The Guides to Social Policy Law is a collection of publications designed to assist decision makers administering social policy law. The information contained in this publication is intended only as a guide to relevant legislation/policy. The information is accurate as at the date listed at the bottom of the page, but may be subject to change. To discuss individual circumstances please contact Services Australia.

11.1.9.30 Direct payments to third party organisations under income management

Direct payments to third party organisations (TPOs)

In certain circumstances, income managed funds may be paid to TPOs that do not have a contractual arrangement with the Commonwealth. These payments are generally in the form of one-off payments.

One-off payments may be made in circumstances where one or more people subject to income management are travelling outside of an income managed prescribed area and decide to purchase an item at a store not approved for the BasicsCard. These payments may be made using one or more of the following methods:

  • credit card
  • BPAY
  • gift cards, or
  • manual cheques.

Alternatively, payments made by a person on income management at a store not approved for the BasicsCard using a non-income management account (e.g. credit card, personal bank account) while travelling outside of an income managed prescribed area may be reimbursed by Centrelink. The delegate, in deciding whether to reimburse the one-off payment, must be provided with a receipt and account statement, and be satisfied that the person's priority needs have been met for the payment period and that the payment will not allow the person to access cash or to buy excluded goods or services.

Example 1: Zara goes to an op shop to buy some clothes. The op shop does not have income management arrangements in place. Zara pays for her clothes using a credit card. Following this transaction, Zara takes her credit card receipt and statement into Centrelink and Centrelink transfer Zara's income managed funds to her credit card account.

Example 2: Li wants to get his haircut, but his hairdresser is not approved for the BasicsCard. Li tells Centrelink how much the haircut costs and asks Centrelink to transfer some of his income managed funds directly to the hairdresser. As Li's priority needs have been met for the fortnight, Centrelink can make a direct transfer to the hairdresser to pay for Li's haircut.

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