Jobseekers had their Centrelink payments suspended more than 450,000 times in the September quarter for not meeting their mutual obligations, new figures show, as the Albanese government mulls the future of the regime.
Data from Services Australia shows the majority of payment suspensions are related to mutual obligations, the controversial requirements imposed on jobseekers. The obligations have been labelled as “punitive” and counterproductive by some privatised employment services running the system.
Between July and September this year, 502,698 jobseeker payments were suspended, averaging more than 160,000 a month, the data obtained by Guardian Australia shows.
The top reason for payments being suspended was people not meeting their mutual obligations requirements imposed by a job agency (418,934 suspensions). Payments were suspended another 31,244 times after job agencies reported that a jobseeker had missed a scheduled appointment.
In that period Centrelink also suspended payments after recipients left the country (32,992 suspensions), didn’t respond to correspondence (10,050) or were imprisoned (9,478).
In the 2022-2023 financial year, jobseeker payments were suspended on 1,750,923 occasions. The government would not provide figures on how many people this affected.
Again, the top reason for the suspensions was people not meeting mutual obligation requirements (1,461,848 suspensions).
In September there were 754,555 people on the jobseeker payment, but it is unclear how many people were impacted by the suspensions, as some recipients may have had their payment temporarily stopped multiple times.
Services Australia referred questions about payment suspensions to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, which oversees the employment services system where the overwhelming majority of payment suspensions are caused.
A Department of Employment and Workplace Relations spokesperson said 50% of the payment suspensions were “resolved in four business days”.
“Note that around 90% of payment suspensions do not cause a delay to the individual’s payment as the suspension is resolved before their next payment date,” the spokesperson said.
But Kristin O’Connell from the Antipoverty Centre said this proved the suspension did not need to happen. “It’s stupefying,” she said.
O’Connell said the level of suspensions showed the system was not working and called for an end to mutual obligations.
“There’s clearly big problems in the system, and it is hurting people. It is causing great levels of distress, even for people who’ve managed to get their claim restored.”
It comes as a parliamentary inquiry investigates the future of the employment services system, including the mutual obligations regime.
The inquiry has heard criticism of the mutual obligations system from privatised job agencies that carry out the system, while the committee chair, Julian Hill, has been scathing about the compliance system imposed on Australians.
Some of the agencies called for a return to the previous system where the power to suspend a person’s income was decided by Services Australia, not the employment provider.
Previously, employment services providers would provide a compliance report that was then considered by someone in Services Australia.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations will front Senate estimates on Wednesday.
