How DCJ will manage unspent funds

Unspent funds at the end of a financial year

Unspent funds at the end of a financial year, which are related to a contract must be returned to DCJ as part of the annual accountability process, unless they meet the notified exceptions. In this instance, an application for consent to retain and use unspent funds (DOCX, 440.0 KB) can be submitted for approval.

Service providers are required to repay to DCJ within the current financial year any funds (and any interest earned on these funds) that:

• are unspent in relation to the services agreed in the contract, or
• haven’t been spent in accordance with the contract to DCJ’s reasonable satisfaction.

Unspent funds relating to grants

As stated in clause 8 of the DCJ Grant Funding Agreement, unspent project funds must be reported in your final acquittal submission within 1 month of the grant project end date, unless otherwise agreed by us in writing.  Grants are acquitted in the Smarty Grants portal.

For a grant funding agreement an extension of time can be requested to deliver the approved project, grant agreements do not include a rollover of unspent funds.

Recovery of unspent project funds may occur, if there is an agreed reduction to the scope of the project or an external event has occurred that no longer requires the project to be delivered.

Unspent funds relating to National Partnership Agreement

Unspent funds involving National Partnership Agreement (NPA) funding will be dealt with as follows:  

• Where a DCJ contract has NPA funding only, unspent NPA funding can be approved by DCJ to be retained by the service provider, for use during the contract term or service provision that is consistent with the parameters of the NPA.
• Where a DCJ contract reaches the end of term, all unspent funds must be returned to DCJ regardless of the portion of NPA funds. Unspent Commonwealth funds will be returned to the Commonwealth or redistributed to other projects as approved by the Commonwealth.
• Where both NPA funds and DCJ funds are included in the same contract, and are not able to be tracked separately, any unspent funds are to be considered on a proportional basis. Where an NPA funding delivery period is still ongoing at the time of annual accountability, the unspent funds should be treated as Commonwealth funds proportional to the total funding and allowed to be rolled over for continued delivery until the end of the contract term. For example, where 50% of the total funding is NPA, and unspent funds equate to 20% of total funding then 10% is deemed as NSW funds and should be returned to DCJ (unless they meet the unspent funds requirement or notified exceptions) and 10% can be retained by the service provider for continued delivery of the NPA project milestones.  

Unspent funds when contracts end

For the majority of providers operating under the Agreement for Funding of Services, note clauses 9.5 and 9.6, and Funding Deed, note clause 8  where unspent funds must be repaid to Department within 20 business days following the expiry or termination of a contract.

You’re required under that agreement to repay any DCJ funds (and any interest earned on these funds) that:

• are unspent in relation to the services agreed in the contract, or
• haven’t been committed to be spent in accordance with the contract to DCJ’s reasonable satisfaction. 

Unspent funds when services are relinquished

Unspent funds must be returned to DCJ when services are relinquished. If services are being transferred to another provider. you will need to have a legal agreement/deed with this provider. However, DCJ may support an agreement between the first service provider to transfer any unspent funds to the new service provider.

Continue to read next chapter - Gaining approval to use unspent DCJ funds