The Department of Human Services overseeing Centrelink reports an error rate of about 2 per cent in administering payments. There are other, less flattering figures to report, not least that more than 55 million calls to the welfare agency met engaged tones last year. Human Services, regardless of any criticism it’s copped, says “robo-debt” has been a success. Outside the government, one expert has said the online compliance intervention program has no legal basis to raise debts when a client fails to “disprove” they owe money. The Commonwealth Ombudsman found Centrelink’s demands on former welfare recipients were neither “reasonable” nor “fair”.
When Centrelink makes mistakes, the real and potential impact on vulnerable people …
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