Raising Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA) debts 107-04130000

The PGPA Act:

• replaced the FMA from 1 July 2014, and
• sets out the framework for managing the money and property of the Commonwealth

Services Australia is sometimes authorised by government to pay customers outside the usual legislative framework set out by:

• social security law
• student assistance, and
• family assistance law

Examples of these payments include:

• ex gratia payments for emergency relief payments
• Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance
• the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Vehicle Scheme
• essential costs under the Financial Case Management Scheme
• the Tertiary Access Payment (TAP), and
• some one-off assistance payments

Debts from these schemes are Administered PGPA debts. Policy guidelines for the payment state when an overpayment can occur. This can be due to:

• incorrect payments
• duplicate payments, and
• fraud

Key features:

• Tax adjustments are needed if payments are taxable
• No appeal rights to the Administrative Review Tribunal
• No automatic withholdings, except in the case of financial case management and income management debts. This is where the person:
• is receiving a social security payment, and
• the amount is an overpayment recoverable through deductions from the person's social security payments
• The recovery of PGPA overpayments are subject to state and territory legislated limitation periods. See the References page for a list of each State and Territory’s Limitation Acts
• There is no legislative basis to permanently write off due to statute barring
• No issue of the automatic Account Payable letter - a manual Online Advice (OLA) letter must be issued, and
• Services Australia has no delegation to waive PGPA debts. This includes small debt waiver

These type of debts are raised:

• on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)
• for payments to organisations on behalf of customers

Services Australia staff do not have delegation for these waivers.

Family Assistance, Student Assistance, and Social Security Law appeal provisions do not apply to PGPA debts.

The GAS payment was:

• a tax free payment of $120
• payable to eligible Australians in the 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 financial years
• available to people who were not:
• able to receive compensation from either the taxation or income security systems, and
• a partner or a dependant of such a person

Applicants must not have been:

• in receipt of an income support payment, or
• in the income tax system, or
• dependants or partners of someone in the taxation or income support systems

The GSR was a $300 special tax free One-off Payment for the Aged. It was announced in the Government’s 2001/2002 Budget to:

• acknowledge the contribution older Australians make to society, and
• recognise that many live on a limited income

• Income support customers who:
• reached pension age on or before 22 May 2001, and
• received income support payments on 22 May 2001
• Non income support customers who:
• reached pension age on or before 22 May 2001, and
• were not on income support payments at that date. Customers qualified after meeting specific income and residence requirements

Payments made to non income support customers are:

• not legislated
• paid under the authority of a Cabinet Decision. These are only recoverable by cash payments (including direct debit). Recovery cannot be through:
• withholdings
• garnishee or
• discount

GSR was automatically paid on 22 May 2001 under Part 2.2B of the Social Security Act 1991. Debts for these customers are raised under the primary benefit. All recovery methods are available under the Social Security Act 1991. For example, withholdings, cash, etc. The debts can be written off and waived.