Chapter 5: Financial Procedures and Claiming Payment
Updated 2 November 2023
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AtW MHSS Payments
5.01. Payment for the provision will be via the Provider Referrals and Payment (PRaP) system. (Please see Chapter 6 for PRaP processes).
5.02. The initial payment will consist of 30% of the fee. This will be paid on receipt of the specified MHSS Support Plan, which must be signed by the customer, either digitally or in person as detailed at Chapter 1 of the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service Provider Guidance, Introduction and Overview, paragraphs 1.07 – 1.10 (N.B: subject to approval of these paragraphs in this QA) and be approved as being to the required quality standard by the AtW Case Manager.
5.03. The second payment will consist of 50% of the fee. This will be paid on receipt of the specified MHSS 6 Month Report, which must be signed by the customer, either digitally or in person as detailed at Chapter 1 of the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service Provider Guidance, Introduction and Overview, paragraphs 1.07 – 1.10 (N.B: subject to approval of these paragraphs in this QA) and be approved as being to the required quality standard by the AtW Case Manager, providing the customer is in employment at the end of the 6 month support period.
5.04. The final payment will consist of 20% of the fee. This will be paid on receipt of the specified MHSS Exit Report, which must be signed by the customer, either digitally or in person as detailed at Chapter 1 of the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service Provider Guidance, Introduction and Overview, paragraphs 1.07 – 1.10 (N.B: subject to approval of these paragraphs in this QA) and be approved as being to the required quality standard by the AtW Case Manager, providing the customer is in employment at the end of the 3 month sustainment period.
5.05. You are entitled to claim either or both of the second and third payments if the customer is employed at the given stage.
Payment Validation
5.06. For all claims you are required to maintain a robust system of internal control, that needs to be sufficient, not only to support claims but also to allow you to include appropriate checks, monitoring arrangements and adequate records to demonstrate that you entitled to make the claims. The records maintained should be sufficient to not only support the claim for the outcomes, but also to allow internal management checks, scrutiny from external bodies and DWP validation checks.
5.07. DWP does not prescribe the way in which you should track customers or record information about their employment activity. There is however specific information that you are required to input in the Job Details screen within the PRaP system when you submit the claims, including Employment Type, Job Title, Job Start Date and Employer Contact Details (Please see Chapter 6).
5.08. This information must be provided for each claim and failure to provide all or part of this information may result in the payment being recovered, if DWP invalidate the outcome as a result.
5.09. You must ensure that you only submit claims for payment to which you are entitled and have received the approval for the claim from the AtW Case Manager. DWP will, conduct pre-payment checks and a sample of post payment validation checks on claims, to the extent it deems necessary. Claims which fail validation will be recorded and monitored and any payments recovered.