|
Post by imajica on Mar 6, 2020 9:55:32 GMT 7
Centrelink said welfare recipients isolated at home on the advice of a medical professional or government authority would be given an exemption to meeting obligations. Based on this they should give all those denied a DSP, the DSP and back-pay, with an apology. The LNP is after-all ignoring the advice of said medical professionals on a daily basis when it suits their political agenda lead by an irrational religious dogma.
|
|
|
Post by bear on Mar 6, 2020 11:30:40 GMT 7
Centrelink said welfare recipients isolated at home on the advice of a medical professional or government authority would be given an exemption to meeting obligations. Based on this they should give all those denied a DSP, the DSP and back-pay, with an apology. The LNP is after-all ignoring the advice of said medical professionals on a daily basis when it suits their political agenda lead by an irrational religious dogma. Nicely noted imajica ...... can't recall where I read it, but it was saying with medical evidence, there's a panel of grammar experts examining placement of commas etc. on medical reports and that is how they're denying DSP. If I come across it again I'll post it..... unbelievably fascinating stuff. Bear
|
|
|
Post by bear on May 27, 2020 5:49:31 GMT 7
Centrelink loses welfare payments overhaul chief
Former Human Services CTO drafted in.
The high-profile senior executive in charge of the country’s billion dollar-plus Centrelink IT overhaul has called it quits after more than four years on the project.
John Murphy, who joined what was then the Department of Human Services from the National Australia Bank back in February 2016, worked his last day on Friday.His departure is a significant loss for the agency, which still has another three years to run on its massive welfare payments infrastructure transformation (WPIT) project. WPIT is replacing the legacy Model 204-based income security integrated system that is still used to process more than $170 billion worth of payments every year, more than 30 years on. Murphy has been responsible for the seven-year program of work for more than half its life, first as the inaugural payments reform deputy secretary and now chief transformation officer. The inaugural chief transformation officer role was established following DHS’ conversion into Services Australia in February. A spokesperson confirmed Murphy’s departure to iTnews, with the Department of Veterans Affairs’transformation deputy secretary Charles McHardie to assume the role. McHardie was DHS’ former chief technology officer - a role that hassubsequently been split in two - and served as acting chief information officer during 2018. He has spent the past year-and-a-half overseeing a wide range of transformational projects at DVA, including the multi-year IT reform project, dubbed the veteran centric reform program. iTnews understands McHardie took up the SES Band 3 role on Monday. He had already been seconded to Services Australia as part of its COVID-19 response. Murphy's next steps are unknown, though a return to the banking world would not be out of the question. Prior to joining DHS, he spent seven years at NAB, working in various senior executive roles, including as the executive general manager of deposits and transaction services. Like Murphy, McHardie will work alongside CIO and deputy CEO Michael McNamara to implement the remainder of the WPIT project, which has kicked up a notch in recent months. Infosys has spent the past six months developing a new payments entitlements calculation engine after it was picked to overhaul the legacy platform last year. The crucial system is used to work out the eligibility of welfare recipients through the country’s SAP-based Centrelink payments platform, which has already been replaced under the WPIT. The payments platform, dubbed Payment Utility, is in the final stages of testing before Services Australia puts it to work on Centrelink payments later this year. www.uniqskills.com.au/delivering-successful-virtual-presentations.html
|
|
|
Post by bear on Jul 8, 2020 9:09:00 GMT 7
Centrelink staff forced to administer botched robodebt scheme deserve apology, union says
Effect on workers who raised concerns and witnessed despair and anger of public should be acknowledged
The public sector union has called on Stuart Robert to apologise to its members forced to administer the unlawful robodebt scheme, ahead of a speech in which he will champion “helpful” and “respectful” service delivery.The Community and Public Sector Union wrote to the government services minister on Friday asking for an apology to Services Australia staff, who it said raised concerns four years ago but were told to push on despite witnessing first hand the distress and anger it caused people accused of owing debts. The intervention comes ahead of Robert’s Tuesday address to the National Press Club promising faster and more accurate calculation of payments through replacement of 30-year-old systems with a new “entitlement calculation engine” and development of a new whole-of-government platform. Robert will also announce the government is considering designation of “sovereign data sets” which would require that only Australian providers and networks can access them. Since 2016 the Coalition has scaled up use of income-averaging to calculate welfare debts, despite warnings it was not lawful to do so. After a successful federal court case and an ongoing class action, Scott Morrison apologised for “any hurt or harm” caused by the so-called robodebt program which levied 470,000 unlawful debts against welfare recipients and is set to cost the commonwealth more than $1bn. But the CPSU national president, Alistair Waters, wrote to Robert that it was not good enough just to apologise to customers with “no mention of the effects implementing the scheme has had on Services Australia staff”. Staff in contact with the public had to “assist distressed, angry or upset community members, including people talking about self harm and suicide”, he said, while workers who expressed concerns or participated in union activities were “threatened for exercising their workplace rights”. Waters shared personal accounts from staff including that they had been “reprimanded by team leaders and the assistant directors … that we are ‘being negative’ when we have continually expressed our opinion that averaging earning is incorrect – over almost four years since this started”. Another said they had “felt sick” and lost sleep thinking about conversations with customers about robodebts including “some [who] have talked about suicide on the call”. In excerpts of his speech, seen by Guardian Australia, Robert says taxpayers will be saved “enormous amounts of money” by a new “entitlement calculation engine” powered by Pega software and Infosys systems. The system will increase “speed of implementation and removing friction for customers across government”, he says. Robert – who has previously claimed only a “small cohort” of people were owed robodebt refunds and incorrectly blamed MyGov failures on a denial of service attack at the start of the coronavirus recession – also expounds on the virtue of “transparency” in service delivery. “Imagine having a personalised dashboard so Australians can see their claims, their payments, if they have debts and how they were raised and other services or payments and assistance available to them,” he says. “Then on top of that, transparency in how their government agency is monitoring and addressing their concerns.” After being implemented by Services Australia, the entitlements engine can be scaled up for use by other departments and functions including veterans income support and aged care, he says. Robert argues that if the government is to spend “hundreds of millions on certain platforms or technologies, these platforms should be scalable or repeatable across government so we can achieve that vision of simple and helpful government services”. Robert also says the government has launched a new version of MyGov, which he says has become “a modern platform capable of scaling up to include digital identity and become a fully-fledged all of government customer experience”. The new version is available in 110 languages, he says, suggesting the government should also offer a personalised user experience in the same way that Facebook and Netflix suggest content most relevant to them. Robert says governments must respond to community expectations and “be transparent about how we manage the information that Australians are concerned about sharing with us”. He says sovereign requirements applied to some data sets held by the government will “ensure that Australians can trust that government will appropriately manage the information that they provide to us – whether it is for a [contact] tracing app or for the census”. “Through the data availability and transparency legislation the government will seek to introduce in the period ahead, we will ensure services are designed so we don’t have to ask Australians to provide the same information repeatedly. “This will enable us to streamline the processes of applying for a service, benefit, permission or permit, while providing visibility and transparency of that process.” www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/07/centrelink-staff-forced-to-administer-botched-robodebt-scheme-deserve-apology-union-says
|
|
|
Post by bear on Jul 23, 2020 5:39:23 GMT 7
Centrelink debt freeze causes Family Tax Benefit stress
A lack of transparency around how Centrelink’s Family Tax Benefit is balanced has seen some payments stalled, leaving welfare recipients stressed and confused about potential money owed amid the agency’s debt freeze imposed due to coronavirus.
The Family Tax Benefit is a two-part payment intended to help parents and carers who provide at least 35 per cent of a child’s care with the cost of child rearing.
Eligible recipients receive a fortnightly payment and a once-off lump sum at the end of each financial year based on the declared taxable income and caring responsibilities of each parent or carer. The maximum 2019-20 payment is $766.50 for each eligible child. But welfare advocate Kym Mercer told InDaily she’d been inundated with hundreds of questions since the beginning of the financial year from low-income earners who’d received messages from Centrelink advising their annual Family Tax Benefit had been frozen due to a potential debt. She said welfare recipients were growing increasingly anxious as they were unable to dispute the potential debts with the Federal Government department. “People who don’t owe money – because their taxable income is lower than the estimated income that they put in for their Family Tax Benefit in the first place – are receiving these messages that they possibly have a debt,” Mercer said. “And they have no way of appealing that debt or checking if the information that has gone through is correct until Centrelink are allowed to do debts again.” A Centrelink message sent to a welfare recipient advising their payment had been frozen. In April, Federal Government Services Minister Stuart Robert announced the government would pause debt raising and recovery activity through Services Australia until October. He said at the time the debt freeze was intended to help ease the financial pressure being felt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesperson for Services Australia said as a result of the debt pause, Family Tax Benefit recipients who were thought to have been paid too much throughout the year would have their annual payment frozen. “If we think we’ve paid people too much during the year, based on what they told us they would earn compared to what they actually earned, we won’t finalise balancing their payments straightaway,” the spokesperson said. “This is because we’ve paused a range of debt raising and recovery activities due to the coronavirus pandemic, so people can meet their immediate needs at this difficult time. “If this happens, families can check their balancing status in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. They’ll be able to see that their balancing is on hold because we’re pausing some debt activity.” As of July 1, welfare recipients began declaring their earnings with Centrelink in order to have their Family Tax Benefit entitlement balanced and receive a payment. Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen said most families who had submitted their payment would receive a “top-up or no change when their balancing is complete”. He said those families whose payments had been paused would not able to dispute a potential debt until the freeze was lifted, as no debt had been raised. “There’s nothing else families need to do now. We’ll finish balancing their payments and write to them with the outcome once the pause has ended,” Jongen said. “If a family is given an overpayment outcome, they will be able to ask for an explanation of the decision and request a review if they disagree. “If families are in financial hardship, they should call 136 150 to discuss their circumstances and options with a staff member.” Bec Bishop is among the low-income earners whose lump Family Tax Benefit has been frozen. She told InDaily she was facing financial hardship and had phoned Centrelink on Tuesday morning to discuss what options were available to her. She said she had already called Centrelink about the issue twice before. “The first time I rang them they said they were waiting for my notice of assessment from the ATO office and once they received that they would start balancing,” Bishop said. “When I rang up again, they said they were just checking for future debts and that the debts were on hold for the moment. “This morning when I rang up, they said that because all of the debts are on hold until October, because of Covid-19, they can’t balance it until the end of October. “Every time I ring up I get different stories from different people and it’s like, ‘what do I believe? Because I’m getting three or four different stories.” Mercer said many families relied on the money and without it they had begun reducing their spending. “People are going: ‘I’ve got to watch what I spend because I’ve got this amount of money, which I don’t know how much money that I might supposedly need to pay back to the government at some future time,’” she said. “That can really put a stress on people and it also stops people spending, which is the whole reason for Centrelink suspending all debts and the ability to do debts at this time is to put more money into the economy – and you can’t put money back into the economy if you’re worried about money.” Mercer said a lack of transparency around how Centrelink balanced people’s income was further exacerbating families’ stress. “(Centrelink) don’t say anywhere on that letter what income they’ve used to get that debt: it doesn’t say what your estimate was for the year and it doesn’t say how much you’ve actually earned,” Mercer said. “People are having to go blind and trust that Centrelink has got it right – and we know from past experiences that Centrelink don’t always get it right. “During this time of uncertainty as people with people losing jobs … the last thing we need is people stressing over debt they may not even owe.” indaily.com.au/news/2020/07/21/centrelink-debt-freeze-causes-family-tax-benefit-stress/
|
|
|
Post by bear on Oct 21, 2020 7:17:16 GMT 7
More than 400 Melbourne Centrelink call centre workers sacked
About 420 Victorian Centrelink call centre staff have been sacked in a move the federal opposition called a "disgraceful" attack on workers administrating the nation's safety net amid a deep recession.
Workers at suburban call centres in Dandenong and Mill Park were informed on Tuesday by $2 billion British public service provider Serco that their employment would end on October 30.Workers at Centrelink call centres in Dandenong and Mill Park were informed on TuesdayCredit:Wayne Taylor The sacked staff will not receive separation payments or redundancies because they are employed on a casual basis, despite many being on staff for more than two years. A significant proportion of the laid-off cohort work regular full-time hours, but remain on casual contracts, according to the Australian Services Union, which represents some of the workforce. A Serco spokesman said the decision to sack the workers was taken because government agency Services Australia amended its contract with Serco to reduce the types of work it carried out. "The company told casual workers that, following recent contract discussions with Services Australia, the after-hours processing work will not form part of the new contract from October 30," the spokesman said. "Any remaining processing work will be allocated to the telephony [call centre] network within the broader Services Australia network." Labor's government services spokesman, Bill Shorten, said the Morrison government and Government Services Minister Stuart Robert needed to "explain why Services Australia is throwing more than 400 Victorians to the back of the unemployment queues". "Slashing the jobs of hundreds of workers who are manning the Centrelink safety net at this time of national challenge is a disgrace," he said. "The Morrison government preach a lot about Team Australia but are quite happy to give other Australians the boot." Services Australia General Manager Hank Jongen said it was "important to note our service delivery partners are, and have always been, responsible for managing their own staffing levels in order to meet the contracted work and other requirements". In meetings with ASU officials on Tuesday, Serco said it hoped to maintain contact with the workers and explore whether some of them could be redeployed. The union said it would urge the company to redeploy the workers at call centres Serco operates for other government agencies including the Australian Taxation Office and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Sinead McKinlay, 34, was one of the workers stood down. She said she and her colleagues "felt sick" once they received notice of a meeting with managers. "With our history with Serco, there is no trust. At a whim they shut us down, don't pay us, cut us off. People knew something was coming," she said. "We've been given nine days' notice because we're casual. So it's legal, but I don't think it's fair or ethical. "There's a lot of younger and older workers and workers with English as a second language. They will struggle in the job market and face financial hardship ... I'm concerned for their mental health, for potential self-harm and family violence." Matt Norrey, secretary of the ASU's Victorian private sector branch, said the decision proved insecure workers bore the responsibility of the employment contract if business circumstances deteriorated. "It's a heartless decision that shows how insecure workers can be taken advantage of and employees bear no responsibility when things go south," he said. Serco holds Victorian government contracts to run the police assistance line call centre and operate speed cameras. About 450 staff at the Mill Park call park were stood down without pay in July due to a COVID-19 outbreak the ASU said was sparked by Serco ignoring social distancing requirements. The company advised employees, a large proportion of whom are casuals, to apply for the Victorian government's $1500 hardship payment. The company was engaged in a dispute with the public sector union in August over its proposal to offer speed camera operators zero-hour contracts. The dispute has since been resolved and the zero-hour contract proposal was dropped. Mr Roberts' office declined to comment and referred to the statement provided by Services Australia. www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/more-than-400-melbourne-centrelink-call-centre-workers-sacked-20201020-p566ww.html?fbclid=IwAR3-2H30iL_lXVrIi_Jfn9nbmlURWX_Lha6NN7cgMzqVeNCFYYQtkG9qRHc
|
|
|
Post by nomadic on Oct 21, 2020 18:45:41 GMT 7
services Australia; the biggest misnomer in history. But is anyone on this forum surprised? We really are F'd as a world at large. They really are insane and want the world to end.
|
|
|
Post by imajica on Oct 22, 2020 7:34:00 GMT 7
They wont stop at 420 and will extend to Australia wide, the irony of it though bear!
|
|
|
Post by bear on Oct 22, 2020 8:33:41 GMT 7
I think it's a shame they couldn't get that through imajica , considering it's 1 hr. a week to be classed as being employed. That being the case it should stand to reason 0 hr. would make operators unemployed therefore entitled to benefits; on top of commission I'd surmise, for tickets generated; less operating costs of vehicles for tax purposes. What a lurk that'd be!! It's so so sad, but it doesn't really get much sillier than Australia today. Yes quite ironic, considering the exponential number of clients at the moment and rising; though the artificial intelligence will hopefully handle all of the extra documents being submitted; until it doesn't. Cheers bear P.S. Further to the prior post:"But Yahoo Finance understands that a further 180 Sydney-based workers employed by IT services firm Datacom, which provides similar call centre services as Serco, will also be cut from 30 October.
|
|
|
Post by bear on Nov 11, 2020 7:44:07 GMT 7
Centrelink office waiting times balloon despite major push towards online services
Exclusive: Australians waited in line 30% longer in past year than 2015-16 even though face-to-face contacts fell across 94% of sites
Australians visiting Centrelink offices waited 30% longer on average in the past financial year compared with 2015-16, as the agency continues to shut or merge shopfronts. The figures include the first half of 2020, in which the unemployment rate spiked due to the coronavirus pandemic resulting in hundreds of thousands of people queuing outside Centrelink offices. However, even with this increase in people attending Centrelink in person, almost all Centrelink offices had fewer people through the doors in 2019-20 compared with four years earlier, when waiting times were lower. With Services Australia pushing customers towards online services such as the MyGov app, a Guardian Australia analysis reveals 87% of the agency’s offices have seen their waiting times blow out over the past four years. The analysis compares site-by-site statistics from the past financial year to 2015-16, the last time such detailed figures were reported to the Senate. The analysis reveals people living in major cities waited about five minutes longer on average than 2015-16, while those in regional centres spent about four minutes longer waiting for help. Showing the average waiting time for each Centrelink service centre for 2019-20, and the change in waiting time between 2015-16 and 2019-20. Circles are sized by the total number of 'contacts' in 2019-20, which is the number of people who visited that Centrelink in 2019-20 Overall, Services Australia’s figures show the average waiting time in 2019-20 was about 14 minutes, up from about 11 minutes in 2015-16. The figure is an improvement from 2018-19 and within the agency’s targets. But Guardian Australia’s analysis shows waiting times have ballooned across the offices since 2015-16 despite a dramatic reduction in patronage. The data shows face-to-face contacts fell across 94% of all sites in 2019-20 compared to 2015-16. While Services Australia rejected comparisons between the data, noting 2020 was a “year like no other”, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) president, Alistair Waters, said staff cuts since 2013 meant it was “no surprise” wait times had increased. He accused of the government of ignoring the impact of service centre closures. “An app or a crashing website won’t answer calls, or solve the long lines at service centres,” Waters said. In the 12 months to 30 June 2020, which included the unprecedented demand seen at the start of the pandemic, Sydneysiders spent the most time waiting at a Centrelink office. By patronage, the busiest service centres in Australia were the western Sydney offices of Liverpool, Fairfield and Blacktown, followed by Sunshine in Melbourne’s west. Sydney had the longest average waiting times with Chatswood (25.32 minutes) closely followed by offices in Darlinghurst (24.51) and Ingleburn (24.32) close behind. In Chatswood, residents waited 13 minutes longer on average than they did in 2015-16. Eight of the 10 offices with the longest average waiting periods were in Sydney, followed by Rockingham south of Perth (21.16) and Modbury in Adelaide (20.55). Throughout 2019-20, Australians could expect to wait longer than 15 minutes at 82 Centrelink offices across Australia. In 2015-16, that was true of only 11 sites. The new figures come as the agency shifts towards digital services, a move that’s been further accelerated by the pandemic. Services Australia’s past annual reports show the number of Centrelink offices had fallen to 326 in 2019-20, a reduction of 24 since 2015-16. The agency came under fire in March when a boost to welfare benefits and mass layoffs led to enormous lines outside Centrelink offices. In response, the agency directed all but the most vulnerable customers to file their claims online and employed a surge workforce, though some of those temporary staff are now being laid off. Cassandra Goldie, the Australian Council of Social Service chief executive, said it was vital the government ensured adequate face-to-face services. “We welcomed the additional staffing of Centrelink to respond to the crisis,” she said. “However, we need to ensure that numbers of permanent staff at Centrelink are boosted to meet need. Not everyone can access services online, and face-to-face human services continue to be essential for many accessing income support, including older people, people with lower literacy skills, people from diverse backgrounds and people with disability.” In the first three months since July, the number of contacts and average waiting times are down significantly, likely as a result of the pandemic. The agency’s annual report notes that in April, May and June demand at Centrelink offices was down 40% compared with 2019. The agency recently backflipped on a controversial move to close an office at Abbotsford in inner Melbourne, which was among those that received an influx of requests for help in late March. Like most, that office has seen reduced demand since 2015-16, though there were still a total of 51,148 contacts from customers in the past financial year. An office at Newport in Melbourne’s west closed in December last year. Services Australia has denied reports another closure is planned at Tweed Heads on the NSW-Queensland border. Another planned closure at Mornington, in cabinet minister Greg Hunt’s Melbourne electorate of Flinders, has been postponed to March 2021. The site received 31,000 contacts in 2019-20. Federal Labor’s government services spokesman, Bill Shorten, said the Coalition had combined a “slash and burn with aggressively trying to push everyone on to the app”. Hank Jongen, Services Australia’s spokesman, said it was “not possible to draw comparisons” between the data because 2020 was “a year like no other for Services Australia”. He noted during the pandemic “wait times averaged less than five minutes from July to September”. “In 2015 it was common for people to queue at service centres to update their address details, claim a Medicare payment or update their income or assets,” Jongen said. “Today, all major claims are now online, including 99% of Medicare transactions, and we have simplified the claims process. This means the customers we’re more likely to see in our offices are those with more complex circumstances, such as losing their job, facing homelessness or fleeing domestic violence.” Jongen said changes to the way the agency collected data in 2017 had also resulted in more accurate measurements and an overall increase in the wait times. Correction: this article has been amended to reflect that no office closed in Newcastle, NSW, and the office in Newport, Victoria closed in December 2019. www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/09/centrelink-office-waiting-times-balloon-despite-major-push-towards-online-services
|
|
|
Post by bear on Nov 29, 2020 8:06:08 GMT 7
The source for this article is new to me..... it appears to be a conglomeration of global entities; which suggests a global overreach in welfare news reporting. I find the thought of it quite disconcerting, though totally expected given the state of play as I perceive it to be. Click on link to view Interface. Bear
Centrelink to update income reporting rules in DecemberThe new rules are expected to impact more than half a million Australians who depend on government support such as JobSeekerLow-income earners who receive additional financial support from the government will soon have to declare the gross income they’ve been paid (before tax and other deductions) instead of the amount they’ve earned.From 7 December, welfare recipients will need to report to Centrelink the gross income reflected in their pay slip, rather than manually calculating their earnings based on their hourly rate and their total number of hours worked. The new method aims to improve reporting accuracy in a bid to save the government $2.1bn in a span of four years, said Social Services Minister Anne Ruston. The reporting changes are expected to impact more than half a million Australians who depend on government support, such as JobSeeker, Disability Support Pension, Parenting Payment and Carer Payment, and other similar benefits. “We want to make sure that Australians who need financial support are able to get the support that they are eligible for – no less and no more,” Ruston said when the changes were unveiled in January. “The current system of calculating earnings can be confusing and lead to misreporting, especially when accounting for overtime or penalty rates. These changes will make accurate reporting much easier,” she said. Payments that fall outside a welfare recipient’s reporting period, however, do not need to be recorded then. “This means we’ll adjust your payment based on the amount paid during your reporting period,” Services Australia said. Recipients can report their income through their Centrelink online account or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app, or by calling the self-service hotline or visiting a service centre. Changes to the reporting rules were scheduled to begin on 1 July but were postponed because of the pandemic. They are part of the new Single Touch Payroll system in which employers are required to report their payroll data to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). “The idea behind providing this information from the ATO is to help you check that the employment income you report is the correct amount,” the advocacy group Economic Justice Australia said. “However, it is important to note that you will still be responsible for reporting your income to Centrelink and ensuring the amount you report is correct.” Free newsletterOur daily newsletter is FREE and keeps you up-to-date with the world of HR. Please complete the form below and click on subscribe for daily newsletters from HRD Australia. www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/payroll/centrelink-to-update-income-reporting-rules-in-december/240467?fbclid=IwAR2qxc9-yqbvSiPkIAPdTj3RuU0TNFFN3lpcNjLe9iKMiskR7xqZENMWzaI
|
|
|
Post by bear on Dec 18, 2020 7:31:31 GMT 7
Single form system refinement is long overdue
When it comes to letting someone else deal with Centrelink about your age pension or aged-care costs, as the saying goes, “there’s a form for that”.
Until last week there were two. That’s right, for the same person to deal with the same government agency about the same customer required two separate forms and two different processes.The good news is that logic has prevailed and now Centrelink has just one form and there won’t be a need to fill in another if aged care is required. Here’s how it works. People who do not have a Centrelink correspondence or aged-care nominee can now fill in a new nominee form. The person chosen will be able to act on their behalf for both Centrelink payment and services and aged-care costs. Those with an existing Centrelink correspondence nominee will automatically have their appointee able to deal with Services Australia in relation to their aged-care costs. Those who have previously nominated the same person to be their nominee for Centrelink and aged care will automatically transfer to the new system. For people who have already nominated a Centrelink nominee and an aged-care nominee – and they are different people – there is a transition period until March of next year. Centrelink will send letters to both the customer and their nominee to provide details of the changes and what they need to do. If your Centrelink correspondence nominee and aged-care appointee are different and you don’t contact Centrelink by March, then your Centrelink correspondence nominee will automatically replace your aged-care nominee. People who have an aged-care nominee without a Centrelink correspondence appointee and those who receive a Department of Veteran’s Affairs payment will not be affected by the changes. It is also important to know that changes to your Centrelink and aged-care nominees do not affect your representative dealing with My Aged Care. Whether you have an existing Centrelink correspondence or aged-care nominee, or this is something that you have yet to negotiate, it is important to know that you are in control. So, if at any point you are not happy with your nominee, you can cancel their appointment and replace them with another nominee. To change, you simply fill in the new form and it will both appoint your new nominee and revoke any existing nomination. You can also do this by calling Centrelink or using your online account through MyGov. The exception is if your nominee has been appointed by a court or tribunal, in which case the arrangement can be ended by the nominee or the court/tribunal decision being changed or revoked. If you have a nominee to deal with Centrelink about your payments and services as well as your aged-care costs, it can take some of the stress out it dealing with the paperwork minefield. Enabling the same person to do both without the need for an extra form is long overdue, makes sense and saves time. www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/single-form-system-refinement-is-long-overdue-20201214-p56ncp.html
|
|
|
Post by bear on Dec 22, 2020 8:18:02 GMT 7
Welfare suspended 500,000 times since August but new policy making a difference
Hopes Australia’s new 48-hour grace period for compliance will halve payment suspensions
Welfare payments have been suspended more than 500,000 times since mutual obligations resumed in August, an initial compliance breach that can delay recipients getting their income support.But in news that will be welcomed by welfare groups, data obtained by Guardian Australia also shows a new policy that seeks to lessen the impact of welfare compliance is already making a difference. Overall, the data shows in the months before the change came into force as many as a quarter of all jobseekers had been caught up in the compliance system, which had already suspended the payments of 9,000 homeless people by October. Between 4 August and 30 November, 527,642 income support payment suspensions were applied to participants in the Jobactive, Disability Employment Services and ParentsNext programs, according to the new data. The figures mostly exclude jobseekers in Victoria, where mutual obligations were suspended until 23 November 2020. “Payment suspensions do not result in a loss of income support as payments are put ‘on hold’ until a jobseeker contacts their provider and re-engages, at which time their payment resumes and is fully back paid,” a department spokesperson said. The spokesperson said a new “two business day ‘resolution time’” gave jobseekers who missed a mutual obligation requirement 48 hours to discuss the matter with their provider before their payment was suspended. After the new 48-hour grace period came into effect, 13,102 jobseekers were spared a payment suspension between 7-14 December. Previously, welfare recipients who missed an appointment or activity would have their payments immediately stopped until they rectified the situation with their job provider. The suspension can lead to delays in a person’s payment, which campaigners say can be disastrous for people on low incomes. The policy change follows campaigning from welfare organisations and extensive reporting from Guardian Australia that revealed that while more than 2m payment suspensions were automatically imposed in the 2018-19 financial year, many welfare recipients were later found to have a “reasonable excuse” for missing their appointment. The Australian Council of Social Service hopes the change will “halve the number of payment suspensions and reduce anxiety for people who are unemployed and living on income support”. Jobseekers who miss coaching sessions with their employment service provider, fail to submit up to eight job applications, or to attend training or work for the dole activities can face a payment suspension. If they are not found to have a “reasonable excuse”, they can also be handed a demerit point. After a sixth demerit point, Centrelink will begin to deduct half, and then an entire fortnight’s payment. The department said that from 4 August there had been 393,306 people handed a demerit point. At 30 November, 256,792 people who remained in the system, or 23% of all jobseekers, had received a demerit. Four jobseekers had progressed to receive financial penalty, meaning they had half or their entire payment docked in a fortnight. A further 305 jobseekers were kicked off income support payments for refusing to take up a job deemed suitable by their job provider. The figure is a fraction of the more than 1.4 million jobseekers who have joined the employment services system amid the pandemic-induced recession. Meanwhile, separate data provided to Labor through the Senate estimates process last week reveals a blow-out in costs for the work for the dole program. The number of work for the dole participants is expected to jump from 32,000 to 54,000 in the 2021-22 financial year, before reaching 66,000 participants in 2023-24. The annual cost of the program will also rise from $40.8m this financial year to $81.4m in 2023-24. Labor’s employment services spokesman, Brendan O’Connor, said jobseekers needed a system that assisted people into work, not one that would just “warehouse them in ineffective programs”. www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/21/welfare-suspended-500000-times-since-august-but-new-policy-making-a-difference
|
|
|
Post by bear on Jan 13, 2021 7:38:35 GMT 7
Centrelink's IT overhaul spend hits $1 billion as WPIT enters final leg
Seven-year project has saved $278 million so far.
Services Australia has now spent more than $1 billion redeveloping the Centrelink IT system under its massive, seven-year welfare payment infrastructure transformation (WPIT) program.The dollar-figure – which covers the first five years of the overhaul (2015-16 to 2019-20) – was revealed in answers to question on notice from recent budget estimates published late last year. A spokesperson would not say how much more had been spent on the project to replace the country's legacy income security integrated system (ISIS) since it entered the final leg in July 2020. Total funding for the project stands at just under $1.6 billion after the government allocated $542.6 million to tranche four in last year’s federal budget. A breakdown provided by Services Australia show that tranche four is the most costly to date, followed by tranche three ($525 million), tranche two ($286 million) and tranche one ($230 million). Source: Services Australia The $1 billion in expenditure “excludes savings that have been applied”, which Services Australia estimates at $277.6 million between 2015-16 and 2019-20. A further $317.4 million in savings that stem from tranche four – which is slated for completion by July 2022 – is projected over four years from 2020-21, according to the 2020-21 budget. WPIT savings are projected to ramp up following the completion of tranche four, with ongoing returns of $312 million per annum expected from 2024-25. At least some of these savings are expected to flow from the reuse of core WPIT platforms across Services Australia as well as the rest of government. Tranche four will see Services Australia bring improvements from earlier tranches to disability, carers and families payments as well as the age pension, as well as complete two major IT platforms. One of these platforms is the SAP-based payments platform, dubbed Payment Utility, which began administering payments in real-time in November. The other major component is the entitlements calculation engine solution that Infosys is building under an initial $143 million contract following a seven-month proof-of-concept. Tranche four will also involve decommissioning the ISIS platform, but as highlighted by an audit late last year, much of this work is yet to take place. By the end of June 2020, only about 13 percent of ISIS was expected to have transitioned to the SAP CRM and Payment Utility, with a further 39 percent slated to transition by the end of June 2022. This means “almost half of the decommissioning was not expected to be completed by the end of the program” despite this continuing to be the main goal of the overhaul. The audit also found that while the project is on track, ISIS decommissioning delays risked “one of the original objects of the WPIT program and negated realisation of all the expected benefits”. www.itnews.com.au/news/centrelink-it-overhaul-spend-hits-1-billion-as-wpit-enters-final-leg-559631Note: As an adjunct to the cost mentioned in this article, the following is just to put things into some sort of perspective concerning these numbers that always get thrown about so regularly with such gay abandon. These facts will always continue to astound me. Cheers bear
Time to crunch the numbers on this BillionDollars.
Let's say that you are trying to save $1,000,000,000 dollars and you are able to save your money at a rate of $100 per day.
1,000,000,000 divided by 100 (dollars saved per day) = 10,000,000 days 10,000,000 days divided by 365 (days per year) = 27,397.26 years to reach $1 billion
It will take a pretty long time to reach your goal! In fact, you would never get there in your lifetime. Nor would your children, grandchildren or great grandchildren. If you, and one descendent per generation, saved $100 every day, and each of you lived for 90 years, it would take you and 304 generations of your descendants to save up one billion dollars. ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/geotime/guide/billion.html
|
|
|
Post by bear on Jan 17, 2021 11:44:00 GMT 7
Since the mere mention of money has sent the "Centrelink News" into meltdown, I've moved those posts to "Chinwag" and apologies to nomadic .....it appears I lost a post of yours in the move. Look under: How long would it take for you to become a billionaire? Cheers bear
P.S. Lesson Learned; no more ADJUNCTS from me......in dedicated threads anyhow.
|
|