This process defines the steps for Social Services agencies to issue payments to external parties. Two major scenarios can be named here: the delivery of direct financial aid to clients, who have been deemed eligible for benefit payments and the payment for services delivered by third party service providers to the client.

Program-related benefit payments are calculated and generated in context of client cases. A case may involve multiple outgoing payment instructions to several involved parties. Payment Instructions bear financial details regarding amount, schedule, method (i.e. bank transfer or check), currency, tax, surcharges and many more. The actual financial transactions are managed and executed via individual client accounts, featuring structured payment history between the organization and the concerned parties. Key process steps include controlled deduction of regular benefit payments to cover open liabilties as well as payments to third parties.

Payment to service providers are usually triggered, when the third-party services have been delivered. The responsible service provider sends in an according invoice, which is entered and verified against the services ordered. If no major discrepancy is detected, the invoice amount will be posted on the service provider’s financial account, from where the payment to the provider is issued. Another form of provider payment is the purchase of a contingent of services, e.g. foster home capacity. In that case, payment execution could already take place in advance to the actual service delivery.

While payment processing deals with the management of outgoing payment to client, the collection and liability management cover the management of receivables from clients.  The process ensures that open liabilities are properly posted to the client account and that an invoice is sent to the client.  Upon incoming payment from client, the received money will be allocated to the appropriate liabilities.  Additional activities involve clearing of open liabilties on the client account through deductions or write-offs, in case a payment by the client cannot be expected. An overpayment situation can occur when the circumstances of living of a client changed, which have a negative impact on his eligibility for benefit payment . In that case, the overpaid money is considered as a liability and then subject to collection.   

Process by which the organization actively reaches out to the concerned parties to collect its funding or receivables. Activities could be carried out through different channels and also involve third parties. Dependent on the actual social program and scenario, different measures could be taken (e.g. block grants, tax  repayments etc.).

Contribution-based programs require well-defined processes to calculate, collect, manage and to re-distribute regular receipts from clients. Detailed payment history as well as insurance information are mandatory to keep record of the client's regular contribution. These contributions can either be paid individually by the clients or as a collective payment e.g. done by the employers. In the second case, the collective payment has to be divided and re-assigned to the partial amounts and individual accounts of the single employees.

See also Business Scenario:

Budget Execution