Vulnerable Welfare Payment Recipients

Social worker referral

A social worker may have referred you if they believe enhanced Income Management can help you and your family.

You will be income managed for 12 months from the date you started. After that, a social worker will review your progress. Depending on the result, Income Management may continue.

Vulnerable young person

You may also be on Income Management as you were not a full time student or apprentice, or you hadn’t volunteered for Income Management before 4 September 2023, and you were either:

• getting the Unreasonable to Live At Home payment rate
• younger than 16 and getting a Special Benefit payment
• younger than 25 and got a release from prison Crisis Payment.

You will be income managed for 12 months.

About your money

Half of your payment and all advance and lump sum payments you get go into your Income Management account. You can access it many ways. The other half of your payment goes into your normal bank account.

Exclusion from Income Management

We may give you an exclusion from Income Management if either:

• Income Management places your mental, physical or emotional wellbeing at risk
• you got less than 25% of your basic rate of payment for at least 4 of the last 6 fortnights.

If you get an exclusion, we can stop your Income Management for 12 months unless your circumstances change. If a social worker referred you, we cannot give you an exclusion from Income Management.

Call the BasicsCard general enquiry line to speak with someone about Income Management.

Reviews and appeals

If you do not agree with a decision we make, you have the right to appeal it. Read about reviews and appeals.