Determining and recording eligibility for Income Management and enhanced Income Management as a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) by a social worker 103-01180020

This procedure is not relevant for customers who are auto triggered for the Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient Youth IM and enhanced IM measure.

Customers will be considered eligible to be placed on to IM or enhanced IM by a Services Australia social worker, at their discretion, if the customer's individual behaviours or circumstances provide evidence, they are vulnerable and/or at-risk and would benefit from welfare quarantining.

Welfare quarantining is an additional tool for social workers to use when working with vulnerable or at-risk customers.

Social workers are responsible for making a determination of a customer's vulnerability and will consider if welfare quarantining is appropriate for the customer.

A customer is to be welfare quarantined under the VWPR measure if they meet the following conditions:

• A Services Australia social worker has determined that the customer is a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient
• The customer's usual place of residence is within a VWPR Income Management area or enhanced IM location
• The customer is in receipt of an eligible welfare payment
• The customer is not already subject to an IM or enhanced IM measure which is above the VWPR measure in the hierarchy of measures
• The customer does not have an excluded payment nominee. Note: the social worker may choose to cancel the nominee arrangement at the time they declare the customer as a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient if it is shown that the arrangement is not in the customer's best interests

To determine if a customer is a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient for welfare quarantining, the social worker considers whether:

• the customer is experiencing an indicator of vulnerability
• the customer is meeting the essential needs of their partner, children or other dependents
• IM or enhanced IM is an appropriate support for the person to meet their responsibilities, build and maintain self-care and manage their money

Customers may be considered experiencing vulnerability due to one of the following indicators:

• financial hardship
• financial exploitation
• failure to undertake reasonable self-care
• homelessness