Why does my balance drop at the start of the month?

Throughout any given month, Local Guardians pays all presented invoices for our clients upfront from our own funds. At the close of that month, we submit a claim to Services Australia for reimbursement for all monies paid to service providers. This amount is in excess of $3 million each month.

Some time within the first 5-10 days of the following month, we receive reimbursement from Services Australia. We then allocate more funding to all accounts for the month ahead. Due to the amount of funds being credited, there is a limit to the amount of risk that Local Guardians is willing to take. Therefore the balances for the month awaiting reimbursements are not reset until funding has been received.

Although this can make your account look like it has less funds than you anticipated, there is no actual change, nor have we ‘removed’ funds from your account. The reality is the unspent funds all sit with the government, not Local Guardians.

As we pay invoices once a week on Friday, if the funding is allocated later in that week, the team works solely on approving all invoices so they will continue to be paid on Friday.