Garnishee of compensation payments to recover debts 107-05050030

Garnishee recovery:

• can occur whether or not there is a social security charge from the compensation payment
• can include all outstanding debts payable by the customer

The CRT can only issue a garnishee notice if the compensation payer has not released the compensation payment to the customer.

The CRT must include a covering letter with the garnishee notice stating the garnishee is a separate matter to the compensation charge.

Review customer records carefully before applying a garnishee. The CRT must make a reasonable effort to contact the customer before placing a garnishee.

As the existing payment arrangement will continue to apply, staff must ensure that the garnishee amount is less than the outstanding CRN balance. This is to avoid the debt being over-recovered.

A payment made under the National Redress Scheme is not considered income for the purposes of the Social Security Act 1991.

National Redress Scheme payments are perpetually protected from garnishee by Section 49(2) of the National Redress Act. Services Australia has no statutory right to garnishee these payments.

When the compensation payer did not receive, or failed to comply with the garnishee notice, staff must contact the customer to negotiate recovery of debt.