Australia’s $150 billion welfare system is ripe for restructure a review, undertaken by former head of Mission Australia Patrick McClure, has found. And it looks as though the Disability Support Pension could be the most affected.
Commissioned by the Coalition Government in December 2013, the report was released to the government on 29 June 2014. The review’s brief was to save the nation money and get more people back to work, but no one was to receive less money than they currently do. In total 20 income support payments and 55 supplementary payments were included in the review.
The main recommendation of the report is that the income support payment structure be simplified to five payments:
- a tiered working age payment,
- a supported living pension,
- a child and youth payment,
- a carer payment and
- an Age Pension.
The Disability Support Pension would be replaced by a supported living pension, and to qualify a claimant would have to be assessed as being able to work less than eight hours per week and have the same work capacity for the next five years. The recommendation being that a person should be assessed on how long they would have a limited capacity to work, rather than the permanence of their impairment.
Those who have the capacity to work longer would be placed on a tiered working age payment, with the amount they receive based on their actual capacity to work.
The carer payment would continue as a means-tested payment available to those providing constant care for someone with a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability or older people in need of care.
The Age Pension was out with the scope of the review.
Read more at ABC.net.au
Is it time for a restructure of the welfare system? Do you believe that no one will receive less than they do now? Will a review of the Age Pension be next?
