Income Confirmation Scheme - EST0200A

Policy Statement

The Income Confirmation Scheme makes it possible for Department of Housing clients, and members of their household, who receive Centrelink payments to have their income details electronically transferred from Centrelink to the Department of Housing. The Scheme is jointly managed by the Department of Housing and Centrelink.

The Department of Housing periodically asks its clients, and members of their household, for income information. The Income Confirmation Scheme makes it easier for Centrelink clients to provide their income details to the Department of Housing. The Department cannot obtain income details for its clients without their consent.

Application to Aboriginal Housing Office Clients

This policy applies to clients of the Aboriginal Housing Office, and members of their household, living in properties managed by the Department of Housing.

Policy Detail

The Income Confirmation Scheme is a voluntary scheme that can be used by Department of Housing applicants, tenants and members of their households who receive Centrelink payments. Participation in the Scheme means that clients do not need to provide income statements to the Department each time the Department reviews their income.

The Department regularly asks clients to provide information about their household income as part of its processes for reviewing:

• eligibility for public housing
• eligibility for Special Assistance Subsidy (SAS)
• a tenant’s entitlement to receive a rent subsidy, and
• a tenant’s eligibility for a transfer or mutual exchange

Information provided by Centrelink under the Income Confirmation Scheme

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Limits of the Scheme

The Income Confirmation Scheme means that the Department can ask Centrelink to provide up-to-date information about the income of a client or member of their household when the Department needs to review their income. There are limits to the scheme:

• The client or household member must be a Centrelink client. Centrelink does not respond to requests made about people who are not Centrelink clients.
• Centrelink does not provide client income information to the Department unless the Department has requested it. This means that Centrelink does not automatically tell the Department each time the income of a tenant, applicant or household member changes.
• Clients who have joined the Income Confirmation Scheme still need to tell the Department if their household income changes, so that the Department can request new income details from Centrelink.
• The Department does not use information provided through the Income Confirmation Scheme if it is 6 months or more old. In this situation the Department will make a new request to Centrelink for the client’s income details.

Joining the scheme

A person can join the Income Confirmation Scheme at any time.

A person who wants to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme must give the Department written permission. This can be done by:

•  Filling out the Department of Housing Income Confirmation Scheme Consent Authority Form (DH1101), or
•  Completing the Income Confirmation Scheme consent section in the Housing Register Application Form when applying for public housing, or
• Giving consent when applying for a rent subsidy. This is done by completing the Income Confirmation Scheme consent section on Application for Rental Subsidy form.

The effective date for a person’s consent is the date the Income Confirmation Scheme authority was signed by the person.

When the Department introduced the scheme on 23 July 2002 it assumed that all tenants and applicants receiving Centrelink payments at this time would want to participate in the Scheme. The Department sent all applicants and tenants in this situation a letter advising that it would consider that they had given consent to participate in the Scheme unless they contacted the Department to advise that they did not want to participate in the Scheme.

Leaving the scheme

A person can leave the Income Confirmation Scheme at any time by telling their Client Service Officer by phone, in person or in writing that they no longer want to participate. The Department will immediately cancel the person’s Income Confirmation Scheme consent and stop using the Income Confirmation Scheme to verify their income. The person’s cancellation of consent to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme takes effect from the date they tell the Client Service Officer that they no longer want to participate. If the cancellation occurs by phone, the Department will confirm the caller’s identity before taking any steps to cancel their participation in the Income Confirmation Scheme.

Consent to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme cannot be withdrawn through Centrelink.

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Situations where consent will be cancelled automatically

There are two situations where the Department of Housing will automatically cancel a person’s consent to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme. These situations are:

1. If the person no longer has a relationship with the Department, for example-

• Their Housing Register application has been closed or withdrawn
• They are not a Department tenant or SAS recipient any more
• They are no longer part of a Housing Register applicant’s, Department tenant’s or SAS recipient’s household.

2. If the person no longer has a relationship with Centrelink ie they do not receive Centrelink payments anymore.

Storage of ICS information

Under the terms of the agreement with Centrelink, the Department of Housing stores information provided through the Income Confirmation Scheme:

• while that person is a client or member of a client’s household
• for at least 6 years after the client/member of the client’s household stops being a client of the Department/member of a client’s household.

Privacy

The Department of Housing cannot use the Income Confirmation Scheme to find out a person’s income unless that person has agreed to participate in the Scheme. This means that within a household, each person who receives a Centrelink payment and wants to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme must join the Scheme separately.

The Department will manage the information collected through the Income Confirmation Scheme according to the policy Your Privacy and Personal Information (EST0008B).

This means that:

• The Department will only use information collected through the Income Confirmation Scheme for purposes related to review of income and assessment of Eligibility for Department of Housing services.
• The Department will not disclose information about a client’s income to any other person without consent from the client.
• The Department will disclose income information about a member of a client’s household to the client only. The Department must do this because the income details of household members affect the client’s Housing Register eligibility and/or entitlement to a rental subsidy. The Department will not disclose a household member’s income information to any other person without consent from the household member.

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Assessment Criteria:

The Department applies the following assessment criteria when it assesses applications to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme:

1. Is the person applying to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme

• On the Housing Register, or 
• A tenant of the Department, or 
• Receiving Special Assistance Subsidy (SAS), or 
• Listed as a household member on a Housing Register application, or
• Listed as a member of a tenant’s household, or
• Listed as a member of a SAS recipient’s household.

2. Does the person receive payments of any type from Centrelink?

If the answer to both these questions is ‘yes’ the Department will accept the application to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme.

Evidence Requirements:

When assessing applications to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme, the Department relies on the following:

• information provided by the client or household member on the Income Confirmation Scheme Consent Authority Form
• information held by the Department in its application and tenancy management records.

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Appealing Decisions or Actions:

If a client disagrees with a decision the Department has made, they should first discuss their concerns with a Client Service Officer. The next step if they still believe we made the wrong decision is to ask for a formal review of the decision. For information on how reviews work, the client can ask the Client Service Officer for a copy of the fact sheet ‘Reviewing Decisions’, or go to our web site www.housing.nsw.gov.au to read the Appeals and Review of Decisions Policy.

Where the Department of Housing has used the Income Confirmation Scheme to obtain a client's income details they consider that they had revoked their consent to participate in the Income Confirmation Scheme when the Department requests their income details from Centrelink.

Legislative Requirements:

• Housing Act, 2001
• Social Security Act, 1991
• Social Security (Administration) Act, 1999
• Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, 1998
• Health Records and Information Privacy Act, 2002

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