The timeliness of welfare payments is not being effectively measured, according to an auditor-general report.
The ANAO report on Services Australia and the Department of Social Services (DSS) found the methodology to assess how on-time payments were was “not robust”.
It said the reporting method was biased and only “partly reliable and verifiable”.
“A 2020 methodology change provided a significant increase in Services Australia’s timeliness results that was not reflective of improved performance, introducing bias to its reporting. This change also reduced the reliability of the methodology,” the report said.
Using the Services Australia’s and DSS’ business rules, the ANAO could only replicate 72.6% of the reported bilateral timeliness results from 2018-19 to 2021-22.
On accuracy, the report found that while the Payment Accuracy Review Program was “largely robust”, there was not a thorough analysis of underlying causes of inaccuracies “particularly regarding the relative impact of administrative error, recipient non-compliance and fraud”.
For 2021-22, the ANAO estimated that 81.4% of welfare recipients were receiving correct payments and 76.9% of welfare claims were processed within bilateral timeliness standards.
Additionally, the report found the Department of Social Services (DSS) continues not to have adequate oversight of Services Australia’s payment accuracy and timelines.
The ANAO put forward 14 recommendations, with two rejected.
“The imposition of medical reviews as part of the Payment Accuracy Review Program would have an inequitable impact on some DSP recipients,” the department said.
Services Australia disagreed with developing “a reliable and unbiased external performance measure for welfare payment correctness that includes recipient errors or adopt payment accuracy as a performance measure”.
“The existing measure of administrative correctness is relevant to the agency’s performance in administering payments, as it measures the agency’s success in administering the correct payment based on information provided to the agency by customers,” Services Australia said.
“Further, payment accuracy is not only influenced by recipient errors, but also by policy complexity. Detailed information on payment accuracy is reported publicly, through DSS’s annual reports.”
DSS said payment accuracy should be a common performance measure for both organisations.
The other rejected recommendation was for medical checks for disability support pension recipients, with DSS saying it would impose additional burdens on them.
Recommendations that were agreed to be included are a list of what payments are excluded from the Payment Accuracy Review Program and for Services Australia to establish quality checking processes.
Both DSS and Services Australia said they were working together to make sure welfare payments were timely and accurate.
Services Australia said it was focused on “ensuring the right payment, to the right person, at the right time”.
“To that end, the agency will continue to work collaboratively with the Department of Social Services to further strengthen our joint processes for governance, risk management, performance monitoring and reporting, and quality assurance, which will together improve the accuracy and the timeliness of the welfare payments we deliver,” Services Australia said.
DSS said it was working with Services Australia to update the bilateral management protocols.
“The department is committed to ensuring social security payments are delivered accurately, consistent with the legislation, and in a timely manner,” DSS said.
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