Centrelink Phone Contact Waiting Times

Duh · Guru

RE: Centrelink Phone Contact Waiting Times

neilnruth · Guru

I'm wondering if the Centrelink waiting times have increased since they did not renew the many contracts they had for call centres. A friend was working at a Centrelink call centre and her contract (along with over 20 others I think she said) was not renewed. If that happened in every call centre for Centrelink it would certainly see increased waiting times.
Our local Centrelink also has Medicare and with only 1 person working for that you now have long waiting times just for a Medicare rebate. But with the lack of staff, we still have found them very helpful and they never seem to rush us out the door - and we are always very pleasant to them too.

johmandkaz · Veteran Member

As an ex Centrelink Manager,

In a nutshell, i wouldnt bother updating over the phone unless you have a review or it effects your payment. eg temp work , sale of assets etc

If you want to update income / assets,the best way is to attend the CSC and state that you want to see the completed update on the computer screen. "Remember you do have the right to view this information if you request it". When looking at the screen, the activity "ie income and assets " update will be displayed with "COM" on the right hand side, You will now know that it has been done correctly. "The Com" ( Completed applies to all activities that you update)
If the activity has the STA or SUB, it has not been finalised.

The biggest issue with Centrelink updates over the phone is many of the call centres employ temp staff that do not have the experience or limited training in the job, thus they try to do there best but make mistakes.
In saying that,income and assets updates can easily effect your payments, just ensure that you ask what your future payments are going to be, then if you feel that is not right, make sure you question it.

Cheers

D and D · Guru

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tough-call-on-1200-jobs-at-centrelink-20130917-2txdc.html

And it looks like things may get worse: http://the-riotact.com/one-job-to-go-every-hour-to-the-end-of-the-financial-year/117562

-- Edited by D and D on Monday 21st of October 2013 06:57:00 PM

rockylizard · Guru

rockylizard wrote:
~~~SNIP~~~
Don't turn this into a political thread - but I have a close friend who works for Centrelink (middle management). She heads the team that was set up 18 months ago to handle the growing number of inquiries from customers - a team of six TEMPORARY positions filled by TEMPORARY employees. These temporary positions were discontinued mid-Sept by the incoming Minister, and the temporary employees have not had their contracts renewed.
One can expect there will be further public service 'savings' as the year progresses given the openness in this regard by the incoming government during the election campaign.
Cheers - John

Gday,..

This is not new news - it was all openly stated during the recent election campaign. The incoming Government promised no surprises so this should not come as a surprise.

It will not just be Centrelink "customers" who will suffer. Wait for the 'rationalisation' of welfare benefits that I am sure will be announced in the Budget in May 2014.

Cheers - John