Farm Household Allowance (FHA) clock 002-02080030

The Australian Government announced changes to increase the cumulative period that individuals can receive FHA. From 1 August 2018, eligible farmers and their partners can access up to 4 years (1,460 days) of payment. A further change introduced on 16 December 2019 allows FHA to be payable for 4 years in every specific 10 year period. This is designed to give farm families time to get back on their feet and the opportunity to take steps to address their long-term financial security.

The 4 year eligibility period does not need to be continuous: if FHA payments stop, the count of days towards their 4 years of help will pause. This means that the 1,460 days of payment may be delivered over an extended period.

If a customer receives FHA as both a farmer and a partner of a farmer, they are not entitled to more than 1,460 days payment in total in each specific 10 year period. The cumulative total includes days on payment as a farmer, and days on payment as a partner.

The system will automatically cancel FHA payments when the clock calculates that the customer has reached the maximum number of days on payment.

Note: 1,460 days is not always equal to 4 years, it is set to cater for leap years.

The first 10 year period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2024. The second 10 year period 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2034 and so on.

A customer's clock days reset to 1,460 when the next specific 10 year period starts. Any unused clock days from a previous 10 year period will remain unused and will not roll over into the next period.

The system will calculate a customer’s cumulative period of entitlement using a clock.

All allowances payable with FHA will be counted towards the clock, except bereavement payments.

The clock only counts days a customer has actually received a payment associated with FHA and updates at the end of each payment period. The count does not include payments scheduled for future delivery. Days serving a waiting period do not count towards the allowable 1,460 days on payment.

The system will start and stop the clock as a customer comes on and off FHA payments. Days for which a:

• payment is received will add a day to the clock
• nil rate of payment is received will not count against the clock, except if a debt is raised because of fraud, where a customer has not acted in good faith or where payments have been made for periods over the 1,460 days of entitlement

If a customer received Interim FHA payments for any period from 1 July 2014, the days for which they received Interim FHA payments must be counted against the clock. This includes periods where the partner may have received the payment of FHA on behalf of the customer.

Periods on Interim FHA payment have to be manually added to the clock.

A change of circumstance may result in days being added to or removed from a customer’s clock.

If the adjustment results in:

• a nil rate of payment for days previously counted as paid on the clock, those days are deducted from the clock count (for example if payment received for a day is raised as a debt, a day is added to the customer’s remaining entitlement)
• a payment of FHA for an additional number of days, those days are added to the clock count (for example if an arrears payment is made, a day is removed from the customer’s remaining entitlement for every day covered by the arrears payment)

If a customer receives a bereavement payment due to the death of their partner, the amount of the bereavement payment is not limited by the number of days remaining on either person’s clock.

As with other change of circumstances, business income reconciliation for FHA may result in an adjustment to a customer’s clock.

• If a top-up is calculated and paid, days may need to be removed from the customer's remaining entitlement calculation
• If a customer has a reconciliation debt, the customer may choose to ‘cash in’ their remaining clock days to pay-off their reconciliation debt
• If a debt is raised for a period, days may need to be added to the customer's remaining entitlement calculation

Undetermined debt shells will not have any impact on the clock. Once a customer’s clock reaches 1,460 days on payment, FHA will be cancelled whether or not there is any undetermined debt activity on the record.

For determined debts raised where a notice is given that it must be repaid resulting in the customer not being entitled to any FHA payment for the period, the customer is deemed not to have received FHA for days of zero entitlement.

Partial rate debts: If the rate of FHA is reduced during the period of the debt (but not $0) the clock will not be adjusted. Only the days where there was zero entitlement are added back to the clock.

Waived debts, do not re-credit the clock.

If a zero entitlement debt is:

• fully waived, manually reverse the auto clock adjustment that occurs when the debt is determined, prior to waiving. Add the days back as days the customer has been on FHA
• partially waived, manually reverse the period that is waived. Do not add the days back to the available clock days. There is no change for a waived partial rate debt as the clock is not adjusted when the debt is raised to waive

Exception: if a debt has resulted from payments being issued for a period outside the 1,460 days of entitlement, a manual clock adjustment is not needed, as there was never any entitlement to the period to need an adjustment.

If a debt is determined for a period inside the 1,460 days of entitlement after the customer's FHA payments have been cancelled due to receiving 1,460 days of payment, the clock will need to be adjusted and FHA restored via the change process. If the debt is determined more than 13 weeks after the FHA cancellation date, a new claim may be needed.

The Act permanently waives the repayment of certain classes of debts for FHA recipients arising from the BIR process for FHA payments between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2020.

Pre 24 July 2021: BIR debts existing prior to royal assent may be waived under this legislative change.

• Partial rate debts will not require a clock adjustment as no days were re-credited to the available clock days when the debt was raised
• Full rate debts may be waived under a trade of available days. Customers with full rate BIR debts had these days added back to their available clock days when the debt was raised

Post 23 July 2021: BIR debts raised post royal assent are waived by law and will not adjust available clock days.

The clock may need manual adjustment where a decision results in a need to complete an adjustment outside the normal functions of the system.

Adjustments to the clock are made in SAP using the manual adjustment functionality.

If a customer received Interim FHA payments for any period from 1 July 2014, the days for which they received those payments must be counted against the clock. Interim FHA payment days must be added to the clock manually. If a customer's partner received Interim FHA payments, the days where Interim FHA was received must be added to the customer's clock manually.

Note: the auto calculated clock periods will over-ride any manual adjustment for the same or overlapping period.

If the customer has been paid FHA (including periods of Interim FHA) for a total of:

• 1,370 days, the customer has only 90 days of their FHA entitlement remaining. A notification letter will be sent to the customer advising when their entitlement is likely to end
• 1,460 days, the customer's FHA will cancel (O4Y) as they have used their entire FHA entitlement. FHA will cancel whether or not there is undetermined debt activity on the customer record. If the customer has entered a new 4 in 10 year period, they will be entitled to a further 1,460 days of FHA

The Process page details the steps for manual clock adjustment.