Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 6:37:54 GMT 7
Vast majority of disability pension applicants say Centrelink treated them unfairly
Exclusive: Two-thirds of recipients and 80% of applicants said it was difficult to respond to Centrelink’s requests.
Mason Wylie was studying for a career in secondary school teaching and working at an after-school care program when his body started to fail him.
“I thought I had a hernia. I’m not the kind of person that goes to a doctor straight away but I went without even thinking about it,” he said. “From then on, it was manageable, but, you know, it was getting worse and worse and worse.”
Wylie, now 25, lasted about eight months until he couldn’t hold on any longer. He stopped working, stopped studying and found himself relying on Centrelink. That was about three years ago.
“I would say it’s taken me three years just to understand how the system works and how to navigate the bureaucracy and everything,” he said.
Newstart analysis reveals huge leap in amount of time people spend on dole
Wylie’s experience dealing with Centrelink is backed by new research from Monash University, released on Wednesday.
Led by Prof Alex Collie, the researchers studied the reported experiences of two groups of about 250 welfare recipients: those who have applied for the disability support pension, as well as those now getting the payment.
“The major findings are that people find their interaction with Centrelink to be very challenging,” Collie told Guardian Australia. “And the Centrelink processes are opaque. For instance, most people report the decision-making is quite slow. And when decisions are made, Centrelink doesn’t provide reasons for those decisions.”
Among those who had applied for the disability pension, 88% said they believed Centrelink had not treated them fairly. Even among those who had managed to get on to the payment, 45% felt hard done by, compared with 33% who felt they were treated fairly.
And 96% of people who have applied for the disability pension said their dealings with Centrelink had been stressful.
The preliminary results also included:
more than 90% of disability pensioners and applicants said it was not easy to get in contact with Centrelink
about two-thirds of people receiving the disability pension felt Centrelink did not make its decisions quickly, the figure was nearly 80% among applicants
nearly 90% (87%) of applicants needed help with their claim
two-thirds of recipients and 80% of applicants said it was hard to respond to Centrelink’s requests.
In the three years he’s been on the payment, Wylie has languished on Newstart; unable to work and like a growing number of Australians, rejected from the disability support pension due to changes introduced by the Gillard and Abbott governments.
Only a few months ago did Wylie finally get a diagnosis – he has chronic fatigue. “It’s a problem of medical evidence,” he said. “They say your condition needs to be diagnosed, treated, stabilised and won’t change for the next two years. And they have extremely specific references.
“I found it extremely hard to get access to my own medical information to begin with. Medical professionals are obviously concerned with treating people, not navigating the welfare system. The information I give them doesn’t meet the exact requirements of the law of how the DSP works, it just gets knocked back every time.”
Wylie was diagnosed with chronic fatigue after a three-year search. He also lives with depression and anxiety.
He said that living on Newstart meant it was hard to afford to see specialists, which created a “cycle”. He could not afford to see the people who could provide a diagnosis and the evidence he needed, which made it harder for him to get off Newstart.
Collie said the data also showed the process was impacting applicants’ family lives. More than half of the applicants surveyed (56%) said it had “upset” their relationships with friends and family.”
“I see a lot of analysis of the financial and economic impact of policy changes,” he said. “And I think it’s really important that we actually start to measure human impact of the bureaucratic processes.”
The NDIS has 'saved' the budget: how good is trampling the poor and powerless? | First Dog on the Moon
Some respondents did say that Centrelink staff had treated them with respect and Wylie stressed that many of the staff he dealt with were well intentioned and tried to help him.
This week, the Department of Human Services annual report showed Centrelink failed to meet its customer satisfaction target, missing the 85% satisfaction target by about 10 percentage points in 2018-19.
It also failed to meet its targets for claim processing: 68% of applications were finalised in the required time, less than the target of 82% and a result 14 percentage points worse than in the 2017-18 financial year.
However, the report did note 81.6% of people surveyed about Centrelink services agreed that information was accurate and consistent.
The study found two-thirds of recipients believed Centrelink had not explained the way it made its decisions.
This month, Wylie learned he had been rejected for the pension again. “They sent a text saying they would send a letter, and no reason has been given online except to say that it’s been rejected.”
But he phoned Centrelink and was told that his claim was still under appeal.
“I called and asked how long it was going to take and it was, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. Just keep checking your MyGov inbox,” he said.
“It’s a dance you do with them.”
amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/23/vast-majority-of-disability-pension-applicants-say-centrelink-treated-them-unfairly
Exclusive: Two-thirds of recipients and 80% of applicants said it was difficult to respond to Centrelink’s requests.
Mason Wylie was studying for a career in secondary school teaching and working at an after-school care program when his body started to fail him.
“I thought I had a hernia. I’m not the kind of person that goes to a doctor straight away but I went without even thinking about it,” he said. “From then on, it was manageable, but, you know, it was getting worse and worse and worse.”
Wylie, now 25, lasted about eight months until he couldn’t hold on any longer. He stopped working, stopped studying and found himself relying on Centrelink. That was about three years ago.
“I would say it’s taken me three years just to understand how the system works and how to navigate the bureaucracy and everything,” he said.
Newstart analysis reveals huge leap in amount of time people spend on dole
Wylie’s experience dealing with Centrelink is backed by new research from Monash University, released on Wednesday.
Led by Prof Alex Collie, the researchers studied the reported experiences of two groups of about 250 welfare recipients: those who have applied for the disability support pension, as well as those now getting the payment.
“The major findings are that people find their interaction with Centrelink to be very challenging,” Collie told Guardian Australia. “And the Centrelink processes are opaque. For instance, most people report the decision-making is quite slow. And when decisions are made, Centrelink doesn’t provide reasons for those decisions.”
Among those who had applied for the disability pension, 88% said they believed Centrelink had not treated them fairly. Even among those who had managed to get on to the payment, 45% felt hard done by, compared with 33% who felt they were treated fairly.
And 96% of people who have applied for the disability pension said their dealings with Centrelink had been stressful.
The preliminary results also included:
more than 90% of disability pensioners and applicants said it was not easy to get in contact with Centrelink
about two-thirds of people receiving the disability pension felt Centrelink did not make its decisions quickly, the figure was nearly 80% among applicants
nearly 90% (87%) of applicants needed help with their claim
two-thirds of recipients and 80% of applicants said it was hard to respond to Centrelink’s requests.
In the three years he’s been on the payment, Wylie has languished on Newstart; unable to work and like a growing number of Australians, rejected from the disability support pension due to changes introduced by the Gillard and Abbott governments.
Only a few months ago did Wylie finally get a diagnosis – he has chronic fatigue. “It’s a problem of medical evidence,” he said. “They say your condition needs to be diagnosed, treated, stabilised and won’t change for the next two years. And they have extremely specific references.
“I found it extremely hard to get access to my own medical information to begin with. Medical professionals are obviously concerned with treating people, not navigating the welfare system. The information I give them doesn’t meet the exact requirements of the law of how the DSP works, it just gets knocked back every time.”
Wylie was diagnosed with chronic fatigue after a three-year search. He also lives with depression and anxiety.
He said that living on Newstart meant it was hard to afford to see specialists, which created a “cycle”. He could not afford to see the people who could provide a diagnosis and the evidence he needed, which made it harder for him to get off Newstart.
Collie said the data also showed the process was impacting applicants’ family lives. More than half of the applicants surveyed (56%) said it had “upset” their relationships with friends and family.”
“I see a lot of analysis of the financial and economic impact of policy changes,” he said. “And I think it’s really important that we actually start to measure human impact of the bureaucratic processes.”
The NDIS has 'saved' the budget: how good is trampling the poor and powerless? | First Dog on the Moon
Some respondents did say that Centrelink staff had treated them with respect and Wylie stressed that many of the staff he dealt with were well intentioned and tried to help him.
This week, the Department of Human Services annual report showed Centrelink failed to meet its customer satisfaction target, missing the 85% satisfaction target by about 10 percentage points in 2018-19.
It also failed to meet its targets for claim processing: 68% of applications were finalised in the required time, less than the target of 82% and a result 14 percentage points worse than in the 2017-18 financial year.
However, the report did note 81.6% of people surveyed about Centrelink services agreed that information was accurate and consistent.
The study found two-thirds of recipients believed Centrelink had not explained the way it made its decisions.
This month, Wylie learned he had been rejected for the pension again. “They sent a text saying they would send a letter, and no reason has been given online except to say that it’s been rejected.”
But he phoned Centrelink and was told that his claim was still under appeal.
“I called and asked how long it was going to take and it was, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. Just keep checking your MyGov inbox,” he said.
“It’s a dance you do with them.”
amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/23/vast-majority-of-disability-pension-applicants-say-centrelink-treated-them-unfairly
