Search or view whole report

View PDF

Social security

As noted in Chapter 3, the majority of homeless people are unemployed and dependent on social security benefits administered through Centrelink. Twenty-four homeless participants consulted for this study were currently receiving social security benefits from Centrelink. Eleven participants reported that they had had some sort of problem with Centrelink.¹⁴⁹ These problems related to eligibility, breaches, debt and getting ‘cut off’, or late payments. These issues and their relationship to homeless people are discussed below.

Eligibility

For people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, ineligibility for social security benefits can exacerbate the risk or experience of homelessness. In the current study, stakeholders reported instances of homeless clients experiencing problems proving or meeting the eligibility criteria for social security benefits. Clients included young homeless people, ex-prisoners and people on Temporary Protection Visas.

In addition, two homeless participants interviewed for this study who were from New Zealand also reported having experienced problems with eligibility for social security benefits.¹⁵⁰ New Zealand citizens are permitted to work in Australia. However, since February 2001, they are not permitted to apply for social security payments unless they obtain permanent residence.¹⁵¹ Both of these participants said they were not aware of these changes before they came to Australia. Both referred to the cost of applying for permanent residence as a barrier to actually obtaining permanent residence, which would allow them to receive social security benefits.

The immigration thing. I was wondering why it costs so much. I thought we were supposed to be the same country.¹⁵²

I am a bit confused … I started casual work early in October and I have [not got work now] and I have been two times to see if I am entitled to anything while I am out of work and they said no because … well I understood that after I had been here for two years I would be entitled to benefits. But obviously they have since changed the laws and now I have to be a permanent resident.¹⁵³

Similarly, people on Temporary Protection Visas are entitled to work and have access to Medicare but they are not entitled to income support (Newstart, Youth Allowance or the disability support pension).¹⁵⁴ Without adequate financial support, this puts people on Temporary Protection Visas at risk of homelessness.

It is also possible that homelessness may exacerbate problems in meeting eligibility requirements for social security benefits. Lynch argues that Centrelink’s proof of identity requirements discriminate against people who are homeless and therefore unlikely to possess identity documents such as birth certificates or drivers licences.¹⁵⁵ One stakeholder working with young homeless people reported that this may include young people leaving home after family breakdown or disagreement who can have great difficulty in providing proof of identity and proof of their independence in order to be eligible for income support from Centrelink.¹⁵⁶

Young people can, in such circumstances still be eligible for income support if they can establish that it is ‘unreasonable’ for them to return home. However, one caseworker interviewed in this study reported that as part of their assessment, Centrelink officers sometimes ring the applicant’s parents. The parents may state that the young person is able to return home, thereby undermining the child’s assertion that it is ‘unreasonable’ for them to do so.¹⁵⁷

People coming out of prison who are estranged from their families were also identified by stakeholders consulted for this study as having problems as they may not be able to obtain identification (such as birth certificates) held by family they are estranged from.¹⁵⁸ Thus, such people’s efforts to ensure financial security are stymied at a crucial point in their lives. This may increase the risk of homelessness for people exiting prison.

Breaching

Breaching was the main problem relating to social security benefits reported by both caseworkers and participants in the current study. ‘Breaching’ (the reduction in or termination of payment) occurs when a social security recipient fails to comply with either the ‘administrative’ or ‘activity test’ requirements of their allowance. Administrative requirements include attendance at Centrelink interviews and the provision of certain personal information to Centrelink (e.g. change of address, notification of any income). ‘Activity test’ requirements refer to ‘looking for work’ requirements, which include participating in training or a Work for the Dole program.¹⁵⁹ ‘Activity test’ requirements only apply to Newstart and Youth Allowance.

Several homeless participants in this study reported that they had been breached at some point.¹⁶⁰ Examples of these include:

I keep worrying about the banks and Centrelink, if the money is going in, because if you do a little fault, they will just lock you out and don’t pay you.¹⁶¹

You always get some hassles but it’s pretty run of the mill. They’ve cut me off and stuff, but they always put me back on. It’s happened a few times. One time they said I didn’t give them my tax file number, but they already had it, and another time they said I didn’t put my form in, and I was cut off. They said I had to go see someone. That means you’ve got to wait and see if you get it sorted out.¹⁶²

Caseworkers interviewed for this study reported that homeless people can often have great difficulty in complying with administrative and activity test requirements. One caseworker from Walgett suggested that homeless people have difficulty in complying with social security requirements because they do not fully understand what is expected of them:

Clients of Walgett SAAP services are most usually from the lower socio-economic strata of society and have been bewildered by rules and expectations of government departments, agencies and lifestyle choices.¹⁶³

This is evident by the fact that homeless people may be breached as a result of not declaring their earnings to Centrelink. Social security recipients are allowed to earn a certain amount of additional income, but they must declare the gross amount of income they earn to Centrelink each payment period. One caseworker noted recipients are required to disclose the ‘gross amount’ of income they receive, but that many of this person’s homeless clients did not know the exact gross amount they earned in a particular week because their pay period did not correspond to the Centrelink pay period or they may have been paid cash in hand.

A lot of this casual[isation] … of the workforce has brought with it a lot of strange arrangements designed to avoid tax and clients sometimes get themselves into bother in the sense of sometimes honestly under-disclosing their income. Sometimes they’re not even informed what the gross amount is. They’re just given an amount in cash and God knows what the employer is doing, whether the employer is actually remitting to the Tax Department at all and they end up getting into bother and getting breached for that and getting cut off benefits for quite lengthy periods.¹⁶⁴

One participant reported:

I notified them. I told them I was doing it. But because the job’s pay week and the Social Security’s pay week didn’t match up I had to let Social Security know in advance what I thought I might be earning. So if I knew I was going to be working I would have put down more on the form so they wouldn’t [breach me] … But I didn’t know how much I was going to get until I actually got paid. So, that was fine except that Social Security took me to court. They said I had been cheating.¹⁶⁵

Another reason why homeless people have difficulty in complying with Centrelink requirements is that they lack a fixed address at which to receive correspondence from Centrelink. Examples were given of homeless people being breached or their payment being cut off because they had failed to receive a letter that had required them to do something (such as attend a job interview or a Centrelink interview).¹⁶⁶

Not replying to correspondence is common. You know, ‘We sent you three letters and you didn’t respond so you’re cut off until further notice.’¹⁶⁷

You know you always have trouble with Social Security. They keep chopping and changing the rules and don’t inform you or nothing else, but you just go do and see them … to sort it out. I went down once, they cut me off. They got their letters sent back and, well, no address, so we’ll just cut him off. You know I went down there and they paid it up …¹⁶⁸

A caseworker working with young homeless people stated that private job network agencies can recommend that clients be breached for not showing up for an appointment or job interview with them, even when, as is often the case for homeless people without addresses, the client did not receive the letter from Centrelink that notified them that they had to go to the interview.¹⁶⁹

Debt and issues related to breaching could be avoided with appropriate intervention before they occur. It should be recognised that Centrelink outreach workers and social workers (such as those attending SAAP services described in the previous example) can and do intervene before people are breached or before they incur large debts. Their role is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 7.

Centrelink debt

The other legal issue relating to social security that was raised in this study was debt to Centrelink. People usually accrue Centrelink debt in situations where they have received payments from Centrelink that they were not entitled to. For example, they may have not declared their earnings and earned too much in a particular period, or they may be ineligible for a particular payment because their circumstances have changed (e.g. they may not have informed Centrelink of the fact that they had stopped studying).

Yes, I have already been breached for not declaring my earnings, but I did the wrong thing. But I only did three days’ work and I had to pay over a thousand dollars.¹⁷⁰

One caseworker referred to a situation where a client had gone to prison and Centrelink had not been informed. As a consequence, the client accumulated a debt of $7000 to Centrelink.¹⁷¹ Another participant who had been overseas for sometime had a nervous breakdown, found himself homeless, and was faced with an old Austudy debt on his return to Australia.

I had a debt with Austudy from [10 years ago] that I was unaware of. It was a debt of $800 which I never knew was there as far as I was concerned and that had gone with interest and penalties to about $3500 … And I was saying, ‘Even if I owe it this is the first that I am aware of it … I was not here, I can show you my passport, I was not even in the country.’ They said, ‘That is irrelevant.’ Anyway, I got a letter a couple of weeks ago saying they have decided to wipe the penalties and the interest and I just have to pay the original debt.¹⁷²

The usual procedure for debt repayment to Centrelink involves money being deducted from a recipient’s payment each fortnight until the debt is cleared. In the above case the participant had $53 taken out of each Newstart payment until the debt was cleared. The Newstart allowance for a single adult is $394.60 a fortnight.¹⁷³ Given this, it is easy to see that homeless people on social security payments who either accidentally or otherwise incur Centrelink debt are left financially vulnerable.