Waiving Centrelink debts 107-05120000

Item

Description

1

Administrative error waivers

A wide range of circumstances may make up an administrative error for the purposes of considering waiver.

2

Small debt waivers

Delegated Centrelink officers may waive small debts where it is not cost effective to pursue recovery.

3

Special circumstance debt waivers

Waiving of a debt may occur under special circumstances.

Where a debt has occurred for a customer aged under 16 (minor), staff must assess waiver under special circumstances.

4

Discount

When a part-payment has been accepted as full payment of a debt, the balance remaining after the agreed payment has been made must be waived.

5

Settlements

When an agreement has been reached to a settlement for less than the full amount of the debt due to civil action or proceedings before the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART).

Access is restricted to APS5 staff and above who action ART settlement waivers.

Administrative Appeal Tribunal (ART) Settlement Waiver access is automatically given to staff delegated to process Administrative Appeal Tribunal Settlement Waivers.

Staff who require special access to action ART Settlement Waivers can request access via the ICT Security Portal.

ICT Security Portal > ISP Category > Mainframe Application > Income Security:

• DPFAM02 - Family Assistance
• DPPPL02 - Paid Parental Leave
• DPSAA02 - Student Assistance

Note: waiver reason code ‘ART’ is only to be used for ART Settlement Waivers.

6

Longer sentence

Waive the debt where:

• the customer has been convicted of an offence that gave rise to a proportion of the debt, and
• the court has indicated in sentencing the customer, that it imposed a longer custodial sentence on them due to their inability, or unwillingness to repay the debt

Note: obtain proof of a longer sentence from the sentencing judge's remarks upon sentencing or the sentence.

Item

Description

1

Class of debt

Waive a debt if it is a class of debt specified by the Minister. This applies to debts under the Social Security Act 1991, the Family Assistance (Administration) Act 1999 and the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010. Instances of where a class of debts has been waived to date, see:

• Natural disasters debt waiver 2009, 2010 & 2011
• Child Care Benefit transitional waiver/Family Tax Benefit transitional waiver
• Parental Income Test Linking waiver
• A waiver of age pension, carer pension or a disability support pension
• Underestimate of property value
• Social Security (Waiver of Debts - University of New South Wales approved course of education or study) Specification 2014
• Social Security (Waiver of Debts - Self Managed Superannuation Funds and Small APRA Funds) (DEEWR) Specification 2011
• Social Security Waiver of Debts - Self Managed Superannuation Funds and Small APRA Funds) (FaHCSIA) Specification 2011
• Social Security (Waiver of Debts - Bereavement Period) Specification 2017

2

Underestimate of property value

Waive a debt, or portion of a debt due to an underestimate, where the:

• customer or their partner underestimated the value of a particular property (owned by the customer or their partner)
• the estimate was in good faith, and
• the property's value could not be easily worked out

3

Waiver of notional entitlement to family payment/allowance or parenting allowance or unclaimed entitlement to Parenting Allowance (PGA) or Parenting Payment (PP)

Notional entitlement refers to a benefit that a person did not claim but would have been entitled to if they had applied for it.

Waiver must be considered for an amount equal to unclaimed Parenting Allowance (PGA)/Parenting Payment (PP) or basic Family Payment where a person would have been entitled where:

• the amount would have been payable for a period when the overpayment was made, and
• for PGA/PP, the debt did not result in any part from a false statement or misrepresentation or failure to comply with the Act, and
• the unclaimed amount is for an overpayment period not more than 3 years before the overpayment end date

4

Child Care Benefit transitional waiver/Family Tax Benefit transitional waiver

Apply a one-off waiver for the first $1000 of eligible Child Care Benefit (CCB) and/or Family Tax Benefit (FTB) overpayments for the 2000-01 income year only. The Government introduced the waiver to assist families to adjust to the new family tax system.

5

Parental Income Test Linking waiver

Apply a one-off waiver to certain debts raised because of the Parental Income Test Linking initiative. A Disallowable Instrument signed in 2004 specifies which debts were eligible for waiver.

Class of debts

• The class of debts specified is the class of debts that includes a debt incurred by a person in the following circumstances:
• the person received youth allowance at any time between 1 July 1998 and 26 April 2003 (inclusive)
• the parental income test applied to the person because the person was not independent
• between 1 July 2002 and 26 April 2003 (inclusive), Centrelink identified the person as exempt from the parental income test in respect of a particular Youth Allowance (YA) payment period occurring between 1 July 1998 and 26 April 2003 (inclusive) because a parent of the person was receiving a specified Commonwealth benefit during that period
• the person should not have been treated as exempt from the parental income test in respect of that payment period because neither of the person's parents was receiving a specified Commonwealth benefit during that payment period
• because of the exemption, the person received a higher amount of YA than the person was entitled to receive and therefore incurred a debt
• the Secretary is satisfied that, when the exemption applied to the person, the parent whose income circumstances had changed had actively notified Centrelink of the change in accordance with the parent's notification obligations
• For paragraph (1) (f), a person's parent is taken to have actively notified Centrelink of a change in Circumstances in relation to his or her income if the parent told Centrelink about his or her change of circumstances in relation to his or her income by writing to, telephoning or attending a Centrelink office

6

Waiver of age pension, carer pension or disability support pension

Waiver of age pension, carer pension or disability support pension in regards to a person who received a service pension, disability pension and an income support supplement from the DVA during the period beginning 01 December 2005 and ending 28 February 2006.

A Disallowable Instrument signed in 2007 specifies which debts were eligible for waiver.

Apply a one-off waiver to certain debts raised as a result of the Secretary becoming aware following the comparison that was made during the period beginning on 1 December 2005 and ending on 28 February 2006 of the records of:

• persons receiving an Age Pension, Carer Payment (CP) or Disability Support Pension (DSP) from Centrelink; and
• persons receiving a service pension, disability pension or an income support supplement from the DVA

This instrument refers to debts arising from payment of an aged pension, carer pension and disability support pension to a person to whom the payment was not payable because of multiple entitlement exclusions.

Note: this waiver exemption does not apply to a debt arising from a payment that was made to a person if they knowingly:

• made a false or misleading statement, or
• gave false information, to the Commonwealth

7

Waiver of debts resulting from the assessment of lump sum arrears of a reversionary income stream

From 9 May 2018, a debt waiver can occur where the assessment of lump sum arrears results in a debt during the bereavement period for the surviving spouse. The waiver is under the legislative instrument Social Security (Waiver of Debts - Bereavement Period) Specification 2017 made under subsection 1237AB(1) of the Social Security Act 1991.

The above legislative instrument does not allow:

• any debt incurred after the 14 week bereavement period has ended, to be waived
• debts occurring before 9 May 2018 to be waived

For more information, see Waiver of debts resulting from the assessment of lump sum arrears of a reversionary income stream.

8

Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act (2013) (PGPA) waivers

PGPA replaced the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA) from 1 July 2014.

Waiver decisions requested under section 63 of the PGPA are determined by:

• the Finance Minister and Parliamentary Secretary, or
• delegates within the Department of Finance

Finance can request waiver of debts raised under:

• Social Security (Administration) Act (SSAA)
• Family Assistance (Administration) Act (FAAA)
• Paid Parental Leave Act
• Student Assistance Act (SAA)
• FMA/PGPA

When Finance requests waiver of a debt:

• it is referred to the Centrelink Legal Services Branch
• they send the request to Payment Assurance Operations to recommend waiver or no waiver, then
• Legal Services Branch forwards the recommendation to Finance

Debt Staff with the appropriate delegation can access and record waivers on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS).

For a link to Centrelink Services, Delegations and Authorisations, see the References page.