Proposal to reduce Centrelink waiting times

Increased demand for assistance from Centrelink has led to new measures for dealing with lengthy customer waiting times, initiated by the Federal Government. With the introduction of more staff and
an improvement in technology services, the Government secured 600 jobs for skilled call centre staff, maintaining this with an additional $206 million in the 2012-13 budget.

A spokeswoman for Kim Carr, the Minister for Human Services said: “The Department is working to provide more mobile, online and interactive voice recognition services. It has also engaged around 720 temporary call centre staff since March to assist during peak periods.

“We have also introduced a new call-back option for customers who are registered for self-service and calling from a mobile phone.”

Changing economic circumstances and a greater need for services have resulted in increased demand at Centrelink. The spokeswoman said: “Volatility in global financial markets causes an increase
in calls. More pensioners are ringing to confirm their entitlements or report changes to earnings; there are more income support recipients having part-time work and needing to report earnings,
and families are seeking to settle family tax benefit matters around the turn of the financial year.”

Executive Director of Financial Counselling Australia, Fiona Guthrie said Government assistance with this matter is long awaited. “We are pleased that the Government is acting to fix the problem,” she said. “The wait times have been an issue for quite some time and have gotten much worse in the last few months.

“Lengthy wait times on the phone affect everyone. This includes the Centrelink staff, financial counsellors and their clients.

“It can be stressful and difficult for people waiting and everybody becomes frustrated.”

The spokeswoman for the Minister for Human Services said an average waiting time for Centrelink call centres is currently around 12 minutes and the average wait time in centres is around 14 minutes. Ms Guthrie said many clients and financial counselling staff wait on the phone for an hour or more to speak with Centrelink staff. “Some financial councillors have reported a wait time of
45 minutes but this has now been blown out to 90 minutes. “Many clients are also low income earners and only have a mobile phone. Some are on hold for 60 minutes or even longer. That can use up most or all of their phone credit,” she said.