Advances 103-05040000

See the relevant procedure for the eligibility criteria for the advance type:

• Advance payments for non-pension customers
• Advance payments for pension customers
• Advance payments of Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
• Advance payments of Farm Household Allowance (FHA)

Weekly payment customers cannot use self service channels to apply for an advance payment. These customers must either have a face-to-face interview or contact the smart centre.

Note: the advance payment workflow in Customer First shows incorrect details about weekly payment customers needing face-to-face contact to request an advance payment.

Weekly payment customers need a thorough investigation of their circumstances and ability to repay without placing themselves in financial hardship before an advance being granted. For customers who may have a gambling, alcohol, other addiction or financial issues, consider other options such as:

• referring the recipient to a social worker
• suggesting the customer apply for a smaller advance, or
• after thoroughly assessing the customer's expenses, a rejection under hardship may be appropriate

Under no circumstances should an advance be granted and repayments immediately reduced.

Customers must be made fully aware of the impacts of taking the offer of an advance payment.

Before any advance is granted, consider:

• The customer's living arrangements. (Do they have stable accommodation? If not, any additional expense may impact on their ability to secure this.)
• Any expenses they already have, which reduce their fortnightly available funds
• Is the amount the customer has declared to have left each fortnight after expenses reasonable? As weekly payments are used to help customers with their budgeting needs, if the customer is declaring a large excess each fortnight, this may not be realistic and careful investigation of their financial situation may be needed

The following Income Support Payment customers are considered to be 'at risk' and must have a face-to-face interview when applying for an advance payment (except if rural and remote):

• Under 18, or
• independent Youth Allowance (YA) or independent ABSTUDY recipients and are aged under 18 years

A thorough assessment of the customer's individual circumstances is needed before the advance is assessed.

Rural and/or remote customers are those who live in rural or remote areas who live more than 90 minutes from a service centre and have no access to a service centre.

If the customer has a nominee, See Table 2.

Income Management customers who apply for an advance payment will have 100% of their advance (excluding SEA) income managed. This means the full advance amount is credited to their Income Management account and not their nominated bank account. Funds are available in the Income Management account the following day and customers can access these funds in the usual way, such as transferring money to their BasicsCard or arranging payments to a Third Party Organisation.

Enhanced Income managed customers will have 100% of their lump sum payments credited to their enhanced IM account.

If a customer with a nominee applies for an advance payment, the Service Officer must determine if there are any restrictions preventing the advance payment being granted.

If an involuntary nominee arrangement is in place, the Service Officer must contact the nominee before granting the advance.

If a voluntary nominee arrangement exists, the nominee should be contacted if it is in the customer's best interest.

An involuntary nominee arrangement is where a third party has been given legal right, as the result of a court, tribunal, guardianship or administration order to administer the customer's affairs.

• Under no circumstances is the following to occur without the nominee's approval:
• an advance payment to be granted at the request of the customer
• the nominee arrangement to be cancelled
• the payment destination changed
• If the customer appears eligible for an advance payment, contact must still be made with the nominee and approval obtained before granting it
  Note: it will be extremely rare for an advance payment to be approved by the nominee, particularly where the nominee is a state/territory trustee organisation
• If the nominee does not provide approval for the advance payment, or cannot be contacted, the Service Officer must reject the application. The name of the officer and/or organisation with who contact was made or attempted, must be included in the Note/DOC
• If the nominee approves the granting of an advance payment, the names of the officer contacted who provided the approval, and the organisation must be annotated in the Note/DOC

A voluntary arrangement is where a third party has been appointed as a nominee at the request of the customer. Only the customer, or their correspondence nominee on the customer's behalf, can apply for an advance payment.

• Contact the nominee (correspondence or payment), if possible, before approving the advance payment if the customer appears eligible, but there are concerns about the customer's understanding of:
• what an advance payment is
• their capacity to repay
• the excess income per fortnight they are declaring (after expenses) seems to be unrealistic, or
• what the impact on their regular fortnightly payment the repayments will have, that is, they do not understand that their payment will be reduced by the fortnightly repayment amount
• If the customer has different correspondence and payment nominees, contact the correspondence nominee
• If the customer has a payment nominee only, or the correspondence nominee cannot be contacted, discuss only basic information about the application with the payment nominee, including:
• that an application for an advance payment has been made, and
• the fortnightly rate of repayments
• If a reason for the advance application has been provided by the customer, it should not be discussed with the payment nominee
• If the nominee cannot be contacted, the Service Officer is to action the advance payment request and annotate the Note/DOC with the information. The customer should not be disadvantaged if the nominee cannot be contacted in a timely manner

If the nominee does not think payment of the advance is in the customer's best interests, the Service Officer must discuss this with the customer. If after this discussion the Service Officer is satisfied that granting the advance payment will be for the customer's benefit and will not place them in hardship, the Service Officer is to action the request based on the customer's request and annotate the Note/DOC with this information.

Note: if the advance payment is to be approved for the customer who has a payment nominee, make sure the customer is aware the payment will go to the nominated person's bank account as per their normal payments.

Select from the below options

• A customer with a nominee can apply for an advance, but the nominee should be contacted to ensure the payment is in the best interest of customer
• If a nominee cannot be contacted, Service Officers can still grant the advance
• Care needs to be taken to ensure the customer understands the implications of the advance, such as a reduced rate of payment for the next 13 fortnights
• A correspondence nominee can apply for an advance, but the payment destination cannot be changed
• Correspondence nominees can use self service channels to apply for an advance on behalf of the customer
• Payment nominees cannot use self-service channels to apply for an advance on behalf of the customer
• If a customer is under 18 years of age, the nominee does not need to attend a service centre to apply for an advance on behalf of the customer

• A customer cannot receive an advance without the approval of the nominee
• If the nominee cannot be contacted or does not approve the advance, the Service Officer must reject the advance
• Involuntary correspondence nominees can apply for an advance on behalf of the customer using self-service channels
• Involuntary payment nominees cannot use self-service channels to apply for an advance on behalf of a customer

See Advance payment options online for more details on what actions nominees can undertake using self-service channels.

Update all Advance payments via the Advance Payments workflow in Process Direct where possible.

• Go to the Customer Summary tile
• Enter the customer CRN, select Search or Go
• Key START in the Super Key field
• Select the Advance Payments workflow from the Task Selector

The following is details shown within the Advance payments workflow.

• The following fields show:
• Advance type - a history of the Advance types the customer has previously applied for or may be eligible to apply
• Next possible advance date - details about the next possible advance date or Expand for more information
  Note: select Expand on the advance the customer wants to apply for. This will show information on the customer's eligibility
• Minimum amount -minimum amount a customer can apply for
• Maximum amount - maximum amount a customer can apply for
• Outstanding balance - the outstanding balance of any advance payments

Create Advance Payment

When processing an advance payment request for a customer, only the advances the customer is eligible for will show.

The Current advances table shows most recent details about current advances:

• Action: this is used to expand the advance details to see the repayment history. Delete is used to cancel provisional data - this will not cancel the advance payment, only any changes made if the update is not finalised
• Advance ID: every advance has an ID number. The numbers are issued consecutively for all advances and not by advance type
• Status: provisional status means the advance has not yet been granted. For example, an FTB regular advance that has not reached the grant date.
• Effect date (date the advance was granted)
• Service reason
• Advance type
• Advance Amount
• Current balance
• Recovery amount
• Second Instalment date
• Second Instalment amount
• Rejection reason
• Deduction end date
• Modify

Select Modify to:

• change the repayment amount, see Changes to the repayment rate of an advance payment
• change outstanding balance, see Lump sum repayment of advance payment
• delete the advance, see:
• Deletion of advance granted on incorrect record
• Advance Payment obtained fraudulently
• change instalment date, see:
• Advance payment for non-pension customers
• Advance payments for pension customers
• cease regular payment (Regular FTB advance only), see, Advance payments of Family Tax Benefit (FTB)

Expand each Current Advance to see the repayment history.

The Previous advances table shows the most recent details about previous advances:

• Advance ID
• Status
• Effect date
• Service reason
• Advance type
• Advance amount
• Current balance
• Recovery t amount
• Second instalment date
• Second instalment amount
• Rejection reason
• Deduction end date
• Modify : the Modify function will only be available for 2 years after the advance has been finalised. This is used to restore the advance balance where needed

Expand each previous advance to see the repayment history. The following fields will show:

• Advance ID
• Date of repayment
• Deduction amount
• Balance

The repayment source is not shown. Use Manage Advances to check repayment queries for the previous 2 years.

The Recent lump sum payment table shows the most recent details about current advances:

• Advance ID
• Status
• Effect Date
• Service reason
• Advance type
• Advance balance
• Receipt amount
• Payment type:
• GEP - credit/debit card payment
• AUSPOST - payments made at Australia Post
• Receipt ID
• Receipt date
• Status code:
• RECMAT- exact amount has been processed - payment finalised
• RECDFF - amount paid is different to balance
• RECCLO - payment had manual action to finalise
• PENSYN - this occurs when payment is first made
• INPROG - in progress. No action can be taken to update this advance until the payment shows PENSYN or RECMAT.
• Refund
• Refund Payment, for more details, see Lump sum repayment of advance payment

Update all Advance payments via the Manage Advances action in Process Direct where possible.

• Go to the Customer Summary tile
• Enter the customer CRN
• Select Search or Go
• Select > Manage Advances

The following is details shown within the Manage Advances action.

Choose from the following menu item options:

• Customer Information
• Advance Payment Overview
• Current Advances
• Previous Advances
• Recent Lump Sum Payments

This menu item shows:

• Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• Customer Name
• Identity status
• Relationship status
• Benefit status
• Date of Birth

This menu item shows:

• Advance type
• Next possible advance date
• Minimum available amount
• Maximum available amount
• Outstanding balance

This menu item will show all current advances:

• Date of effect (date advance granted)
• Service reason
• Advance type
• Advance amount
• Current balance
• Repayment amount
• First instalment amount
• Second instalment amount
• Action

From the Action menu, options include:

• Adjust Repayment, see Changes to the repayment rate of an advance payment
• Adjust Balance, see Lump sum repayment of advance payment
• Delete Advance, see Deletion of advance granted on incorrect record or Advance Payment obtained fraudulently
• Adjust Instalment Date, see Advance payment for non-pension customers or Advance payments for pension customers
• Discontinue Future Advance (Regular FTB advance only), see Advance payments of Family Tax Benefit (FTB)

When each Effect Date is expanded, the repayment history for that advance will show:

• Date of repayment
• Transaction type (whether recovery from advance, Post Billpay, credit/debit card, staff recovery, automatic recovery, refund)
• Repayment amount
• Balance

This menu item shows all previous/rejected advances:

• Date of effect (date advance granted)
• Service reason
• Advance type
• Advance amount
• Current balance
• Repayment amount
• Rejection reason
• Action

From the Action menu, options include:

• Adjust Balance, see Lump sum repayment of advance payment
• Delete Advance, see Deletion of advance granted on incorrect record or Advance Payment obtained fraudulently

When each Effect Date is expanded, the repayment history for that advance will show:

• Date of repayment
• Transaction type (whether Recovery from Advance, Post Billpay, Credit/debit card, staff recovery, Automatic recovery, refund)
• Repayment amount
• Balance

This menu item will show all lump sum payments made:

• Benefit type
• Advance type
• Advance balance
• Start date of advance
• Payment type:
• GEP - credit/debit card payment
• AUSPOST - payments made at Australia Post
• Amount
• Receipt ID
• Receipt date
• Status:
• RECMAT- exact amount has been processed - payment finalised)
• RECDFF - amount paid is different to balance
• RECCLO - payment had manual action to finalise
• PENSYN - this occurs when payment is first made
• INPROG - IN PROGRESS. No action can be taken to update this advance until the payment shows PENSYN or RECMAT
• Action:
• Refund Payment, see Lump sum repayment of advance payment

On the Home Page in Customer First; either

• in Search Workspace, type Advance Payment, select Search; or
• select the CRN/BP hyperlink, select Advances under the Customer Summary

The following details are shown within the Advance Payments workflow.

This tab shows:

• Advance payment overview
• Which advance payment type to apply for?
• Current advances
• History of advance details

This shows:

• Advance type
• Next possible advance date – can show a future date or more information - hover over more information for details of the customer’s eligibility
• Minimum amount
• Maximum amount
• Outstanding balance

When processing a request for an advance from a customer:

• Select where it says ‘Please Select'
• This will show a dropdown list. Choose the advance type the customer is claiming
• The Advance Payment Application page will show

All current advances are shown here.

The table shows:

• Date of effect
• Service reason
• Advance type
• Advance amount
• Current balance
• Recovery amount
• Rejection reason
• Deduction end date
• Advance status (if advance is ‘provisional' pvl will show in this column)

Select the date hyperlink and the Advance Payment details screen will open and show:

• Date of effect (date advance granted)
• Advance type
• Service reason
• Granted amount
• Requested amount
• Recovery amount
• Current balance
• Second instalment amount (if advance is in instalments)
• History of advance repayments. Note: this does not show the source of the repayment, this is only available in the Manage Advances tool in Process Direct

The Modify button

Staff can:

• Adjust Repayment, see Changes to the repayment rate of an advance payment
• Adjust Balance, see Lump sum repayment of advance payment
• Adjust Instalment Date, see:
• Advance payment for non-pension customers
• Advance payments for pension customers
• Discontinue Future Advance (Regular FTB advance only), for more details, see Advance payments of Family Tax Benefit (FTB)

This menu item will show all previous/rejected advances:

• Date of effect (date advance granted)
• Service reason
• Advance type
• Advance amount
• Requested amount
• Current balance
• Deduction end date
• Rejection reason

When each Effect Date is expanded, the repayment history for that advance will show:

• Date of repayment
• Repayment amount
• Balance

Note: previous advances cannot be restored using the Advance Payment workflow in Customer First. Advances can only be restored in Process Direct. The source of the repayment does not show in the Advance Payment workflow in Customer First, this is only available from the Manage Advances tool in Process Direct.