Issue 39 | 26 April 2005
Recent analysis of FaCS-funded Disability Employment Assistance (DEA) has shown that many Business Services are not using their allocated places.
The DEA Funding Agreement states that: "If at review, your Outlet is found to be operating at less than 90 per cent of your Outlet Capacity over 3 or more months, then the Department may vary your Outlet Capacity" (Paragraph 9.8 of the Programme Procedures).
The department is reviewing areas of high and low demand. If your outlet has not met the required 90 per cent utilisation over more than nine months of the year, then the department may soon contact you to review your allocated Outlet Capacity, with a view to reallocating those unused places to areas of high demand.
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With FOFMS Release 2 now implemented, it is time to focus on future releases. Release 3, which will be implemented in August 2005, will build on the existing FOFMS functions to eliminate some manual processes.
For example, Release 3 of FOFMS will automatically update the case phase from Employment Assistance to Maintenance, once a Disability Maintenance Instrument (DMI) Assessment is completed.
Leading up to Release 3 of FOFMS, FaCS will provide you with useful information and facts about the changes and how they will improve the way we all use FOFMS.
FOFMS Release 3 - changes to the way you access Stretch Capacity places.
Currently you are not able to return a Case Based Funding (CBF) client from suspension or exit and utilise a stretch capacity vacancy without the intervention of an authorised FaCS staff member.
FOFMS Release 3 will give you the ability to use stretch capacity for CBF clients returning from suspension or exit without having to contact the FOFMS helpdesk.
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By 1 July 2005, all services must have transitioned at least 50 per cent of their original Block Grant Outlet Capacity (BGOC) to CBF.
You must complete two important tasks by 31 May to ensure that your service has transitioned the correct number of clients by 1 July 2005.
By 31 May 2005 you must:
Complete DMIs for clients who are eligible workers and that you are planning to transition at 1 July 2005. Please note that you cannot transition a client who does not have an authorised DMI.
Mark the case for transition . Once DMIs are completed you must select each of the required number of cases for transition. You do this by using the "Select for Transition" option in FOFMS. Please note that you cannot transition more cases than specified in your Conversion Capacity.
Task cards for more assistance
To help you complete these tasks in FOFMS, FaCS has developed two task cards that will guide you through the process of completing DMIs and how to select cases for transition. You can find copies of these task cards attached under the 'Literature' section in FOFMS.
Exemption for Small Services
Please note: Small services (outlets with an Outlet Capacity of 20 or less) are exempt from this requirement and can transition to CBF at any time up to 1 July 2006.
However, it is to your advantage to complete DMIs for your clients as soon as possible to allow you to get an insight into your future funding levels.
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Recipient Created Tax Invoices (RCTIs)
Under GST legislation, if a business purchase is made and GST is charged, then the supplier of the goods or services must provide a tax invoice if that purchase is more than $50 (GST inclusive). If the tax invoice complies with regulatory requirements it enables the purchaser to claim input tax credits on the GST paid.
In the case of grants or payments, FaCS is considered to be "the purchaser" of services, and the service provider is "the supplier". Therefore under this rule, the service provider ("the supplier") would be responsible for providing a tax invoice.
However, this general rule may be varied when taxable supplies are made to a registered entity. In these circumstances the supplier (for example FaCS), may provide an RCTI.
If a service receives regular funding from FaCS and is registered for GST, FaCS expects the provider to agree to receive a RCTI. RCTIs are generated automatically as each payment is made. A separate RCTI is sent for each individual payment made by FaCS. RCTIs must be stored for five years.
The RCTIs released from FOFMS to date do not contain the required descriptor information, such as the case for whom the payment is being made and the payment type. This issue is being investigated. Once rectified all RCTIs issued by FOFMS since 4 April will be reissued to service providers.
Emailing of RCTIs
The majority of RCTIs to date have been faxed to service providers. To improve efficiency in despatch of these RCTIs, these will be emailed to service providers from 1 May.
Email address for RCTIs
The email address for RCTIs (Financial email field) is currently not viewable for service providers. If you wish to check the email address for your RCTI, please contact your state/territory office Contract Manager.
DMI funding levels for block grant funded cases
Service providers can view the funding level of authorised DMI assessments for block grant funded (BGF) cases migrated from the Interim Disability Maintenance Instrument System (IDMIS) to FOFMS, in the DMI view of the client's case. Funding levels of DMI assessments completed on CBF clients migrated to FOFMS can be viewed directly from your case list.
Suspended payments flag against cases .
Peta Winzar wrote to you on 31 March 2005, advising that CBF fees for transitioned block clients and maintenance fees for CBF clients who commenced prior to 1 Jan 2005, move to 'in arrears' payments from 4 May 2005.
To ensure that no maintenance payments are made for these clients in April, the 'suspend payments' flag has been checked. This flag will be unchecked from 4 May 2005. A one-off adjustment payment was made to you on 22 April 2005, to assist your cash flow during the change from 'advance' to 'arrears' payments.
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If you have not yet registered your organisation's profile on AusTender, you may be missing opportunities to gain further business. With the advent of the AusTender facility, it is no longer a requirement of the Request For Tender (RFT) process, to place newspaper advertising advising of opportunities.
To give you some idea of what opportunities are available, coming Issues of the disAbility e-news will keep you up-to-date on RFTs that may be of interest to your organisation.
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Email disAbility e-news if you'd like more information on a particular issue or program or to let us know what you think of this e-newsletter.
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Your contributions to disAbility e-news are welcome. Do you want to let others know about your successes? Or how you engage with local businesses to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities? Email your story idea to disAbility e-news.
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