Centrelink Reportedly "Auto-Rejected" 30,000 Student Payment Claims

Were you waiting weeks and weeks to hear back about your ‘Student Payment’ claim from Centrelink?

According to a new report by the Sydney Morning Herald, tens of thousands of young people might have had their Student Payment claim "auto-rejected" by Centrelink.

(More accurately: as many as 30,000 applications were possibly “auto-rejected”.)

Sources in the federal government tell the SMH that hundreds of thousands of claims were processed “in panicked haste” over the past few months, to rectify the technological breakdown of the ‘Customer First’ software. The backlog of claims now sits at 27,500, after peaking at 90,000 in March.

"Lightly trained casuals" were reportedly recruited to help with the backlog, many of them rejecting claims without checking them against the supporting documentation or checking in with the applicant.

The sources are also alleging that the quality checking process was "turned off" to speed up the process.

As a result of the backlog, students had to wait up to four months to hear if they were eligible for Student Payment while staff attempted to process claims, causing many to miss out on attending uni or TAFE this year.

Centrelink has said that all applications were handled properly and that the blame for delays should not be leveled at staff or technology, but on “unforeseen high demand” for Student Payments. Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge has said that nearly 250,000 young people lodged claims for the 2016 school year.

Centrelink also insists the 40 per cent of 2016 student claims that were rejected for not meeting necessary criteria is consistent with previous years.

Nonetheless, a further 650 staff has been recruited to cope with the issue. Given that it takes public servants an entire day to get through just three complex claims, that backlog isn’t going away anytime soon.

If you had your claim rejected, “insiders” suggest you appeal the decision as soon as possible.

Photo: NBC.