Reporting obligations
You are obligated to report to us to ensure you are accountable for the funding you receive and the services you deliver.
This reporting is used to verify:
- Homes Tasmania funding is used as agreed in the Grant Deed
- the Grant Deed and Head Lease have been complied with
- key performance indicators have been achieved
- quality and safe services have been provided.
The reporting includes:
- financial accountability
- service performance
- reportable incidents
- focus area.
Not all reporting is applicable to all contractual arrangements. Your contract will specify your reporting obligations and we can provide further details if needed.
Our annual accountability process involves four key areas:
1. Annual Grant Funding Accountability Report
You complete this report annually to show us how you are spending your grant funding and to certify that the grant funds have been used in accordance with the Grant Deed. This reporting process is also used to identify any unexpended funds.
We will provide you with a prepopulated report template each July. The report must be signed by your Chair and Treasurer and an auditor’s report needs to be attached.
If you need guidance to help you complete your report, you can refer to these explanatory notes.
Once we have received your report, we will review your income and expenditure to ensure the funds have been acquitted appropriately and if required, request further financial and governance information.
2. Audited financial statements
You must provide us with a signed copy of your audited financial statements (including balance sheet and income statement). We will review the statements to ensure the financial viability of your organisation.
3. Insurance Certificates of Currency
You must provide us with evidence of your public liability and professional indemnity insurance cover and be appropriately insured against professional negligence, workers compensation, personal injury or death, and loss or damage to property.
4. Other financial information
If requested, you will provide additional financial information or evidence relating to the expenditure of grant funding.
All financial accountability reports must be sent to us by 31 October each year via email to commissioning@homes.tas.gov.au.
You have a range of reporting requirements to show you are meeting your performance indicators.
Quarterly KPI reporting
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are specific targets outlined in your contract that are designed to help us measure your performance in meeting service delivery obligations and agreed outcomes.
You are required to consistently meet or exceed the KPIs and submit a quarterly report to demonstrate compliance.
These quarterly reports are due to us by 8 October, 8 January, 8 April and 8 July.
Failure to meet these obligations may lead to the implementation of a performance improvement plan, which is a formal agreement between Homes Tasmania and a housing support provider that outlines the actions and timeframes to resolve contract issues.
Download a sample performance improvement plan here.
The decision to develop a performance improvement plan is at the discretion of the contract manager.
National performance reporting
You are required to provide client activity information to the AIHW National Data Collection Agency in accordance with the reporting requirements of the Specialist Homelessness Services National Minimum Data Set.
We will use this data to produce an annual report on the demand for specialist homelessness services in Tasmania.
Other performance information
We may request other performance or activity information from you. This may include details on new or unmet needs, service gaps, business processes, innovations in service delivery, policy review options, and systems issues.
All service performance reports are to be sent to hsp@homes.tas.gov.au.
You must notify us and provide us with information about incidents that affect service delivery such as major interruptions, injuries or financial losses.
A reportable incident is:
- an event or circumstance during the delivery of your service that led to harm, suffering, loss, or damage to a tenant or household resulting in death, injury or admission to hospital
- theft or misappropriation of rent or other income derived from the approved location(s)
- a major disruption to your fulfilment of your obligations deriving from:
- an environmental event, such as fire or flood, requiring evacuation and temporary or permanent closure or significant reduction in service
- a major external review that recommends closure or reduction in service provision or resources
- financial loss as a result of theft or misappropriation.
You must notify us of a reportable incident:
- by phone on 1300 665 663 within 24 hours
- in writing within two business days by completing the Reportable Incident Form.
As part of our commitment to continual improvement of services, we will identify specific areas for you to report on. These priority areas will focus on assessing how you are complying with specific contractual requirements.
This reporting is used to ensure you have policies and/or practices in place to minimise the risk to continued service delivery. They may address governance, financial management and/or service delivery.
The focus areas may be determined by legislative or regulatory requirements, significant systemic issues, issues identified during annual accountability assessments, or complaints received from people using your services.
We will let you know what is required to complete any focus area reporting.
What we do with the reporting
The information we receive from you helps ensure that your contractual obligations are being met and that the standards of services provided are being maintained. It provides us with a detailed assessment of your performance and ensures that:
- quality and safe services and facilities are being provided
- you are accountable for the funds you receive
- you are financially viable and
- you can continue to deliver your contracted services.
We aim to continually improve the housing programs we offer to provide better outcomes for the people using those programs and the information you provide will help inform our future program policy decisions.