The customer's bank account is overdrawn. Customers should still be able to access at least 90% of their income support payment when sent to an overdrawn account. See Protection of customer payments for more information
• The customer has not had a regular payment into the account (for example, reissue of returned payment or customer advises of new bank details). NPP and RTGS payments should only be issued to accounts if Services Australia has already issued a regular payment. Crisis Payments and Disaster Recovery assistance are exempt from this rule
• A Centrelink error has caused a delay in the customer's regular payment and payment cannot be made by NPP or RTGS, and payment by direct credit will make the customer's hardship worse
• EBT cards cannot be issued for urgent payments of Farm Household Allowance (FHA) or Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS). These payments can only be made by direct credit or RTGS

Note: Rural Agency/Remote Area service centres do not have access to EBT cards. Do not refer a customer to these sites to collect a payment. Due to the remote location of these sites, the method of payment is restricted to either direct credit, NPP or RTGS.

It is a requirement that the customer provides the agency with a payment destination so that payments can be delivered via direct credit, NPP or RTGS.

If a customer has a Managed Service Plan (MSP) in place on their record and is prohibited from attending a service centre, then alternative methods of delivery such as direct credit, NPP, RTGS or payment nominee may be more appropriate.

Check if the customer is eligible for an immediate payment:

• such as urgent payment, replacement payment, hardship advance or an Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP)/ex-gratia Disaster Recovery Payment (DRP)
• immediate payments cannot be issued if the customer's record is in the 'I' (overseas) environment
• after the Service Officer has made the decision to issue the immediate payment via EBT to the customer, a Record of Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card issue (SS292) must be completed and signed by the customer. A copy of the Issue Payment (IP)/Payment Details (PD) screen is to be attached to the SS292

Note: the SS292 should not be completed for immediate payments that have been rejected or when payment is approved via direct credit.

If this occurs, the customer is requesting a new urgent payment. As the customer has already had an urgent payment granted, they cannot request another urgent payment on the same day.

As Crisis Payments are assessed in Process Direct, see Table 2.

All other urgent payment requests must be processed via the Immediate Payment requests script.

The script will complete the activity and record a DOC including:

• any alternate help offered or referrals made
• the outcome and reason for the immediate payment request
• the documents or verifiable evidence given by the customer
• the amount and method of payment
• a reference to SSAA 1999 Section 55 (payment into bank account etc.) can be included, but as payment delivery is not the significant decision, it is not compulsory.

Note: the script will pause on the Issue Future Payment (IFP) screen to allow insertion of correct reason. See the Resources page for a list of codes. Key the correct code and press [Enter].Then select OK.

Was the script available?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, if system problems stop the use of the script, the payment must be manually coded. See Step 1 in Table 2

Make sure that the card has been activated before giving card and Personal Identification Number (PIN) to customer. An EBT card is activated when a message appears on the Activity List (AL) screen as follows: 'I001PL card activated for $xxx.xx'.

When making a payment by EBT card the Service Officer must:

• Check the EBT Card Summary (EBSM) screen to make sure that the card details (card number and amount) are recorded
• Check that the card number and amount show as an immediate payment on the Payment Summary (PS) screen
• Advise the customer to provide a bank account for future payments

If the payment issue is not resolved, discuss with Local Peer Support (LPS). Staff may need to refer to a Service Support Officer for further escalation to the Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST) via a mySupport webform.

The customer must sign a Record of Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card issue (SS292) form to acknowledge receipt of the EBT Card and PIN envelope.

Record the details of the identity document(s) or PORO in the relevant section of the SS292 form.
Note: attach a copy of the Issue Payment (IP)/Payment Details (PD) screen to the SS292 if this has not been done before.

• Issue a 'How to use your Electronic Benefits Transfer Card' (13240) factsheet to the customer. See the Resources page for a link
• Write the amount of the EBT card onto the factsheet. Tell customer that they must withdraw all of the money on the EBT card as soon as possible
• If customer has issues with opening a bank account, they should be offered help/referral as needed. See Alternative assistance for customers applying for immediate payment

Note: an EBT card must not be issued to the customer before the card being activated. An EBT card is activated once the following details are entered on the host payment system:

• issue amount
• payment method
• EBT card number
• EBT issue date

Once an EBT card is activated, it must be issued to the customer immediately.

EBTs should be issued using the Immediate Payments requests script. However, if the EBT is being issued for a Crisis Payment, or a system fault stops the script from running correctly, the EBT can be issued manually:

• open the Payment Summary (PS) screen in the customer's record
• key 'R' against the payment to be actioned, then press [Enter]
• the Issue Payment Select (IPPRE) screen will open. Select the type of issue payment from the list of options displayed, for example:
• 'S'elect Early payment from current pay period for an urgent payment, or
• 'S'elect Hardship Advance Payment for a hardship advance
• for the destination type, 'S'elect EBT and select Continue

Note: if deductions exist, these will be taken from the remaining amount.

All fields must be coded as follows:

• Issue Amt, key the amount to be paid. Note: this cannot exceed the Available Amt and the maximum EBT payment is $200 or $1,000 if payment was delayed due to agency/Centrelink error
• Reason, for Crisis Payment or Urgent Payment grants, use field help '?' to change the reason to:
• DEP - Departmental Delay (used for Urgent Payment)
• ECI - Extraordinary Circumstance (used for Urgent Payment)
• EXC - Exceptional and Unforeseen (used for Urgent Payment)
• FNL - Funeral Expenses (used for Urgent Payment)
• CRI - Crisis Payment (used for Crisis Payment only. Do not use for Urgent Payments)
• for any payment reason that falls outside the above, choose the most appropriate reason from the list in the field help. See the Resources page for more on reason codes
• Finished (Y/Q/N), key 'Y'
• EBT Card Num, key the EBT card number
• EBT Card Issue Date, key date of issue
• Notes, record the reason for the urgent payment. This will create a system DOC
• Source and DOR, complete and select Continue
• the urgent payment will be recorded on the Payment Summary (PS) screen

Go to Step 5 in Table 1.