Post by Denis-NFA on Jan 3, 2013 5:07:45 GMT 7
I took the liberty of extracting the following National Welfare Rights network submission on Discussion paper Grey Matters – Barriers to Participation by Mature Age Australians (pages 10 to 12).
QUESTION 5-3
The Commission seeks views about whether there is a need for greater clarity regarding the risk of reviews for people on the Disability Support Pension, with respect to new rules which allow a person to work up to 30 hours a week, and whether this is disincentive for people to undertake paid work.
NWRN strongly endorses the Commission’s recommendation to encourage the Government to provide greater transparency about the circumstances that can trigger a review of entitlement to the Disability Support Pension (DSP). The information and advice lines at our member centres receive consistent and regular feedback from people anxious that any history of work or earnings will potentially trigger a review, at some point in the future.
This anxiety about reviews and loss of entitlement is not unfounded, as there is a demonstrated increase in rejections of claims for the DSP. While new claims are being rejected at record numbers, data from the Social Security Appeals Tribunal indicates that DSP appeals have increased by 15 per cent in 2011-12, from 2,951 to 3,446.
OTHER COMMENTS: NEW DSP RULES FROM SEPTEMBER 2011
NWRN wishes to raise with the Commission a new and emerging barrier to participation that has recently emerged from our member centre’s extensive casework. People most likely to be affected are older people with disabilities who are testing eligibility for the Disability Support Pension. From 3 September 2011, the Federal Government introduced new rules which mean that generally a person must have participated in a “program of support” for 18 months before they become eligible for the Disability Support Pension. Already Welfare Rights advocates from across the country are seeing some of the harsh, unfair and irrational impact of these rules.
A program of support is a program designed to help a person find and stay in work. Most people who undertake a program of support are on an activity tested Centrelink payment like Newstart Allowance.
These new rules do not apply to someone with a “severe impairment”, which means they are assessed as having 20 points of impairment under just one of the impairment tables.
But at the same time as introducing the new program of support rules, the Government also introduced new impairment tables. It is becoming very clear to Welfare Rights advocates that very few people get 20 points under one impairment table. Most people who get 20 points of impairment do so because they have multiple medical conditions which impact on them in multiple ways and therefore they get 20 points or more across more than one impairment table. These people must still meet the program of support rules, otherwise they will not qualify for DSP.
NWRN agrees with the policy objective of helping as many people to find and keep work as possible. We continue to press the Commonwealth, as one of the country’s larger employers, to increase its woeful levels of employment for people with a disability.
However, the program of support rules are having an incredibly harsh impact without any evidence that they are helping people to find and keep work. It is important to remember that someone who has 20 points (or more) of impairment, whether it’s under one table or multiple tables, is seriously ill and struggling with the barriers and extra costs caused by their medical problems.
To give just one example, many people will only meet this requirement by participating in programs through their job services provider while in receipt of Newstart Allowance . But normally someone with medical problems serious enough to attract 20 points would be granted an exemption from complying with the activity test and therefore not be required to participate in a program for the period of the exemption.
People contacting our Welfare Rights who are experiencing difficulties with the new arrangements have been so sick that Centrelink has granted them rolling exemptions from the activity test but when they apply for the DSP have been told they cannot qualify because they have not participated in a program of support for 18 months. If these people continue to be too unwell to participate in a program of support they will never qualify for a DSP under the new rules, despite their serious and ongoing medical problems. This would relegate them to the much lower rate of payment of NSA, a payment designed for people actively looking for work, not people with long term and serious health problems likely to last for at least two years.
It is critical that the rules be ameliorated by adding an exemption from the program of support requirement for someone who claims the DSP, has not participated in a program of support and who will be too unwell to participate in a program of support or benefit from it within the next two years.
QUESTION 5-3
The Commission seeks views about whether there is a need for greater clarity regarding the risk of reviews for people on the Disability Support Pension, with respect to new rules which allow a person to work up to 30 hours a week, and whether this is disincentive for people to undertake paid work.
NWRN strongly endorses the Commission’s recommendation to encourage the Government to provide greater transparency about the circumstances that can trigger a review of entitlement to the Disability Support Pension (DSP). The information and advice lines at our member centres receive consistent and regular feedback from people anxious that any history of work or earnings will potentially trigger a review, at some point in the future.
This anxiety about reviews and loss of entitlement is not unfounded, as there is a demonstrated increase in rejections of claims for the DSP. While new claims are being rejected at record numbers, data from the Social Security Appeals Tribunal indicates that DSP appeals have increased by 15 per cent in 2011-12, from 2,951 to 3,446.
OTHER COMMENTS: NEW DSP RULES FROM SEPTEMBER 2011
NWRN wishes to raise with the Commission a new and emerging barrier to participation that has recently emerged from our member centre’s extensive casework. People most likely to be affected are older people with disabilities who are testing eligibility for the Disability Support Pension. From 3 September 2011, the Federal Government introduced new rules which mean that generally a person must have participated in a “program of support” for 18 months before they become eligible for the Disability Support Pension. Already Welfare Rights advocates from across the country are seeing some of the harsh, unfair and irrational impact of these rules.
A program of support is a program designed to help a person find and stay in work. Most people who undertake a program of support are on an activity tested Centrelink payment like Newstart Allowance.
These new rules do not apply to someone with a “severe impairment”, which means they are assessed as having 20 points of impairment under just one of the impairment tables.
But at the same time as introducing the new program of support rules, the Government also introduced new impairment tables. It is becoming very clear to Welfare Rights advocates that very few people get 20 points under one impairment table. Most people who get 20 points of impairment do so because they have multiple medical conditions which impact on them in multiple ways and therefore they get 20 points or more across more than one impairment table. These people must still meet the program of support rules, otherwise they will not qualify for DSP.
NWRN agrees with the policy objective of helping as many people to find and keep work as possible. We continue to press the Commonwealth, as one of the country’s larger employers, to increase its woeful levels of employment for people with a disability.
However, the program of support rules are having an incredibly harsh impact without any evidence that they are helping people to find and keep work. It is important to remember that someone who has 20 points (or more) of impairment, whether it’s under one table or multiple tables, is seriously ill and struggling with the barriers and extra costs caused by their medical problems.
To give just one example, many people will only meet this requirement by participating in programs through their job services provider while in receipt of Newstart Allowance . But normally someone with medical problems serious enough to attract 20 points would be granted an exemption from complying with the activity test and therefore not be required to participate in a program for the period of the exemption.
People contacting our Welfare Rights who are experiencing difficulties with the new arrangements have been so sick that Centrelink has granted them rolling exemptions from the activity test but when they apply for the DSP have been told they cannot qualify because they have not participated in a program of support for 18 months. If these people continue to be too unwell to participate in a program of support they will never qualify for a DSP under the new rules, despite their serious and ongoing medical problems. This would relegate them to the much lower rate of payment of NSA, a payment designed for people actively looking for work, not people with long term and serious health problems likely to last for at least two years.
It is critical that the rules be ameliorated by adding an exemption from the program of support requirement for someone who claims the DSP, has not participated in a program of support and who will be too unwell to participate in a program of support or benefit from it within the next two years.
