Disbursement interview for Child Protection Income Management 103-01160080

A Disbursement interview is only conducted at the customer's request, and can be held face-to-face or by phone.

If the customer requires an interpreter, see Booking an interpreter for an appointment.

Disbursement interviews should be conducted by Income Management trained Service Officers.

Service Officers trained in Income Management, go to Step 2.

Service Officers not trained in Income Management:

Use this process to conduct a Disbursement interview

• Seek assistance from a specialised Service Officer (if available) or Service Support Officer, or
• Contact the Technical Support Line (select Income Management option) for assistance with conducting the interview

Go to Step 2.

Cold transfer the customer to:

• the Income Management line
• the Indigenous Services queue (if appropriate), or
• Multilingual Call (if appropriate)

See the Resources page for a link to the National Transfer numbers. Procedure ends here

A customer will be exited from this measure of Income Management, if any of the following circumstances occur:

• their category H welfare payment or a category R welfare payment has cancelled
• they have an excluded payment nominee for Income Management purposes
• they no longer meet the legislative requirement
• the period of Income Management specified in the Notice to Commence Income Management ends
• the relevant child protection authority case worker lodges a Revocation of Income Management or enhanced Income Management

Customers are to be informed of the impact of Income Management ending. This includes Income Management allocations ending and options available to continue meeting their ongoing expenses. The following should be discussed with the customer.

• Advise the customer they will now be responsible for organising the payment of expenses previously paid from their Income Management funds
• Encourage customers to use Centrepay to continue paying for ongoing expenses where the Third Party Organisation is registered for Centrepay, or arrange for direct debits from their bank account
• Customers who were having rent deductions made via Income Management to their State Housing Authority (SHA) should continue to have their rent paid via the Rent Deduction Scheme (RDS). If the customer agrees, create a Fast Note to (Income Management Payment and Contact Team (IMPACT) asking that the RDS deduction be started or increased to meet the full rent amount. Select Auto Text, use Income Management > Update > State Housing Authority deductions
• Advise customers they can visit the 'Managing your money page at servicesaustralia.gov.au/managingmoney, for useful information and resources to help manage finances. See the Resources page for a link
• Check to see if the customer has an active BasicsCard and the current balance. Advise the customer they can continue to use the BasicsCard until the balance is depleted. However, the card will automatically close 60 days after Income Management ends. Any remaining balance will be transferred to their Income Management account, then disbursed to them. Alternatively, the can close their BasicsCard and have the balance recalled immediately into their Income Management account to be included in the disbursement calculation
• If the customer chooses to close their BasicsCard, this must be actioned before the disbursement process. For assistance, see BasicsCard close an account
• Advise the customer they can transfer funds to their BasicCard or request one-off payments to TPOs for non-excluded items during the disbursement period
• Explain to the customer if their payments are income managed in the future and there are still funds in their Income Management account, the disbursement process will end
• Advise the customer of their option to appoint a payment nominee

This information is found on the Income Management Summary screen under the Income Management menu.

Does the customer have funds in their Income Management account?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, and:
• Income Management is to be manually ended, go to Step 7
• Income Management has ended, the Disbursements workflow is not required. See Step 2 in Table 2

Before commencing the Child Protection Assessment workflow or Disbursements workflow:

• go to the Payment Destination Summary (PAS) screen, and
• confirm the customer's payment destination for Service Reason 'GPY' matches the customer's most recent payment type

If there are no details recorded, or the account number is incorrect, select GPY to go to the Payment Destination Details (PAD) screen to update account details. For more information see Changing payment destination.

Go to Step 6

When conducting a Disbursement interview, Service Officers are to determine whether the customer is likely to have their payments income managed within the next 60 days. Service Officers should consider:

• Whether the customer is likely to be eligible for another measure of Income Management when the current measure ends (by checking the Income Management summary screen)
• Where Income Management is ending due to their eligible payment cancelling, consider the reason and history of cancellations. For example:
• CAN/OTH - check for cancellation reason. If reason is unknown, it is likely the customer will be income managed within 60 days
• CAN/CLR- check for details of why the customer requested cancellation of their payment. If the reason is unknown, it is likely the customer will be Income Management again within 60 days
• CAN/DNL or CAN/FRP - it is likely Income Management will be reinstated within 60 days once any outstanding report is lodged. However, if there is information on the customer's record that indicates they no longer wish to receive income support payments, it is not likely they will be income managed within 60 days

Note: the Auto Disbursement rules apply when customers choose not to attend a Disbursement interview.

For further information on disbursement of residual income managed funds, see Disbursement of funds when Income Management ceases.

Go to Step 7

If a Revocation of Income Management or enhanced Income Management has been received or they now have an excluded payment nominee for Income Management purposes and Income Management has not yet ended, Step 1 in Table 2.

• If Income Management has already ended and there is a balance in the Income Management account, see Step 2 in Table 2
• If Income Management has already ended and there is a nil balance in the Income Management account, see Step 5 in Table 2

The Child Protection Assessment workflow must be completed when the notice is being revoked or the customer has an excluded payment nominee for Income Management purposes.

Run the Child Protection Assessment workflow.

• Revocation of Income Management received:
• In the Child Protection Notice Details section, change the Status to Revoked. Select Continue
• The IM Decision/Exemption page is then displayed. Check the details provided are correct
• Excluded payment nominee: On the IM Decision/Exemption screen:
• Reason for Reassessment: select Change in Payment Nominee details
• IM Ineligibility Reasons: Tick check box Customer determined to be ineligible for Income Management after commencement

Select Continue.

If the customer is present, select the Service Offer option. Select Accept or Decline to the outcome of an offer to Voluntary Income Management (VIM) and press Continue.

The Disbursements workflow will automatically present after the assessment workflow.

Go to Step 2.

Launch the Disbursements workflow. The Income Management Disbursement Interview screen will present:

• Is it likely Income Management will resume within 60 days of IM end?'
• If Yes (default) is selected, instalments will commence being paid 60 days from the date Income Management ends
• If No is selected, instalments will commence being paid immediately
• BasicsCard: If the customer has an active BasicsCard, messaging will prompt Service Officers to have appropriate discussions with the customer
• Expenses: messaging will prompt Service Officers to have appropriate discussions with the customer

Select Continue.

Information will appear at the top of the Expense Management Summary screen. For example:

• Customer is no longer on Income Management. The regular expenses will automatically cease on DD MMM YYYY, unless ceased earlier
• Disbursement of Income Management account available balance back to customer will commence on DD MMM YYYY

Further discussions regarding ongoing priority needs must be held with the customer.

• Advise the customer what regular expenses have ceased
• If it has been less than 15 days since Income Management ended ask the customer if they want the regular expenses to be ended immediately. If so, cease regular expenses. See Coding Income Management expenses
• Code any requested transfer to the BasicsCard
• Code any requested one off payments to TPOs
• Explain how any residual funds will be disbursed
• If the customer is not likely to be income managed within 60 days, disbursement will commence immediately
• If the customer is likely to be income managed within 60 days of Income Management ending, disbursement will commence 60 days after the Income Management end date
• Where residual funds will be paid as a lump sum or in instalments. Note: a lump sum payment is only applicable where the residual balance is less than $210

Select Continue.

The Income Management Summary screen will display a message advising how residual funds will be disbursed.

Finalise any Work Items which may be displayed in the Work Items section.

Finalise the activity on the Income Management Summary page.

Advise the customer of their option to apply for Voluntary Income Management where they meet the eligible criteria.

A DOC is not created by the Disbursement workflow. The information given to the customer should be recorded in the Activity Notes on the Income Management Summary screen, or in a DOC:

• Date Income Management ended/is due to end
• If an interpreter was required but not used, how the interview was conducted
• How residual funds will be paid (that is, instalments or lump sum payment)
• Confirmation the customer was advised of the following:
• they can continue to use BasicsCard, for 60 days from the date Income Management ends (if applicable)
• Centrepay and Rent Deduction Scheme options
• eligibility for Voluntary Income Management (if applicable)
• Any information required under the guidelines for adding a DOC to a customer's record

If the customer decides to use Centrepay for their ongoing priority needs, see:

• Centrepay customer interactions
• Starting, changing and cancelling a Centrepay deduction at the request of a customer
• Deductions options online

If the customer wishes to appoint a payment nominee, issue them with the Authorising a person or organisation to enquire or act on your behalf (SS313) form. For more information on nominees, see Adding or rejecting a nominee request.