Issue 57 | 6 February 2006
‘Specials’ Feature
Valentine’s Day and Easter are nearly here. Do you have seasonal or celebratory products and services such as gift baskets, flower bouquets or cards for these particular occasions or specially priced products and services that you would like to place in the ‘Specials’ area of BizAbility?
Take advantage of this additional promotional tool as one business service did with their Christmas cards in the lead-up to Christmas. Feedback from this business indicates that there was an increase in hits to their website which resulted in increased sales activity over the period that their ‘Specials’ advertisement was active.
Why not advertise your specials or seasonal and celebratory products to increase your sales prospects? To register your products and services to be placed in the ’Specials’ listing, contact BizAbility@facsia.gov.au.
Images for BizAbility
We are still calling for your assistance with images to feature on the BizAbility website. We are especially interested in photos of product packaging, assembly work, food vans and mailhouse services. If you would like images from your services (eg. photographic images that you have on your own web site or in publications) to feature on the BizAbility site, please email BizAbility@facsia.gov.au and we will contact you to discuss this further.
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To help you monitor critical dates for your cases, FOFMS now automatically generates activities reminding you to complete certain actions such as Disability Maintenance Instrument (DMI) assessments and or DMI re-assessments. These automated processes rely on the case records being correct and up to date, including the correct case worker recorded on each of your case records. The case worker recorded in FOFMS will receive the automatically generated activities, so you need to ensure the correct person is identified and that person regularly logs on to FOFMS.
If you haven't already updated your case records to identify the case worker could you please do so as soon as possible.
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A Disability Maintenance Instrument (DMI) is an assessment of the relative level of assistance required for a job seeker to maintain employment with your service. It determines your level of ‘maintenance’ funding for that client.
Under the Programme Procedures a DMI can only be completed once a job seeker obtains an Employment Outcome.
Under Clause 17 of the Standard Terms and Conditions of Funding, an Employment Outcome is defined as ‘employment for at least 8 hours per week for at least 13 weeks’. This means you cannot complete and authorise a DMI until a minimum of 13 weeks after the job seeker commenced receiving FaCSIA funded assistance from your service. The job seeker is deemed to have been receiving assistance from the ‘Intake Completion Date’ recorded in FOFMS.
For example, if you have a job seeker with an Intake Completion Date of 2 January 2006 then the earliest it would be possible for them to achieve an Employment Outcome would be 3 April 2006. This could only occur if the job seeker commenced work in their first week with your service and maintained that employment for a minimum of 8 hours per week for 13 straight weeks.
Please note: a job seeker has 12 months from their Intake Completion Date to achieve an Employment Outcome. If they don't achieve an Employment Outcome within 12 months then the Job Seeker must be exited. This is done by changing their Status to ‘Exited’ on FOFMS.
If you have any questions please contact your local State or Territory Contract Manager.
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Most Disability Employment Assistance payments are paid in arrears. The following information is provided to help clarify what these payments are for and when they are made.
Intake Fee – A one-off $500 fee paid when a Client’s Intake Assessment (IA) is completed and authorised on FOFMS. The Intake Fee is paid one month after the IA is authorised. More information is in Paragraph 20 of the Disability Employment Assistance Services Programme Procedures (Programme Procedures).
Employment Assistance Fee (EA) – EA or Pre-DMI fees start one month after the IA is authorised and are payable for up to twelve months. Payments are made on the anniversary date of when the Client’s IA is authorised. For more information please see Paragraph 21 of the Programme Procedures.
Employment Maintenance Fee (Maintenance Payment) – The Employment Maintenance Fee, or Maintenance Payment, is paid one month after a DMI is authorised. Payments are made monthly thereafter on the Client’s anniversary date. For more information please refer to Paragraph 23 of the Programme Procedures.
DMI Assessment - This quarterly payment reimburses services $160 for each DMI completed during the previous 3-month period for block grant funded clients.
Work Based Personal Assistance - This payment is made when we receive a completed eligible claim and is for Work Based Personal Assistance services provided to a Client, either directly or purchased from another Service. For more information please refer to Paragraph 30 of the Programme Procedures.
New Apprenticeship - This payment is an incentive payment for Services who have placed a client in a New Apprenticeship and is made when we receive a completed claim form. For more information please see Paragraph 31 of the Programme Procedures.
Cash Flow Adjustment Payment - This payment is made to Services who have transitioned clients from CBF to BGF at one of the transition points. The payment is made to help services adjust to being paid in advance under BGF to in arrears under CBF. It is paid every six months after clients have been transitioned and it will stop once the transition to CBF is complete.
DEA Transition Payment (previously Block Grant Funding) – On the first day of each month Services are paid the Average Block Grant Price for active Block Grant Clients. This is an advance payment. More information is in Paragraph 13 of the Programme Procedures.
Business Service Funding Subsidy – This is paid to services to help them with the transition from BGF to CBF. This is an ‘in advance’ payment made at the beginning of a month. For more information please see Paragraph 39 of the Programme Procedures.
Please allow up to three days from the time a payment is shown as being made on FOFMS for it to reach your bank account.
For any queries relating to DEA payments, please contact the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or email Helpdesk.CBF@facsia.gov.au[ top ]
for parents with a son or daughter with a severe disability and their families
The following invitation to submit an application was advertised in all National newspapers on 4 Feb 2006 and is reprinted below for subscribers’ information.
Family Relationships Services Program
The Australian Government has announced funding of $5.5 million over 4 years to provide counselling and mediation services to families making private financial provision for care of a son or daughter with a severe disability. The family mediation and counselling measure will help parents and other family members reach agreements over private financial provision arrangements, and will assist families to negotiate a settlement in the best interest of the whole family.
The Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) invites interested service providers in each State and Territory to apply to deliver family counselling and mediation services to families making private financial provision for care of a son or daughter with a severe disability.
Applications are sought from incorporated not-for-profit organisations able to establish and operate a viable counselling and mediation service that is responsive to the needs of families undertaking succession planning.
Interested service providers are invited to download the application pack from FaCSIA News at www.facsia.gov.au from 6 February 2006.
Applications close on Friday 31 March 2006.
Families wanting more information on family relationship services or disability carer networks can visit the Department's website at www.facsia.gov.au.
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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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