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Centrelink should consider waiving 100,000 debts that may be unlawful, ombudsman report finds
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2023
45 points (100.0% liked)
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
In its second report, titled Accountability in Action, the ombudsman called on the agencies to apologise for “decision delays, and for historic unlawful calculations”.
The ombudsman said Services Australia and DSS “have a responsibility to identify and assess, in a timely way, the impact historic unlawful calculations had on customers, and develop a fair and reasonable remediation strategy that considers all possible options”.
In some cases the payslips relied on by Services Australia to calculate welfare debts don’t align with the fortnightly income reporting periods.
The ombudsman found that under the process of “apportionment”, welfare recipients’ employment income was spread across two or more fortnightly periods, which are used to calculate entitlement to Centrelink payments such as jobseeker.
The ombudsman’s report reveals the reason behind delayed redress is that the agencies are still “settling a final legal position about how to lawfully calculate employment income before they recommence assessing cases”.
The ombudsman said the agencies had “not taken appropriate steps” to assess the impact, develop a remediation strategy, pause debts, and explain the issue to welfare recipients.
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