EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Social Security (Personal Care Support - Tasmanian Self Directed Funding Pilot) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2013
This Determination provides that the Tasmanian Self Directed Funding Pilot Scheme is an ‘approved scheme’ under section 35A of the Social Security Act 1991 (the Act).
Background
Under the social security law, income includes any income amount earned, derived or received for a person’s own use or benefit. However, the social security law specifically excludes some amounts from being income. Paragraph 8(8)(zi) of the Act provides that a payment towards the cost of personal care support services for the person, being a payment made under a scheme approved under section 35A, is not income for the purposes of the Act.
Section 35A of the Act allows the relevant Minister to determine that a scheme for the provision of personal care support is an ‘approved scheme’ for the purposes of the Act.
The scheme known as Self Directed Funding Pilot has been established by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services to allow for direct payments to a person with a disability, or a person nominated by the person with disability, to enable the provision of specialist disability services or other support goods and services. Payments are not intended as income, or to be used as an income source for the person. The program will be introduced as a pilot from July 2013.
Purpose
The purpose of the Determination is to determine that the Tasmanian Government’s Self Directed Funding Pilot Scheme is an approved personal care support scheme for the purposes of the Act.
A person for whom a payment is made under the Tasmanian Self Directed Funding Pilot Scheme may also receive a social security payment. The effect of this Determination is that the person will not have the payment that was received under the Self Directed Funding Pilot Scheme taken into account for the purposes of the income test under the social security law to the extent that the payment is for the cost of personal care support services for the person. This would ensure that the receipt of payments under the scheme would not have the unintended effect of reducing a person’s entitlement to any social security payment because of the operation of the income test.
This Determination has effect in relation to social security payments coming within the portfolio responsibility of the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Minister for Disability Reform. A similar instrument is being considered by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research in relation to social security payments for which those Ministers are responsible.
Explanation of the Provisions
Section 1 states the name of the Determination.
Section 2 provides that the Determination commences on the day after it is registered.
Section 3 provides that Self Directed Funding Pilot, being a scheme of that name established by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services, is an approved scheme for the purposes of the Act.
Consultation
This Determination was made in response to a request from the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services.
Consultation on the Determination was undertaken with the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.
Public consultation was considered to be unnecessary as this determination is purely beneficial in character.
Regulatory Impact Analysis
The Determination is not regulatory in nature, will not impact on business activity and will have no, or minimal, compliance costs or competition impact.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
This Legislative Instrument is the Social Security (Personal Care Support - Tasmanian Self Directed Funding Pilot) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2013
The Social Security (Personal Care Support - Tasmanian Self Directed Funding Pilot) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2013 is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Legislative Instrument
The Social Security (Personal Care Support - Tasmanian Self Directed Funding Pilot) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2013 (the Determination) is made under section 35A of the Social Security Act 1991 (the Act) and determines that the Government of Tasmania’s Self-Directed Funding Pilot program is an approved personal care support scheme for the purposes of the Act, thereby exempting Self-Directed Funding from the social security income test.
The Self-Directed Funding Pilot has been established by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services to enable people with disability to have control and choice about the individual funding they receive from the Tasmanian Government. The program will be available to people with disability from July 2013.
The Determination ensures that people receiving Self-Directed Funding from the Government of Tasmania will not have this funding assessed as income for social security purposes thereby ensuring that recipients retain the full value of the Self-Directed Funding.
Human rights implications
The Determination engages the human right: Right to social security.
The right to social security
Section 35A of the Act allows the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Minister for Disability Reform to determine that when a person receives funding provided by a personal care support scheme this funding is exempt from the social security income test in relation to social security payments for which the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Minister for Disability Reform is responsible. The determination is therefore beneficial to persons who receive such a social security payment.
Conclusion
The Determination under section 35A of the Act ensures that individuals receiving funding from a personal care support scheme do not have this funding assessed for income test purposes. The Determination supports their human right to social security.
The Hon Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Minister for Disability Reform