Reissue a payment at a customer's request 103-04040010

If the customer advises they have not received their direct credit, New Payments Platform (NPP) or Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment, check that the institution has not returned or rejected the payment.

• Child Care Subsidy (CCS), Farm Household Allowance (FHA) and Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) payments:
• show on the Payment List in Workspace
• can take up to 2 business days to show as returned on the Payment List
• returned payments will have a Return Reason in the Text: field
• All other payments can be checked via the Payment Summary (PS) screen in Customer First
• Returned payments will show RTN (returned) in the Type field
• Rejected payments will show ‘Rejected payment’ instead of the payment destination details in the Sent to field

Has the payment been returned or rejected from the financial institution?

• Yes, for:
• returned payments, see Reissue a payment returned from a financial institution. Procedure ends here
• rejected payments, see Reissuing a rejected payment. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 2

Select the relevant payment.

On the Payment Details (PD) screen, check payment destination against the BSB and account number provided by the customer.

For Customer First SAP native payments, check the Payment List via workspace to view the customers payment destination details.

ABSTUDY and AIC payments:

• can be made to either customers or Third Parties (for example, applicants, educational institutions, secondary boarding schools or hostels)
• payment destination details are not always coded on the Payment Destination Summary (PAS) screen

Unless skilled in the relevant payment type, transfer customer to the relevant team for investigation:

• Requests to reissue ABSTUDY payments should be recorded in an open Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY Action request
• Requests to reissue AIC payments should be recorded in an open Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY and Apprentices > AIC > AIC rejected/returned payment

For all other payments:

If a payment has been returned by bank cheque, the coding of the return (RTN) may take longer.

Has the payment been issued to the correct account?

• Yes,
• and the account is still open, go to Step 3
• and the account is now closed, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 4

Is the customer now deceased?

• Yes, see Requesting refunds and raising debts for deceased customer. Procedure ends here
• No, check if the financial institution has advised the agency of any payment delays. See the Resources page for common payment delay reasons. If no delays have been reported, refer the customer to their financial institution for more information. Record the details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

If the payment has been made to an account the customer has legal access to (either solely or jointly) while it may not have been the customer's preferred account, the agency has met its payment delivery obligation. The customer would not be entitled to have the payment reissued. In some cases, customers may still be able to access an account that they consider to have closed.

Check the DL screen for DOCs to show whether any reissued payments have been requested in the past. Check the Debt List (OPDL) for debts with the reason code of ‘DUP’ or ‘DRA’.

Financial institutions can provide the customer with a notice of closure or no legal entitlement to account, which can aid in providing evidence of bank account access. The customer would be required to attend the financial institution with proof of identification to get this notice. This should only be requested, if there are concerns about the validity of the request or if the customer has a debt history due to requesting reissued payments.

Does the customer have legal access to the account (the customer’s name would normally be in the account title)?

• Yes, tell the customer that as the payment has been made to an account they have legal access to they are not entitled to have the payment reissued. To change the payment destination for future payments, see Changing payment destination. Record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 5

Payment made to a payment nominee

• If the customer had a payment nominee arrangement in place when the payment was delivered, the customer is not entitled to have the payment reissued. To receive future payments, the customer must cancel the nominee arrangement unless it is an involuntary/court appointed arrangement which cannot be cancelled without the authority of the nominee
• If the payment nominee arrangement had already stopped and the payment has been incorrectly issued to the payment nominee's account, go to Step 6

Payment made to a parent

• If the customer is under 18 years of age, a dependent Youth Allowance (YA) or ABSTUDY customer and the payment was delivered to the parent, the customer would not be entitled to have the payment reissued if they have benefited from the payment. To receive payment into their own account, see Payments for students under 18 years paid to student, parent or a third party.
• If the customer is over the age of 18 years and the payment was delivered to the parent, the customer would not be entitled to have the payment reissued if they have benefited from the payment. The payment destination may be changed for future payments immediately

Payment made to a third party, such as rehabilitation centre, correctional centre trust account or respite nursing home

• If the customer was approved for an immediate payment and it was issued to a third party, with the consent of the customer or for their benefit, the customer would not be entitled to have the payment reissued
• If the customer has left the facility and did not benefit from the payment, go to Step 6
• If payment was made to a group payment organisation, see Reissue a group payment paid to an organisation in error

Payment made to a friend/relative without a nominee arrangement

• If the customer was approved for an immediate payment and it was issued to a third party, with the consent of the customer or for their benefit, the customer would not be entitled to have the payment reissued
• If the regular payment was made to an account the customer claimed was their own, but was a friend's or relative's account, and the customer does not have legal access to the account, go to Step 6

Was the payment incorrectly paid to another person?

• Yes: and payment made to:
• incorrect recipient who is identified as an existing customer, go to Step 6
• an incorrect recipient, go to Step 7
• No, but payment was made to:
• an invalid account (that is, the account number was incorrectly keyed), or
• a closed account that customer is not able to access payment from, get correct payment destination, go to Step 8

If the payment was made to an incorrect recipient, make 2 attempts to contact the person by phone to make them aware that they have received a payment they were not entitled to receive.

• Use extreme care to protect the identity and privacy of the customer and the incorrect recipient (who may also be a customer)
• Tell the incorrect recipient to leave the funds in the bank account, as the funds will be automatically returned to the agency within the next 28 days. If no funds or only part of the payment is returned, a debt will be raised against the incorrect recipient to recover the remainder of the funds
• Record a DOC on the incorrect recipient's record (if known to the agency)
• If this incorrect payment has occurred due to an Intertwined record, report case to Data Quality Unit via Intertwined referral form. See Resources for a link for more details on intertwined records and a link to the form
• Record the details on a DOC

Go to Step 8.

Investigate why the unknown recipient’s payment destination details have been recorded on the customer’s record (for example, staff or customer have mistyped the details, or the customer is a victim of fraud, and an unauthorised update has been made to the customer’s payment destination).

Were the unknown recipient’s payment destination details recorded as a result of unauthorised access to the customer’s account?

• Yes,
• Tell the customer that their online access will be suspended pending resolution of the security breach. See Centrelink self service - access status, locking and unlocking for more details
• Staff must escalate all cases of suspected identity fraud before going any further. See Table 2 of Identity Fraud
• Record details on a DOC
• Go to Step 8

No, go to Step 8

• Payment destination must be updated before the payment can be reissued
• The customer must provide an account they have legal access to (either solely or jointly)
• If the customer is not present, make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer by phone to get their correct payment destination details. If unsuccessful, send a Request for payment destination details (Q092) to the customer
• If the customer does not wish to supply new account details and no longer wants their payment reissued, record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

Update the customer's payment destination. See Changing payment destination.

Go to Step 9.

Where the payment was incorrectly sent to an account the customer does not have legal access to, a request for refund of the payment from the Financial Institution must be coded.

Note: if the customer cannot access a payment they intentionally directed to a third party account, Services Australia has met its payment delivery obligations. The customer would not be entitled to have the funds reissued and a Request of Refund (RFR) would not be appropriate.

For payments made outside Australia:

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia. Procedure ends here.

For all other payments:

If the request for refund is appropriate but not yet completed, it must be actioned per Request the return of a payment made to an incorrect recipient before proceeding to Table 2.

Investigate the customer's record for any reason as to why the customer may not be entitled immediately to a reissued payment.

If an advance payment has been made to the incorrect account, confirm whether the customer wants the advance before going any further. See Advance payments obtained fraudulently without customer consent for more information.

• If the customer has a debt history of requesting reissued payments, request customer to provide a letter from their financial institution to confirm they do not have access to this payment. To confirm debt history, check the DL screen and OPDL screen for debt reason code ‘DUP’ or ‘DRA’. Procedure ends here
• If the customer is not entitled to the payment, the payment must be blocked to prevent it being reissued, go to Step 2
• If the customer is entitled to the payment or entitled to a part payment of Family Tax Benefit (FTB)/Child Care Subsidy (CCS), go to Step 3

Create a detailed DOC on the customer's record explaining why the payment is not be reissued.

Note: this is mandatory for audit purposes. The ICT Service Desk are not able to action any request until the DOC has been completed.

The DOC must include:

• Title: Block payment – not entitled to reissue
• Payment type/delivery date/payment amount
• The reason the payment is not to be reissued
  Note: recording 'customer not entitled' is not sufficient. The DOC must fully explain why the customer is not entitled

If the payment is FTB/CCS, the payment must be excluded from the reconciliation result. See Returned payments and their effect on family assistance reconciliation.

Escalate to ICT Service Desk

Once the DOC has been completed, escalate to ICT Service Desk via mySupport.

The Resources page contains a link to mySupport.

• For Child Care Subsidy (CCS):
• Use the ‘Child Care Subsidy and Additional Child Care Subsidy Issues’ form
• Enter ‘BLOCK PAYMENT’ under the title and 'What function is being attempted when the issue occurred?’ fields
• For Farm Household Allowance (FHA):
• Use the ‘Farm Household Allowance (FHA) Issues form
• Select 'Block Payment' option under 'What is the issue?'
• For Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS):
• Use the ‘Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) Issues form
• Select ‘Block Payment’ option under ‘What is the issue being reported?’
• For all other payment types:
• Use the ‘Stop Customer Payment’ form

Note: blocking payments and stopping payments are different processes. Ensure all references in the DOC and mySupport correctly reference blocking the payment.

Annotate the DOC to include the relevant Service Desk (SD) number.

Procedure ends here.

The customer must be advised that as the original payment has not yet been returned to the agency, by reissuing the payment, the customer may be paid twice for the same period.

If the funds have not been returned within 28 days, a Duplicate Instalment debt will be raised and recovered.

Income managed customers requesting that their Income Management (GPY) payment be reissued must also be warned that as the payment has not yet been returned to the agency, they may receive the payment twice. If the funds are not returned within 28 days, an Income Management debt may be raised and recovered.

If the customer received or benefited from the original payment, they will be liable for the debt.

If someone other than the customer (for example, incorrect recipient) received or benefited from the original payment, then any debt raised may be against them, if the funds are not returned.

Customers concerned at potential debts can opt to wait until the original payment has returned before it is reissued.

Does the customer wish to proceed with the payment reissue?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, tell the customer:
• Services Australia will contact the customer if the original payment is recovered
• If the customer’s circumstances change before this happens, they can contact back at any time to arrange reissue, but the risk of a duplicate instalment debt remains
• Initiate a request for refund on the payment
• Record details on a DOC of advice given to the customer and that they withdrew their request for the payment to be reissued
• Procedure ends here

Check the Payment Summary (PS) screen for details.

Is the customer on Income Management?

• Yes, and the payment:
• was issued from the GPY system, go to Step 5
• to be reissued is from another system (PEN, NSS etc), go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 6

Determine if reissuing an Income Management payment is appropriate before funds have been returned from the financial institution. Consideration should be given, but not limited to:

• Does the customer have any unallocated Income Management balance that can be used pending the return of funds?
• Does the customer have a history of requesting immediate re-credits or reissued payments?
• Was the error due to an administration error (for example, Service Officer did not update payment destination details before issuing payment)?

Staff not trained in Income Management are to warm transfer the customer to the Income Management line, via Services Australia Workspace.

Service Officers not trained in Income Management should seek assistance from:

• a specialised Service Officer (if available) or Service Support Officer (SSO), or
• the Technical Support Line (select Income Management option 7). Specialised staff will assist Service Officers to complete the customer's enquiry or update

When it is determined a payment reissue is appropriate:

• Service Officers are to make sure the payment destination details have been updated for Service Reason GPY. See Changing payment destination for more details
• Service Officers are to send an email to Income Management Policy Helpdesk requesting an Account Adjustment be processed and the payment reissued to the customer's correct bank account. If the request is urgent, Service Officers should ring the helpdesk after sending the email
• Service Officers are to record details of discussion with the customer on a DOC, including:
• confirmation of customer being advised that as the original payment has not been returned to the agency, by reissuing a payment the customer may be paid twice and a duplicate payment debt may be raised, and
• why the reissue was requested and deemed appropriate
• The Income Management helpdesk will:
• action the Account Adjustment and reissue the funds within 24 hours of receiving the request, if appropriate
• if the funds are due to be returned due to a closed bank account, monitor the record for the return of funds and if not returned within 48 hours, follow the process to request a refund of payment from the financial institution

Procedure ends here.

• For the reissue of a family assistance payment (excluding CCS), go to Step 7
• For all other payments, see Step 1 in Table 3

If reissuing a partial family assistance payment, see Returned payments and their effect on family assistance reconciliation.

Check if there are any indications that the customer is overseas by looking for:

• Portability script DOC
• Immigration data match DOC, and
• change of address

Is the customer overseas?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, see Step 1 in Table 3

Family assistance payments (for example FTB) can only be deposited into an Australian bank account every two weeks no matter which payment method is chosen by the customer.

If a former family assistance customer is entitled to arrears (for example, when reconciliation occurs) but has moved overseas and closed their Australian bank account, International Services (CIS) staff can issue a one-off cheque payment to an overseas address by a one-off payment.

A one-off payment can also be used to issue payments to overseas estates and for certain other payments where no alternative option is available.

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers while outside Australia.

Is there an overseas address recorded or can it be obtained by contacting the customer overseas or a nominee?

• Yes, see Issuing a one-off payment or arrears to a Centrelink beneficiary outside Australia
• No, payment cannot be reissued. Record details on a DOC including why the payment cannot be reissued. For example, customer has closed account, is overseas and overseas contact details are unknown. Procedure ends here

To reissue:

• Child Care Subsidy (CCS), Farm Household Allowance (FHA), or Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) payments go to Step 2
• A payment that was combined with a fraudulent advance pending investigation/deletion, the payment must be reissued via the PYAJ screen. Procedure ends here
• All other payment types, go to Step 4

• If a CCS, FHA or SRSS payment has been returned or rejected, see Reissue a payment returned from a Financial Institution. Procedure ends here
• If the payment has not been returned from the Financial Institution, these payments must be returned before the payment can be reissued to the customer:
• For CCS payments, go to Step 3
• For FHA and SRSS payments, escalate to ICT via mySupport. The Resources page has a link to mySupport. Procedure ends here

• Issue a manual Q062 CCS Payment Recall letter to the financial institution
• Go to Payment List screen in Customer First and note screen details for payment to be returned
• Locate the FI postal address for the Q062 letter. See Recalled payments not received by Services Australia or Australian Payments Network for contact details of FI
• Set a review for 21 days, add:
• Service Reason: FTB
• Keyword: Return
• Notes: information about the need for review and to check for the return of the payment. Copy the below instructions for the user who will action the review
• If payment not returned within 21 days:
• Send an email to Families and Child Care – Business Process and Design Branch
• Include subject title 'CCS returned payment not received after 21 days CRN (please provide CRN)'
• The following information must be included in the email:
  - Customers full name and CRN
  - Payment amount and date issued
  - Incorrect BSB, Account number and name payment was issued to (if available)
  - Confirmed with the customer they do not have legal access to this account
  - Correct BSB, Account number and name as it appears on the account (confirmed by the customer) for ongoing CCS payments
  - Correct payment destination details updated on PAS Y/N
  - Does the customer have a payment nominee either for the payment made or the ongoing payments Y/N (provide any relevant information)
  - Q062 issue date and confirmation no response from financial institution
• If the payment has been returned:
• As long as the correct payment destination details have been updated, the payment will automatically reissue in the next payment strip
• No more action is needed
• DOC the record and finalise the review

Procedure ends here.

Before attempting to reissue the payment, make sure the correct payment system is selected (for example, Age Pension payments can only be reissued in the PEN system).

For payments in the ISS system, the correct subsystem must also be selected. For details on how to access the ISS subsystem, see Customer First navigation, common screens and functions.

• Go to the Payment Summary (PS) screen
• Select the payment that has not been received by typing ‘R’ next to the payment line and press [Enter]
• The Issue Payment Select (IPPRE) screen will show
• The system will automatically 'S'elect the Re-deliver Unreturned Payment: field and the Default Destination Type: field will automatically default to ‘Direct Credit’
• Press [Enter] and the Re-Deliver Payment (RDP) or Re-Deliver Component (RDC) screen will show
• The RDP screen will show for Income Support Payment
• The RDC screen will show for FTB payments

For FTB payments, go to Step 5

For all other payment types, go to Step 6

• On the RDC screen, code the following fields:
• Select the components of the payment to be reissued, or Reissue All if all components are to be reissued
• Selected Amt: This will populate with the total of the payment components to be reissued
• Reason: 'DNR'
• Finished (Y/Q/N): 'Y'
• Notes: The reason for the reissue of the payment
• Source: and DOR:
• Press [Enter] to complete the activity
• Make sure the Request for Refund (RFR) activity automatically generates on the Future Activity List (FAL) screen for 14 days. These activities will normally not show until daily driver (DDR) has run on the record. Key ‘DDR’ in Next and select [Enter]
• If the activity has been selected by Quality On Line (QOL), checking the future activity may not generate immediately. In these cases:
• note the Customer Reference Number (CRN), and
• check the FAL screen the next day
• record details on a DOC

Note: when reissuing family assistance payments, that have not been received, choose:

• either Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A or Part B, or
• both, by selecting 'reissue all' and answer 'Y

Due to the number of FTB components, the 'reissue all' option and the ability to finalise may appear on the second page.

FTB payments cannot be issued as an Urgent Payment. Procedure ends here.

• On the RDP screen, code the following fields:
• Reason: DNR
• Finished (Y/Q/N): Y
• Notes: the reason for the reissue of the payment
• Source: and DOR:
• Press [Enter] to complete the activity
• Make sure the Request for Refund (RFR) activity has been automatically generated on the Future Activity List (FAL) screen for 14 days. These activities will normally not show until daily driver (DDR) has run on the record. Key ‘DDR’ in Next and select [Enter]
• If the activity has been selected by Quality On Line (QOL), checking the future activity may not generate immediately. In these cases:
• note the Customer Reference Number (CRN), and
• check the FAL screen the next day
• record details on a DOC

Does the customer require the funds immediately?

• Yes, reissue the new payment via the New Payments Platform (NPP). Procedure ends here
• No, procedure ends here