Social media campaign reveals misery of Centrelink debt recovery

 

Pressure is escalating on the Turnbull government to suspend its $4 billion Centrelink debt recovery mission, as accusations pile up that Human Services wrongly targeted welfare claimants, or exaggerated the debts they owed, using inaccurate data.

A social media campaign #notmydebt is sharing stories of individual’s debt letters and the effect it has had on them.

One woman said she finally broke down while speaking to a third Centrelink employee after the agency incorrectly paid her the full-time benefit rate while she was a part-time student, despite her repeatedly advising them otherwise. She was wrongly told she owed $400.

The woman told the Centrelink employee that the debt – which he later admitted was an error – had compounded the pressure she was already under as a single mum with a number of health problems who had only recently plucked up the courage to divorce her abusive ex-husband.

She said the way she was treated by one Centrelink staff member was appalling. She said the employee was “spiteful” and did not show her compassion, leaving her feeling humiliated.

“At the end of the day he took something from me as a human being. He also acknowledged that Centrelink had erred and he suggested that if ever it were to happen again, perhaps I should spend the money!

“He suggested I appeal it but what more can I do? My health can’t handle any more of this. I am scared they’d nit-pick for something else to add to my debt. My heart goes out to all those who received outrageously high amounts. I hope you take them to the cleaners and put up the fight that I’m unable to.”

One man, who has Cushing Disease, said he “had a meltdown” after Centrelink told him he owed $5500. He said Centrelink overpaid him $440 in sickness benefits in 2013 but he forgot about it after he did not receive the promised Centrelink letter asking him to repay it. But the debt ended up morphing into a much larger amount.

He said: “This makes my flight fight response work at high level 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. Any amount of stress and my body shuts down and I become ill. The last 4 yrs have been hell.”

He later tried to report the inflated debt online but had terrible trouble trying to find out how he could give detailed, nuanced answers, instead being asked to respond yes or no to questions.

“I can understand Centrelink wanting to ensure people getting benefits are getting what they are supposed to,” he said. “Yes I am a taxpayer. But the way they are going about it is so wrong!!

“They think it’s ok to send out thousands of letters to people who have done the right thing. Yet here they are having panic attacks, chest pain and becoming physically ill when they receive such letters.”

One student said that Centrelink acted act like “a giant debt collection agency with no proper process or justice” after being asked to repay $1200 of Newstart allowance and charged a 10 per cent recovery fee.

The student said this figure was later reduced to 10 per cent of the original figure by the agency. 

“I can barely breathe when I think about this. My time period to pay is up tomorrow. I asked them for proof before I pay and I have heard horror stories of debt collection agencies, people being asked to pay so much, people being told there will be a black mark on their credit. I am so terrified. It’s so stupid for me to be terrified but I can’t help it. I am a student, I can’t afford anything!”

Meanwhile, the Opposition and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) have called on the government to shut down the process, which has been driven by matching ATO and Centrelink data, while its 20 per cent error rate is examined. About 170,000 letters have been issued since the beginning of the financial year based on auto-matched data from the ATO and Centrelink.

Commonwealth Ombudsman Colin Neave has pledged to investigate the matter.

A Commonwealth Ombudsman spokesperson said: “Commonwealth Ombudsman Colin Neave confirms he is aware of the concerns raised about the automated data matching system used by Centrelink. Mr Neave has commenced an own-motion investigation into the matter and is considering the issues on a systemic level. The Ombudsman conducts own-motions in private and accordingly, cannot comment on any specific details.”

The Ombudsman is responsible for investigating complaints about government officials, agencies and departments. 

CPSU Assistant National Secretary Michael Tull called the scheme “an absolute nightmare” for thousands of innocent Centrelink customers and the agency’s staff, who he said were already overstretched and attempting to cope with the fallout.

“The serious problems with this debt recovery program are piling on even more pressure, and feeding more aggression from understandably frustrated customers,” Mr Tull said.

“We hold very serious concerns about Centrelink’s ability to cope in coming months. There’s a perfect storm of work, with this debt recovery scheme likely to be just part of the problem.

“This debt recovery scheme needs to be urgently suspended until the significant problems with it can be identified and fixed, and particularly with an even more heavy caseload coming for staff because of the pension cuts and as people need Centrelink’s support to commence their studies.”

He said union members working at Centrelink had told the union that “in almost every case the poor customer ends up owing nothing, or just a fraction of the debt claimed.”

“In at least one case an initial debt for $9,000 ended up being $90. That’s not a minor discrepancy but a clear sign of a failed system.”

He called on the government to make Centrelink’s casual staff permanent so that they could be fully used to deal with the “deluge” of work.

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9 thoughts on “Social media campaign reveals misery of Centrelink debt recovery

  1. Surely the debt collectors hired by Centrelink can be sued. They have had ample warning that a large fraction of the “debts” that they have been asked to collect are bogus. Surely they owe a “duty of care” to seek confirmation.

  2. The majority of Centrelink Staff on the phone seem to get a perverse kick out of this process and are obviously revelling in their power over people who are vulnerable. You are treated as someone who is guilty and have to jump through hoops attempting to prove your innocence. I am at the final stage with the Appeal Tribunal which has a backlot until May to get through. Meanwhile the So called Debt has to be paid with an extra financial penalty for having the audacity to try and defend yourself. I have never been so disgusted with a Government and their total lack of compassion.

  3. I had to deal with Centerlink for 30 years looking after our severely disabled son. For my 24/7 job I received around $5,000 a year as my husbands labourers wages impacted the payment. Every fortnight I had to call in his wages, and every fortnight I suffered a panic attack as I feared who was going to be on the other end of the line. I was treated like scum often, and the whole ordeal became so traumatising that after a particular Centerlink encounter I completely broke apart. My husband was at breaking point from finding me a total mess when he came home from work so often and arranged a meeting with Disability Services. He advised them we could no longer care for our son at home and that they needed to find residential care for him or we would refuse to collect him from respite next time he went. He now lives in a house with other disabled people and full time carers. It costs the government around $120,000 to care for him now. As I read what is happening now, the symptoms return. I could not cope if I have a debt and have to deal with them again. Have not received a letter but we no longer live where we did then. This is a cruel system, and the government needs to take the impact this is having on people more seriously. Centerlink took from me my confidence and any self worth I had, and 6 years after I still have not recovered. Now I am waking with headaches, and worrying again. I am a good person and fear I will be rendered an emotional wreck again. I now work 3 jobs to try to catch up financially..Bad customer relations often flow down from the top,and I think that is clear in this case. Over the years I did provide feedback on how my personal experiences went, but nothing ever changed. I was just a piece of crap living off welfare to Centrlink.

  4. Centrelink believes that I have a debt which I have challenged and is processing. The staff I have spoken to have been professional in their approach. I believe it is wrong for a person to be FORCED into debt repayment when a challenge to the decision is being investigated because in my view I should be innocent until proven guilty.

  5. We were hit with a demand to pay around $6700 back or the usual threats will occur blah blah.which literally blew us away and only added to what was a hell of a year with family deaths and injury ..so to cut a long story short when we sorted it out , it actually turns out we were actually entitled to over $9000 + for the period and had actually been underpaid by something like $2,700 , to which centrelink have now told us they wont pay us the amount they actually owe us for some reason of some date which we cant find any information about…so go figure that one out!!

  6. if you can ever get through on the phone!! ive spent up to 4 hrs waiting for an answer- from the complaints department 3 times. ive been into the local office to make an appt to see a social worker, but had to wait to see someone, who had to see someone to make the appt…. its not only the debt problem thats the issue. theres big problems with youth allowance too. my son waited 5 months to get paid after completng his HSC and he turned 18 last May. they lost his identification twice. My daughters boyfriend is living with us, he is 18 as well, works part time. he wants to finish his year 11 and 12 at tafe, but apparentley dependent on his parents income untill he is 22!!

  7. The reason they do it, is because it costs you one way or another. In other words the tax payer pays for all of their extortion. If they decide to take you to a fascicle court case, you pay or the tax payer pays, either way false justifying their criminal jobs. If they create a problem they create more money, more control, and you lose more. For example – The “dole bludger” is a big drain on society but the truth is all the paper pushers making up nonsense cost far more then the needy. They spend more on promoting this rubbish then it costs to actually help people out. This goes for every government made up out of thin air department. Think of an new law. How many new criminals does a fabricated new law make when they were never criminals the day before? I as a business person am nothing more then a collection agency for these scoundrel and i have to justify to every one of my customers why it costs so much. The reason is i have to add government and council extortion into my price or i am then destitute and become a dole bludger as people think. Never mind being pushed their due to these criminal organisations such as councils and governments extorting money and making me the one to do their dirty work. I should be sending in an invoice to these idiots for the extra work they cause me, their doing. They have ABN’s as if they are businesses, except their business is nothing more than tyranny, terrorism, extortion, criminal, mafia, murderers, theft, every single crime they make up, they also commit. Child abuse, Violence, you name it they do it.

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