civil defence processing standards
youth service civil defence emergency processing standards.
temporary arrangements
Warrants to arrest
If a young person needs to seek clearance of their warrant and they can't get court due to the emergency, they should speak to Ministry of Justice on 0800 COURTS (0800 268 787).
Obligation failures
Reminder to consider if young people have a good and sufficient reason for not meeting their obligations before you make your recommendation. Generally, young people will have a good and sufficient reason for not meeting their obligations during Civil Defence emergency.
hardship payments
MSD makes temporary payment card changes to support those who can’t get to the supermarket.
Friends or family members can use another person’s payment card to buy essential items on their behalf if they’re unable to get to the supermarket. It means checkout operators no longer need to check the person’s signature matches the signature on the payment card.
We write to Foodstuffs, Woolworths, etc to let them know we’re relaxing our rules. We’ll let them know when we’re returning to our normal processes.
Hardship payments
All hardship payments will be made via direct credit to the supplier. If there is no way to make a payment directly to a supplier, MSD will make the payment directly to the young person.
When payment card services are down
If payment cards service are down, young people will be referred to the local Work and Income office to collect a Direct Credit hologram form.
Direct Credit hologram forms are like vouchers and are paid directly to a supplier. The young person will need to select a supplier to use this voucher.
Payment card balance transfer
If a young person needs transfer funds from their payment card, the youth coach will need to complete the Payment Card Balance Transfer task in ART.
To get the funds to the young person as soon as possible, YSSU will process a recoverable hardship payment. The funds will go directly into the young person’s bank account.
YSSU will recover the hardship payment debt with the funds on the payment card. This step of the process can take up to 10 working days.
money management and payment card
MSD will not enforce the obligation that young people must be on full Money Management within 20 working days.
However, young people must have redirections in place to pay for:
- the young person's accommodation and service costs (like their rent, board, power, and phone bill)
- the young person's lawful debts or other liabilities (like Child Support payments and Work and Income debts).
If young people are unable to use their payment cards due to the emergency, their youth coach should contact YSSU to request that they remove the young person from the payment card portion of Money Management and have access to all remaining funds.
When we return to business as usual, you will need to ask YSSU to have the young person return to full Money Management.
updating the youth service plans
The requirement of completing Youth Service plans is put on hold. It is expected that youth coaches are in regular contact with all young people. Youth Service providers are required to provide regular updates to their Regional Contracts Manager on the wellbeing of their staff and young people during a Civil Defence emergency.
family breakdown assessment
During a Civil Defence emergency, Family Breakdown Assessments will continue as usual, and though they may be over the phone.
processing standards
Generally, processing standards remain the same during a Civil Defence emergency. YSSU will let you know if anything changes.
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