Businesses Working With Us

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1 The Department of Human Services has a variety of products and services available to assist Businesses working with us Businesses Working With Us Presented by Graham Forsyth June 2015

2 Page 2 The Department of Human Services offers a range of services that can assist businesses when working with our mutual customers. These include: Centrepay Centrelink Confirmation eservices (CCeS) Enhanced Income Statements Income Management (IM) BasicsCard

3 Page 3 Centrepay Centrepay is a free and voluntary bill-paying service for customers receiving Centrelink payments. It allows customers to pay a variety of bills in easy instalments. An organisation is required to apply and be approved by the department to offer this service. Through Centrepay, an organisation can reduce administrative costs, including additional costs caused by the withdrawal and reconnection of your service to a customer. Centrepay is provided on a full-cost-recovery basis and your organisation pays a transaction fee (incl GST) for each successful deduction. This fee must not be passed on to the customer. Centrepay is free for customers. Good Shepherd approved No-Interest-Loans (NILS) Providers do not pay the transaction fee.

4 Page 4 Centrepay organisations can include Approved organisations who offer Centrepay as a bill-payment option include providers of goods and services such as: Private rent hostels, nursing homes and community housing Electricity, gas, water and telecommunications Rental of household goods Education services Child Care services Home Care services Court and Legal services Medical services and equipment

5 Page 5 Consent Consent MUST be provided most commonly by way of a Centrepay Deduction Form (SA325). Consent MUST be obtained prior to commencing or varying up a Centrepay deduction Consent MUST be stored in a secure and lockable location.

6 Page 6 Centrelink Confirmation eservices Centrelink Confirmation eservices (CCeS) is a free and secure online service that provides an efficient and effective method for Businesses to confirm a Customers entitlement to a Concession, Rebate or Service it provides. There are 3 confirmation services available: Customer Confirmation eservice confirms customer details Income Confirmation eservice confirms a customers income, asset and payment details Superannuation Confirmation eservice confirms length of time in receipt of payment

7 Page 7 Centrelink Confirmation eservices Enables Businesses to validate Customer circumstances directly with the department, whilst protecting the customer s personal and protected information. Use this service to: Reduce administrative costs Improve the integrity of the information you use Provide better customer service through an immediate response and a secure system A Business MUST first obtain informed consent from the customer.

8 Centrelink Confirmation eservices organisations can include: Page 8 Health Medical, Dental, Ambulance, Optical, Hearing, Hospitals, Flying doctor service Financial - Financial Planners/Counsellors, NILs,Insurance State Trustee Council - Local Government council services Rates, licences Education - TAFE s, Education Administration Centres, Schools Universities Utilities - Utility Providers Legal - Legal aid, Lawyers and Solicitors for legal aid, court administration Welfare -Not for Profit, government or community welfare organisations, Advocacy Transport - Road and Traffic Authorities, Licencing and registration, State Transport Housing - Government and Community organisations Superannuation Superannuation fund administrators assisting with early release of Super in event of financial hardship.

9 Page 9 Consent Consent MUST be obtained prior to making an enquiry for CCeS. This consent is valid until the customer withdraws the consent by either contacting DHS or the business. Consent MUST be provided by way of an approved customer consent Consent MUST be stored in a secure and lockable location.

10 Page 10 Enhanced Income Statement Recent enhancements to the Income Statements available through Centrelink Confirmation eservices provide extra detail to assist with your financial planning services, with a breakdown under the following categories: Deposit accounts and direct investments This includes the institution name, type of accounts and or direct investments, number of units, unit value and the percentage owned by the customer. The value is to display in foreign currency where applicable. Managed investments This includes the institution name, type of accounts and or direct investments, number of units, unit value and the percentage owned by the customer. Securities and investments This includes the institution name, type of security and or investment, total value, number of shares and percentage owned by the customer. The value is to display in foreign currency where applicable.

11 Page 11 Enhanced Income Statement Superannuation and annuities This includes the institution name, type, value, income and frequency (Note: this requirement will only be defined as an asset details of frequency & income will appear in the aggregated figures displayed under the Income section on the ICS). Breakdown of Centrepay, Rent Deduction Scheme and Income Management Deductions under payment types This includes a list of the customers individual Centrepay, RDS and Income Management Deductions by; Gross Deduction Amount for current deductions Organisation Name for current deductions Service Reason for current deduction Financial Year to Date Total Deductions for Current Deductions

12 Page 12 Income Management Income Management is a bill-paying service to help customers manage their money to meet essential household needs and expenses. Through Income Management you can learn to better manage their finances in the long term. Income Management is fee free for customers and Businesses. A customer can authorise the department to allocate a portion of their Income Managed funds, to an approved business to pay a bill. Commencing or ceasing an Income Management allocation involves a discussion with a DHS Income Management trained Staff member.

13 Income Management Locations Page 13

14 Page 14 BasicsCard A BasicsCard is available to Income Managed Customers only. The BasicsCard is a reusable, Personal Identification Number (PIN) protected card. A customer can use the Basicscard to purchase things such as food, clothes, health items and hygiene products at a variety of approved stores and businesses. There are over approved Basicscard Merchants nationwide, ranging from nationally approved merchants to small business owners. A business is required to submit a Business Application to seek approval to participate as a BasicsCard Approved Merchant.

15 Basicscard priority goods and services for the purposes of approval for merchants to participate in the BasicsCard Scheme: Page 15 food & non-alcoholic beverages clothing & footwear basic personal hygiene items pharmacy items basic household items & services housing repairs & maintenance household utilities rates & land tax health services child care, education & training public transport services funerals items required for the purposes of the person s employment, including: a uniform or other occupational clothing protective footwear tools of trade the acquisition, maintenance or operation of a motor vehicle, a motor cycle, a bicycle short-term residential accommodation State Government services including: Infringement notice payment services certification services such as Births, Deaths and Marriages

16 Page 16 BasicsCard A customer will advise DHS to credit income managed funds to their BCD from the income managed portion of their welfare payment. Customers CANNOT use their BasicsCard to purchase: Alcohol Tobacco and tobacco products Pornography Gambling products and services Gift cards / vouchers Home-brew kits Home-brew concentrate

17 Page 17 Business Online Services Business Online Services provides a secure and convenient way for businesses to access a range of our services online. You can conduct your business with us online at a time and place convenient for you. With registration for Business Online Services you will receive a User ID and password to be used exclusively by you, enabling you to login and access the services. Business Online Services enables you to download your Centrepay Deduction Reports online, as well as access to the Deduction and Payments Application (DAPA) and Centrepay Bulk Update Service (CBUS).

18 Page 18 Centrelink Deduction Report As a registered Centrepay and/or Income Management business you can receive your regular Centrelink Deduction Reports and any applicable tax invoices via Organisation Online Mail within Business Online Services. You will receive an notification to the relevant Users address to advise when a Centrelink Deduction Report is available and ready to be retrieved. The deduction report will contain payment, instruction and reconciliation transaction data as requested together in the same file. Your Centrelink Deduction Report can be made available daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly (excluding national public holidays). There are five available Electronic Data Transfer formats to choose from which enable you to monitor your customer s payment details simply and securely: Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Comma Separated Values, Comma Separated Values with headings, Flat File and Council Flat File format.

19 Page 19 Deduction and Payments Application The Deduction and Payments Application (DAPA) is an online service providing Businesses access to information about customer deductions and payments made to an organisation. Authorised Centrepay businesses may have the access to Add (with consent), Vary (with consent) and Cancel Centrepay deductions on behalf of (and with consent of) a mutual customer. The range of functions available to each organisation depends upon the type of services you deliver to customers, and the level of access granted by the department. Customer consent through a Centrepay Deduction Form (SA325) is required to be kept on record when processed through DAPA. Updates can be done via a single entry update or bulk updates.

20 Page 20 Access Levels As mentioned previously, the range of functions available to each organisation depends upon the type of services you deliver to customers, and the level of access granted by the department. For Centrepay - No Interest Loans providers access level is: SERVICE REASON DESCRIPTION ADD DEDUCTION INCREASE DEDUCTION INCREASE TARGET AMOUNT DECREASE DEDUCTION AMOUNT DECREASE TARGET AMOUNT CANCEL DEDUCTION FIL NO INTEREST LOANS Y Y Y Y Y Y Refer to the Deduction and Payments User Guide for Access Levels to other Service Reasons.

21 Page 21 Centrepay Bulk Upload Service The Centrepay Bulk Upload Service (CBUS) is an online service that enables approved businesses to submit a file of requests to update customer records with new, varied (with customer consent) or terminated Centrepay deductions, as well as increase and decrease deductions and targets on behalf of a mutual customer. The range of functions available to each organisation depends upon the type of services you deliver to customers, and the level of access granted by the department. Customer consent through a Centrepay Deduction Form (SA325) is required to be kept on record when processed through CBUS. A file will be submitted via the Organisation Online Mail (OOM) system, this file will then be validated to ensure it meets specification and the department will apply the deduction instructions to the customer record. Your organisation will then be issued a report detailing the outcome.

22 Page 22 Centrepay Bulk Upload Service The Centrepay Bulk Upload Service will enable you to submit a zip file containing deduction instruction data in one of the following formats: Comma Separated Value (CSV) Extensible Markup Language (XML) All submitted files will be subject to three levels of validation: Level 1 File validation All files must be zipped into a file with a.zip extension. Each zipped file that is submitted will be validated to ensure it meets specification. Level 2 Data validation (each individual line) If accepted each individual instruction that passes level 2 validation will go to level 3 validation. If rejected details of each deduction instruction that failed level 2 validation will be identified in a Rejection file sent to you, accompanied by a Comment Record which explains the reason for rejection of that instruction. This enables you to read the comment, then correct the data and resubmit it.

23 Page 23 Centrepay Bulk Upload Service Level 3 Input validation (when deduction instructions are applied to customer records) Each deduction instruction will be passed to the individual customer records in our payment system for update of Centrepay deduction details. If the deduction instruction is: Applied the instruction is reported as successful. Not Applied the instruction is rejected and will be returned to the organisation and reported as failed with error message/s. Once a CBUS file submission has been fully processed, you will a receive a Response report outlining the results of deduction instruction processing. Each instruction in the Response report will identify whether the update has been successful or not. Further information can be found in the Centrepay Bulk Upload Service User Guide

24 Page 24 Logging in

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27 Page 27 Contacts Visit - You can make contact with us via the following Helpdesks Centrepay: CCeS: IM & BCD: For Complaints or Feedback please contact

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