Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) reviews 065-08020060

Most HEAS reviews are generated automatically with some requiring manual action. Manual HEAS reviews are actioned by Complex Assessment Officers (CAO) in the Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) National processing team.

A customer's Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) circumstances must be checked by staff at every contact including manual HEAS reviews for Quality Assurance purposes, to ensure that when changes occur there are no payments made to the customer to which they are not entitled due to eligibility and qualification of a HEAS loan.

As part of HEAS reviews, update HEAS secured property details as required:

• Where the CLK Loan Property Ids on HEAS/PLS screen and Centrelink Property ID(s) on Real Estate/Business Identifying (REBI) screen are incorrect or do not match
  Note: where there are multiple Centrelink Property IDs used as security for a HEAS loan, ensure the CLK Loan Property IDs on HEAS/PLS screen are separated by a comma. For example: CLK Loan Property Ids S999999999, S123456789
• Where the Current Market Value and Mortgages/Loans fields on the customer’s Real Estate Details (RE) screen are inconsistent with HEAS/PLS screen - Loan Security value and Deductions fields. This will ensure payment accuracy for HEAS loan customers and reduce the risk to recovering the HEAS loan. For more information, see Security for the Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS)
• Where the HEAS loan secured property recorded on the Real Estate Detail (RE) screen has been deleted and there are no other RE summary pages, CAO must record the customers HEAS loan secured property information
• Where a HEAS customer’s Real Estate Detail (RE) screen – has an Asset Valuation Source field equal to CLI, VAL, AVO or IDX and the Current Market Value field is zero, a CAO must determine if a new valuation is required
• Where a HEAS customer’s Real Estate Detail (RE) screen has an Asset Valuation Source field equal to CLI, VAL, AVO or IDX and the Actual Valuation Date is greater than 3 years. CAO must determine if a new valuation is required

Note: if Complex Assessment Officers (CAO’s) requires assistance in determining the above updates to a HEAS customers record, use Technical Peer Support (TPS) in the first instance. If further assistance is required escalate to the Level 2 Policy Helpdesk.

HEAS periodic reviews are generally automated and do not require manual intervention. Exceptions may apply, for example where the customer is deceased. HEAS periodic reviews include:

• fortnightly calculation of interest and update of HEAS loan balance
• annual update of the customer’s age component and Maximum Loan Amount (MLA)
• annual issue of the person’s HEAS itemised loan statement
• checking if the customer’s HEAS loan balance is approaching, or exceeded, the MLA
• Consumer Price Index (CPI) reviews

Customers can review their HEAS circumstances via their online services - Home Equity Access Scheme summary screen.

A manual follow up (MFU) automatically generates, and a Work Item assigns to a Complex Assessment Officer (CAO) for investigation if:

• a single customer becomes a member of a couple
• a partnered customer separates from their partner
• a customer or partner passes away and/or there is a Transmission of Title
• the customer’s qualifying payment is cancelled (in certain circumstances)
• the customer is of Age Pension age (and not receiving Age Pension) and their qualifying payment (for example, DSP) is cancelled

An MFU is created if task locking conflicts prevent certain automated updates from finalising.

A manual follow up (MFU) automatically generates, and a Work Item assigns to a Complex Assessment Officer (CAO) for investigation if:

• an Advance Payment is granted and the PLS/HEAS screen is locked
• an Advance Payment is granted and the customer’s HEAS loan is secured against their principle home and the SVDI screen is locked
• an Advance Payment has been granted and the 90 day review for the Asset Test exemption is run but the SVDI screen is locked

• Risk based reviews replace the need for Complex Assessment Officers (CAOs) to manually create annual HEAS reviews
• Customers accessing HEAS payments, are regularly reviewed based on a risk assessment
• HEAS reviews are set on the anniversary of the date of grant (see the Resources page for review dates), or restoration, of a customer’s HEAS loan
• Customers are selected for a HEAS review based on 3 risk categories:
• High, reviewed annually on the next Entitlement Period End Date (EPED) after their date of grant/restoration anniversary
• Medium, reviewed every 2 years on the next EPED after their date of grant/restoration anniversary, and
• Low, reviewed every 3 years on the next EPED after their date of grant/restoration anniversary

If a HEAS customer requests assistance with locating their Home Equity Access Scheme review within their Online Service, staff can advise the customer to go to their:

• Online Services Landing Page
• HEAS Summary Page, where they will find a task displayed as Home Equity Access Scheme Review
• The customer can then click on Begin button to commence their review process

If a HEAS customer declines the digital channel, staff can:

• issue the Home Equity Access Scheme review (SA498) through the request for information, in Process Direct, and

• follow the process outlined in Table 4 - Applying an extension to a HEAS review – all staff

Note: if couples are both receiving a HEAS payment, they will be reviewed at the same time.

Both members of the couple must complete their own online review task or Home Equity Access Scheme review (SA498) form.

Staff must DOC the record and advise the HEAS customer of the date the Home Equity Access Scheme review (SA498) form must be returned, or their HEAS payment maybe stopped.

The Resources page contains more details about the risk profiling criteria.

All staff can:

• apply an extension
• send a request for information (RFI), or
• update the DOC with more details

See the Process page for more details.

Processing of HEAS risk based reviews are completed by the Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) National team.

Note: customers have a manual review recorded in 2024 and 2025, if:

• they are profiled as High
• had an anniversary grant date on 23 March 2024 and 24 March 2024
• have a HEAS anniversary grant date between 1 October 2024 and 20 November 2024

Staff do not need to code another manual HEAS review once these reviews have been completed.

Note: previous manual reviews were recorded between:

• 30 October 2022 and 27 November 2022, and
• 1 October 2023 and 20 November 2023

The Process page contains more details.

If a staff member identifies suspected fraud with a HEAS loan application or activity, they must report it.

See:

• Report Suspected Fraud and Corruption, and
• Identity fraud