Figures show complaints about the agency jumped by more than 50,000 in the past financial year alone

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Problems with Centrelink payments caused “extremely stressful” delays for some of Australia’s most disadvantaged groups this week, while newly released figures show complaints about the agency jumped by more than 50,000 in the last financial year alone.

The delays to scheduled payments on Monday appear to have affected Newstart recipients. One welfare recipient told Guardian Australia the delay left him with $2 to his name and unable to afford food. He said he was saved only by the generosity of a friend who bought his groceries.

“I wasn’t sure when it was going to get resolved, [or] if it was even going to get resolved,” the Newstart recipient said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I didn’t know how I was going to pay rent, or for food.”

The Department of Human Services confirmed short delays in the making of payments but did not answer questions on how many people or what payment types were affected.

The department issued a brief statement saying that it had worked with the Reserve Bank of Australia to ensure the “timely release of a small number of payments which were slightly delayed on Monday”.

“All financial institutions processed payments yesterday apart from one, which finalised payments this morning,” department spokesman Hank Jongen said. “The department has well established arrangements with financial institutions to conduct processing when payment files delivered via the Reserve Bank occur on the same day they are due to be made.”

Confused welfare recipients voiced their anger on social media or visited local Centrelink offices.



Centrelink (@Centrelink) We're aware some banks were delayed in issuing payments. If you haven't received your payment, please contact your bank to discuss

In some cases, they were told there was no estimate for when the payment would be made.

“Basically, they were 24 hours late with paying and they blamed banks, the banks blamed them,” the welfare recipient said. “It was, in all likelihood, just incompetence.”

The delays hit Centrelink as new figures show a marked increase in complaints about the agency. The Department of Human Service’s latest annual report showed complaints rose from 113,746 in 2015-16 to 168,709 in 2016-17.



One in four of the complaints last financial year related to dissatisfaction with a decision, outcome or payment, including payments not being received.

About 28% of the complaints related to concerns about a claim, application, or assessment process.

Centrelink’s troubled phone system was the subject of 16.2% of the complaints, which included concerns about wait times, engaged signals and call disconnections.

The year prior, the top three reasons for complaint included dissatisfaction about timeliness, including time to correct an error (14.2%), difficulties with its digital services (15.1%) and problems with its delayed phone system (15.8%).



The annual report also showed that roughly the same amount of debt was raised and recovered from welfare recipients by Centrelink last financial year, despite the introduction of the so-called “robo debt” system.

The department raised 2.38 million social welfare debts worth $2.84bn in 2016-17, and recovered $1.64bn in the same period. The year prior, it raised 2.43m debts worth $2.8bn and recovered $1.54bn.

On Tuesday, the Brotherhood of St Laurence launched a new campaign to illustrate the inadequacies of payments like Newstart.



The “share the pie” campaign uses posters in Melbourne’s CBD, an interactive website and social media to encourage Australians to discuss inequality in Australia.



“We thought why not use pie literally to spark community conversations about the inadequate financial support we offer unemployed people in our prosperous country,” Brotherhood of St Laurence spokeswoman Farah Farouque said.