Payment of School Meals Program (SMP) expenses from Income Management (IM) funds or Centrepay 103-01040030

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Contact details

National Business Gateway (NBG)

Income Management (IM) Policy Helpdesk webform

Select the 'Income Management Helpdesk' webform from the Quick links on the Income Management intranet page.

Office Locator

To view TPOs for a Community:

Select Home
In Office/Town type the community name
Press Enter or the Search Office/Town button
Select the correct community from the Office Result List, ensuring 'Type' is Community
On the Community's details page, select Income Management - TPO from the left hand menu
Select School Meals Program from the drop down menu

To view providers of School Meals Programs:

Select Other Searches from the Office Locator task bar
In the Service field, the following can be selected from the drop down menu:

'IMS (IMS - School Meals Program (SMP) - NIAA)' for the National Indigenous Australians Agency funded TPOs
'IMS (IMS - School Meals Program (SMP) - Non NIAA)' - for non-National Indigenous Australians Agency funded TPOs
'UMS (Meals Program)' - for non-contracted providers of School Meals

NT school term dates

For NT school term dates, see Department of Education.

Cessation of the School Meals program

Ceasing a regular expense allocation

Table 1: The table below contains the actions to take when an income managed customer requests to cease a regular expense allocation to the School Meals Program.

Item	Description
1	Customer in hardship - wishes to cease the allocation over the school holidays School Meals Program expense allocations are annualised over the full school year from the start of Term 1 to the end of Term 4. The cost of each program has been calculated on the basis that parents will continue to contribute over the school holidays. Ceasing the expense may result in the provider contacting them to recover funds for meals provided. If the parent insists that the expense allocation cease, discuss the reasons: Child no longer enrolled Advise the parent that school attendance is compulsory for children aged 6-15 years in the Northern Territory. If the parent insists that the child is not attending school then cease the School Meals Program expense allocation and clearly record details on a DOC on the customer's record Parent is in hardship and needs the funds to pay for food over the school holidays: Check the IM balance and other regular allocations. If possible, increase the regular allocation to the BasicsCard or community store for food Review all non-essential expense allocations being made, including voluntary deductions (Centrepay). Can these be suspended or reduced over the school holidays to free up funds? Consideration needs to be given to the priority needs of the customer at the time of contact If there are insufficient unallocated funds available and the parent is in hardship then cease the expense allocation for the School Meals Program immediately. To ensure the customer continues to receive meals under the program, discuss recommencing allocations at the beginning of the next school term. If the customer agrees, re-establish the School Meals Program expense allocation with a future start date. If the customer does not agree then advise the customer that they should contact again when the child goes back to school to re-commence the expense allocation. In all cases where the School Meals Program expense allocation is being ceased due to hardship the Service Officer must fully document the details of the assessment and other options considered on the customer's record. Re-commencing the School Meals Program allocation When setting up the School Meals Program expense allocation at the start of the new school term, the customer should be advised they may be contacted by the provider to recover missed payments. Under no circumstances is Services Australia to place the customer under any duress to make up any missed payments. Should a customer wish to make up for missed payments, amounts owing can be paid via one-off payments or an increase to their regular expense allocation. Where the amounts owing are being paid via an increase to a regular allocation this must be noted on the customer's record in a Display on Access DOC. Note: all School Meals Program expense allocations cease at the end of Term 4, so amounts owed for past periods cannot be paid by changing the end date.
2	Child is to be hospitalised or other health reason Cancel the School Meals Program expense allocation. If the customer knows how long the child will be absent from school, restart the expense allocation with the appropriate future start date. If the customer does not know how long the child will be absent from school, tell them that they will need to initiate contact to restart the allocation. Note: siblings not affected and who continue to attend the local school should remain on the program.
3	Moving to another Community or to a Regional Centre Cease expense allocations to the old community School Meals Program and re-establish expense allocations to the new program (if available) in the new community as discussed with the customer. Students from a community attending a residential boarding school are not required to have School Meals Program expense allocations made for them as meals are provided.
4	Unhappy with the food provided or any other aspect of the program Find out why the customer is unhappy, for example, is it a question of value for money or quality? Access and complete the Customer Feedback Webform with customer details and the reason for their complaint. The webform can be used to record feedback from a customer, about a Third Party Organisation known to Services Australia or a third party who has no Customer Reference Number. If the complaint is about a School Meals Program provider, funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), complaints and feedback will be passed onto NIAA.
5	Child not at school All 6 to 15 year olds must attend school. If sick at home, the carer can go to the school and get the meal. Note: if the parent has done all they can to get their child to attend school and the school is aware of the child's ongoing absence, then it is reasonable to cease an expense allocation to the School Meals Program if the child is not attending.
6	Homeland and Outstation students If a homeland or outstation student travels to a hub community where there is a School Meals Program they can participate in that program.
7	Costs too much / not interested Have a discussion with the customer to cover the following points: Price and value is good when compared to purchasing similar meals at the local store The cost of the School Meals Program has been kept to a minimum as a level of absence and public holidays have been included when calculating the cost Student's school attendance is improved and everyone receives the same meals Do not have to worry about children eating when there is no money around in the community School teachers can concentrate on preparing classes and not be involved in organising meals for students School Meals Program expense allocations stop during end of year school holidays If, after the discussion, the customer insists on ceasing the School Meals Program expense allocation, fully DOC the record to verify that the customer has explained how they are meeting the child's daily food needs.

Override reasons

Descriptions of override reasons

Table 2: This table details descriptions of the override reasons used when an income managed customer requests to cease a regular expense allocation to the School Meals Program.

Item	Description
Attends multiple schools	The child is attending more than one school and does not require all meals at this school.
Child changed schools	Child is no longer at this school, therefore the School Meals Program no longer required.
Child deceased	Child has passed away and the School Meals Program is no longer required.
Child no longer in care	Child is no longer in customer's care and the School Meals Program expense allocation is no longer required.
Child not at school	Child is not currently enrolled at a school.
Chooses not to pay	The customer does not wish to pay for the School Meals Program.
Customer affordability	Customer cannot afford to pay for the School Meals Program from their Income Management funds.
Guardian supplies food	Another individual is supplying meals for the child, customer does not need a School Meals Program expense allocation.
In credit with provider	Customer is in credit with TPO and the School Meals Program expense allocation is not currently required.
No longer school age	Child is no longer of school age and the School Meals Program expense allocation is not required.
Not receiving all meals	Child does not receive all meals and therefore a full School Meals Program expense allocation is not required.
Paid by another	Another person is paying the full School Meals Program expense allocation for this child.
Paid from personal funds	Customer pays for the School Meals Program expense allocation from their discretionary funds.
Paid through Centrepay	Customer has a Centrepay deduction for the School Meals Program.
Part paid by another	Another person is paying for part of the child's School Meals Program expense allocation.
Shared care arrangement	Customer is only required to pay part of the School Meals Program expense allocation due to a shared care arrangement.
Temporary absence	Child is temporarily absent from school and the School Meals Program is not currently required.
TP svc ended for school	The TPO is no longer providing meals for the school the child attends.
Unhappy with TPO/SMP svc	Customer is not happy with the meals provided by TPO, the School Meals Program expense allocation is not required.

Relationships codes

Parent and child relationship codes

Table 3: This table lists the relationship codes and descriptions used for the relationship between the customer and the child when adding a child for a School Meals Program expense allocation.

Relationship Code	Description
CHI	Non-FTB child of the customer
CUS	Customer within IMS eligible age range
EFG	Extended Family
FTB	Receiving Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for Child
PCH	Child linked to partner not customer
PTR	Partner qualifies for an IMS expense

TPO or fee change for School Meals Program

Changes relating to School Meals Program provider

Table 4: This table contains information about the process when a School Meals Program provider advises of a change of rate, or they cease to be a provider. In all cases, a Work Item is generated and appropriate discussions should be held with the customer at their next contact.

School Meals Program Change of fee	Customer expense allocations is a standard / non standard amount	Change automatically to be applied to customer’s record	Work Item generated
Reduced rate	Standard	Yes	Yes
Reduced rate	Non standard	No	Yes
Increased rate	Standard	No	Yes
Increased rate	Non standard	No	Yes
Ceasing of service	Standard	Yes	Yes
Ceasing of service	Non standard	Yes	Yes

Operational Information