Farm Financial Assessments (FFA) 002-02070010

The Farm Household Contact Officer (FHCO) requests the FFA after a new claim has been granted and assigned to them.

Before requesting the FFA, the FHCO must:

• assign themselves as Employee Responsible to the customer and partner (if applicable). See Farm Household Case Officer (FHCO) cases
• have successful contact with the customer

During the FHCO first contact, the FHCO determines if the customer has any vulnerabilities or special circumstances that would prevent the FFA from being returned by the due date.

In some circumstances, the FHCO may need to have multiple contacts with the customer before establishing a relationship to identify vulnerabilities.

Document all contact attempts using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > Update > FHA phone contact attempted.

If vulnerabilities or special circumstances are identified, the FHCO can select an appropriate due date for the FFA.

An FFA may also be required where:

• the customer notifies a significant change in their circumstances or the circumstances of the farm enterprise
• a customer is re-granted FHA and there has been a significant change in circumstances

Note: if the customer is part of any open FFA cases (case status is New, In Process, Not Provided, Current), the case will be closed. This also applies to activities related to the case if a new FFA request is issued.

The FFA supplement is also payable up to the maximum amount for any subsequent FFAs.

For partnered customers who have agreed to link the FFA, only one FFA is required. Making this customer the 'main partner' in the system, the FFA will be attached to their online account. The partner's FFA case will link to the 'main partner'.

Note: the FFA can only be accessed through the 'main partner's' online account. The One Time Access Code (OTAC) issued to that person must be used by the financial assessor.

Issue the Farm Financial Assessment request in Process Direct:

• open the customer record
• go to the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) screen to launch the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) task
• select Add to generate a new request
• key the Due Date of the FFA.
  If the FFA due date is more than 2 months, FHCO's manually initiate the FIA
• select Yes from the Create for Partner dropdown menu, if applicable
• answer 'Does the customer agree to share their FFA with their partner?', if applicable 'Y' or 'N'
• select Save
• record the details on a DOC using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > FHCO > FFA request generated

For partnered customers, if Person Permitted to Enquire (PPE) is Yes on both records or the customer has agreed to link the FFA with the partner, the FFA automatically replicates to the partner's record.

If the customer has not agreed to link the FFA to the partner, the partner must do a separate FFA.

The FFA request letter and FFA supplement voucher will be issued to the customer.

The new FFA case will appear on the customer's record after approximately 15 minutes. It may be necessary to clear out of the customer's record for the FFA to appear.

Note: the FHCO can update the FFA due date before the actual due date if special circumstances exist.

The FFA is made up of 4 parts:

• the about you section (Part A) is completed by the customer using their Centrelink online account, menu option Payments and Claims > Claims > Farm Financial Assessment. They will need to enter details including farm description, property use, conditions of assets, labour input, environmental factors and farming future
• the farm information sections (Parts B to D) are then completed by the financial assessor:
• in the Farm Financial Assessment portal on the Services Australia website
• using the One Time Access Code (OTAC) provided in the customer's FFA request letter. The OTAC can be used multiple times to complete the FFA online, until the FFA is submitted (Once submitted the FFA cannot be re-opened).
  See the Resources page for relevant information

Customers who do not have reliable internet access

Customers without reliable internet access should ask their financial assessor to help them enter their Part A information. They can use the Farm Financial Assessment Companion Guide from the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry website to prepare to answer these questions when they attend the meeting with their financial assessor. The Farm Financial Assessment Companion Guide has examples of questions and answers for FFA Parts A-D.

Note: the financial assessor can only access and complete the farm information sections once the customer has submitted the about you section online.

Extensions for completing an FFA are granted by the FHCO. If a customer asks for an extension via other channels for example, Farmers Assistance Line, tell them to contact their FHCO. To check the assigned FHCO, see Farm Household Case Officer (FHCO) cases.

One extension of the return date can be granted for an FFA.

In the customers record in Process Direct:

• go to the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) screen to launch the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) task
• select the twisty next to the 'In Process' FFA case
• select Add under FFA Activities
• select Letter Activity
• key the Extension Due Date
• select Save

Record the details on a DOC, using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > FHCO > FFA extension granted.

A manual FIA will be required due to the FFA extension, see Financial Improvement Agreements.

Note: the FHCO can update the FFA due date before the actual due date if special circumstances exist.

The FFA request is only to be withdrawn:

• in extraordinary circumstances, and
• if the provision of an extension of time is not appropriate for the situation

Extraordinary circumstances, includes but is not limited to:

• serious illness
• fire
• flood
• accident
• natural disasters

The FFA request will be extended and required when the customer is able to comply with the request. The completion of the FFA must be included in the customer's Financial Improvement Agreement (FIA) as an activity to be completed before the first FIA review.

Note: the FHCO can apply discretion when the FFA request is issued, dependent on the customer's circumstances.

Do not withdraw the FFA if the customer or financial assessor has an issue with the online portal. This results in a loss of all data already recorded. Go to Step 4.

If the FHCO has approved withdrawal of the FFA due to extraordinary circumstances, open the customer's record in Process Direct:

• go to the FFA screen to launch the FFA task case
• select Edit in the In Process FFA case
• select Waived from the Status dropdown menu
• select Reason from the Waived Reason dropdown menu
• select Save

Record the details on a DOC using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > FHCO > FFA request withdrawn.

Note: the confirmation text is to ensure withdrawals are granted based on extraordinary circumstances only.

For issue with the online portal:

• Escalate unresolved online access issues to ICT Service Desk using the Centrelink online account issues webform in mySupport. The Resources page contains a link to mySupport
• Consider providing an extension to lodge the FFA if an extension has not previously been granted. This will delay an auto suspension of the customer's record:
• Record details of the extension and reason using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > FHCO > FFA extension granted
• Refer the case, via email, to FHCO Operations including the ICT ticket and case information
• Once advised the issue is fixed, contact the customer or financial assessor to retry using the online portal

If a customer fails to provide their completed FFA by the initial or revised (extension) due date:

• the system will change the FFA status to Not Provided and create a failure activity for each customer linked to the FFA
• FHA payments will be suspended reason FFA (no Farm Financial Assessment) and a letter issued

If the partner's FHA has not suspended and the FFA was linked correctly, refer the record to ICT via Digital Assistant Roxy.

An FFA is not complete until the customer has submitted the about you section and the financial assessor has submitted all of the farm information sections.

A completed FFA is needed before FHA payments can be restored.

If the completed FFA is received:

• within 13 weeks of the date the notice is issued to the customer advising of the decision to suspend FHA, payments can be restored from date paid to plus 1, and arrears paid. See Table 3, Step 6
• more than 13 weeks after the decision to suspend FHA, the customer's FHA will be cancelled and they may need to lodge a new claim

Note: decisions to suspend and restore payments when the customer submits their FFA late are made under sections 64 and 109 of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999. The References page has a link to the legislation. This is different to the legislation used to assess Qualification Failures related to a Financial Improvement Agreement (FIA) and subsequent restorations.

The FFA can be accepted once the:

• customer has lodged Part A of the FFA
• financial assessor has lodged Parts B, C and D, and
• FHCO confirms the financial assessor has appropriate qualifications or expertise to conduct the FFA

To search for a:

• list of submitted FFAs, go to Step 2
• customer's submitted FFA, go to Step 3

Go to Social Services - Benefit Management work block:

• Select Search Activities
• Activity Type, select FFA Submitted Activity
• Status, select Received
• If the employee responsible (Farm Household Case Officer) for the FFA is known, key the employee number in the Business Partner ID field to obtain a list for that employee
• select Search

A submitted FFA list displays. Select 1.

Go to Step 4.

In the customer's record in Process Direct:

• go to the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) screen to launch the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) task
• select the twisty next to the In Process FFA case
• if the FFA has been completed, the status will display FFA Submitted

Select View FFA.

Check the:

• FFA has been submitted and is complete
• Service provider has appropriate qualifications or expertise to be a financial assessor for the purposes of completing the FFA (see the Financial Assessor Details section at the end of the FFA)

Note: any FFA started prior to 7 September and submitted after 7 September will not be visible via the ID link. To view the FFA select the print FFA link.

Is the submitted FFA acceptable?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, if FFA is not complete, lacks details or has been completed by someone who is not a financial assessor, send an email to FHCO National Support
• Do not update the status to Rejected, this will prevent the FFA from being completed. Procedure ends here until advice received from FHCO National Support

In the customers record in Process Direct:

• Go to the FFA screen to launch the FFA task
• Select the twisty next to the In Process FFA case
• Failure will display under FFA Activities table

Check the failure reason on the failure activity and verify if the customer or their partner has submitted the FFA.

Does the customer have an active FFA Failure?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 7

Resolve the failure in Process Direct:

• select Edit next to Failure activity
• update failure status from Active to Resolved
• select Save

After the FFA failure has been resolved, go to Step 7.

Update FFA status in Process Direct:

• select Edit next to FFA submitted activity
• if the FFA is complete, update status from Received to Accepted
• key the Accepted Date
• select Save

If the customer's FFA Case Status has a status of No Response and this does not update to Current after the FFA has been accepted, do not manually change the case status. Refer the record to Digital Assistant Roxy.

This triggers the Financial Improvement Agreement (FIA) Case to generate and send the FIA request letter.

Link partner to FFA: If the customer's partner is also claiming FHA, check if the partner needs to be linked to the customer's FFA. See Table 1, Step 2.

Is the customer's FHA suspended for failing to complete the FFA?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, procedure ends here

Note: if a manual FIA was created it will need to be closed and the details moved to the new auto FIA generated by accepting the FFA, see Financial Improvement Agreement.

Has the completed FFA been submitted within 13 weeks of notification being issued advising of FHA being suspended?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, the customer's FHA will be cancelled and they may need to lodge a new claim if they wish to continue receiving FHA. Procedure ends here

Once the FFA failure has been resolved and the FFA has been accepted, restore the customer's FHA payment using the change process. See Suspending, cancelling and restoring Farm Household Allowance (FHA).

Record the reasons for the restoration on a DOC using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > SUS/CAN/RES > FHA Restored.