Services Australia has not applied child support law properly and some parents are owed money, report finds

Commonwealth ombudsman Iain Anderson has found an aspect of Services Australia’s child support processing did not align with legislation. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Services Australia knew its internal practices relating to child support payments conflict with the law but did nothing about it for six years, a report from the commonwealth ombudsman has found.

In 2019, the agency identified that its child support practice that stipulated that parents with less than 35% care of a child do not receive financial support was not aligned with the law.