Reviewing, reconsidering and ending Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) Notices assessed by social workers 103-01180030

The VWPR Notice is used only for customers assessed by social workers as being a VWP.

Staff can access the VWPR Notice by going to the Income Management and selecting Vulnerable notice.

Service Officers only have view access, social workers with ICT Security resource can update the Notice details.

This will provide a list of current and historical VWPR Notices with the latest notice displaying first. Each Notice will display the following information:

• Start date
• End date
• Status: the most recent status will display first.
• Reason (i.e. Vulnerable)
• Assessed on
• By (Name of social worker)
• Details - Select the 'View' hyperlink to view details of the Notice
• Reviews - The number of reviews completed on a Notice (e.g. 'REVIEWS2'). Select the hyperlink to view details of the Reviews

Note: each Notice is listed individually i.e. if a social worker creates a new Notice when the current Notice expires, this will display as a separate Notice under the Notice list.

The following details will be displayed when the 'view' hyperlink is selected from the VWPR Notice List:

• Notice Details:
• Referred by (Service Officer, social worker, State Housing Authority, Community Agency, Other)
• Type of assessment (Face to face, File review, Telephone)
• Start date
• End Date
• Status
• Status reason
• Indicators of vulnerability:
• Financial hardship - Yes/No
• Financial exploitation - Yes/No
• Failure to undertake reasonable self care - Yes/No
• Homelessness or risk of homelessness - Yes/No
• Priority needs: Ranking of expense category for priority needs as determined by the social worker
• School Nutrition
• Food
• Housing
• Utilities
• Clothing and footwear
• Medical expenses
• Other with a mandatory free text box if ranked along with the above expenses
• Free text box for 'Expense Details'

The following details will be displayed when the 'REVIEW2' hyperlink is selected from the VWPR Notice List:

Notice Summary:

• Notice Start
• End
• Last updated
• By (Name of Social Worker)
• VWPR category, and
• Status

Review List:

The most recent review will be listed first with a radio button to choose which review to show details.

• Date
• Type
• Outcome
• Reason
• Reviewer, and
• Activity status

Also included is a Create review button.

Review Details:

Cancel check box - to be used when it is no longer required to complete the view. The check box will not appear for pre-exit reviews which cannot be cancelled.

• Review Type
• Review date
• Type of assessment
• Face to face
• File review, and
• Telephone
• Outcome - depending on the type of review (i.e. at the pre-exit review stage it is not possible to vary an existing notice):
• Cease notice
• No change
• Revoke notice, and
• Vary notice
• Reason

In Customer First, go to the Customer Details (CRN/BP) screen.

Check the benefit status line (BSt) to identify which program the customer is on.

It will show:

• INM if they are on Income Management
• EIM if they are on enhanced IM
• Neither if their payments are not quarantined

If customer is on Income Management, go to Table 2

If customer is on enhanced Income Management, go to Table 5

When reconsidering or reviewing the Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) determination, the following considerations must be made by the social worker:

• Whether the customer continues to experience an indicator of vulnerability and if they are likely to experience an indicator of vulnerability if the determination is varied or revoked.
• Whether welfare quarantining has assisted the customer to meet their essential needs and if they are likely to not meet these needs if the determination is varied or revoked.
• Whether welfare quarantining continues to be an appropriate support for the customer.

Any review of the VWPR Notice requires a Social Work Information System (SWIS) Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) review report.

Decisions relating to VWPR reviews must be completed by a delegated social worker.

Outcomes of all reviews must be recorded in the Vulnerable Notice workflow by a delegated social worker.

This screen lists all past, current and future reviews and reconsiderations for a selected notice, and allows new reviews to be added. Service Officers are able to view the information, but only a social worker may action a review.

The screen will be displayed when:

• the 'REVIEWS' hyperlink is selected from the VWPR Notice List screen, or
• social worker selects the review activity from the AL screen

Notice Summary:

This will display the summary details for the notice relevant to the 'REVIEWS' hyperlink selected, however users can view any other Notices by selecting the 'Oldest', 'Older', 'Newer' or 'Newest' navigation button. Information presented includes:

• Notice Start
• End
• Last updated
• By
• VWPR category
• Status

Review list:

Expand the twisty to view a list of completed and scheduled reviews in oldest review date order. Select the radio button of the relevant review to view details.

Review Details:

• Review type
• Review date
• Type of Assessment
• Request date
• Outcome
• Reason

Only a social worker may action a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) Notice review. The screen will be displayed when the 'REVIEWS' hyperlink is selected from the VWPR Notice List screen or the review activity is selected from the AL screen.

Ensure the Notice on which a review is being completed is displayed.

Expand the twisty to view a list of completed and scheduled reviews. If the review is a scheduled review, select the applicable radio button. If the review is not listed, select Create review button.

Record details and outcome of the VWPR Notice review.

This is the type of review being completed. If a review has been selected from the Review List, this will default.

If a new review has been created, select the appropriate review type from the drop down menu (options below will not appear if 'Create Review' is selected):

• 3 months
• 6 months
• Other
• Reconsideration (When a customer requests the social worker to reconsider their current circumstances. A reconsideration request can only be made once every 90 days)
• Social worker initiated (A review undertaken at the social worker's discretion which can occur at any time)
• Appeal (A review of the original decision to determine the customer as a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient, generally at the request of the customer)

The system will default based on the reviews recorded in the original VWPR Notice. For example, for a '3 month' review, the review day will have been determined by the system as three months after the VWPR Notice start date.

This field will present for all manually created reviews where the review type is 'reconsideration' or 'appeal'.

A review can be cancelled by a social worker, except where the review is manually created or the review type is 'Pre-exit'.

Select the method used to complete the review from the drop down menu:

• Face to face
• File review
• Telephone

Record the outcome of the VWPR Notice review from the drop down menu:

• Pre exit:
• No change
• Cease notice
• New notice
• All other:
• No change
• Vary notice
• Cease notice
• Revoke notice

Where 'No change', 'Cease notice' or 'Revoke notice' is selected, users will be navigated to the Notice List screen where the VWPR Notice can be viewed (the system automatically ceasing/revoking the VWPR Notice).

• Where 'Vary notice' is selected, users will navigate to the Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) Notice Details screen. Users can make changes to:
• End date (where the period of Income Management is to be reduced or extended)
• Indicators of vulnerability
• Priority needs
• Where 'New notice' is selected, users will navigate to the Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) Notice Details screen and all details must be completed. Note: this option is only available if completing a Pre-exit review

This field is protected and will default based on the Outcome recorded:

Outcome/Reason

• No change - Continuing vulnerability
• Vary notice - Changed circumstances
• Cease notice - No longer vulnerable
• Revoke notice - Notice incorrectly added
• New notice - Continuing vulnerability

Finalise the review by selecting Continue and finalising the workflow on the Income Management Summary screen.

Only a social worker may action a Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) Notice review.

When reconsidering or reviewing the Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) determination, the following considerations must be made by the social worker:

• Whether the customer continues to experience an indicator of vulnerability and if they are likely to experience an indicator of vulnerability if the determination is varied or revoked
• Whether welfare quarantining has assisted the customer to meet their essential needs and if they are likely to not meet these needs if the determination is varied or revoked
• Whether welfare quarantining continues to be an appropriate support for the customer

Decisions relating to VWPR reviews must be completed by a delegated social worker.

Any review of the VWPR Notice requires a Social Work Information System (SWIS) Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipient (VWPR) review report.

Outcomes of all reviews for enhanced IM VWPR Notice customers must be documented.

In Customer First go to the Notes Detail (Q2NT) screen in, and DOC:

VWPR Notice Review:

• Review Type: eIM 35 day pre-end review/All other (delete ones that are not applicable)
• Social Worker Login:
• Outcome: (delete ones that are not applicable)
• No change
• Continue notice
• Vary notice
• Cease notice
• Revoke notice
• Review Method: Face to face/File review/telephone (delete ones that are not applicable)

Where the Outcome is:

• Cease notice, no change to current dates is required
• Revoke notice, include:
• End date
• Reason for decision
• Vary notice, include:
• End date (where the period of enhanced IM is to be reduced or extended)
• Indicators of vulnerability
• Essential needs
• Continuation, include:
• Start date
• End date
• Indicators of vulnerability:

Social worker should contact the customer to discuss the review decision outcome. Two genuine attempts to contact the customer must be made to inform them of the decision..

• In Customer First, go to the Other Contact Details (OCD) screen to check if the customer requires an interpreter
• If the customer does require an interpreter, see Contacting an on-demand telephone interpreter (Interpreter Connect) or Accessing an Indigenous interpreter to arrange an interpreter.
• If contact successful provide the outcome of the review and the decision.
• If no change, advise enhanced IM will continue.
• If there is a change, advise the customer of the change, that it will be processed and a letter sent

• If the VWPR Notice review outcome is to vary or revoke the Notice before the original end date, go to Step 5
• Procedure ends here if the VWPR Notice review outcome is:
• No change
• To issue a new/continuation of the notice, or
• Cease (not continue past the end date of the notice)

As the outcome of the review is to vary the end date of the original notice or revoke it, social worker will need to create a new ‘END date review’ MFU (both grant and reject decisions).

In Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:

• Service Reason: only use JSP (regardless of which payment the customer is on)
• Review Reason: INC (General Income Review Required)
• Due Date: the revised end date of the Notice -1 business day
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today’s date
• Notes: 'VWPR Notice - Social worker review - Notice Vary/Revoke' (Delete outcome that is not relevant)
• Keywords: EIMEND and EIMVLN. See Enhanced IM Manual Follow Up (MFU) keywords
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer to region: leave blank

The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action.

In Customer First, go to the Future Activity List (FAL) screen

Locate the previous ‘End date review’ MFU and finalise the item.

Procedure ends here.