# Settings

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/staff-payments/settings

> Configure staff payments settings.

Set up Charge Item payment rates, ABA details and contractor profiles before creating your first Staff Payment Batch.

> **Enable Staff Payments before you start**
>
> The Account Owner must enable **Staff Payments** under **Settings > Optional Features**. See [Optional Features](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/optional-features).

## Overview

Staff Payments uses:

- a payment rate for each Charge Item you pay contractors for
- the provider bank details used to build an ABA file
- **Contractor** as the user's employment type
- each contractor's bank account details

> **Payment rate changes apply by delivery date**
>
> A batch uses the payment rate that covers the date the work was delivered. Finalised and Paid batches keep the amounts recorded when they were calculated. See [Editing a Payment Rate](#editing-a-payment-rate).

## Setting Up Payment Rates

Create the Charge Item before adding its payment rate. See [Creating and Updating Charge Items](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/charge-items/managing-charge-items/creating-updating-charge-items).

1. Open [**Settings > Charge Items**](https://app.astalty.com.au/settings/charge-items).
2. Open **Actions** and select **Manage Payment Rates**.

![The Charge Items page in Settings with the Charge Items section's Actions menu open and Manage Payment Rates highlighted, above Manage Automatic Updates, beside the Add Charge Item button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/settings-page-manage-payments.png)

3. Open the Charge Item's action menu and select **Update rate**.

![The Staff Payment Rates page searched for SC-L2, listing each Charge Item with its Charge Item Price and Payment Rate, with numbered markers on a row's action menu (1) and its Update rate option (2).](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/update-rate.png)

4. Choose the rate type:

   - **Fixed Amount** pays the entered dollar amount per billed unit.
   - **Percentage of Price** pays the entered percentage of the Charge Item price.

5. Enter the rate and select **Update**.

![The Update Staff Payment Rate drawer for a Charge Item priced at $100.14 with a Current Rate of $65.00, with numbered markers on Type set to Fixed Amount (1) and Rate Amount ($) set to $65 (2), and the Update button at the bottom.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/payment-rate-menu-view.png)

## Paying Different Contractors Different Rates for the Same Support

A payment rate belongs to a Charge Item, not to a contractor. To pay two contractors different rates for the same support, create a separate Charge Item for each contractor and set a rate on each one.

1. Open [**Settings > Charge Items**](https://app.astalty.com.au/settings/charge-items) and select **Add Charge Item**.
2. Search for and select the NDIS Pricing Arrangement, or enter the Charge Item details manually. See [Creating and Updating Charge Items](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/charge-items/managing-charge-items/creating-updating-charge-items).
3. Update **Name** to identify the contractor (for example, add their name to the end) and enter a unique **Reference**, then select **Create**.

![Add Charge Item form with numbered markers on the Name field with the contractor's name, Nadia, added to the end (1), a unique Reference of SC-L2-NADIA (2) and the Create button (3)](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/staff-payments-contractor-charge-item-name-reference.png)

> **The line item Number can repeat**
>
> Astalty lets you create multiple Charge Items against the same NDIS line item **Number** - only the **Reference** has to be unique. See [How is a Charge Item different to a line item?](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/charge-items/overview#how-is-a-charge-item-different-to-a-line-item)

4. Set a payment rate on the new Charge Item. See [Setting Up Payment Rates](#setting-up-payment-rates) above.
5. Add the Charge Item to the Participant's Service under their NDIS plan so it can be assigned to a Task. See [How Charge Items link to Services](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/charge-items/overview#how-charge-items-link-to-services).

Each contractor now has their own Charge Item and rate for the same support:

![Staff Payment Rates list searched for SC-L2, showing different rates of $65.00, $72.00 and $68.50 set against separate Charge Items for the same NDIS support item 07\_002\_0106\_8\_3](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/staff-payments-contractor-rates-list.png)

Have each contractor bill their work under their own Charge Item. Astalty calculates their Staff Payment using the rate recorded against that Charge Item.

## Editing a Payment Rate

A payment rate can be changed at any time. Open the Charge Item's action menu and select **Update rate**. The drawer shows the current rate and its start date. Enter the new type and amount, then select **Update**. Astalty emails the Account Owner when a rate changes.

Each task is paid at the rate that applied on the date the work was delivered, not the date of the batch or the date you changed the rate. A batch calculated today therefore pays last month's work at last month's rate.

Astalty records the rate and the calculated amount against each batch item when the batch is calculated, so a Finalised or Paid batch keeps the amounts it was calculated with. Changing a rate never alters them.

> **A batch sent back to draft is re-rated**
>
> Voiding a charge on a Calculated batch returns the batch to Draft. Recalculating it re-rates every item using the rate that now applies to each task's delivery date. This is the only case where a rate change moves money on a batch that already exists.

### When a New Rate Starts

Astalty sets the rate's start date:

| Rate                                | Applies from                         |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| The first rate set on a Charge Item | 1 July of the current financial year |
| Every rate after that               | The day you set it                   |

Backdating the first rate to 1 July makes every task delivered since the start of the financial year eligible for staff payments, so a batch can pick up older work than you expect.

A batch cannot be calculated while any Task in it has no rate covering its delivery date. Astalty lists the **Charge Items missing a rate**. The first rate covers work from 1 July of the current financial year. Use **Exclude Charge** for earlier work that no rate can cover.

### Correcting a Rate on the Same Day

Setting a rate again on the same day replaces that day's rate rather than adding a second one, so the rate you are correcting is discarded instead of being kept as a superseded rate. The correction re-rates any work that has not been calculated yet; amounts already calculated onto a batch do not change.

### Removing a Rate

Payment rates cannot be deleted. Use **Update rate** to replace the current rate.

## Setting Up Staff Payment Settings

1. Open [**Settings > Staff Payments**](https://app.astalty.com.au/settings/staff-payments).
2. On **ABA File Details**, select **Edit**.
3. Enter **Account Name**, **BSB**, **Account Number**, **Financial Institution** and **Description On Your Bank Statement**.
4. Select **Update**.

![The Staff Payments settings page, marked 1 in the Settings menu, with the ABA File Details card highlighted. It lists Account Name, BSB, Account Number, Financial Institution and Statement Description, with an Edit button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/staff-payment-settings.png)

![The Update Staff Payment Settings drawer with the Account Name, BSB, Account Number, Financial Institution and Description On Your Bank Statement fields filled in, and the Update button at the bottom.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/menu-view-for-staff-payments.png)

## User Profile Set Up

> **Support Workers can be contractors too**
>
> Eligibility for Staff Payments comes from **Employment Type**, not User Type. Setting
> **Employment Type** to **Contractor** makes someone eligible whether their User Type is
> **Standard User** or **Support Worker** - a contracted Support Worker who only uses the mobile
> app is paid through Staff Payments exactly the same way.

1. Open [**Users**](https://app.astalty.com.au/users) and select the contractor.
2. Select **Edit** on their profile.

![A user's Profile page with an arrow pointing to the Edit button at the top right of the profile card, beside Actions.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/user-profile-edit.png)

3. Set **Employment Type** to **Contractor**.
4. Select **Update User**.

![The Update User drawer scrolled to Other Details, with numbered markers on the Employment type field (1) and the Contractor option in its list (2), and the Update User button at the bottom.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/contractor-selection.png)

> **Check the contractor's address**
>
> Use **Actions > Update Address** on the user profile to keep the contractor's home address and state current for exports that use them.

![A user's Profile page with the Actions menu open at the top right of the profile card and an arrow pointing to Update Address, above Deactivate, Convert to Support Worker and Audit Trail.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/update-address-user-profile.png)

## User Finances Set Up

1. Open **Finance** on the contractor's profile.
2. On **Bank Account Details**, select **Edit** and enter the account used for ABA payments.
3. On **Other Financial Details**, select **Edit** and enter the contractor's **Entity Name** and **ABN** when required.

![The Finance tab of a user's profile, with an arrow pointing to Finance in the profile menu and the Bank Account Details and Other Financial Details cards highlighted, each with an Edit button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/financial-menu-user.png)

> **Superannuation (Optional Feature)**
>
> If Superannuation is enabled, **Entitled to superannuation** also appears under **Other Financial Details**. See [Superannuation](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/staff-payments/superannuation).

> **GST Registration Status (Optional Feature)**
>
> If GST Registration Status is enabled, **GST Registration Status** also appears under **Other Financial Details**. It becomes selectable after an **ABN** is recorded. See [GST Registration Status](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/staff-payments/gst-registration-status).

## Processing a Staff Payment Batch

Continue with [Processing a Staff Payment Batch](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/staff-payments/processing).