Evaluating new income management in the Northern Territory.

Made available by the Northern Territory Library via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).This report evaluates a new government income management scheme operating in the Northern Territory. Income management - the 'quarantining' a portion of a person's income support payment and restricting how this can be spent - was first introduced in 2007 as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) in Indigenous communities. In August 2010, the scheme was revised and expanded to form the New Income Management (NIM) scheme. It features four streams, targeting long-term income support recipients of working age, vulnerable groups, people in contact with child protection authorities, and voluntary participants. Though 91% of participants are from Indigenous communities, the scheme is now operating across all the Northern Territory. This is the first evaluation report of NIM, focusing on the implementation, transition, and initial impacts of the scheme. It covers the initial implementation period and the first 12 months of operation, and features a survey of over 800 participants and a comparison group of income support recipients outside of the Northern Territory.Executive Summary -- 1. Introduction and background to the evaluation -- 2. Overview of New Income Management in the Northern Territory -- 3. Evaluation methods -- 4. The NIM population - rollout and characteristics -- 5. Analysis of Income Management Expenditure -- 6. The operation of, and views about, the Basics Card -- 7. Matched Savings Scheme Payment, money management and financial counselling -- 8. Exemptions -- 9. Perspectives of Centrelink staff, merchants, child protection workers, and money management and financial counsellors -- 10. The experience and impacts of income management -- 11. Qualitative interviews with people subject to income management -- 12. Effects of income management on receipt of income support payments -- 13. Conclusion -- Appendices.Commissioned by the Australian Government Dept. of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Final report completed September 201