Backlog at Centrelink unacceptable

I have been waiting since April for my disability pension. My husband has been waiting since June for his OAP.  I think this is unacceptable. I have just emailed the PM, local member and the news.  If they don't have enough people to process the claims, then they should have employed more people to get the job done. 

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Walk in with a head scarfe on and you will walk out with the money.

I don't understand Crafty. Are you saying you applied for your pension in April and that your husband applied for his OAP in June? It shouldn't take this long for each to commence, something must be wrong. Have you asked Centrelink what is causing the hold up?

Yes. They said there is a backlog in processing.  Understaffed.  Doesn't help us though.

Thanks for that link RnR. It looks like Crafty has been waiting over 5 months so far and her husband 3 months. That is shocking!

Thx for link. Well it gone from 6 weeks last year to heaven know how long now.

Incompetent public servants

centerlink should habve been privatized years ago 

Maybe Centrelink should be adequately staffed if the article I linked to above is any example. Privatisation doesn't always equal efficiency in my book ... thinking of several 'outsourcing debacles', electricity prices/supply and CBA woes.

Neither do upgraded electronic systems from private commercial suppliers in some cases, e.g. Queensland Health payroll disaster (IBM) and the controversial Centrelink automated debt recovery system which would have caused a big spike in workload for Centrelink staff, taking away from normal precessing duties I would suggest, such as new OAP and DP applications.

I feel bloody sorry for frontline staff in any organisation, public or private, who have to face the firestorm of client anger resulting from the 'bright ideas' and poor implementation strategies devised by so-called 'visionary' CEOs, highly paid external consultants, government ministers and the semi-political machinations of board members and vested interests.

One final irony ... The Department of Human Services, which has responsibility for the welfare agency Centrelink, recently sought private contractors to provide "Advanced Customer Aggression Training Services".

There is no accountability in the public sector

privatize it and set performance and service standards in the contract to meet turnaround times and processing efficiency 

a good CEO and management will have the place humming in no time 

will save taxpayer heaps 

:) Raphael ... Oh those glorious CEOs ... just like Ryanair, Uber and the 15 Worst CEOs In American History.

Your comment, 'no accountability in the public sector' ... and I stand by my comments about public Vs private ... 'no accountability in the private sector' as well IMO.

Funny, if it wasn't so awful for their staff and customers. See the links above in first sentence.

Raphael, that's one of the silliest (and cruel) suggestions I've heard - to privatise Centrelink.

That'd be like hiring wolves and lions to "take care" of the chickens. Pensioners are amongst the most vulnerable people in our society. They need advocates and helpful staff to claim what is due to them, not a money-making company whose only legal  requirement is to generate shareholder profits.

Hard to believe, but this would be even worse than the current understaffed Centrelink arrangement.

 

 

You misunderstand Janran - not silly at all.

The privatization would only be for the processing of paymennts and handling of queries. 

Government will pay all legitimate claims still, but the running of Centerlink, its management, syetems etc should be handled by private enterprise through a contractual agreement between government and the successful tenderer

Whta will result, is a far mpore efficient services, happier customers all around and savings to the taxpayer fom bloated bureaucracy

So what would be the basis of the contract? Would the for-profit company be paid per happy customer (that is, they receive their benefit) or per customer query?

The problem lies in the nature of the customer query. For example, many people will be just asking for information of when and how much is due to them (or their disabled or aged relative and/or carer). Others will be seeking immediate payments due to hardship, family tragedy, lack of job or housing. How will the company prioritise such queries? They'll always give priority to "paying" queries. So people just needing information will be put to the back of the line, behind the $$$ customers.

For-profit companies have no regard for public services that require highly qualified staff to be to provide a truly public service. The company will be thinking "what is the minimum I have to pay my customer service officers and what is the minimum they have to do to secure the Government backing." Yes, it will save money, no doubt, but will it provide the services needed by aged and vulnerable people? I don't think so.

The whole problem is because there's a lack of staff (and then stressed staff, tired of being abused, go off on Stress Leave), so the problem is getting worse.

They need to hire more staff because there are more customers (baby boomers retiring), not sack 5,000 staff, as this mean Govt has done.

The truth is that there are millions of phone calls left unanswered and huge backlogs, because there's NOT ENOUGH STAFF!!!

"For-profit companies have no regard for public services that require highly qualified staff to be to provide a truly public service."


Hahaha - what absolute rubbish

- If you really want to see excellent client/customer service - Amazon, Any 5 star hotel chain, IKEA, Woolies,  

Even Mcdonald's minimum wage teenagers have better customer service skills than lazy public servants

I agree that many for-profit companies' staff provide excellent customer service. But this staff is serving a completely different service to staff at Centrelink, who are dealing with many angry, disabled, mentally ill, demented, sick and/or aged customers. It's a totally different ball game.

Many years ago I served on the front counter of Dept of Fair Trading. Sure, most people were coming in to complain about faulty products or services, or paying fees for business name registration or building fees/qualifications. But my Dad was a lot like you, Raphael - full-tilt believing Public Servants were all bludgers (because Dad regularly saw railway workers sitting around not working). But let me tell you how amazed I was to see how hard-working most of my co-workers at Fair Trading were - it was an eye-opener.

I also worked for local Govt. building stormwater pipes and laying curb and guttering. Yes, we spent a lot of time leaning on shovels because we had to wait for a truckload of gravel or cement to arrive. We had to wait a long time for the incompetent engineering staff at council to give us the starting level, which still ended up wrong and the whole underground section was inundated with salt water in the King tides. I thought that man should have been sacked on the spot, but maybe they were all in denial about rising sea levels? My local council recently approved a new 10,000 home development with some housing, the shopping centre, school, community hall and industrial area ON THE FLOODPLAIN, which will be land-filled. Pity those poor farmers and small landholders surrounding it - they're already copping it. There is a lot of wastage at local govt level - manual jobs such as these could be privatised for a better outcome for ratepayers. But not customer service jobs.

I agree with you about lack of accountability, but it's no secret most Govts are incompetent. I'd like to see Ministers stick to one portfolio and become an expert in that field, rather than the ridiculous musical chairs we see now. Why do they switch so regularly? Because they stuff up and by the time the sh*t hits the fan they've moved on to stuff up some other Ministry. Let's not waste our chance to make them accountable at the next election!

Or do you think we should privatise Govts too, Raphael? Too late! They're already owned by corporations.

centrelink is deliberately under-staffed and does not have adequate funds for the huge job it is expected to do.  i also feel sorry for their staff.

holding back payments is a way for the government to save money.  privatization would be even worse.

not responding to genuine complaints is also another way to withhold payments which are due.  the unfortunate victims of these politically-caused delays can be without any income for months.

i believe the minister for social services at the moment is christain porter.  he should be fired and hang his head in shame.

and what about these poor souls ......

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-30/remote-cdp-taking-a-toll-on-young-indigenous-people/9002888

I just think the whole system has been overwhelmed by what in many cases are well-intentioned initiatives.

"So many people to deal with and so few to do it."

The last time I had to deal with Centrelink involved an initial 4 hour phone wait with no result. Gave up, went to the local office, that took 3 hours wait but the polite, patient staff resolved the issue.

Yes, it's unbelievable.  What can you do??? 

I'm interested to know if, when your application for benefits is finally processed, are your payments backdated to the date of application?

Yes I was told it will be backdated to the date of lodgment.

Thanks, Nobby.

Sorry to hear about the suitation with you and your husbands pension applications not being processed in a reasonable amount of time. I wonder how many months politician have to wait to access their meagre pensions. I myself should be entilited to a pension in six months time but after reading your post about the backlog Centrelink is having I am wondering if I can and should start the process now. If you are not allowed to apply until you have reached pension age and have to wait half a year or more before you get your first payment do they backpay any amount you may have missed out on due to no fault of yourself ??

Yes you get back paid OAP but not DSP if they reject application. Applied for Newstart, don't have to look for work until dsp processed but I'll be 60 next month so won't have to look anyway.  But you also get told wrong information, then they want more documentation. Then it's waiting...waiting...waiting.

Up front let me say I do not blame the staff for any of the delays I blame lack of resources and the government putting up so much red tape and placing hurdles in the way that it is delaying the process.

I am 61 and I have worked all my life up until a major heart condition stopped me, this valve is working at around 27% efficiency. I am trying to maintain a good diet so I can lose weight so I can get the operation, very hard to do on newstart

I submitted my DSP application electronically early in April and 6 weeks later I had heard nothing so I called them, it was still sitting in the elodgement queue. To the staffs credit the same day they had taken it out of that queue and lodged it in their system.

Six weeks later I had a phone interview.
I hit the 3 months last week and called to see where I was in the processing as my exemption had run out.  They told me that they would extend my exemption till end of Dec as my claim had not been rejected and I had been moved along to the Medical Assessment (which is done by Sonic Health. So I have been sitting in that queue for at least 6 weeks and they said there is a backlog and it might take another 4 weeks for that assessment to happen, as they have no control over that queue. So even after you provide medical evidence from Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Orthopedic Specialists, Professors in Hypertension, you still need to visit Sonic Health for an assessment.

But after the medical assessment, that assessment has to go back into the queue and see if it meets the criteria.  After that it then goes into another queue to see if it meets the Legislative criteria.  And right yet another queue for final approval.

At any of those points Medical, Legislative or Final it can still be rejected.

As I say the government have placed so much red tape and so many hurdles that it makes if harder and harder for genuine people to get on DSP.  I sometimes think that the government wants these delays as some people might die while waiting or just give up out of frustration.

I know of people who got on the DSP in the past because of alcohol or drug addictions and have been on it for over 10 years but cleaned up their act many years ago but have never been re-assessed and they are quite happy getting DSP and not having to work.

My fulltime job is helping people claim a pension (now self employed after working at Centrelink for 20 years). At the time I left - it was clear staff were not being replaced and therefore it is very clear why claims are not being processed in a timely manner anymore. It could not be any more glaringing obvious that it is now government policy to put Age Pensioners at the back of the Queue when it comes time for them to claim a pension. That's the thanks for a lifetime of hard work. Their would not be a single politician waiting for their pension when the time comes. I would be encouraging every applicant that has to wait more than 4 weeks to batten down the doors of their local member and demand change.

Yes, they took 5 months to amend income details, sent me a bill for nearly $4000 and then told me it was my fault because I hadn't notified them of the change within 14 days!

I heard from woman at gov ombudsman today and she said they'll get back to me.  Only sent email Friday.  We'll see how we go.

All the best Crafty. Hope your issues get resolved ASAP.

Yes, good luck, Crafty.

And Lizzie, did you finally get justice?

Thx RnR and Janran.

Update. Lodged Newstart application 2 weeks ago. Angela who does Newstart applications at Centrelink rang 11:30am this morning for capacity to work. I advised her I had lodged a disability claim and I was 60 soon. Cut a long story short. Newstart will be back paid from 1 July and mine and husbands pension cards will be sent next week. I need to say yes on my.gov.au every 2 weeks but not look for work.  DSP and OAP still to be processed.  Angela was very lovely to sort something out for us. 

'We can get schedule from chemist and send to Medicare for refunds on full price medicines.

I'm sorry I suffer from mental illness but my panic attacks and anxiety over this has created some action. 

IT PAYS TO COMPLAIN NICELY.  ombudsman office rang Monday and said they would look into it.  Tania from PM's office stated she would ring back next week to confirm payment and pension cards received.  I was very pleased with there response.

Congratulations Crafty. Sounds like you've really got things moving. And good on all those people who've helped you.

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