There are reports that the Centrelink staff has been asked not to fix the errors in its automated debt recovery program that has been sending out false debt letters to some welfare recipients. The Guardian has reported that a letter was sent out anonymously by a Centrelink compliance officer to the progressive political group GetUp, which released it publically on Thursday.
It has been reported that the letter details numerous errors in the new automated compliance system and the compliance officers feel helpless as many innocent Australians are served with debt recovery notices.
“We are struggling daily with our consciences and pushing back against our leaders every single day,” the whistle-blower wrote. “We are telling the [online compliance intervention system] help desk over and over that what we are doing is wrong.
The letter says that the compliance officers are being specifically told not to correct any error in the system even if they are able to see the mistake and correct it. The only instance in which they can correct an error is when a customer identifies a mistake, which given the complex factors behind the debt recovery system, are very few. The officers have also been told that they cannot consider any evidence that the customer has already provided, including documentation that proves they were not working or any payslips previously provided to centrelink.
“Within the organisation it is well known that that there are errors in the program and compliance officers are directed to ignore incorrect debts without being permitted to correct them,” the official said.
The writer said that all complaints fall on deaf ears.
“Nothing changes and gradually I can see officers simply accepting that they are powerless to change anything, powerless to help customers have accurate outcomes and powerless to stop this process. I see these reviews every working day and I am horrified at what I am being directed to do.
“I am risking my job sending this information in the desperate hope that exposing such an … unjust system might just make a difference.”
The letter also alleges that the faulty system is, at time, doubling up an individual’s income due to an inaccurate matching of data between Centrelink and Taxation office, which, in return, is causing the generation of inaccurate debts.
Guardian Australia claims to have independently verified the claims with another high ranking source who previously worked at Centrelink.
However, the Department of Human Services has dismissed the claims in the letter as inaccurate and General Manager Hank Jongen said that the letter does not accurately represent how the system works. He added that some staff members do not like technology driven changes and that the department will continue to try and explain to the workers about how the system works.
The Department has also dismissed these claims saying that it does give customers an opportunity to confirm or change their details online. It also added that the system was designed to pick up any anomalies which hare then sent to the staff for review. But the letter claims that the system is faulty which is resulting in issuing of incorrect debts to the sum of millions of dollars. It also claimed that the system is counting the type of income that it shouldn’t.
GetUp said it was planning to state a campaign against this issue including in the electorate of the Social Services Minister Christian Porter. It will also set up an online tool where people will be able to dispute any false debt claims.
There has been wide spread criticism of the new automated data matching system of Centrelink which uses information from tax office to match with its own data and has been generating false debt notices to many Australian people. The Federal Government is trying to recover $4 billion in over payments from welfare recipients.
The Ombudsman has agreeded to independent MP Andrew Wilkie’s request for an investigation which he had lodged before Christmas last year. Deputy Ombudsman, Richard Glenn had told the Guardian that the matter was “of significant interest to his office”.
The Commomweath Ombudsman is investigating Centrelink’s debt recovery system.
