News

Web based resources for non-government organisations

There are a wide range of free web based resources that may be of assistance to non-government organisations in activities such as networking, searching for eligible board members, researching, identifying training opportunities and keeping up to date with grant rounds. A good place to start is the www.ourcommunity.com.au website, which has wide range of industry specific information and resources

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Feedback from Audit and Compliance Pilot - Client Consent

The recent FaCSIA audit and compliance pilot identified some issues about the way Business Services capture Client consent. A Client consent information pack including a form and take away section for the client is attached to the literature site of FOFMS for you to use. If you chose not to use the FaCSIA Client Consent form and to incorporate FaCSIA's Client consent requirements with your own, it is important that you cover the following FaCSIA requirements accurately:

• The Client’s personal information is collected to determine eligibility for Disability Employment Assistance and the kind of assistance and level of funding the Client is entitled
• The Client’s personal information will be provided to the Australian Government, or to another organisation as directed by the Australian Government
• The Client or their advocate has signed and dated the consent form
• In accordance with Privacy Principle 2, an officer of your Service has explained to the Client or their advocate that the Client’s personal information provided is collected for the purpose of determining access to and delivery of employment assistance under the Disability Services Act 1986 through a Service Outlet; and the Service Outlet will pass some or all of the Client’s personal information to the Australian Government, or to another organisation as directed by the Commonwealth.

Client consent should be captured either when a Client first requests assistance from you or before the Intake Assessment is authorised. The Intake Assessment should not be authorised until Client consent has been captured.

Section 10.4 and 10.5 of the Funding Agreement provide additional information about Client consent. If you have any questions about capturing Client consent you should talk to your State and Territory Contract Manager.

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Important facts about the Intake Assessment process

The Client must sign a Client Consent form beforeyou complete and authorise their Intake Assessment. The consent information package, including the Client Consent Form, is on the Literature site in FOFMS.

The $500 Intake Fee and monthly Employment Assistance payments for new Cases are not payable until an Intake Assessment has been completed and authorised on FOFMS. Case Based Funding payments do not begin until the Intake Assessment has been authorised. FaCSIA will notbackdate Intake Assessments, or make back-payments. If you do not authorise the Intake Assessment your Service risks a reduced funding flow for that Client.

If you create a Client and Case record in FOFMS and do not complete and authorise the Intake Assessment not only are your payments affected, but the total Cases and vacancies of your Service are also affected. When you create a Case record in FOFMS it is considered an active case and included in the count of your total Cases, which reduces your number of vacancies. If you do not complete and authorise an Intake Assessment you will not receive funding for the Client but they are also occupying a place in your Business Service that could otherwise be filled and funded by another Client.

Cases that have been created but do not have an Intake Assessment completed or authorised have a status of 'Draft' in FOFMS. You should review you case list for any cases with a ‘Draft’ status and either complete and authorise an Intake Assessment or exit the record.

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Payment Reconciliation on FOFMS Made Easier for Finance Managers

FOFMS has reports available to help you identify and reconcile your FaCSIA payments.  These reports allow Service Providers to view:

• Payments made against an Agreement.  This report will be useful for larger Organisations that have multiple Agreement Schedules, as it will be broken down by Agreement Schedule
• Payment made against an Agreement Schedule.  This report will show you all the payments that have been made in respect of a specific Agreement Schedule
• Payments made against a Case.  This report will show you all the payments that have been made in respect of a specific case or multiple Cases.

For all reports, you can select a specific period that you're interested in, i.e. one month or a quarter. The Agreement Schedule and Case report will also include the first name and surname of individual Clients for whom payments have been made.  All reports have subtotals and totals, are printable, and can be exported to Excel for further manipulation.

You can also use the 'Consolidated Payment Request Line Items' screen view (available under the existing Payment Request view) to help reconcile your payments.  From this screen view, you can query FOFMS for payment details using the IMPACT Clearing Number (the reference number which is provided on your bank statement with each deposit from FaCSIA) as well as the IMPACT Invoice Number (the document number contained on your Recipient Created Tax Invoice [RCTI]).

How do I use these reports?
Information to help you use this payment reconciliation functionality is available on the FOFMS Literature site.  Copies were also emailed directly to FOFMS users on 15 March 2006, and hard copies posted to the mailing address recorded in FOFMS for your Organisation.  If you have not received your information pack please contact the FOFMS helpdesk on 1800 020 283.

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Understanding Disability Employment Assistance (DEA) Payments made on FOFMS

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 is completed and authorised on FOFMS. More information is in Paragraph 20 of the Disability Employment Assistance Services Programme Procedures.

Employment Assistance Fee (EA) – EA or Pre-DMI fees start one month after the Intake Assessment is authorised and are payable for up to twelve months. Payments are made on the anniversary date of when the Client’s Intake Assessment 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.

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.

High Cost Worker Payments (HCW) - The High Cost Worker payment is a ‘grandfathering’ type payment, paid in arrears and is only available to eligible Clients identified as being a high cost worker. The HCW is payed for as long as these Clients continue to remain employed with their current Business Service.

Business Service Funding Subsidy – This is paid to Services to help them with the transition from BGF to CBF. This is an ‘in arrears’ 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

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Updating Client Records on FOFMS

Following a recent investigation of Client data on FOFMS, it was found that many Client records are missing important information such as Centrelink Reference Number, origin details, date of birth, address, and contact details. It was also noted that in some instances information recorded is incorrect or no longer current such as the correct Case Worker of the Client. 

FaCSIA uses the information on FOFMS for a number of purposes, but mainly to make policy decisions about Disability Employment Assistance that affect Business Service and Clients. In order to maintain the integrity of this policy process it is important that all records on FOFMS be kept up to date with accurate details.

Information in FOFMS is also used to manage workflow regarding DMI Assessment and Reassessments.

Please ensure that your Client’s case records are updated to reflect their current circumstances and details and that all appropriate fields are completed. Please note that the new Audit and Compliance Strategy considers, amongst other items, the accuracy of Case and Client records.

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk on 1800 034 887.

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Clients not maintaining a minimum of 8 hours per week employment

Clients who are not maintaining employment for at least 8 hours a week as defined by the DEA Funding Agreement should be either exited or suspended until they are able to satisfy this requirement.

If you determine in your reasonable opinion that a Client is unable to continue in Employment because of medical or personal reasons or reasons related to the Client's disability then they must be exited or suspended until this requirement can be satisfied.  If you have any queries relating to Employment please contact your local FaCSIA Contract Manager.

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Feedback

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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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Contributions

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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