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Identifying customer vulnerability and risk issues 003-06010000

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Vulnerability Strategy page

Family and domestic violence - helping customers

Referral services

The following sites can help to find an external service:

  • Payment and Service Finder
    Service Australia's Service Finder is for use by staff and customers
  • Infoxchange Service Seeker
    An extensive health, welfare and community services directory
  • Ask Izzy
    A service finder, linked with Infoxchange that customers can use to find services for assistance. Customers on Telstra or Vodafone mobile networks can access the site even if they do not have credit or access to Wi-Fi
  • Lifeline Service Finder
    A directory of free or low cost health and community services in Australia
  • Wesley LifeForce Service Finder
    A service finder specialising in suicide prevention and crisis support services

Common scenarios when identifying customers experiencing vulnerability

Table 1: The following scenarios are examples of vulnerable circumstances and the impact on the customer’s interaction with the agency. Identify possible referrals by using Payment and Service finder on the Services Australia website, or an external service such as ask Izzy.

Note: this is not an exhaustive list of examples of vulnerable circumstances and customers may react differently depending on their individual circumstances.

Scenario

Possible indicators of vulnerability

Possible impacts on the customer’s interaction with the agency

A customer is in receipt of Centrelink and Child Support payments. The customer advises that recently the Child Support payments have been erratic, as the paying parent has recently become unemployed. The customer is worried to ask the paying parent about the payments. The customer’s child has a medical condition and they need to pay for the specialist appointments, and as such, money is becoming very tight.
  • financial hardship
  • possible family and domestic violence
  • caring responsibilities
  • serious health issues for the child
  • mental health and wellbeing of the customer and/or paying parent
  • May be worried about the privacy of information, particularly if there is family and domestic violence present
  • Stress and distress related to financial hardship and caring responsibilities may impact on decision making
  • May be reluctant to discuss or respond to some questions with children present
  • May be worried to disclose certain vulnerable circumstances such as risk of homelessness due to fear of child protection authority involvement
    		•

    A customer contacts the agency requesting their own Medicare card as their parent won’t let them use theirs anymore. Their parent told them they had to get out of the house last week and won’t let them return to get any of their belongings. They are staying with a friend for short-term accommodation, and need to open up a bank account to apply for a payment. They need a Medicare card as a form of identification.
  • It may be difficult to organise the documents required for a claim for payment
  • Customer may be at risk of financial exploitation
  • Unstable accommodation may make it difficult to meet education or employment requirements
  • Stress related to financial hardship may impact on communication
    		•

    A customer has contacted as they have received notification that they had been overpaid and now have a debt of $3000. The customer is stressed and explains she feels unable to pay it back when she has four children to feed, and struggling to focus on anything with her father passing away a few weeks ago. She also explains she has been unable to afford appointments with her psychologist recently.
    • financial hardship due to the debt and cost of living
    • mental health as the customer is seeing a psychologist
    • bereavement, which may make other vulnerable circumstances worse
  • Stress related to debt and financial hardship, impacting on decision making and communication
  • Distress because of grief and a sense of helplessness and embarrassment about not being able to support the children
  • Fear of legal action
  • Possible frustration if the customer believes they have fulfilled their reporting requirements and confusion about the cause of the debt
    		•

    Forms

    Centrelink forms

    Publications

    Publications

    Services Australia website

    Crisis and special help page - This page contains information for customers needing special help in a crisis for Crisis Payment, Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP), Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment (ECRP) for Farmers and Special Benefit (SpB).

    Emergency Management events page

    This is an internal link for disaster specific information and claim forms Emergency Management events page.