Payment of income managed funds to Third Party Organisations (TPOs) 103-01050100

Customers can request regular or one off payments to Third Party Organisations (TPO) irrespective of whether they are contracted to receive Income Management funds, as long as the purchase is not for excluded goods or services.

When a customer requests a regular or one-off payment and they have available funds, the customer should be encouraged to access their income managed funds in the following order:

1. BasicsCard at a BasicsCard Merchant
2. regular deductions to a contracted TPO
3. regular deductions to an un-contracted TPO
4. one-off payment to a contracted TPO
5. one- off payment to an un-contracted TPO

Customers requesting a regular or one-off payment to a BasicsCard merchant using an un-contracted payment method should be strongly encouraged to use their BasicsCard. Payments to these merchants via the un-contracted payment methods should only be considered in exceptional circumstances (for example EFTPOS outage, customer has lost their BasicsCard and unable to wait for a replacement/is in hardship).

Note: in all circumstances when coding Changes to Income Management expenses, staff must consider whether a customer's priority needs should be reassessed. See Determining a person's priority needs for Income Management.

In some circumstances, Income Management funds may be paid to Third Party Organisations who do not have a contractual arrangement with the agency. These payments are generally in the form of one-off payments, however payments can also be made by the following methods:

• Scheduled Transfer
• BPAY
• credit card

Note: These options are not the agency's preferred methods of payment, as they do not provide timely access to funds as those to contracted TPOs. The agency is also unable to provide assurances that the customer’s Income Management funds will be handled in accordance with the Merchant Terms and Conditions and the agency's Business Terms and Conditions.

A request for an urgent one-off payment is dependent on the Third Party Organisation accepting the urgent payment method. For urgent request guidelines, see Changes to Income Management expenses.