Centrelink Annual Report 2007-08Contact officer

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© Commonwealth of Australia 2008

ISSN: 1441-4392

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CENTRELINK 2007-08 HIGHLIGHTSServing Country AustraliaCentrelink's Serving Country Australia 2007-09 strategy was launched by the Minister for Human Services in July 2007. The strategy recognises the need to ensure that people living in rural, regional and remote areas are not disadvantaged in accessing services and assistance despite their geographical location. It sets out our commitment to ensure all rural communities have access to Australian Government assistance and services.

Provision of services to the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Enquiry Line and Commonwealth Election Enquiry LineCentrelink provided call centre and email services for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held between 2-9 September 2007 and for the Australian Electoral Commision during the 2007 federal election held on 24 November 2007. Between 30 July and 10 September 2007, Centrelink responded to over 5900 calls and 51 emails about APEC. During the election campaign over 431 000 calls were answered and over 37 500 emails were responded to, providing information to the Australian public on a variety of electoral matters.

Murray-Darling Basin InitiativeFrom July 2007, Centrelink has provided a range of additional servicing support in the Murray-Darling Basin region. This includes a new service delivery coordination unit to assist farmers, farm families, agriculturally-dependent small businesses, irrigators and industry in this region in recognition of the unprecedented nature of the drought and water-related crisis. The unit coordinates services, creates links with other government and non-government agencies and provides a focus on enabling those affected by the drought or changes to water allocations to move forward.

Caroline Chisholm Centre official openingCentrelink's new National Support Office building was officially opened on Friday 30 May 2008 by the Deputy Prime Minister the Hon.

Julia Gillard MP. During the opening the Deputy Prime Minister spoke of the life and achievements of Caroline Chisholm, after whom the building is named. Other guest speakers included local Indigenous elder Matilda House, Senator the Hon. Joseph Ludwig, Minister for Human Services, Centrelink CEO Jeff Whalan and Professor Don Chisholm, a direct descendant of Caroline Chisholm.

Two-millionth seniors’ customerDuring 2007–08 Centrelink reached a milestone with the two-millionth customer receiving Age Pension. Many senior Australians were able to access the pension for the first time or get a higher rate of payment through the changes in the Pension Assets Test Taper Rate introduced in September 2007. In January 2008 Pension Bonus changes were implemented which made the scheme more flexible and generous.

January 2008 (Queensland floods)January 2008 brought torrential rain to northern New South Wales and a large part of central and northern Queensland. Centrelink employees were quick to respond to community needs by setting up temporary offices and utilising the drought bus to provide outreach services to isolated communities.

Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER)Centrelink is assisting in a whole-of-government approach to build a better future for remote Indigenous communities.

Working with Northern Territory Government agencies and other Australian Government agencies through the NTER Operations Centre, Centrelink is providing greater access to government services and altered payment arrangements.

Chapter 1: Report of the Chief Executive OfficerReport of the Chief Executive OfficerIt is with great pleasure that one of my first tasks as the new Centrelink Chief Executive Officer is to sign-off on the 2007-08 Annual Report. Apart from accounting for public expenditure, in my view annual reporting is an important mechanism for reflecting on our achievements, focusing on what works well and where we can do better, and looking to the future.

As former CEO Jeff Whalan’s successor, I am left with the legacy of a best practice, financially healthy, creative and forward-looking service delivery organisation. Thanks to Jeff’s leadership in delivering government policy, Centrelink is highly focused on acting in the interests of customers. As well, Centrelink has continued to form productive and collaborative relationships with government agencies and, increasingly, with the community and business sectors, especially in times of emergency.

This year, Centrelink marked its 10th birthday. Created in 1997 as a one stop shop to remove the complexities of access to government services and payments for Australians, over the past ten years Centrelink has matured and responded remarkably well to changes and challenges.

The first CEO Sue Vardon said of the agency's beginnings:

We needed to tip the bureaucracy upside down to present an approach to service delivery from the customer's point of view. ...it is an approach based on the experiences of people in the community rather than the payments, services or programs devised by government departments.

I believe the basic philosophy behind Centrelink's establishment stays the same, and this is reflected in our purpose of ‘Serving Australia through assisting people to be become selfsufficient and supporting those in need'.

In 1997 National Support Office was located in a couple of floors of the then Department of Social Security's office block in Greenway in the Australian Capital Territory. Ten years on, most national office staff moved into the new Caroline Chisholm Centre next door. The state of the art building was designed to achieve a 4.5 star rating under the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme. It won the 2007 ACT Master Builders Association award for Best Practice Ecoefficiency and Environmental Management.

The way Centrelink does business has also changed dramatically in the past decade, especially with cutting edge technology providing more online options in many aspects of Centrelink's business. In 2007-08, Centrelink had 31 million phone calls, compared with 19.2 million in 1997-98. Mainframe transactions on customer records rose from three billion to 6.6 billion over the same period. In the early days, Centrelink delivered services on behalf of eight policy departments. This figure has now risen to over 20 government departments and agencies.

The size of the network has also more than doubled, growing from 400 offices in 1997-98 to more than 1000 service delivery points in 2008-09. Call and queue wait times have dropped substantially, and customer and employee satisfaction levels continue to improve.

The way Centrelink does business in the next decade will also change, particularly as policy, demographic, economic, public administration and technology factors influence the expectations of Centrelink. The Business IT Strategic Plan provides a focus for Centrelink over the next 10 to 15 years to further improve operational efficiency and effectiveness and improve access to services. The Plan describes the capability requirements to support future business strategies and priorities.

Running a business of Centrelink's dimension effectively and efficiently requires constant innovative and practical service delivery solutions. Centrelink's work in improving service delivery to rural and remote areas is a good example of this.

Centrelink played a major role in the Northern Territory Emergency Response by introducing the Income Management regime and changing participation requirements for income support recipients. These Northern Territory measures meant fundamental changes to the way Centrelink and other services are delivered in some of the most infrastructure-poor communities in Australia.

The key to an effective response was local community input and collaborative working relationships involving Australian and territory government departments and agencies. In particular, I would like to thank Major-General Chalmers and the Northern Territory Operations Centre for their support and assistance.

Technology supported this effort, with new digital technology used by Centrelink employees and Centrelink Agents to quickly capture documents as digital images in the mainframe system.

Many areas of Australia remain drought-declared, and Centrelink is uniquely placed to respond to the needs of people living in country Australia. The Australian Government Drought Assistance Mobile Service initiative helped to break down barriers in communities where farmers were previously reluctant to contact Centrelink for help. During the year, of the 13 789 bus customers, around 46 per cent are new to Centrelink. Centrelink Drought Bus teams also engaged with nearly 1700 community representatives. In November 2007, Centrelink received the Prime Minister's Gold Award for the Drought Bus.

The effects of the drought have been particularly stark in the Murray- Darling Basin where the water crisis has reached a critical point and communities have come under increasing pressure. In the 2007-08 Budget, Centrelink received funding for two years to support communities in the Basin. Centrelink set up a special Murray- Darling Basin hotline; employed more Rural Service Officers, social workers and psychologists; and established a new service delivery coordination unit in Griffith, New South Wales to build community resilience and take a whole-of-government approach to service delivery.

Each community is unique and has different levels of need. Social workers and psychologists work with local people to assist the community to develop local solutions. This has included working with groups of isolated women to support each other, develop new skills and build confidence and better communication; and helping couples to learn more about the triggers of stress and how to deal with these.

Centrelink also responded to several disasters and emergencies.The Equine Influenza outbreak resulted in over $84 million paid to . affected people and businesses in the equine industry. In January and February, the Australian Government Disaster Recovery ”*\ Payment was activated following the floods that devastated the Mackay, Whitsundays and Central Queensland regions. More than 9106 claims were granted, worth $10.7 million.

Centrelink continued to work with policy departments and the Department of Human Services to deliver Government Budget initiatives in line with agreed implementation schedules. Over the financial year, Centrelink implemented more than 30 Budget initiatives, including one-off payments to Older Australians and Carers and a number of measures to reduce the incidence of debt for families.

Next year will see changes to child care, which include increasing the Child Care Tax Rebate, introducing Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance for study, and expanding the number of child care places. Scheduled to take effect from 1 July 2008, Centrelink employees worked hard during the year to prepare for the changes and ensure that around 650 000 customers will receive the benefits.

With the Government intent on developing more flexible and integrated service delivery models, Centrelink has to think more about better linking people to services and opportunities in local areas. As well, the Government wants to simplify service delivery, better direct it through the use of appropriate technology and offer customers greater choice and control in how they use government services. This is in line with work already underway across the Centrelink network to simplify services to customers and designed to pave the way for even more effective responses over time.

Completion of the five-year IT Refresh Program in 2008 means Centrelink is very well placed with a strong platform for improving online delivery of services, reducing risks of service compromise due to system failure, delivering savings, and providing an infrastructure that could be used by other government agencies.

Next year, improving Centrelink's capability for Income Management and service delivery in remote areas will be a high priority. In his Apology to the Stolen Generations, the Prime Minister

set targets for literacy, numeracy, employment, infant mortality and life expectancy for Indigenous Australians. He also proposed a commission to implement an effective housing strategy for remote communities. Centrelink hopes to play a significant role in helping to meet these targets.

A West Australian pilot, starting from late 2008, will allow child protection officers to request that a person (Indigenous or non-Indigenous) be subject to Income Management by Centrelink. Centrelink’s experience in implementing Income Management in the Northern Territory will stand it in good stead to implement changes to the social support system more broadly, by linking the payment of income support to parental responsibility.

Centrelink will also support administrative changes to family assistance resulting from the child support and family law reforms to take effect from 1 July 2008. These changes are designed to share the real costs of children more fairly, support greater shared parenting and ensure a greater focus on compliance.

The Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce released their report, Carer Payment (child): A new approach in February 2008. In response to its findings, Centrelink is working with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs to develop and implement a simpler, fairer eligibility and assessment process for the payment. Based on care load, this assessment process will improve the level of support for carers of children withdisabilities or severe medical conditions.

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs to develop and implement a simpler, fairer eligibility and assessment process for the payment. Based on care load, this assessment process will improve the level of support for carers of children with disabilities or severe medical conditions.

The Government is developing a long-term plan to reduce homelessness over the next decade.

As a key agency in responding to and preventing homelessness, Centrelink will play a vital part in delivering any new services and payments to assist homeless, or at risk of homeless, people.

There were some positive results in the 2007 Centrelink People Survey. These included an increase in the number of staff who report job satisfaction, who are able to balance their work and personal life and who have received appropriate training to do their job effectively. Another welcome result was an improvement in staff motivation.

Finally, I would like to again thank Jeff Whalan for his part in guiding the organisation to such a strong position for future challenges. Thank you to all employees for their commitment over the past year—I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can in the coming year.

Finn Pratt, PSM

Chief Executive Officer

Chapter 2: Corporate overviewCorporate overviewCentrelink at a glance

Portfolio overviewIn October 2004, the Department of Human Services (DHS) was established within the Finance and Administration portfolio to improve the development and delivery of government social and health related services to Australians. In January 2007, DHS became an Australian Government portfolio department in its own right. Its main role is to improve the development, delivery and

coordination of government social and health related services and to develop service delivery policy.

The MinisterSenator the Hon. Joe Ludwig was sworn in as the new Minister for Human Services on 3 December 2007. In the previous government, the Minister for Human Services was Senator the Hon. Chris Ellison.

Along with the Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency Act 1997, the Minister is responsible for administering the following legislation:

Australian Hearing Services Act 1991, except to the extent that it is administered by the Minister for Health and Ageing

Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, insofar as it relates to the exercise of the powers and functions conferred on the Registrar under the Act

Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme—Initial Measures) Act 2006, insofar as it relates to the exercise of the powers and functions conferred on the Registrar under the Act

Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme—New Formula and Other Measures) Act 2006, insofar as it relates to the exercise of the powers and functions conferred on the Registrar under the Act

Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988, insofar as it relates to the appointment of the Registrar and the exercise of the powers and functions conferred on the Registrar under the Act, and

Medicare Australia Act 1973.

Portfolio structureHuman Services PortfolioThe Department of Human Services (DHS) consists of the Core Department, the Child Support

Program and CRS Australia.

The Core Department directs, coordinates and brokers improvements to service delivery across Human Services agencies and develops policy on service delivery.

The Child Support Program helps separated parents transfer payments for the benefit of their children.

CRS Australia provides vocational rehabilitation services to people with a disability, injury or health condition, and helps employers keep their workplaces safe.

Centrelink, Medicare Australia, Australian Hearing and the HSA Group are also part of the Human Services Portfolio.

Centrelink serves Australia by assisting people to become self-sufficient and supporting those in need. This includes delivering a range of government payments and services to Australians, including retirees, families, carers, parents, people with disabilities, Indigenous people, and people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Centrelink also provides services, including crisis referral services, at times of major change.

Medicare Australia looks after the health of Australians through efficient services and payments such as Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register and the Australian Organ Donor Register.

Australian Hearing helps people manage their hearing impairment so they have a better quality of life. Australian Hearing provides a full range of hearing services for children and

young people up to the age of 21, eligible adults, age pensioners, war veterans, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 and over, and eligible Community Development Employment Project participants.

The HSA Group is a government business enterprise that focuses mainly on occupational health and safety and medical assessments.

Centrelink functions

LegislationCentrelink was established under the Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency Act 1997 which came into effect on 1 July 1997. In establishing Centrelink, the Australian Government aimed to link government services, wherever possible, in one place and achieve best practice in service delivery.

The Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 sets out the Chief Executive Officer's functions and responsibilities relating to Centrelink's financial management.

Centrelink is an Australian Public Service organisation and its employees are employed under the Public Service Act 1999. For more information about Australian Government legislation and Centrelink see Appendix 1, Commonwealth legislation affecting Centrelink.

Business dimensionsTable 1 shows an overview of Centrelink's business dimensions. For a list of services that Centrelink delivers see Appendix 2, Our services.

Table 1: Centrelink's business dimensions

Our dimensions 2007–08

Policy departments and other organisations more than 20

Value of payments made on behalf of policy departments $70.5 b

Customers 6.52 m

Customer satisfaction 88.3%

Individual entitlements 9.98 m

New claims granted 2.4 m

Phone calls 32.8 m

Online transactions (update and view) over 18 m

Transactions on customer records more than 6.6 b

Eligibility and entitlement reviews 4.43 m

Service delivery points more than 1000

Customer Service Centres 316

Our dimensions 2007–08

Call Centres 25

Centrelink agents 373

Indigenous community agents 182

Remote Area Service Centres 12

Employees 26 167

Employee satisfaction 77%

Funding arrangementsIn 2007-08 Centrelink's revenue was mainly provided through Business Partnership Agreements or similar arrangements on a purchaser/provider model with policy departments and other organisations.

In addition, Centrelink received direct funding appropriations relating to infrastructure, some Budget measures, compensation for detriment caused by defective administration, and equity injections for capital purchases.

Governance framework

Centrelink ExecutiveThe Executive supports the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with setting Centrelink's Strategic Directions and organisational priorities. The Executive includes the CEO and three Deputy Chief Executive Officers. They are:

Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Clients, Capability and Corporate—accountable for leadership of relationships with key stakeholders, securing ongoing business for Centrelink, meeting agreed policy department outcomes, and effectively managing Centrelink's human and financial resources and strategic communication and media planning

Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Customer Service—accountable for leadership in delivering consistent high quality customer services on behalf of policy departments, and

Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology—accountable for the successful operation of Information Technology (IT) systems which meet immediate and future needs, including IT elements of the Refresh program.

For the organisational structure as at 30 June 2008, see Appendix 3, Organisational chart-list of positions.

Strategic Committee FrameworkThe CEO chairs the Centrelink Executive Committee. This meeting is the peak committee of Centrelink's Strategic Committee Framework.

Established in accordance with the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, the Audit Committee provides independent assurance and assistance to the CEO on Centrelink's risk, control and compliance framework and on its external accountability responsibilities.

The Audit Committee differs from the other strategic committees in that:

it is chaired by an external independent member

its members may vote on decisions before the committee, and

it supports the CEO directly.

The other four committees in the Strategic Committee Framework involve high-level collaboration, advice and review. Except for the Audit Committee, the CEO and each Deputy CEO chair one of the strategic committees and are accountable for the decisions of that committee.

The strategic committees are:

Strategy, Planning and Resources Committee—chaired by the CEO, which sets and progresses Centrelink's Strategic Directions

Performance Committee—chaired by the Deputy CEO, Customer Service, which assures the CEO that Centrelink's performance meets government and policy department requirements

Information Technology Committee—chaired by the Deputy CEO, Information Technology, which oversees Centrelink's IT planning and operations and ensures that frameworks and controls are in place to assure the CEO of effective IT operations, and

People Committee—chaired by the Deputy CEO, Clients, Capability and Corporate, which sets the strategic direction for Centrelink's people capability.

Risk managementApplying consistent risk management principles enables Centrelink to improve management and control of its business. The Centrelink Executive and the Audit Committee encourage all levels of business (organisational, divisional, area/branch and project) to focus on risk management.

A specialist risk management team provides support for managing business and project risks.

The Centrelink Risk Management Plan outlines organisational risks that are strategically significant to Centrelink. Centrelink Executive Committee members are allocated responsibility and accountability for managing specific risks. Lower level business and risk plans further articulate risks, which align with the organisational level risks and Centrelink's Strategic Directions.

The Comcover Awards for Excellence recognise exceptional and inspiring examples of risk management and demonstrate how essential risk management is to the success of Australian Government agencies. In 2007, Centrelink won the Award for Excellence in the Enterprise-wide (large agency) Category, for integrating risk management with business planning to strengthen the risk management culture within leadership and management activities throughout the organisation.

Planning and reporting

Outcome and outputsIn 2007-08 Centrelink had one outcome and one output.

Centrelink plans, monitors and reports on its performance towards achieving its outcome and output, through its strategic planning and reporting framework.

Government expectationsCentrelink is accountable for its actions within the framework of ministerial responsibility to the Government, the Parliament and the Australian public (Section 10(1)(e) of the Public Service Act 1999). The Government specifies its expectations of Centrelink each year through the Statement of Expectations from the Minister for Human Services to Centrelink's CEO. Centrelink responds to the Minister for Human Services with a Statement of Intent, which outlines how Centrelink plans to achieve the Minister's expectations. Centrelink reports on its performance against the Statement of

Expectations. For more information about the Statement of Expectations, see Chapter 3, Building Confidence in Centrelink.

Centrelink also has Business Partnership Agreements with its major policy departments which include business assurance arrangements. For more information about Business Partnership Agreements, see Chapter 3, Building Confidence in Centrelink. Centrelink monitors performance against the Business Partnership Agreements and the CEO provides an Annual Assurance Statement to the major policy departments at the end of each financial year.

Strategic directionsCentrelink's Strategic Directions for 2007-08 set out Centrelink's purpose, outcome, strategic themes, strategic priorities and core values. The Strategic Directions are the foundations for organisational, group, division and local area business planning.

Centrelink's strategic priorities guide activities and help the organisation achieve its purpose. Strategic Performance Indicators measure progress against strategic priorities and themes. Strategic Result Indicators are reported through Centrelink's balanced scorecard. These indicators are fundamental to Centrelink's ability to adjust and improve its performance.

The Strategic Directions have a three-year outlook and a one-year focus. They are reviewed each year to reflect any changes in government, Ministers', or policy departments' directions.

Our purposeServing Australia by assisting people to become self-sufficient and supporting those in need.

Our strategic themes Building confidence in Centrelink

Strengthening our customer focus in line with government direction

Developing a networked organisation

Building capability for government, and

Demonstrating value for money.

Our strategic priorities Support development and implementation of the Australian Government Health and Social

Services Access Card*

Improve access to services by implementing the Integrated Service Delivery Network

Continue to build confidence in our service delivery costs, resource management and business processes

Build better connections with the community

Demonstrate united leadership and teamwork at all levels, and

Attract, train and retain skilled people to deliver customer outcomes.

*This strategic priority was removed on 25 November 2007, when the Government closed the Access Card project.

Our core values Responsiveness to the government of the day

Excellence in service delivery

Respect for customers and each other, and

Accountability.

Strategic Balanced ScorecardThe Strategic Balanced Scorecard is an overview of Centrelink's business, which is reported to the Centrelink CEO, the Centrelink Executive and the Department of Human Services each month.

It is a regular ‘health' check for business and points to any action needed to ensure Centrelink continues to deliver consistently high quality service. The scorecard is used as a performance reporting and management tool, and helps to make Centrelink employees accountable for their performance.

Centrelink's 2007-08 Strategic Balanced Scorecard strategy map is at Appendix 4. This shows key measures developed to monitor progress against strategic themes and achieving Centrelink's outcome.

Chapters 3 to 7 provide an outline of Centrelink's performance against each strategic theme for 2007-08.

Chapter 3: Building confidence in CentrelinkBuilding confidence in CentrelinkCentrelink's strategic theme ‘building confidence in Centrelink' aims to achieve its outcome by providing assurance to Government, policy departments and agencies, and customers that services are fairly, effectively and efficiently delivered.

Centrelink tracks its performance against this strategic theme by measuring:

achievement against the Statement of Expectations

achievement of policy department Key Performance Indicators

protection of the integrity of outlays, and

management of new Budget initiatives.

Top level resultsTable 2: Centrelink targets and results for 2007-08

Top level results Target % Result %

Achievement against the Minister's Statement of Expectations 100 100

Achievement of policy department Key Performance Indicators 95 87.23

Protect the integrity of outlays

Overall level of payment correctness 95 95.32

Reduction in customer errors Less than 62.3 53.06

Manage new Budget initiatives

Proportion of measures that are rated ‘red'(a) Less than 5 3.13

Proportion of measures that are rated ‘amber'(b) Less than 15 4.69

Top level results Target % Result %

(a). A rating of red indicates implementation is highly problematic and requires intervention to move ahead.

(b). A rating of amber indicates implementation is problematic.

Highlights for 2007-08 Performed well against the Minister's Statement of Expectations

maintained, extended, amalgamated or renewed Business Partnership Agreements

achieved a payment correctness result over the target, and

responded rapidly and assisted in situations where emergencies or disasters had a major impact on communities.

DescriptionIn 2007-08 Centrelink administered $70.5 billion in program payments.

Centrelink's accountability to the Australian Government is outlined in the Statement of Expectations from the Minister for Human Services to Centrelink's CEO. Centrelink has Business Partnership Agreements with its major policy departments—the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Department of Health and Ageing.

Business assurance arrangements are included in all Business Partnership Agreements. These provide assurance that Centrelink is meeting the performance expectations of government, policy departments, stakeholders and customers. Centrelink's CEO produces an Annual Assurance Statement for each major policy department at the end of the financial year. These statements provide assurance that Centrelink is managing high level risks to successfully deliver its business. The statements also include accurate and reliable performance information to demonstrate Centrelink is meeting performance expectations.

To comply with the Commonwealth Fraud and Control Guide 2002, Centrelink's CEO certifies that Centrelink prepares fraud risk assessments and fraud control plans. These include Centrelink's fraud prevention, detection, investigation, reporting and data collection procedures and processes.

Strategic objectives Achievement against the Statement of Expectations

Achievement of policy department and agency Key Performance Indicators

Protect the integrity of outlays

Manage new Budget initiatives

Achievement against the Statement of ExpectationsStatement of ExpectationsThe Minister for Human Services' expectations of Centrelink, outlined in the Statement of Expectations, are to:

1. make further improvements in the area of compliance, reducing fraud, errors, debts and overpayments to customers

2. build confidence in the way it conducts its business

3. make it easier for the Australian public to access services

4. deliver the Government's Budget commitments and other initiatives according to agreed implementation schedules

5. deliver day-to-day services, as required by the Government and policy departments and detailed in service delivery and/or Business Partnership Agreements

6. build organisational and workforce capabilities to meet current and future demands and expectations

7. foster collaboration across the Human Services Portfolio, to encourage innovation, efficiency and improved service delivery

8. demonstrate effective environmental management, and

9. promote and demonstrate sound financial management.

Centrelink achievements

Increasing complianceDuring the year, Centrelink built on its efforts to reduce fraud, errors, non-compliance and overpayments. For information about initiatives in 2007-08 see Protect the integrity of outlays later in this chapter.

Building confidence in CentrelinkCentrelink aims to build confidence in the way it conducts its business by achieving against policy departments' Key Performance Indicators (see Achievement of policy department and agency Key Performance Indicators later in this chapter). Centrelink also aims to resolve audit findings within specified timeframes. For information about 2007-08 Australian National Audit Office audits that relate to Centrelink services and Centrelink's responses to the audit findings see Appendix 5, Australian National Audit Office activity.

Improving access to servicesIn 2007-08 Centrelink continued to make it easier for Australians to access its services.

Chapter 4, Strengthening our customer focus in line with government direction, outlines Centrelink's performance in improving face-to-face contact and Call Centre services. Centrelink has also improved Centrelink forms and letters and introduced more online options for Centrelink customers.

Delivering on government commitmentsIn 2007-08 Centrelink worked closely with the Department of Human Services and policy departments to deliver on government commitments. Key achievements were:

delivering the Northern Territory Emergency Response changes—see Chapter 4, Strengthening our customer focus in line with government direction

introducing the Murray-Darling Basin initiative and embedding Centrelink's Serving Country Australia strategy see Chapter 5, Developing a networked organisation

implementing changes to the Child Support Scheme with the Child Support Program—see Changes to the Child Support Scheme later in this chapter

further improving compliance, see Protect the integrity of outlays later in this chapter

finalising changes to the pension assets test—see Age Pension Program later in this chapter

completing the IT Refresh modernisation program—see Enable Centrelink's IT services and capability in Chapter 6, Building capability for government

responding rapidly to emergencies and disasters that had a major impact on the community (for example, the Equine Influenza epidemic, floods and storms)—see Chapter 5, Developing a networked organisation

providing assistance to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) to support the introduction of citizenship tests—see Manage new Budget initiatives later in this chapter, and

implementing a new one-off payment to assist newly arrived refugees—see Manage new Budget initiatives later in this chapter.

Delivering services on behalf of policy departmentsCentrelink delivers services on behalf of more than 20 policy departments and other organisations. Centrelink aims to meet the Key Performance Indicators outlined in the different agreements it has with each agency. For information about performance in 2007-08 see Achievement of policy department and agency Key Performance Indicators later in this chapter.

Building organisational and workforce capabilityChapter 6, Building capability for government, outlines how Centrelink has continued to build capability in 2007-08 to ensure its employees are skilled and equipped to deliver outcomes on behalf of the Australian Government. Chapter 6 also highlights how Centrelink works to develop united leadership and promote a positive workplace climate.

Fostering collaboration with other Human Services' agenciesIn 2007-08 Centrelink continued to work with other Human Services' agencies on joint procurement initiatives. This included setting up national child care provider and recruitment services panels. Previous joint arrangements—including the audit and evaluation panel, accommodation broker, medical evaluation services panel, short-term vehicle hire, presentation aids and address validation—produced ongoing savings and efficiencies. For more information see Chapter 5, Developing a networked organisation.

Promoting effective environmental managementCentrelink maintained a strong commitment to its environmental management policies and programs. Centrelink's existing environmental management strategies—including programs on paper, water, energy, waste, travel and sustainable office design—produced strong performance outcomes. As a large consumer of resources, materials and energy, Centrelink's practices also set an example to the community of good environmental stewardship and social responsibility. For more information about Centrelink's environmental management performance see Appendix 17, Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance.

Demonstrating sound financial managementEach year, Centrelink provides a Certificate of Compliance to the Minister for Human Services (copied to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation) by the mandatory reporting date, as required

under the Financial Management and Accountability Framework. The Certificate of Compliance reports on Centrelink's performance against its financial management obligations under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997, Finance Minister Orders and Department of Finance and Deregulation policy.

Achievement of policy department and agency Key Performance IndicatorsBusiness Partnership Agreements describe the relationships and accountability arrangements between policy departments and Centrelink. These can include joint outcomes, joint projects and Key Performance Indicators.

When the Government changed in November 2007, machinery of government changes meant the portfolio responsibilities of some policy departments changed. Following this, Centrelink started to work with relevant partner organisations to adjust existing agreements to reflect the changes. For a full list of Centrelink services see Appendix 2, Our services.

Australian Electoral CommissionCentrelink maintained a strong and productive relationship with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

Centrelink provided call centre and email services on behalf of the Commission for the 2007 federal election. Under their Business Partnership Agreement, Centrelink and the AEC worked together to ensure that the Australian public had access to information about a variety of electoral matters soon after the election date was announced.

Beginning on 14 October 2007, the services were delivered over 53 days during the campaign. Customer Service Advisers answered over 431 000 calls and responded to more than 37 500 emails.

Using Call Centres in Brisbane, Bunbury, Coffs Harbour, Geelong, Moreland, Newcastle, Perth and Tweed Heads ensured coverage in all Australian time zones. In all, 550 call centre employees were trained to answer enquiries.

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and ForestryCentrelink and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) signed a Business Partnership Agreement (BPA) in June 2005. The agreement is designed to ensure that Centrelink successfully delivers specific program outcomes for farmers and rural and regional communities.

The BPA includes four Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

payments made in a timely manner

products and services delivered with high levels of correctness

management information provided in a timely manner, and

customers' satisfaction with the quality of Centrelink's people, services and information.

Table 3: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry revenue and performance summary

Revenue ($’000) Number of KPIs KPIs met (%)

31 583 4 100

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace RelationsThe new Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) brought together many of the responsibilities of the former Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), and the former Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), with the exception of Disability Support Services. Accountability for Child Care Services moved from the former Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs to the DEEWR portfolio.

Centrelink maintained a strong and productive relationship with the former DEST, through the DEST-Centrelink 2005-08 BPA. This agreement is currently being amalgamated with the Centrelink-DEWR BPA, into a single interim agreement with DEEWR. This agreement will then guide Centrelink's efforts in delivering income support, services, referrals and assistance in education and employment matters.

Centrelink performed well against the Key Performance Indicators agreed in the DEST BPA and achieved 100 per cent of target (see Table 4).

Table 4: Department of Education, Science and Training revenue and performance summary

Revenue ($'000) Number of KPIs KPIs met (%)

135 575 14 100

Key Performance Indicators in the Centrelink-DEWR BPA focus on Centrelink's contribution to achieving ‘efficient and effective labour market assistance' and ‘increased workforce participation', through:

accurate, timely and efficient assessment for initial and ongoing income support

accurate, timely and efficient assessment for referral to appropriate services

rapid and accurate connection and reconnection to appropriate services, and

compliance with income support and service requirements.

Centrelink achieved 13 out of 15 Key Performance Indicators and work continues with DEEWR in the areas where targets were not achieved—timeliness of Parenting Payment (Single) assessments, and Debt recovery as a value of debt raised.

Table 5: Department of Employment and Workplace Relations revenue and performance summary

Revenue ($'000) Number of KPIs KPIs met (%)

806 740 15 87

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs(Formerly the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs)

Centrelink and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) worked together on a broad range of issues affecting Australian society and the living standards of communities, families and individuals.

In October 2006 Centrelink and the former Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs signed a new BPA. Joint work has seen the BPA evolve into a dynamic and flexible document that provides mutual assurance on the relationship, objectives, principles, mechanisms and roles and responsibilities of both organisations in delivering successful government outcomes.

Performance against the BPA between Centrelink and FaHCSIA is not measured through traditional KPIs. Instead, the agreement includes five Service Delivery Indicators (SDIs). These represent key service delivery areas of risk to achieving program outcomes. Centrelink has responsibility for four SDIs—Payment Integrity, Effective Customer Servicing, Data and System Integrity, and Assurance.

Sixteen separate assurance measures support these SDIs to provide FaHCSIA with confidence that Centrelink is effectively managing programs and payments. These measures include Centrelink customer satisfaction surveys, review and appeals data, quarterly business discussions, random sample surveys, and Centrelink's internal audit program.

In addition, Centrelink provides FaHCSIA with an Annual Assurance Statement at the end of each financial year covering all requirements specified in the SDI and assurance framework. The 2007-08 assurance report stated that controls operated effectively during the year to manage the risks identified for all four SDIs for which Centrelink has responsibility. Payment correctness for Age Pension and Special Benefit were below target and plans have been put in place to improve performance in these areas.

Centrelink and FaHCSIA are currently discussing a mechanism for reporting 2008-09 performance against the SDI framework.

Department of Foreign Affairs and TradeCentrelink administers the Australian Passport Information Service on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The service provides information on passport related matters to the public by phone and via the department's website, seven days a week.

The arrangement for providing this service was negotiated for three years from October 2006 with a two-year extension option.

In December 2007, a new service protocol was implemented to assist Australian citizens contacting the London High Commission. In April 2008, another service protocol was agreed for delivering Smartraveller services on behalf of the Consular Division of DFAT.

In 2007-08 the Call Centre handled 1.4 million calls, answered 112 400 emails and issued 221 000 forms. There are 13 service standards which require high level service and measure service quality and output. These were consistently met each month.

Table 6: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade revenue and performance summary

Revenue ($'000) Number of KPIs KPIs met (%)

4609 13 100

Department of Health and AgeingDuring 2007-08 Centrelink continued to carry out income and assets assessments for aged care residents on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA).

The KPIs in the BPA between Centrelink and DoHA are:

automatic matching of resident data against social security pension records

manual matching of resident details against social security pension records, and

obtaining and providing assessed income information for self-funded retiree residents.

Centrelink met all targets in 2007-08.

On 20 September 2007 Centrelink successfully implemented stage two of the Aged Care and Pensions—Further Harmonisation measure. This measure applies social security income stream rules to DoHA residential care assets assessments.

On 20 March 2008, Centrelink also implemented the Securing the Future of Aged Care for Australians measure. This measure applies new rules to DoHA residential aged care income and assets assessments made on or after 20 March 2008.

Table 7: Department of Health and Ageing revenue and performance summary

Revenue ($'000) Number of KPIs KPIs met (%)

14 033 3 100

Department of Immigration and CitizenshipCentrelink supports the delivery of the formal citizenship test by providing facilities for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) employees to run citizenship tests in Centrelink offices at Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Wollongong and Port Hedland. The test is designed to assist people who want to become Australian citizens gain an understanding of Australia's values, traditions, history and national symbols.

Centrelink also supports DIAC residence and portability datalink which ensures that every claim for any payment or concession card is checked electronically by a real-time datalink with DIAC for residence information (for example, visas and past travel). This process overcomes significant difficulties in providing complex residence information, improves business assurance, integrates Centrelink claim and assessment processes with eGovernment directions, and complements developments in data management.

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local GovernmentDuring 2007-08 Centrelink continued to administer the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES), the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme (BSPVES) and the Tasmanian Wheat Freight Scheme (TWFS) on behalf of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (DITRDLG). Centrelink continued to maintain a strong working relationship with DITRDLG in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 2002-2007, which was extended to June 2009.

The KPIs in the MOU are:

80 per cent of TFES claims are finalised within 15 days

95 per cent of TFES claims are finalised within 30 days

less than 150 claims on hand during July-March and 200 claims on hand during April-June

eligible BSPVES claims are paid in less than seven days

40 per cent (by value) of TFES entitlements are assessed through streamlined procedures, and

97 per cent (by value) of TFES assessments result in correct payment of entitlement.

Table 8: Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government revenue and performance summary

Revenue ($'000) Number of KPIs KPIs met (%)

1351 6 95.8

Department of Veterans' AffairsCentrelink continued to help deliver the Veterans' Information Service under a MOU with the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA). This service is available in eight regional Customer Service Centres (CSCs) in New South Wales, six CSCs in Queensland, and the Mt Gambier CSC in South Australia.

Centrelink also delivered Community Support Services in Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie and Veterans' Agency Services in four sites in South Australia.

DVA assess Centrelink's performance by conducting ongoing evaluations of the effectiveness of the services.

Revenue from providing these services on behalf of DVA is $380 000.

Protect the integrity of outlaysService profilingService (risk) profiling helps to identify Centrelink customers most at risk of unsuccessful program outcomes, tailor services to individuals, and improve opportunities for people most in need of assistance.

During 2007-08 Centrelink completed 995 184 service updates which led to 184 216 reduced payments and 117 960 debts of $24.3 million. These updates aim to assist in reducing incorrect payments, ensuring ongoing eligibility compliance, and improving economic and social participation outcomes for customers.

As a result of the service updates, Centrelink identified:

184 216 (18.5%) reductions to payments, which led to $29.6 million in fortnightly savings, and

117 960 (11.8%) debts identified and raised, worth $24.3 million.

Payment correctnessIntegrity of social security outlays is one of the high level risks agreed with each of the three largest policy departments (in terms of their proportion of Centrelink's business). A payment correctness target was set at 95 per cent to ensure the integrity of social security outlays. For 2007-08 Centrelink reported payment correctness of 95.32 per cent.

Compliance measuresTechniques Centrelink uses to detect incorrect payments and fraud include:

identity checks

data-matching information held by Centrelink with information from other agencies/organisations

public ‘tip-offs'

inter-agency compliance activities

data analysis, and

selecting customers for review based on their circumstances, duration of payments or a specific event.

During 2007-08 Centrelink completed 4.4 million reviews of eligibility and entitlement on behalf of DEEWR and FaHCSIA (see Table 9), compared with 4.2 million in 2006-07

Table 9: Centrelink review activity

Reviews completed Reductions in payment Fortnightly

savings

Debts

Number Number % $ Number $

Total 4 431 309 702 624 15.9 107 200 083 491 178 496 106 197

Source: Integrated Review System.

In 2007-08 Centrelink increased compliance and review activity by implementing several Budget initiatives including:

transfer of death registration information

expanded data-matching, and

new data-matching processes to ensure correct Carer Allowance payments.

Fraud investigationsDuring 2007-08 Centrelink conducted 35 885 fraud related investigations. This led to $140.2 million in debts and savings.

In partnership with the Australian Federal Police, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and other partner agencies, Centrelink produced an electronic Fraud Investigation Manual.

A quality control, compliance and fraud prevention platform underpinned the manual's development. By integrating all fraud associated functions, the manual has strengthened Centrelink's ability to identify and investigate social security fraud.

During 2007-08 an increased focus on post-case analysis helped to strengthen Centrelink's ability to identify potential new data sources and report on fraud trends to other government and external agencies.

During 2007-08 Centrelink joined the Financial Intelligence Assessment Team, together with members from seven other Australian Government agencies. The Australian Crime Commission heads this multi-agency team, which jointly develops and shares leading edge financial crime intelligence.

International fraud and complianceAs part of the 2006-07 Budget fraud and compliance initiative, Centrelink increased its focus on addressing the risks associated with payments to customers who live overseas. In 2007-08 Centrelink expanded its use of external data to identify incorrect payments to these customers. Centrelink completed 2882 reviews and identified $9.8 million in savings and debts.

In addition, two Centrelink investigators operated in Malta for 10 weeks. The Australian High Commission in Malta and Malta's Department of Social Security provided support. The investigators carried out 161 face-to-face full entitlement reviews with Centrelink customers living in Malta.

Centrelink and Malta's Department of Social Security also agreed to carry out more data-matching activities.

Foreign Pension Data Exchange projectThe Foreign Pension Data Exchange project was announced in the 2005-06 Budget. The project aims to develop electronic data exchange processes with Centrelink's agreement partners (excluding New Zealand). The exchanges enable foreign pension rate increases to be automatically applied to a customer's record, resulting in a reassessment of their Centrelink entitlement.

Data exchange was undertaken with Malta, Cyprus, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Croatia, Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia. In 2007-08, 152 743 foreign pension data exchange reviews were completed, delivering savings of approximately $7.9 million. All other agreement countries have agreed to exchange data in the near future.

Australian Federal PoliceDuring 2007-08 10 Australian Federal Police agents worked within Centrelink's fraud investigation teams. These outposted agents give significant assistance to Centrelink in meeting the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines 2002 objectives, through:

increasing understanding of the roles of Centrelink and the Australian Federal Police in combating fraud

providing training and advice to increase Centrelink's fraud investigation capabilities and practices, including help with investigation methods, avenues of inquiry, interview procedures and techniques (such as taped interviews), search techniques and evidence brief preparation, and

training, advice and assistance with specific casework.

Prosecution referralsIn 2007-08 Centrelink referred 5312 matters to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration of prosecution action in relation to payments made on behalf of DEEWR and FaHCSIA. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted 2658 Centrelink cases for fraud with a conviction rate of 98.7 per cent (including 220 cases when the offence was proven but no conviction was recorded).

Table 10: Centrelink prosecution activity

Prosecuted Acquitted Convicted

Total 2658 34 2404

Source: Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Cash economyIn 2007-08 Centrelink conducted 9816 individual cash economy investigations, including 190 cash economy operations. These identified $31.1 million in savings and debts.

The investigations included desk based activities and field operations involving industries such as transport, harvesting, hospitality, cleaning and manufacturing. As well, the Australian Federal

Police, the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and other Australian Government and state and territory government departments and agencies carried out joint field operations.

Identity related fraudIdentity related fraud involves people using fabricated, manipulated, stolen or borrowed identities to claim payments to which they are not entitled. This frequently involves multiple fraudulent claims. Methods used to evade Centrelink's control measures are often sophisticated and their detection requires specialist skills and tools. An expert identity fraud detection team uses advanced computer investigation and detection techniques to combat this type of serious fraud.

In 2007-08 Centrelink completed 11 399 identity fraud investigations, leading to debts and savings totalling $19.7 million and 219 prosecution referrals.

Centrelink is a member of the OPAL Commonwealth Reference Group on Identity Crime. Chaired by the Australian Federal Police, the group includes members from 13 Australian Government agencies. The group meets quarterly to focus on operational issues, to establish links between the operational work of each agency, exchange data, share training ideas and courses and keep up-to-date with the latest detection and investigation techniques and software.

Centrelink's Fraud Intelligence Section contributes to the Australian Crime Commission's Australian Identity Protection Register. The register includes details of fraudulent identities and victims of identity theft collected from 30 law enforcement and government agencies. This helps law enforcement and government agencies to detect and stop the use of fraudulent identities for criminal activities.

Public 'tip-off' lineCentrelink assesses all information provided by public tip-offs to identify misuse of the income support system.

From public tip-offs received in 2007-08, Centrelink conducted 60 257 customer entitlement reviews which led to 12 311 reduced payments and identified $148.7 million in debts and savings. This compares to 11 063 and $129.7 million in 2006-07.

Investigations of tip-off information continue to build community confidence in the integrity of the income support system. People can phone the Australian Government Services Fraud Tip-off Line on 13 1524, visit or write to Centrelink with tip-off information, or report a suspected fraud online via the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au

Data-matching initiativesIn 2007-08 Centrelink undertook data-matching activities in line with the Data-matching Program (Assistance and Tax) Act 1990 and with social security law. This included:

Matching with data provided by:

– the Australian Taxation Office

– the Department of Immigration and Citizenship

– the Department of Health and Ageing

– the Defence Housing Authority

– the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

– the Australian Securities and Investments Commission

– the Commonwealth Superannuation Administration

– public and private education providers

– state and territory Registrars of births, deaths and marriages

– state and territory departments of corrective services

producing an annual report on the data-matching program.

'Support the System that Supports You' campaignStarting in September 2005, the ‘Support the System that Supports You' mass media campaign was a major component of the 2004-05 Budget measure Keeping the System Fair. The main aim was to reduce customer debt by encouraging people on income support to report their changes in circumstances to Centrelink. The measure finished, as planned, on 30 June 2008.

In 2007-08, in direct response to the campaign, over 294 000 customers reported a change in their circumstances and more than 29 000 public ‘tip-offs' were received.

Debt managementDebt management is a vital part of Centrelink's core business. Centrelink places a strong emphasis on debt prevention and conducted four significant pilot programs in 2007-08. The national pilots were designed to reduce Centrelink's largest debt risks of Family Tax Benefit payments and income related debts. The four pilots are:

Family Tax Benefit customers who have not lodged a tax return—this pilot tested processes that reminded customers to either lodge a tax return or notify Centrelink that they are not required to lodge a tax return

Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers with incorrect partner income details—to guide the development of future debt prevention measures, this pilot reviewed a sample of customers and analysed any debts generated through the partner income verification process

Parenting Payment (Single) customers with earnings not updated in the past 12 months—to help develop future strategies to reduce risk of debts, this pilot reviewed a sample of customers by analysing any debts generated when no recent earnings verification had occurred, and

customers with first-time debts from earnings—this pilot tested the value of early intervention for customers who incurred earnings debts, and reinforced their notification obligations and how they could meet them.

The Australian National Audit Office reviewed its 2004 audit of Centrelink customer debt. A follow-up audit was released in December 2007 and Centrelink provided comprehensive feedback on the preliminary findings see Appendix 5, Australian National Audit Office activity.

Debt raisingIn 2007-08 Centrelink met the 70 per cent target of debts raised as a proportion of the undetermined debt base. (Undetermined debts are payment anomalies which are yet to be confirmed as legal debts. Once determined, these anomalies become ‘raised' debts.) Table 11 shows debts raised during 2007-08.

Table 11: Debts raised during 2007-08

Type of debts Number of debts Amount raised ($)

Total debts raised, including Family Assistance Office debts

2 189 223 1 831 200

Debt recoveryIn 2007-08 Centrelink recovered $1139 million in customer debts. This compared with $1235 million in 2006-07. The reduction in debt recovery is mainly due to less customers on Newstart Allowance and Parenting Payment (Single) in the past year.

Centrelink offers customers a range of repayment options including payments through Australia Post, BPAY, by phone, mail, over the internet and by direct debit.

When a customer cannot pay a debt in full, Centrelink usually negotiates a repayment agreement that will recover the debt as quickly as possible without putting the customer in financial hardship. Sometimes Centrelink uses a contracted mercantile agent to contact a person and manage the debt. This recovery is at no cost to Centrelink other than the standard percentage commission paid to the agent for successfully recovered amounts.

Compensation recoveryIn 2007-08, applying the compensation provisions across all DEEWR and FaHCSIA administered income support payments made under the Social Security Act 1991, achieved estimated savings of $455.8 million. The provisions encourage people to use private resources, such as compensation payments, before accessing Centrelink payments.

Centrelink Academic Reassessment Transformation projectThe Centrelink Academic Reassessment Transformation (CART) project helps to prevent study related debt. Each week, student enrolment information is exchanged using information technology links between Centrelink and participating universities.

Fourteen universities, covering 70 000 student customers, carried out weekly data exchange with Centrelink, in 2007-08.

External scrutiny

Commonwealth OmbudsmanA valuable measure of customer confidence with the service they receive from Centrelink is the number and type of complaints they make to the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office.

In 2007-08 the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office received 7575 Centrelink customer complaints—an increase on the 6987 complaints in 2006-07. In 2007-08, 7382 cases were closed.

Centrelink held regular discussions with the Ombudsman's Office to discuss matters of concern and the relationship between the two agencies remained strong.

External auditsIn 2007-08 the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) issued several audit reports that involved Centrelink see Appendix 5, Australian National Audit Office activity.

Centrelink actively responds to all ANAO recommendations, and progress is monitored by the Audit Committee. ANAO representatives attend all Audit Committee meetings as observers.

In many cases the ANAO's recommendations include actions for Centrelink's policy departments. As the service delivery agency, Centrelink works with policy departments to address these recommendations.

Internal auditsCentrelink carries out internal audits to identify risks and opportunities for improvement. These provide independent assurance on management's performance in maintaining Centrelink's

Strategic Directions, achieving operational objectives in line with organisational and legislative requirements, and ensuring that high standards of probity and accountability are met.

In 2007-08 the audit program of 45 internal audits and 32 Office Management Reviews covered:

financial management and operational compliance

human resource management and processes

business and service delivery performance

project assurance, and

information technology applications and projects.

Management action on audit recommendations is monitored and reported to the Centrelink Executive Committee and the Audit Committee. Internal Audit provides assurance to the Chief Executive Officer and the ANAO that Centrelink's Financial Statements take account of any audits of significant finance systems and processes.

Merit reviewsCentrelink Authorised Review Officers (AROs) conduct merit reviews of decisions on entitlements. Centrelink also responds to applications for Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) and Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) reviews—see Table 12.

The decisions most commonly challenged are:

debt recovery, including Family Tax Benefit reconciliation debts

Newstart Allowance customer participation failures

payment cancellations and changes to payment rates, and

unsuccessful Disability Support Pension applications because the customer is not medically eligible.

Table 12: Merit reviews applications

Applications 2006-07 2007-08

AROs 40 587 55 761

SSAT 8 501 11 060

AAT 2 157(a) 1 937(b)

(a). 1688 lodged by customers, 469 by secretaries of policy departments.

(b). 1683 lodged by customers, 254 by secretaries of policy departments.

The increased number of ARO and SSAT applications included an increase in applications involving Newstart Allowance participation and serious failures. Secretary applications are lodged in accordance with policy departments’ instructions.

Timeliness performance targets for AROs are:

75 per cent of all reviews to be completed within 28 days, and

95 per cent of reviews when the customer has no income to be completed within 14 days.

Response requirements for SSAT applications for review are:

SSAT applications lodged at Centrelink Customer Service Centres must be forwarded to the SSAT within seven days, and

a statement of the findings of fact, referring to the evidence, and the reasons for the decision under review, together with every relevant document, must be sent to the SSAT within 28 days of receiving notice of an application.

Similarly, Centrelink must lodge with the AAT, within 28 days of receiving notice of an application, a statement of the findings of fact, referring to the evidence, and the reasons for the decision under review, together with a copy of every relevant document.

Table 13: Merit reviews timeliness

Key Performance Indicators—internal measures Target

%

2006-07

%

2007-08

%

ARO all reviews within 28 days 75 74 70

ARO ‘no income' reviews within 14 days 95 96 95

SSAT applications sent within 7 days 100 85 87

SSAT documents sent within 28 days 100 99 100

AAT documents lodged within 28 days 100 89 88

Table 14: Merit reviews outcomes

Unchanged decisions1 Changed decisions

2006-07 2007-08 2006-07 2007-08

AROs 68% 65% 32% 35%

(27 428) (35 714) (13 046) (19 198)

SSAT 71% 68% 29% 32%

(5 975) (6 304) (2 413) (2 961)

AAT-Customer

applications

81% 77% 19% 23%

(1 230) (1 200) (289) (367)

AAT-Secretary

applications2

72% 65% 28% 35%

(264) (233) (105) (125)

1.Unchanged decisions include withdrawals which may happen for a number of reasons.

2.Secretaries' applications are managed in accordance with policy departments' instructions.

Freedom of information

Freedom of information requestsCentrelink handles requests for access to documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982. All Centrelink Customer Service Advisers can release a range of documents to the particular individual outside the formal Freedom of Information (FOI) process. Centrelink Customer Service Advisers can also assist an applicant to lodge a formal FOI request.

When a Centrelink customer requests access to their income support payment documents FOI fees and processing charges generally do not apply. Authorised FOI Officers handle both formal and informal FOI requests. Information about making a FOI request is on the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au

Request statisticsDuring 2007-08, 16 163 requests were received. This represents an 11.5 per cent increase on the previous financial year. Taking into account cases pending from previous years, 16 191 requests were finalised. Of these, 9877 were processed as formal requests and 6314 were processed informally. The outcomes of the cases processed formally are:

applicants withdrew 225 requests before decisions on access were made

full access was granted in 7702 cases

part access was allowed in 1507 cases

access was refused in 437 cases, and

six cases were transferred to other agencies.

Reviews of Freedom of InformationDuring 2007-08, 90 FOI requests were received for an internal review. Of the reviews completed at the end of the year, 52 requests resulted in access or part access, and 24 resulted in affirming the original decision.

There were nine new applications to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of Centrelink FOI decisions. At 30 June 2008 results were:

four cases—original decision affirmed

one case—original decision withdrawn, and

four cases—decision pending.

For Centrelines statements in accordance with section 8 of the Freedom of information Act 1982 see Appendix 6, Reporting under the Freedom of information Act 1982.

Privacy of customer recordsCentrelink collects a large amount of personal information about customers. To protect this information, Centrelink has a strong privacy culture, which gives the community confidence that their personal information is safe. To reinforce this culture, Centrelink has a privacy education and awareness program for its employees.

The foundation of Centrelink’s privacy culture is the legal obligation to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and the confidentiality provisions contained in various legislation which it administers on behalf of policy departments, for example, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.

Privacy investigationsCentrelink Privacy Officers investigate all incidents that involve potential privacy breaches, including mail-out errors. Usually, Centrelink management, employees, customers, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Members of Parliament or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner report incidents. Centrelink also audits employee access to customers’ computer records to detect any unauthorised entry and continues to improve this capability by using data-matching and analysis techniques. During the 2007-08 there was a total of 355 proven privacy incidents, compared with 367 in 2006-07.

Table 15: Privacy breaches

Privacy incidents proven by breach type Number of incidents

Misdirected mail 141

Mail house 12

Unauthorised access 100

Unauthorised disclosure 13

Unauthorised use 1

Information Privacy Principle (IPP) 4 Storage and security (including self-service options)

33

IPPs 9-11 Disclosure (due to breakdown in procedures) 29

IPP 8 Accuracy 22

IPPs 1-3 Collection 4

Total 355

In 2007-08 Centrelink sent out more than 102 million letters to customers. There were 141 substantiated mail errors attributed to administrative error. There were also 12 substantiated mail house errors involving a technical error in production. These errors represent 43 per cent of the total number of privacy breaches.

Office of the Privacy CommissionerCentrelink has a close working relationship with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. This relationship helps in achieving quick referrals for investigation and responses to privacy complaint cases.

Fourteen open cases carried over from the previous financial year, into 2007-08. Another eight new cases were opened with the office, bringing the total to 22 cases for the year. Centrelink finalised 13 cases with the Office and, as at 30 June 2008, nine cases were still open.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner may issue a report or declaration about Centrelink under sections 30 and 52 of the Privacy Act 1988. These statutory reports and determinations enable the Privacy Commissioner to report directly to a Minister and to make a decision either to dismiss or to substantiate a complaint. During 2007-08 there were no reports or determinations issued under these sections by the Privacy Commissioner.

Management of new Budget initiativesCentrelink continued to work with policy departments and the Department of Human Services to deliver Government Budget initiatives in line with agreed implementation schedules. Centrelink performed well in meeting the required times. The status of all Budget initiatives is reported monthly to the Department of Human Services.

In July 2007, Centrelink had 84 initiatives in progress from previous Budgets.

At 30 June 2008, Centrelink had 66 continuing initiatives to deliver, as well as another 39 initiatives from the 2008-09 Budget. Table 16 lists measures implemented on schedule during 2007-08.

Table 16: Implemented measures at 30 June 2008

Budget year

Measure Responsible policy department1

2006-07 ABSTUDY and Pensioner Education Supplement-revision of rules for Vocational Education and Training certificate courses

DEEWR

2006-07 Aged care and pensions-further harmonisation DoHA

2006-07 Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment-introduction

FaHCSIA

2005-06 Carer Allowance-backdating provisions FaHCSIA

2006-07 Cyclone Larry-Business Assistance Fund DITR2

2005-06 Debt Prevention Research and Development DHS

2006-07 Domestic violence-Crisis Payments to victims who remain in the home

FaHCSIA

2006-07 Employment services-access for Age Pensioners DEEWR

2005-06 Family Assistance-a negotiated payment option to reduce overpayments

FaHCSIA

2005-06 Family Assistance-assistance to families at risk of overpayment

FaHCSIA

2005-06 Family Assistance-automatically updating income estimates FaHCSIA

2005-06 Family Assistance-improving debt recovery FaHCSIA

2006-07 Family Assistance-using reconciliation top-up payments and tax refunds to offset outstanding family assistance debts

FaHCSIA

2006-07 Fraud and Compliance-pilot program addressing undeclared DHS

Budget year

Measure Responsible policy department1

business income and assets

2006-07 Health and social services access card-introduction DVA

2006-07 Baby Bonus compulsory instalment payments for mothers under 18

FaHCSIA

2006-07 Pension assets test-changed treatment FaHCSIA

2006-07 Principal carers-assistance DEEWR

2006-07 Strengthening Indigenous Communities-extending Family Income Management and improving family payment outcomes for Indigenous children

FaHCSIA

2006-07 Strengthening Indigenous Communities-Remote Area Servicing-continue and expand funding

DEEWR

2007-08 Seniors Bonus Payment FaHCSIA

2007-08 A Better Future for Indigenous Australians-expanding employment pathways for Indigenous young people

DEEWR

2007-08 A Better Future for Indigenous Australians-Indigenous employment services

FaHCSIA

2007-08 Centrelink Assistance with Citizenship Testing DIAC

2007-08 Child Care Benefit-increased rates DEEWR

2007-08 Drought Assistance-Exceptional Circumstances assistance for primary producers (including interim)

DHS

2007-08 Drought Assistance-Exceptional Circumstances assistance for small businesses (including interim)

DHS

2007-08 Health Care Cards for Ex-Carer Allowance (child) students aged 16-25 years.

FaHCSIA

2007-08 Northern Territory Emergency Response-Accelerating removal of Remote Area Exemptions

DHS

2007-08 Parenting Payment-expanding access to supplementary concessions

DEEWR

2007-08 Provision of automatic exemptions to principal carers who care for a child as a result of a parenting order made under the Family Law Act

FaHCSIA

Budget year

Measure Responsible policy department1

2007-08 Realising Our Potential-extending income support to Masters students

DEEWR

2007-08 Realising Our Potential-extending Rent Assistance to Austudy recipients

DEEWR

2007-08 Youth Allowance-participation requirements for payment eligibility

DEEWR

2007-08 Respite brokerage for Older Carers FaHCSIA

1.Responsible policy departments listed in Table 16 reflect 2007 machinery of government changes.

2.Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources.

Some initiatives were significant in their size and impact on both customers and Centrelink business—for example, the Northern Territory Emergency Response in Chapter 4, Strengthening our customer focus inline with the government direction. Other initiatives changed existing programs, for example the Carer, Age Pension, and Families programs.

One-off bonus for carersThe 2008-09 Budget included a one-off bonus for carers. Centrelink paid the bonus to customers receiving the following payments:

Carer Payment

CarerAllowance

Wife Pension and Carer Allowance, and

Department of Veterans' Affairs Partner Service Pension and Carer Allowance.

Child Disability Assistance PaymentIn June 2007, the Australian Government announced an annual $1000 payment to help families caring for a child with a disability, aged under 16 years. Paid by Centrelink for each child who qualified their parent/carer for Carer Allowance (child) on 1 July 2007, the money is to help purchase assistance. Families can choose how to spend the money. They may, for example, buy a wheelchair, install a hoist in the family home, modify the family car or pay for respite care or therapy.

The eligibility date for future yearly payments is 1 July.

Age Pension ProgramIn 2007-08, Centrelink reached a milestone with the two millionth customer receiving Age Pension.

Because of changes to the Pension Assets Test Taper Rate in September 2007, many senior Australians could access the pension for the first time or get a higher rate of payment.

On 1 January 2008, Centrelink implemented changes to the Pension Bonus Scheme, which made the scheme more flexible. Several bereavement payments were paid to spouses of people who were members of the scheme but died before making a claim. Under the previous rules, nothing

was payable. The scheme is now more generous, with top-up bonuses paid in some circumstances.

Senior Bonus paymentThe 2008-09 Budget included a one-off non-taxable $500 bonus payment for older Australians. Centrelink made payments to customers receiving Age Pension, Wife Pension, Widow B Pension, Mature Age Allowance, Partner Allowance, Widow Allowance, and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders. The bonus was also paid to people who had reached age pension age and receiving Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, Bereavement Allowance, Austudy, Parenting Payment or Special Benefit.

Around 2.5 million bonuses were paid as at 30 June 2008.

Funeral Bond Exemption measureAn extension to the Funeral Bond Exemption measure was announced in the 2007-08 Budget. The measure increased the amount that customers could invest for their funeral expenses without having the capital or interest assessed for social security purposes. Previously customers could only have one bond exempted, provided it cost no more than $5000. From 1 January 2008, when the measure was implemented, customers could have up to two bonds exempted, provided they cost no more in total than the new $10 000 allowable limit.

By 1 January 2008, around 2750 bonds became eligible for exemption. In the next three months another 1350 new funeral bonds were exempted—an increase of about five per cent. On 1 July 2008, annual indexation increased the allowable limit to $10 250.

Families ProgramDuring 2007-08 Centrelink successfully implemented a number of Family Assistance government initiatives and improved Family Assistance systems, processes and procedures.

Changes to the Child Support SchemeOn 28 February 2006, the Australian Government announced major reforms to the Child Support Scheme.

In 2007-08 Centrelink worked closely with the Child Support Program to develop a combined estimator for customers. The estimator means customers can now get an online estimate of both their family assistance and their child support entitlements using one tool.

Centrelink continued to work closely with FaHCSIA and the Child Support Program to implement the changes to Family Assistance resulting from the reforms. The changes applying from 1 July 2008 include:

changing how shared care is assessed

aligning child support and family assistance income definitions

enhancing data exchange between the two agencies

changing the maintenance income test, and

changing how child support agreements are assessed for Family Tax Benefit.

Baby BonusFrom 1 July 2007, Maternity Payment was renamed the Baby Bonus. Eligibility remained the same, except that from 1 July 2007 to get the Baby Bonus parents need to tell the Family Assistance Office that they have registered (or applied to register) their child's birth with the relevant state/territory birth registry. Customers have 26 weeks from the date of the child's birth to

register the birth and claim Baby Bonus. Hospitals and midwives help to distribute claim forms and information.

Multiple Birth AllowanceFrom 1 January 2008, Multiple Birth Allowance became payable for triplets, quadruplets and larger birth sets until the children turned 16. Previously, families with multiple birth children experienced a significant drop in assistance when the children turned six. The changed rules recognise that the cost of raising multiple birth children does not go down as the children get older. If three or more eligible children from the same birth set continue in full-time study, Multiple Birth Allowance is payable until the end of the year when the eldest child turns 18.

Crisis Payment extended to newly arrived refugeesMost refugees arrive in Australia with very few personal possessions or funds. Initially, they are confronted with significant financial burdens and most do not have any accumulated resources or support networks to call on for financial help. In response to recommendations from the Interdepartmental Committee on Humanitarian Settlement, Centrelink now delivers Crisis Payment for Humanitarian Entrants. Introduced from 1 January 2008, the payment is expected to assist 6800 newly arrived refugees and their families each year. Crisis Payment is a one-off payment that is made to a range of customers who are in severe hardship and extreme circumstances.

Chapter 4: Strengthening our customer focus in line with government directionStrengthening our customer focus in line with government direction Centrelink's strategic theme ‘strengthening our customer focus in line with government direction' achieves our outcome by ensuring that we continue to build on our strong customer focus when delivering government policies and agendas.

Centrelink tracks its performance against this strategic theme by measuring:

improvements in customer access to services

overall level of customer satisfaction, and

increases in online transactions.

Top level resultsTable 17: Centrelink targets and results for 2007

Target Result

Improvements in customer access to services

- improving access by implementing the Integrated Service Delivery Network

100% of milestones achieved

84%

Overall level of customer satisfaction 86% 88.3%

Increases in online transactions 5% increase on 2006-07

16.04% increase on 2006-07

Highlights for 2007-08 Embedded significant Welfare to Work changes to participation requirements for

‘grandfathered' Parenting Payment customers, which took effect from 1 July 2007

strengthened the structure of Centrelink Customer Relations Units to better meet the needs of customers giving Centrelink feedback, and particularly to improve complaints management, and

completed 234 141 Job Capacity Assessments, with 83.3 per cent identifying that the customer could benefit from assistance and recommending a referral to the most appropriate service.

Strategic objectives Improve access to services by implementing the Integrated Service Delivery Network

Make it easier for customers to deal with Centrelink within government policy and directions

Improve access to services by implementing the Integrated Service Delivery NetworkThe Integrated Service Delivery Network (ISDN) program is focused on improving Centrelink's service delivery integration, access and value for money. This financial year saw the development and successful implementation of a number of ISDN projects designed to improve the capability, capacity and flexibility of Centrelink's business and convenience for customers.

In 2007-08, 31 of the 37 monthly milestones for the Integrated Service Delivery Network were met. Outstanding at the end of June 2008 was the construction and fit out of the Concept Office Laboratory and Evaluation Facility. The delay was due to installation problems with audiovisual equipment. Centrelink is dealing with these issues and the laboratory is scheduled to open in October 2008.

Milestones reached included:

implementing a new Service Delivery Model across Centrelink's service delivery network. This model provides a consistent and flexible service across the face-to-face and call network. In standardising workflows, business processes and systems, customers are assured of access to the right information, advice, products and services

improving support for employees delivering Centrelink services by upgrading of reference materials such as the National Access Guide and Centrelink's e-Reference intranet facility

establishing support centres to provide employees with quality specialist information by phone while they are assisting customers

developing Detailed Business Requirements to introduce an innovative queue management system. This system was validated by a proof of concept in 2007. During 2008-11 Centrelink will continue to develop and introduce a demand management contact system which gauges customer demand for face-to-face services and ensures resources are available to meet anticipated demand, and

opening of the Tuggeranong Concept Office in September 2007, continues to provide opportunities to evaluate business processes and service delivery initiatives before they become part of the way Centrelink does business. The Concept Office also hosted international delegations and representatives of other government departments and agencies—see the Case Study about the Concept Office on page 58.

Deliver the Welfare to Work and Pathways to Work agendasAnnounced in the 2005-06 Budget, the Welfare to Work measures continue to result in significant changes to Centrelink's service delivery. The measures relate to policies and programs that are the responsibility of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Department of Human Services.

In 2007-08 Centrelink's Welfare to Work focus was to introduce new compulsory part-time participation requirements, see Parenting Payment changes later in this chapter.

Welfare to WorkRapidConnectRapidConnect connects eligible job seekers to employment service providers within two days. Activity tested job seekers are required to link with the Job Network before they are eligible to receive income support.

As at 30 June 2008, 93 per cent of job seekers were connected within two days.

Referral to employment service providersCentrelink plays a key role in connecting Australians with services designed to assist them gain employment or address barriers preventing their engagement with the labour market. Centrelink refers customers to employment assistance programs as part of their compulsory Activity Test requirements or participation requirements. They can also be referred to a range of assessments and activities designed to determine their capacity to engage in the labour market.

As part of its broader role in supporting Australians to access community services, Centrelink also refers its customers to community agencies and not-for-profit organisations. Because a customer's circumstances can change, referrals can be made at any point. In this way Centrelink plays a critical role in supporting vulnerable people by ensuring they have specialist support when they need it.

Job Capacity AssessmentsUnder Welfare to Work people with an illness, injury or disability applying for income support or employment assistance may have to have a Job Capacity Assessment. These provide a comprehensive assessment of an individual's work capacity and any barriers to finding employment, including the effect of any medical conditions on their ability to work.

Centrelink uses Job Capacity Assessments to help determine an individual's eligibility for income support, their participation requirements, and whether to refer them to interventions and

assistance, including from employment service providers or other assistance programs, to help them improve their work capacity.

With approximately 52 per cent of market share for providing Job Capacity Assessments, Centrelink was the largest provider of these services in 2007-08, completing 234 720 assessments nationally. Of these, 83.4 per cent identified the client could benefit from a program of assistance and recommended a referral to the most appropriate service.

Centrelink delivers Job Capacity Assessments from 298 Centrelink Customer Service Centres across Australia, as well as through visiting services in remote and rural locations. The Centrelink Assessor workforce of over 470 allied health professionals includes psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. These allied health professionals may also deliver appropriate pre-vocational interventions paid for through the Job Capacity Account.

Job Capacity AccountAs part of Welfare to Work, Job Capacity Assessors have access to the Job Capacity Account to fund short-term interventions such as cognitive behaviour therapy, behaviour management and modification interventions, pain management and counselling programs. These programs help job seekers overcome barriers to workforce participation and improve their ability to benefit from Job Network assistance.

Centrelink Job Capacity Assessors referred over 15 362 customers to Job Capacity Account interventions in 2007-08. These interventions were delivered by a range of health professionals, within and external to Centrelink.

Participation Solutions TeamsParticipation Solutions Teams were introduced from July 2006. The teams continue to work closely with the Centrelink Customer Service Centres and the Call Centre network to ensure that potentially vulnerable customers who are not meeting their participation requirements have immediate access to Centrelink employees within a specialised multi-disciplinary team including:

Customer Service Advisers

social workers

Indigenous Services Officers

Senior Customer Service Advisers Disability/Parenting, and

Multicultural Service Officers.

The teams carry out individual assessments with customers to assess barriers to participation.

Social workers are an essential part of the service to customers who may face a participation or serious failure. The social worker identifies a person's possible problems and barriers and provides this information to the Centrelink decision maker to ensure that customers are not inappropriately penalised because of circumstances beyond their control.

Compliance frameworkThe Welfare to Work compliance framework closely links the payment of income support to an individual's participation in the labour market. It affects Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance, Austudy, Parenting Payment or Special Benefit customers who have compulsory Activity Test or participation requirements.

Centralised Centrelink teams investigate and make decisions on customer non-compliance with participation or activity test requirements. In some cases, non-compliance without reasonable excuse can result in a non-payment period. Having centralised expert teams means better quality and more consistent decisions and that all factors are taken into account before payments are affected.

Financial case managementWhen a job seeker with dependent children faces an eight-week non-payment period, Centrelink offers financial case management services to help prevent hardship.

Eligible job seekers may have their essential expenses paid up to the limit of the income support they would otherwise have received. Essential expenses include reasonable costs of living, such as food and other household provisions (for example, laundry detergent, and personal hygiene and pharmaceutical products), rent, mortgages, medical expenses, rates, gas, electricity, phone, public transport and other reasonable costs.

Centrelink continues to encourage non-government organisations to apply to join Centrelink's register to provide financial case management. Registered organisations are paid a service fee for each job seeker they assist. When a customer cannot or chooses not to deal with a non-government agency, a Centrelink Social Workers will deliver financial case management services.

As at 30 March 2008 there were 69 non-government organisations on the register, covering approximately 60 per cent of Centrelink's network.

Parenting Payment changesIn 2007-08 Centrelink introduced the new, compulsory part-time participation requirements for parents who were receiving Parenting Payment before 30 June 2006, and whose youngest child is aged seven years or older. These changes took effect from 1 July 2007 and were implemented in a phased approach.

Voluntary and community workVolunteering activities can satisfy Activity Test and mutual obligation requirements if a person is aged 55 years or over. Through Community Work Coordinators, Centrelink approves the voluntary organisation and community work for the job seekers involved.

NTER—a personal experienceRoyston is a team leader in the Centrelink Indigenous Response Team involved in the Australian Government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER). Royston plays a key role in helping remote Indigenous Australians understand Income Management. ‘One of the positives of the NTER I’ve seen, especially coming from a small remote community myself, is the success of Income Management through the stores,’ he said.Royston is a team leader in the Centrelink Indigenous Response Team involved in the Australian Government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER). Royston plays a key role in helping remote Indigenous Australians understand Income Management. ‘One of the positives of the NTER I’ve seen, especially coming from a small remote community myself, is the success of Income Management through the stores,’ he said.

‘The biggest advantage that Income Management has brought is that there is money available at the store for people to buy food and have their children fed. People have told me that they are happy knowing that there is food money for them at the store’.

Royston’s experience in the Northern Territory has given him an opportunity to make a direct contribution to others’ lives. Even if it is one interview at a time, one customer at a time, a difference is being made.

Northern Territory Emergency ResponseIn response to the Little Children are Sacred report, on 21 June 2007 the former Government announced national emergency measures to protect Indigenous children in the Northern Territory from abuse.

The measures included child health checks, more police, sending in government business managers, banning alcohol and pornography, community clean-ups, changing the permit system, and introducing an Income Management regime.

The Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) represents some of the most significant whole-of-government social policy initiatives and a fundamental change in the way many services are delivered. Centrelink played a major role in the response, with the service delivery network supporting implementation of the measures. In 2007-08, 985 Centrelink employees delivered these services.

Income ManagementAs at 27 June 2008 Centrelink had rolled out Income Management in 53 communities and eight town camps in the Northern Territory, with 13 305 customers being income managed.

Through Income Management customers can use part of their Centrelink payments to meet the cost of priority needs such as rent, food, clothing and utilities.

As at 27 June 2008, $31 million has been income managed since Income Management started in September 2007. Food is the major item purchased (72 per cent).

Implemented in stages, the NTER allows government agencies to work out the needs of each community, and then coordinate the service delivery to those communities.

Teams were established to visit communities in stages, including:

scoping and survey teams—which initially visited communities to assess the range of issues and community requirements, and included FaHCSIA, DEEWR, Indigenous Coordination Centre, Norforce and Australian Federal Police employees

remote visiting teams—which included Centrelink and DEEWR employees who prepared communities for lifting of Remote Area Exemptions, and

Income Management teams—which consisted of Centrelink senior employees, a social worker and others who visited communities, including pre-Income Management visits, to provide information to communities about Income Management.

Centrelink Social Workers involved in the remote community visits:

provided case consultation to Centrelink employees in complex cases

supported Centrelink employees to manage the Income Management work

liaised with relevant government and non-government agencies as required

notified the Northern Territory Department of Families and Community Services about children considered at risk of abuse

provided crisis intervention and supported team members to assist distressed customers

assessed eligibility for emergency payments (for example, crisis payment because of domestic violence)

supported vulnerable customers including those aged under 16 years

referred customers to appropriate services

collected information about emerging issues and service gaps to provide service and policy feedback

informed team members about available services/support for customers, and

debriefed teams and provided referrals to support services (for example, Employee Assistanc Programs) as required.

Case StudyPositive outcomes for Income ManagementThe Docker River community is 670 kms southwest from Alice Springs by road via Uluru and it takes around seven hours to drive there. The last 190 kms is dirt road. It is seven kms east of the West Australian border and has a population of 311. Of these, 175 people on Centrelink payments are income managed.

‘There has been a dramatic increase (about 70 per cent) in food and clothing sales at the community store since Income Management has been introduced to Docker River,’ said Adriana Bugg, Community Store Manager. She has had to order in extra food supplies and bought a new freezer to help meet increased customer demand. Plans are also already under way to increase freezer storage. Adriana said Income Management has had a positive effect on the community, as people are now getting good food and clothing and value for their money.

Increasing Indigenous peoples' participation

Community Development Employment ProjectsCommunity Development Employment Projects (CDEP) is an Australian Government initiative for unemployed Indigenous people, initially administered by Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and now administered by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Torres Strait Regional Authority.

CDEP aims to support Indigenous Australians to achieve economic independence.

On 10 December 2007 the Hon. Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs announced a moratorium on dismantling CDEP in Northern Territory communities and associated areas. CDEP will be reintroduced from 1 July 2008 in the Northern Territory prescribed communities.

By 30 June 2008, 31 communities and associated homelands, outstations and town camps hac transitioned from CDEP, with 1866 customers claiming other income support payments.

Lifting Remote Area ExemptionsUntil recently, many people living in remote communities receiving an activity tested income support payment were not required to meet activity test requirements. This was called Remote Area Exemptions (RAEs). The previous Government decided to remove RAEs for this group as a key step in increasing participation in remote communities and improving job seeker's skills so they are better equipped to take on local jobs.

As part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response all RAEs were removed for Northern Territory customers who were referred to employment activities. Progressive removal of the rest of

RAEs for customers outside the Northern Territory is under way and scheduled for completion by 30 January 2009.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations is working with Centrelink and the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs to implement this decision.

During 2007-08 Centrelink continued to assess and refer customers, develop and supply management information, and provide input to strategic plans based on local knowledge and relationships with communities.

Indigenous servicing

Centrelink's commitment to reconciliation and improving Indigenous servicingCentrelink is committed to the principles of reconciliation, and through its Indigenous Servicing Strategy and Reconciliation Action Plans continues to improve services to Indigenous Australians. Launched in 2006, the strategy and plans are now well integrated in Centrelink operations and form the blueprint for future Indigenous service delivery improvements.

Reconciliation Action PlanAlong with eight other organisations, Centrelink formed Reconciliation Australia's ‘Trailblazer' group, which helped develop Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs). In its RAP Annual Progress Report for 2007, Centrelink reported:

developing a Cultural Awareness training package for use within Department of Human Services' agencies

implementing the National Indigenous Debt Prevention Strategy

improving service delivery access for Indigenous Australians by expanding the Remote Area Service Centre network, and

agreeing with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs on a new Indigenous Protocol for the Business Partnership Agreement, which focuses on improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

Indigenous Servicing StrategyThe Indigenous Servicing Strategy is based on Centrelink's Strategic Themes and involves working closely with communities to provide culturally responsive Indigenous service options. Place based outcomes achieved during 2007-08 include:

working closely with communities to promote Indigenous Call Centres and online services

creating cross-sectoral community partnerships which led to improved services and support

providing feedback to policy departments on local effectiveness of programs and services

recruiting Indigenous trainees and cadets at the local level and providing scholarships and leadership programs for Indigenous employees

recognising the innovation, creativity and achievements of Indigenous employees through Area award and recognition schemes, and

developing local participation activities that benefit Indigenous communities.

National Indigenous CoalitionThe National Indigenous Coalition (NIC) was established in July 2000. The coalition provides strategic direction to Centrelink's Indigenous servicing and develops initiatives to improve service delivery for Indigenous customers and their communities.

Made up of a wide cross section of Indigenous employees and some non-Indigenous employees working specifically in Indigenous servicing from across Centrelink, the NIC gives Centrelink employees opportunities through:

providing input to the whole-of-government approach to Indigenous servicing

establishing partnerships with key stakeholders to improve working arrangements with internal and external agencies that provide services to Indigenous customers and communities

managing and monitoring the performance of Indigenous services, payments and programs

strengthening stakeholder relationships with peak bodies to help address Indigenous issues

managing and developing new business opportunities with relevant stakeholder groups and private industry, and

providing accurate, consistent and timely advice to relevant stakeholders about Indigenous issues.

In 2007-08 the coalition provided advice and input to the:

National Indigenous Debt Strategy

National Indigenous Employee Plan

Statement of Centrelink's Commitment to Reconciliation

Centrelink Indigenous Servicing Strategy

Centrelink Participation Solutions Team Indigenous Workflow Protocols, and

Centrelink's planned Indigenous Employees Investigation Protocol.

Service improvements to customers in remote Indigenous communitiesIn 2007-08 five Remote Area Service Centres moved to full service delivery. They are at Fitzroy Crossing and Meekatharra in Western Australia and Yuendumu, Borroloola and Wadeye in the Northern Territory. Each centre has four Centrelink employees who also service the surrounding communities. Employees are usually Indigenous community members living and working in or near the community.

During the year, the average number of weekly operating hours for Centrelink Agents in the Northern Territory increased from 17 to 34. This meant Agents could take on the extra workload following the introduction of Income Management and lifting of Remote Area Exemptions. Although Agents are not Centrelink employees they provide important access to Centrelink services, particularly for customers in remote locations.

In April 2008 Centrelink began a trial of desktop faxing between the Indigenous Call Centre in Palmerston (Northern Territory) and Centrelink Agent sites. Call Centre employees use the desktop to fax claim forms to customers who phone the Call Centre. It is faster than using conventional fax machines, reduces wait times and more calls are processed.

A program to upgrade the infrastructure at Agent sites in the Northern Territory also started in 2007-08. This includes installing new equipment and extra phone lines, and making minor property improvements.

Centrelink also began to discuss the impact of local government reforms on contract arrangements for delivering Agents' services with the Northern Territory and Queensland governments. The reforms mean making alternative arrangements with new shire councils from 1 July 2008.

Make it easier for customers to deal with CentrelinkCustomer satisfactionCustomer satisfaction with Centrelink services increased from 86.1 per cent in 2006-07 to 88.3 per cent in 2007-08.

Figure 4: Overall customer satisfaction with last contact with Centrelink. 2004–05 to 2007–08

Source: Customer Service Centre Satisfaction Survey and Call Centre Satisfaction Survey, DBM Consultants.

Figure 4 compares the percentage of customers who rated the overall quality of people, services and information as either ‘very good' or ‘good' on their last visit to a Centrelink Customer Service Centre or phone call to a Call Centre. Over the last few years, Centrelink has improved the way it measures customer satisfaction to better reflect customers' overall impressions. From 2005-06, the index has measured satisfaction by program lines. In previous years the index focused solely on channels of service delivery. When comparing the results from year to year, changes in measurement must be taken into consideration.

For more information, see Appendix 7, Centrelink’s Customer and Community Satisfaction Survey program.

Improving delivery of our servicesFollowing the successful introduction of the standard service delivery model, work this year focused on ensuring customers receive consistent access to Centrelink services from our national network of offices and Call Centres.

Improvements to Centrelink service delivery were evaluated and through trials in the newly opened Concept Office, located in Tuggeranong, Australian Capital Territory. This office enables evaluation of new initiatives in real circumstances and points to possible improvements. It also offers new opportunities to work with other government departments to provide greater access to government services.

Centrelink is also investing in the future by using modern technologies and improved understanding of customer demand to deliver services to customers in the most convenient and efficient ways. This involves improving support for employees and integrating our processes, systems, tools and communication; and continues to improve Centrelink's flexibility in responding to customer and government needs.

Case StudyConcept Office—a fresh new approachThe Concept Office, located at Tuggeranong in the Australian Capital Territory, was established in July 2007 to trial customer service improvements and innovations. The new office layout was designed to create a friendlier and more relaxed environment where customers feel welcome and can access support.

When customers arrive, a Customer Liaison Officer greets them and uses a handheld tablet portable computer to place them in a ‘virtual’ waiting room. While they are waiting, they can read a newspaper in a comfortable waiting area or do business on one of 10 self-service flat-screen computers.

In the shopfront window, promotional touch screens run 24 hours a day, displaying useful community information.

Tests and evaluation of the new facilities show the Concept Office has significantly improved customers’ impressions of Centrelink—for example, one customer said: ‘Overall the office had a very fresh and vibrant feel. The office design is very professional and at the same time relaxed and friendly’.

Face-to-face service delivery

Customer Service Centre queue wait timesCentrelink maintains its strong commitment to improving customers' experiences when they visit Centrelink Customer Service Centres. In 2007-08, 57.7 per cent of customers rated the ‘length of time in a queue' as either ‘good' or ‘very good' on their last visit to a Centrelink Customer Service Centre. This compares with 57.6 per cent in 2006-07.

Centrelink uses several strategies that help employees to increase customer satisfaction with queue wait times. During the year, these included:

increasing business that customers can complete through self-service

improving information about best practice service delivery

having Area-based Operations Support Advisers to help Centrelink Customer Service Centres improve the way they manage their customer traffic and reduce queues

providing Customer Service Liaison Officers to greet and help customers complete their business

placing Customer Service Delivery Business Managers in Area Support Offices to support improved customer service, and

maintaining a Concept Office to trial customer service improvements and innovations, and to get detailed and ongoing customer and employee feedback about Centrelink's services and facilities.

Rural servicesIn 2007-08 Centrelink streamlined its management of rural servicing as a key element in its Serving Country Australia strategy. The six ‘pillars' that underpin the strategy are:

the Murray-Darling Basin Project

mobile servicing units

Rural Services Officers

Agents and Access Points

Rural Call, and

rural payments (including drought assistance).

Murray-Darling BasinIn 2007-08 Centrelink set up a Murray-Darling Basin Service Delivery Coordination Unit in response to prolonged drought and reduced water allocations in the region. Based in Griffith, New South Wales, the unit coordinates on-the-ground support for irrigators and farming communities. This includes coordinating the work of three rural psychologists and eight extra Centrelink Social Workers. Their main role is to establish place-based projects to assist in building the capacity of disadvantaged communities to cope with the effects of drought and reduced water allocations. The

unit also coordinates the Murray-Darling Assistance Bus and the work of Rural Services Officers in areas around the Basin.

Mobile servicing unitsCentrelink's mobile servicing units, including the Murray-Darling Basin Assistance Bus, continued to travel around rural Australia to provide information and assistance to farmers and small business owners, their families and rural communities. In 2007-08 the mobile servicing units also offered services on farms, rather than just in town centres.

During the year the units travelled 96 813 kms, making over 630 visits to 459 towns. Centrelink Rural Services Officers, Customer Service Advisers, social workers, rural psychologists and Medicare Australia employees provide services from the buses. Often, state and local organisations' representatives are also on board.

Mobile service units played a key role in Centrelink's responses to emergencies and natural disasters. As fully equipped mobile offices, the buses are ideal for rapid deployment to areas where normal infrastructure is damaged. In 2007-08 buses were sent to provide emergency assistance to flood affected Queensland communities such as Mackay, Charleville and Emerald.

On 22 November 2007, Centrelink received the Prime Minister's Gold Award for the Australian Government Drought Bus. The award is the highest level of the Institute of Public Administration Australia Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Sector Management. The awards focus on specific projects, initiatives or change processes, and are based on demonstrating success against demanding criteria.

Rural Services OfficersA network of Rural Services Officers works throughout rural and regional Australia to increase awareness of, and access to, Australian Government programs and services.

Expanded in 2007-08 by almost half to help meet the demand of the ongoing drought, more than 60 Rural Services Officers provide a vital connection between the Australian Government and farming communities and agriculturally dependent small businesses. Rural Services Officers take services out of Centrelink offices into peoples' homes and communities. In 2007-08 Rural Services Officers conducted over 4500 farm visits, participated in over 3000 seminars and field days, and made more than 20 000 contacts with financial, community, health, other government, education and industry bodies.

Centrelink Agents and Access PointsAs at 30 June 2008 Centrelink had 573 Agents and Access Points throughout regional, rural and remote Australia. These give customers access to free phone, fax and photocopier services, plus internet enabled computers in Agent sites to help them conduct their Centrelink business. There are:

181 Indigenous Community Agent sites in rural and remote areas

13 Indigenous Access Points in remote areas

192 Agent sites in rural locations, and

187 Access Point sites in rural locations.

Rural CallCentrelink has two Rural Call Centres in Maryborough, Queensland and Port Augusta, South Australia. The centres assist rural and remote customers and Centrelink Agents in specific geographic ‘footprints' that cover the majority of Queensland and South Australia. Employees answer calls about all Centrelink payments and services.

As well, the Rural Call Centres run specialist hotlines that are established for particular customer groups, such as the Murray-Darling Basin Assistance Line, the South Australian Droughtlink Hotline (on behalf of the South Australian Government), the Drought Assistance Hotline and the Farmers Assistance Hotline.

Rural paymentsIn 2007-08 Centrelink received 19 662 claims for Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment (drought assistance).

In September 2007 extra drought assistance measures were introduced for farmers and small businesses. The new programs include the Irrigation Management Grant and the Exceptional Circumstances Exit Package. Irrigation Management Grants assisted irrigators in the Murray-Darling Basin to implement water management strategies to cope with drought and reduced water allocations. In 2007-08 over 7880 claims were granted.

Overall, Centrelink-administered drought assistance programs represented $552 million extra going into drought affected communities.

Multicultural ServicesCentrelink's commitment to multicultural Australia is reflected in a range of specialised multicultural services.

Multicultural Service OfficersIn 2007-08 Centrelink continued to operate a network of 70 Multicultural Service Officers (MSOs) across Australia in Centrelink Customer Service Centres that have high levels of migrant and/or refugee customers. Each officer covers a defined geographical area so that all Centrelink Customer Service Centres can access multicultural expertise.

MSOs assist Centrelink to develop effective relationships with communities and their representatives and to forge links with government and non-government agencies locally. The officers also work with local multicultural communities and Centrelink's service delivery network to ensure customers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds receive the same level of service as other Centrelink customers. This may, for example, involve assisting customers in practical ways, building employees' cultural awareness, distributing information to communities, and providing feedback and advice to Centrelink on multicultural community issues.

In 2007-08, MSOs undertook a total of 12 662 activities. Activities include:

responding to inquiries from people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds

assisting Customer Service Advisers with complex cases

holding seminars for customers to provide information about Budget initiatives

recognition of overseas qualifications, and

services for refugees.

In 2007-08 MSO activities assisted 319 867 people including Centrelink customers (64 391), Centrelink employees (38 610) and community members (216 866).

Case StudyMeeting customer service needs— the Muslim communityA significant number of Centrelink customers come from backgrounds of cultural and linguistic diversity, including many from Muslim communities.

Increasingly, when dealing with Centrelink, this group of customers have been identifying themselves as Muslim as well as from a specific cultural or ethnic background.

Centrelink employees want to ensure that they are providing appropriate customer service to this group of customers.

As a result, an action plan has been developed that includes a range of information for Centrelink employees on Islam and Muslim communities, as well as the development and implementation of an employees communication strategy about the month of Ramadan and its significance for Muslim customers.

The overall aim is to ensure that customer service for Muslim customers is consistent and appropriate.

Centrelink Multicultural Service Officers will continue to work closely with Muslim communities and to liaise with Centrelink employees on issues relating to the Muslim community.

Refugee servicesCentrelink continued to maintain a specialised unit which oversights customer service needs of newly arrived refugee and humanitarian entrants and their communities.

Following suggestions from national consultations with African community groups in 2006, the unit implemented a range of service delivery improvements. In the first quarter of 2008, Centrelink again consulted with African community groups across Australia. Centrelink is responding to comments and suggestions that came out of these consultations by improving service delivery to African communities. (For more information, see African community consultations in Chapter 5, Developing a networked organisation.)

Communicating with multicultural customersCentrelink has a range of communication strategies and products to improve access to services and information for multicultural customers. In 2007-08 Centrelink:

broadcast fortnightly on SBS Radio in 21 languages

continued regular distribution of Centrelink broadcasts to multicultural community radio across Australia

syndicated translated weekly editorials to 44 multicultural newspapers in 28 languages, and

produced and distributed The Journey—a quarterly newsletter reaching 1600 community agencies and providing up-to-date information on Australian Government programs affecting multicultural customers.

Community profilesIn 2007-08 Centrelink developed community profiles of new and emerging communities to assist Centrelink employees to better understand their cultures and backgrounds. The profiles include information on cultural values and languages, and provide good practice models for interaction with customers.

Language servicesCentrelink continues to provide free interpreting services for customers who prefer to deal with Centrelink in a language other than English.

Centrelink manages a national panel of 2511 contract interpreters and translators who help employees to communicate effectively with customers in more than 210 languages. Services are also provided to several other Australian Government agencies.

In 2007-08 Centrelink provided the following language services:

61 574 pre-booked onsite interpreter appointments

28 826 pre-booked telephone appointments

56 724 ‘on-demand' telephone interpreter requests, and

translations of 4295 customers' personal documents that were required to support their Centrelink claims.

During the year Centrelink increased the number of languages offered to cater for new arrivals entering Australia from Africa and South East Asia.

Centrelink also introduced an automated, on-demand interpreter booking system to reduce waiting times.

In 2007-08 contract-provided sessional interpreter services were offered in 33 languages for an average of 2732 hours a week in 63 Centrelink Customer Service Centres.

Information package for Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy workersInformation on Centrelink's processes and services were tailored to meet the needs of Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS) workers. IHSS workers can access information via the Centrelink website through the Community Index to find out about registering an intent to claim on behalf of a customer, Centrelink's expectations, what to expect at the new claim interview, and other topics of interest.

Importantly, IHSS workers across Australia can find out about changes to Centrelink's Refugee Service framework as they happen.

Financial Information ServiceThe Centrelink Financial Information Service has around 150 Financial Information Service Officers across the national Centrelink Network.

The Financial Information Service is a financial education and information service that assists people to make informed decisions about saving and investing for their current and future financial needs. The Financial Information Service is available by phone, interviews, and a national program of seminars. The Financial Information Service is free, confidential, and available to all community members, whether or not they are Centrelink customers.

In 2007-08 Centrelink Financial Information Service Officers dealt with around 201 000 phone calls and conducted 89 000 interviews, 5800 hours of outreach, and held 1925 seminars for 90 000 participants. Included were 562 well-attended seminars on the pension assets test reforms.

In September 2007, the Financial Information Service delivered a seminar which included its one-millionth participant since the start of the service in 1996. This milestone highlights the continuing success and popularity of the Financial Information Service.

Social Work ServiceThe Centrelink Social Work Service has approximately 600 social workers working in over 300 locations around Australia in Centrelink Customer Service and Call Centres. Social workers provide high quality professional counselling, support and referral services to customers in crisis, and/or to customers with complex problems, which may be longstanding.

In 2007-08, 350 753 referrals were made to Centrelink Social Workers, involving a range of customers:

young people without adequate family support

people affected by family breakdown or domestic violence

people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness

customers in crisis

people who were out of the workforce for a long time, and who required extra assistance in meeting participation requirements, and

people with complex issues, including substance abuse, mental health issues, and/or difficulties with family or other relationships.

Social workers carried out professional assessment and intervention with customers, contributed to employee training, provided case consultancy and guidance to employees on customer issues, and responded to requests for assistance in disaster recovery. For examples of social work involvement in disaster recovery, see Emergency management in Chapter 5, Developing a networked organisation.

To ensure that Centrelink has a ready and responsive group of social workers, selected social workers participated in specific training during the year to build their disaster and emergency recovery knowledge and skills.

In response to Welfare to Work initiatives, the Social Work Service also improved its service delivery approach. Improvements were designed to increase access to, responsiveness of and consistency of the Social Work Service, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged customers.

As well, the Social Work Service:

provided suicide awareness training

worked with people affected by drought

contributed to social work education (for example, by providing fieldwork placements for social work students), and

carried out specific project work with at risk young people.

Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship-Social Work Domestic Violence AssessmentsUnder the domestic violence provisions of the Migration Regulations (1994), the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) can assist visa applicants who have left an abusive relationship with a former spouse or partner, and who have subsequently applied for a permanent visa. This means applicants may gain permanent residency without having to remain in an abusive situation provided they meet all other DIAC eligibility criteria.

Centrelink Social Workers have been contracted by DIAC since 2005 to provide an ‘independent expert' assessment service, for the more complex cases. Applicants are interviewed and their claims assessed, to determine whether they have experienced domestic violence, in line with the DIAC definition and provisions for domestic violence. In 2007-08, 125 referrals were received from DIAC and 16 referrals from the Migration Review Tribunal.

Since September 2007, a designated social worker with expertise in this area has undertaken this work rather than delegating assessments to a local office social worker. This new arrangement will be reviewed in September 2008, but has already shown greater efficiencies and better outcomes in terms of timeliness, training requirements, work capacity issues and quality assurance.

Disability Assistance Package and Transition Support WorkersIn 2007-08 the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) launched the Disability Assistance Package. Aimed at providing practical support and assistance to older carers of people with a disability, the measures include transition support, additional respite care, development of supported accommodation, and in-home care services.

From August 2007, the Centrelink Social Work Service delivered the Helping Older Carers and their Children—Transition Support Worker measure, to assist carers aged 65 years and older who care for children aged 40 years and older. Many of these older parents have spent years caring for a significantly disabled child, and are at a critical time in their lives as they age, become frail and potentially need medical assistance and support themselves. The Transition Support measure assists these parents to manage future care decisions and arrangements, as well as address any immediate care needs.

Centrelink Social Workers phoned the 5000 families deemed as eligible at the time, to offer transition support. From August until December 2007, they made home visits to the 1613 families who accepted this offer. Information from these home visits about service gaps was provided to FaHCSIA to assist in future planning.

Following the change of government in November 2007, a decision was made to transfer the Disability Assistance Package to the states and territories. In the meantime Centrelink Social Workers are continuing to help implement the Helping Older Carers initiative. Further follow up calls to the 1613 carers occurred from March till June 2008, in which social workers continued with the current transition service offer, advised of these changes and in some cases, offered additional respite care.

Influenza pandemic awareness trainingIn April 2007 the Australian Government approved the Pandemic Influenza—Managing Social and Community Impacts of a Pandemic project. Administered by FaHCSIA, the Influenza Pandemic Program has a number of measures, including a training package for all Australian Government social workers. Centrelink's Social Work Services Branch developed this training package in consultation with various Australian Government departments and agencies, internal stakeholders and the wider Australian social work community through the Australian Association of Social Workers.

The Influenza Pandemic training package is designed to ensure that Australian Government social workers have access to training that can assist in delivering counselling and support to affected Australian communities.

Family Relationship Advice Line-Parenting AdvisersThe Family Relationship Advice Line assists families who are experiencing relationship and separation issues, with a particular focus on the needs of children. Callers are given information about services that support healthy family relationships, the family law system, post-separation arrangements for children and other referral options.

The Australian Government Attorney-General's Department has contracted Centrelink Call network to support this line, and their legal advisers.

Call Centre social workers act as parenting advisers to discuss post-separation parenting arrangements, and to refer callers to appropriate support services, such as the new Family Relationship Centres. They also accept referrals from the Child Support Program, when requests are made to change child support arrangements.

Assisting vulnerable customers

HomelessnessCentrelink takes an integrated service approach to customers who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness. Recognising the unique needs of these customers, Centrelink delivers a range of programs and initiatives to help people access income support, stabilise their accommodation and participate more in Australia's economic and social life.

Centrelink is very often the ‘point of first contact' for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Approximately 94 per cent of homeless people of working age receive income support payments or access Centrelink services.

In 2007-08 Centrelink's Social Work Service assisted 58 483 customers who were homeless or experiencing accommodation problems, and continues to maintain strong relationships with community service providers working with homeless people.

Centrelink's Social Work Services Branch is assisting FaHCSIA to develop the Green and White papers on tackling homelessness.

Centrelink Community OfficersCentrelink Community Officers provide services to people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and who find it difficult to access mainstream Centrelink services. Community Officers deliver outreach services to a range of agencies that support homeless and at risk customers, including rehabilitation centres, psychiatric hospitals, prisons, hostels, boarding houses, refuges, drop in centres and organised meeting places.

Centrelink Community Officers receive consistently positive feedback from community organisations and homeless customers. The Centrelink Social Work Service provides ongoing support to the officers.

Household Organisational Management Expenses Advice ProgramThe Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME) Advice Program is an early intervention program which assists families at risk of homelessness to manage their finances and household expenses to prevent future accommodation crises. Funded by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the program is part of the National Homelessness Strategy, and since 2002 has assisted 3000 families, including 5500 children.

The program is delivered by community based non-government organisations in eight sites, one in each state and territory. This includes an Indigenous specific service—the Wodlitinattoai program in Salisbury, South Australia.

Centrelink Social Workers work in collaboration with the non-government organisations to help families maintain secure, appropriate and safe accommodation. Taking an early intervention approach the program is designed to help build family resilience and stronger coping skills.

Centrelink Social Workers and community agency caseworkers jointly assist families with resolving accommodation, budgeting and financial issues, and provide support and counselling, pathways to training and employment, and referrals to other services.

In 2007-08, Centrelink HOME Advice Program social workers conducted 4992 interventions with HOME Advice Program client families.

Also in 2007-08 the program was independently evaluated and received positive feedback with the recommendation that ‘the HOME Advice Program be expanded as an Australian Government early intervention/prevention program for assisting families at risk of homelessness'.

Case StudyHomelessness—taking it to the streetsFor more than 13 years, the Community Service Unit, part of the Fortitude Valley Centrelink Customer Service Centre (CSC), has been taking welfare services to the streets to ensure homeless people can access the help they need.

Fortitude Valley CSC Manager, Anthony, said ‘It’s well known that many homeless people, who display challenging behaviours while visiting CSCs and have complex servicing needs, are more comfortable in their own environment with people they know’.

‘Social Workers often take their laptops out into the streets literally bringing Centrelink services directly to the people,’ Anthony said.

Recognising the CSC’s tremendous work in getting assistance to those in need, the program received a highly commended honour at the Queensland Regional Heads Forum in November 2007.

Telstra Message BoxIn 2007-08 the Telstra Message Box is now available from 70 customer service centres across the country. A Telstra voicemail Message Box is provided for homeless or transient people to receive messages free of charge from family and friends.

Psychology ServiceThe Centrelink Psychology Service comprises over 450 psychologists across the national Centrelink Network. Psychologists have expertise in assisting people with mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders, multiple and severe barriers to participation, behavioural problems, and those with intellectual, cognitive or learning disorders.

In 2007-08 Centrelink Psychologists provided Job Capacity Assessments for customers along with other allied health professionals including physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers. Within this program Centrelink Psychologists delivered a range of short-term interventions for addressing barriers to employment participation through the Job Capacity Account program. These interventions include general counselling, cognitive behaviour therapy, drug and alcohol counselling, pain management programs, and psychometric testing.

Throughout the year, Centrelink Rural Psychologists also delivered a range of psychological services to rural communities. Services included professional counselling and support services to drought-affected farmers and their families; individual and group work; mental health training; and liaison with local mental health services and community organisations.

In 2007-08 Centrelink Psychologists made significant contributions during Mental Health Week and National Psychology Week. The Psychology Services Branch produced an employee training DVD about Indigenous mental health issues and an interactive mental health training package. The branch also developed and delivered employee training in positive leadership, stress management, positive psychology in the workplace, depression and trauma counselling.

Mental Health Subcommittee-Centrelink, Area West AustraliaIn 2006 Centrelink Area West Australia formed a Mental Health Subcommittee in response to Welfare to Work and feedback from community groups working with mutual customers living with mental health issues.

Hosted by Centrelink and chaired by an independent member, the subcommittee provides a strategic forum for liaison between Centrelink and West Australian mental health sector representatives about Centrelink services delivered to people living with mental illness.

The subcommittee suggests possible improvements and practical opportunities to better deliver Centrelink services that link mutual customers to education, training and work opportunities. The subcommittee also provides constructive feedback to help improve Centrelink's communications with customers about products and services.

In 2007-08 the subcommittee identified gaps in services and made an ongoing commitment to improve service delivery to this high-risk group. Centrelink Customer Service Advisers have become more vigilant in recording vulnerability indicators on Centrelink systems, which helps raise

awareness of the special needs of the customer during subsequent contacts. Area West Australia now has one of the highest percentages of customers identified as being vulnerable, which is a direct result of the subcommittee's work.

This year the subcommittee also acted as a direct feedback mechanism for key stakeholders, with open and frank discussions about the experiences for customers living with mental health issues. As well, the subcommittee worked with the Job Capacity Assessment provider network to improve practices for dealing with mental health issues.

The subcommittee is reviewing its terms of reference during 2008-09 to ensure it remains relevant as a reference group.

Services for prisonersTo help inmates due for release from prison to access Centrelink payments and services, a network of Prison Liaison Officers assist customers while they are still in prison. The program aims to assist prisoners to re-integrate into the community and to reduce recidivism. Program Protocol Agreements between Centrelink and each state and territory department of corrections provide the framework for the service arrangements.

In 2007-08 Centrelink carried out an internal audit to review prison servicing. As a result, Centrelink developed a Prison Governance Framework to ensure these vulnerable customers receive consistent and timely services. Strategies implemented to support the new framework include:

role and responsibility statements for all employees who provide prison services

minimum service standards for quality assurance

training for new Prison Liaison Officers through an online learning package

improving occupational health and safety arrangements with state and territory departments of corrections to minimise risk to Prison Liaison Officers, and

producing a DVD for use in prisons about the Centrelink services and payments available to offenders and prisoners on their release.

Work is also under way to find information technology solutions to improve Centrelink service delivery in prisons.

Call CentresCentrelink has 25 networked Call Centres around Australia, supported by Centrelink Call Support, which provides operational, financial, human resources and technical assistance.

Centrelink Call Centres deliver a range of government services and payments and provide specific services for customers in remote and regional Australia, for Indigenous customers, and for customers whose first language is other than English.

In 2007-08 Centrelink Call Centres successfully handled around 32.8 million calls, with customers either speaking to a Customer Service Adviser or using self-service options. Customer Service Advisers dealt with over 26.4 million calls, with an overall customer satisfaction rating of 90 per cent. This compares with 24.2 million calls and an 88.4 per cent rating in 2006-07.

Figure 5: Call Centre successful1 calls

1 Successful calls–the number of calls which access the entry point to Centrelink’s Call network.

Call Centre performanceIn the 2006-07 Budget, Centrelink Call was allocated additional funding of $115 million over two years ($65 million in 2006-07 and $50 million in 2007-08) to provide a reasonable service level in

response to growing customer demand. A ‘reasonable level’ of service is measured by achievement against the following Key Performance Indicators, which are different in 2006-07 to 2007-08 because of the funding.

Table 18: Centrelink Call Key Performance Indicator targets

Key Performance Indicator 2006-07 Target 2007-08 Target

Percentage of unmet demand(a) in peak demand periods 9% 9%

Percentage of unmet demand in non-peak demand periods 8% 8%

Percentage of callers successful on their first attempt 80% 70%

Seconds within which 70 per cent of calls are answered 150 180

Customer complaints regarding access(b) 22 000 28 000

(a).Unmet demand (weekly)—the number of callers unable to successfully enter Centrelink's Call Network on any day during the week.

(b).Access complaints are customers who receive an engaged signal.

Table 19: Centrelink Call outcomes against Key Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicator 2006-07 Result 2007-08 Result

Percentage of unmet demand 3.8% 3.6%

Percentage of callers successful on their first attempt 86.4% 86.6%

Percentage of callers answered within 150 seconds 71.6% n/a

Percentage of callers answered within 180 seconds n/a 75.0%

Customer complaints regarding access 9297 3634

Centrelink Call Centres answered more than 2.2 million extra calls in 2007-08 than in 2006-07. In 2007-08, customer complaints regarding access reduced by 60.9 per cent—from 9297 in 2006-07 to 3634 complaints.

Multilingual Call—'we speak your language'Centrelink Multilingual Call delivers a range of government services to Centrelink customers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Callers can speak with a Customer Service Adviser in their preferred language and do most of their Centrelink business in one phone call.

Centrelink works with contracted interpreters to provide language services when Centrelink does not have a multilingual Customer Service Adviser who can speak the customer’s preferred language. Centrelink can assist people in over 200 different languages through Centrelink Multilingual Call and the Language Services Unit.

In 2007-08 Service Advisers from Centrelink Multilingual Call spoke to over 650 000 callers. This compares with 595 000 callers in 2006-07.

eServicesDuring 2007-08 Centrelink continued to place a high priority on providing a range of eServices to customers and third party organisations to make it easier for them to do business with Centrelink. Customers mainly use eServices via the web or via an automated telephony service (commonly called an Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR)). Third party organisations can conduct electronic data transfers for exchanging information with Centrelink, for example, to confirm a mutual customer's entitlement to concessions.

As well as direct benefits to customers and third party organisations in terms of convenience and choice, eServices also benefits Centrelink. By making greater use of technology for simple transactions, Centrelink employees in offices and Call Centres have more time to deal with complex business and to spend time with customers who need more personal attention.

During the past year, Centrelink focused on mainstreaming eServices by increasing customer and employee awareness about the benefits of doing business via the web and IVR and providing extra support to help customers have positive eService experiences.

The range of web and IVR services continued to grow, with 55 services representing over 90 view, update and claim transactions now available. Customers conducted more than 18 million individual web and IVR transactions in 2007-08, an increase of over four million transactions from the previous financial year. Electronic data transfer transactions with third parties increased from over 18 million in 2006-07 to over 20 million in 2007-08—up by 9.5 per cent from the previous year.

In 2007-08 Centrelink also began to offer Secure Online Mail (SOM) and Short Messaging Service (SMS) for reminders and notifications. eServices also continued to support Secure Internet Mail Service (SIMS) for comments and feedback from customers. During 2007-08 the number of SOM exceeded 900 000 and the number of SMS was over 1.2 million.

Uptake of eServicesIn 2007-08 Centrelink strategies to increase the use of eServices included:

introducing a specialist eServices Liaison Officer in each of our 15 Area Offices, to help customers and employees to register for and use eServices

developing an eServices communication strategy, which included targeted online messages for employees and customers

encouraging all employees to give customers support to use eServices

providing technical training for employees in the use of eServices, and

continuing to build self-service capability in Centrelink offices, by supplying extra eService personal computers with high speed broadband.

Improved customer support for eServicesIn the past, customers who had difficulties using Centrelink's eServices were able to send an email message to Centrelink asking for help. In February 2008, Centrelink introduced a hotline to complement the existing internet messaging option. Customers can now speak directly to an experienced employee in ‘real time'. Centrelink operators can immediately help customers with simple difficulties such as a forgotten password or assist them with more complex technical enquiries.

Customers have reacted positively to the extra support. Since the hotline started in February 2008 over 50 000 requests for assistance via email and phone have been received.

Assisted claim processesCentrelink has IT applications so that employees can help ensure customers access the right payments and services, quickly and easily.

The First Contact Service Offer (FCSO) application supports processes for all new payment claims. The application registers a customer's intention to make a claim for payment, including the date the customer made contact and determines appropriate service offers based on the customer's personal circumstances.

For employees assisting working age customers, the FCSO application workflows into the RapidConnect process (see page 48), which can then make appointments for customers with employment service providers. FCSO also workflows into another assisted claim application which commences electronic claims for Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance (job search) and Parenting Payment.

During the year, Centrelink also developed the Combined Family Assistance Office Medicare Claim (CFMC) application for Centrelink and Medicare Australia employees helping customers to apply for family payments. From April 2008, the CFMC electronically commenced customer claims for Family Tax Benefit, Baby Bonus and Maternity Immunisation Allowance.

CentrepayCentrepay is a free bill paying service for customers receiving payments from Centrelink. Under Centrepay customers can manage their finances better by having regular amounts deducted from their Centrelink payments to pay bills.

Deductions are paid directly to participating organisations to meet living expenses such as private rent, electricity, gas, phone and education, and to repay no-interest loans from community organisations.

Customers can arrange new deductions, or vary or cancel existing deductions, online or via a Centrelink Call Centre, at a Centrelink office or with their service provider.

The number of customers using Centrepay increased from 288 855 in 2006-07 to 316 186 in 2007-08. On 30 June 2008 480 147 deductions were being made to Centrepay organisations on behalf of customers each fortnight.

Centrepay delivers innovative solutions in several Indigenous communities, developed through partnerships with parents, community organisations and state and territory governments.

Some school nutrition programs are self-funded via Centrepay deductions from parents.

These programs support better school attendance outcomes. In one pilot, parents made payments via Centrepay into student trust accounts to pay education expenses.

Rent Deduction SchemeThe Rent Deduction Scheme allows Centrelink customers living in public housing to have their housing related payments such as rent, loans and arrears deducted from their Centrelink payments and sent directly to the relevant housing authority.

The scheme is voluntary and provides customers with an easy way to manage their government housing payments, while helping to prevent rental arrears, debts and evictions. All state and territory housing authorities use the deduction scheme. The number of customers paying rent through this service at the end of June 2008 was 280 302—a slight decrease from 281 344 in June 2007.

Centrelink Confirmation eServicesGovernment agencies, businesses and community organisations use Centrelink Confirmation eServices (CCeS) to validate customer details online.

To effectively deliver the CCeS internet based service, Centrelink works with Australian Government and state and territory government departments, agencies and community organisations.

CCeS helps to protect government outlays, provides up-to-date information to participant organisations, and provides accurate assessments of customers' eligibility for concessions and housing.

The service provides direct benefits to customers, as they do not have to contact Centrelink to confirm their eligibility details when applying for concessions and services from other agencies. Customers can print their own confirmation statements via Centrelink's Customer Portal. The service also helps to reduce queue numbers and wait times in Centrelink offices and Call Centres and gives service providers quick access to details of customers' eligibility.

In 2007-08 Centrelink focused on promoting the CCeS to customers and third party organisations. Customers requesting income statements from Centrelink offices or via Call Centres were advised of the benefits of using CCeS. Additional organisations were contacted and provided with information about this free service as a way of simplifying interactions with mutual customers.

As at 30 June 2008, 1644 contracted organisations used CCeS and carried out around 35.3 million transactions—an increase of 18.1 per cent on 2006-07.

Case StudyExchange worker from the Korean National Pension ServiceA representative of the Korean National Pension Service was placed with International Branch and Area Tasmania for six months, from October 2007 to the end of March 2008.

To get a good overview of Centrelink’s operations, Bo Hyun Chung (pictured) worked with many of the teams within International Services, Hobart Call Centre and Hobart Customer Service Centre. She undertook all induction training, and assisted Multicultural Service Officers.

Bo’s time with Centrelink resulted in a detailed report to the Korean National Pension Service on how Centrelink operates. This will help to create a better understanding of administrative arrangements between Centrelink and the Korean National Pension Service when the international social security agreement between Australia and the Republic of Korea starts in 2008–09.

Building relationships with other countriesCentrelink International Branch continues to build and maintain relationships with other countries.

Delegations to other countries—employees from Centrelink's International Branch accompanied employees from FaHCSIA and The Treasury to discuss possible international social security agreements with Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Japan. Meetings were also held with Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to discuss improvements to the social security relationships between the countries. Employees from Centrelink's Business Integrity program visited Malta to discuss ongoing issues relating to customer payments.

Delegations from other countries—Centrelink hosted delegations from the Republic of Korea and Japan, to develop the administrative arrangements supporting the proposed bilateral social security agreements between Australia and those countries. A delegation from Austria visited Hobart to discuss data exchange and other administrative issues. (For more information, see Appendix 8, International visits to Centrelink.)

Centrelink International Branch implemented the new Social Security Agreement between Australia and Switzerland, and has started implementing agreements with Greece, the Republic of Korea and Japan—all of which are expected to begin in 2008-09.

Exchange workers—Centrelink International Services hosted exchange workers from the Republic of Korea and New Zealand.

Foreign pension data exchange processes were implemented with a number of countries.

Improvements to forms and lettersTo make it easier to understand, improve and rationalise Centrelink letters and forms, Centrelink is continuing to simplify and reduce the number of pages in letters and forms, and to identify ways to improve customer access to other communication channels such as the internet.

A government initiated review of Centrelink forms and letters started in 2006 when a Senate Review Committee looked at improving and simplifying customer communications. The review set standards for new forms and letters and identified several improvements. In response to this, Centrelink changed 164 specifically identified forms and 58 specifically identified high volume letters. Centrelink also replaced 100 different versions of existing Child Care Benefit letters with eight new letters containing easily understood messages, and developed a letters ‘template' with standardisation wording for customers experiencing bereavement.

Throughout 2007-08 Centrelink continued its review of forms and letters with the support of the Department of Human Services. As a result of this ongoing review and previous work, approximately 75 per cent (206) of all Centrelink's customer forms and 198 Centrelink letters now comply with the common standards, including all forms introduced to support new government initiatives. The review also identified and abolished 26 forms.

Customer feedbackCentrelink receives solicited and unsolicited customer feedback through many sources. Feedback is received through Centrelink's Customer Relations Units, Customer Service Advisers, customer satisfaction surveys, community groups and peak bodies, the business sector, external review bodies such as the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, the Ombudsman's Office and customer advocacy groups such as the National Welfare Rights Network.

Customer feedback received through these sources is used to:

identify and resolve service delivery problems

improve customers' experience in dealing with Centrelink

contribute to Centrelink business planning and performance reporting

guide future customer service design, and

help other government organisations develop policies.

Development of Centrelink's customer feedback systemsWork continued in 2007-08 to build on improvements to Centrelink's customer feedback systems stemming from Australian National Audit Office audit findings in 2004-05. Among the key achievements during the year were:

implementing a new operating structure for the Centrelink Customer Relations Unit, with all complaints now handled via a national network, to ensure consistent practices

introducing and refining a single, integrated customer feedback information system to improve customer feedback, capturing and reporting, and

continuing to refine internal protocols and processes to support the effectiveness of the Customer Relations Unit function in Centrelink.

Customer Service CharterCentrelink's Customer Service Charter is a public statement of our commitment to excellence in service delivery. Through the Customer Service Charter, customers can find out about what they can expect when they do business with Centrelink, what their rights are, the ways they can contact Centrelink and other information that they may find useful.

The Customer Service Charter and a brochure containing the key information is available in all Centrelink Customer Service Centres.

Centrelink's policy statement on how it handles customer feedback (including complaints, compliments, suggestions and requests for review of Centrelink decisions) is a key companion document to the Customer Service Charter. Released in 2007-08, the Statement of Commitment to Listening and Responding to Customer Feedback outlines what customers can expect when they give feedback to Centrelink, including the service standards relating to handling feedback. For a copy of the statement go to www.centrelink.gov.au or visit any Centrelink Customer Service Centre.

Measuring customer service performanceCustomers are regularly surveyed to help measure how well Centrelink is meeting its charter service commitments. The following is an overview of Centrelink's performance against each of the four service commitment themes. Full survey results are published on the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au

Customers can expect Centrelink to make it easier for them to use Centrelink services—

measured by customers' satisfaction with the time they waited in a queue at a Centrelink Customer Service Centre (CSC), the handling of calls to Centrelink Call Centres, and whether Centrelink got back to the customer within an agreed time if an answer to a query could not be given immediately.

Around 60 per cent of customers who needed to wait in a queue at a CSC said they were served within 10 minutes; up to 13 per cent of customers indicated that they did not have to wait at all to be served. On average, 57.4 per cent of customers were satisfied with the length of time they had to wait in a queue. See page 59 for information about what Centrelink is doing to improve customers' experiences when they visit a CSC.

Around 75 per cent of customers consistently agreed that employees at CSCs always got back to them within the agreed time, higher than the result of around 54 per cent of customers who had contacted a Call Centre. See Call Centre performance earlier in this chapter for information about handling phone calls.

Customers can expect Centrelink to treat them with respect and courtesy—measured by customers' assessment of employee behaviour.

Around 92 per cent of customers surveyed reported that employees in CSCs treated them in a way that upheld the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct and the principles of the Charter of Public Service in a Culturally Diverse Society. The corresponding result for Call Centre employees was around 96 per cent. See page 124 for information about how Centrelink

is supporting employees to meet their obligations to adhere to the Australian Public Service Values and comply with the Code of Conduct.

Customers can expect Centrelink to explain their options to them—measured by customers' assessment about whether Centrelink worked with them to match services and resources to their individual circumstances and the time Centrelink takes to resolve customer complaints.

Around 84 per cent of customers, across both CSCs and Call Centres, reported that Centrelink worked with them to match services and resources to their individual circumstances.

Over 90 per cent of customer complaints were resolved within five working days.

Customers can expect Centrelink to respect their rights—measured by customers' assessment of whether Centrelink clearly explains its decisions, tells customers about their rights and responsibilities and what they need to do, and the time Centrelink takes to review decisions.

On average, around 83 per cent of customers reported that CSC employees clearly explained decisions. Around 79 per cent reported that Call Centre employees clearly explained decisions.

On average, around 79 per cent of customers reported that CSC employees always told them about their rights and responsibilities so they know what they need to do. The result for Call Centre employees was around 72 per cent.

The Service Charter includes a commitment to tell customers the results of Authorised Review Officer decisions in writing within 28 days. In 2007-08 the percentage of reviews completed within 28 days ranged from 76 per cent in July 2007 down to 63 per cent in January 2008.

During 2008-09 comprehensive analysis of Service Charter performance results, together with other sources of information (including customer feedback), will drive further service delivery improvement activities across Centrelink.

Customer Relations UnitsCustomer Relations Units (CRUs) are the contact points for customer feedback to Centrelink, including complaints, compliments and suggestions. Customers can provide this feedback by:

phoning the Freecall™ 1800 050 004 Customer Relations Line

visiting the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au filling in Tell us what you think customer comment cards, and

talking directly with Centrelink employees.

In 2007-08 Centrelink CRUs recorded 227 660 customer contacts, compared with 197 149 in 2006-07, an increase of 15.5 per cent. The restructure of CRUs and improvements to the data collection processes in July 2007 to better capture and report on customer feedback are the main reasons for the increase.

Of the customer contacts received during the year:

158 732 were general enquiries

53 490 were complaints

7370 were compliments

3080 were tip-offs

2995 were Intent to Claim contacts, and

1993 were suggestions.

The changes made in the way contacts are reported mean that a direct comparison with the number and type of contacts made in earlier years cannot be made.

General enquiries made up 69.7 per cent of contacts received. These enquiries covered many aspects of Centrelink business (for example, opening hours, service availability, office addresses and phone numbers), as well as issues about other government departments, businesses and community organisations.

Introduced in March 2008, the new phone reception process redirects customers with general enquiries to the appropriate Call Centre queue via a menu selection. This meant general enquiries to CRUs dropped to around 50 per cent of all contacts received each month to June 2008.

Complaints (including Call Centre busy contacts) made up 23.5 per cent of all contacts received through CRUs in 2007-08. Depending on the type of complaint, responses to customers ranged from an apology, correction to a customer's record, review of a customer's claim, or arrangements for an interview or specialist follow-up support in more complex cases.

As a proportion of total complaints in 2007-08, Centrelink received more service related complaints (about the quality of service in areas such as a delay in payment) than merit based complaints (relating to the correctness or reasonableness of decisions in relation to, for example, payment eligibility).

The top five complaint categories by volume of complaints were:

employee knowledge and practice (24 per cent)

decision making (23 per cent)

employee attitude (15 per cent)

access to Call Centre (8 per cent), and

written communication (5 per cent).

Centrelink classifies and records its complaints handling performance using a three-tier system, with 90 per cent of complaints having to be resolved within the specified time standard. Table 20 shows resolution of complaints against each of the three tier standards.

Centrelink's overall performance against the three tiers was 94.3 per cent of complaints resolved within standard. This compares with 95.4 per cent in 2006-07.

Table 20: Customer complaint outcomes

Key Performance Indicators—internal measures 2006-07 2007-08

Target

(%)

Result

(%)

Target

(%)

Result

(%)

Proportion of Tier 1 complaints finalised within one working day (Tier 1 complaints involve simple issues that should be either resolved at first contact or after a quick follow-up enquiry with another Centrelink employee)

90 99.5 90 98.9

Proportion of Tier 2 complaints finalised within three working days (Tier 2 complaints cannot normally be resolved at first contact, requiring referral to another Centrelink employee for further action and subsequent response to the customer)

90 90.01 90 83.1

Proportion of Tier 3 complaints finalised within five working days (Tier 3 complaints are typically more complex issues requiring a decision by a senior Centrelink employee, and/ or may involve external consultation with another agency or organisation)

90 84.68 90 81.8

Post-complaints surveyIn 2007-08 Centrelink carried out another post-complaints survey of customers who had made a complaint to Centrelink between November 2007 and March 2008.

While overall survey results showed strengths and areas for improvement in Centrelink's complaints handling system, the findings indicate that customers who lodged a complaint with Centrelink were positive about aspects of their experience.

Among the more positive survey results were the high levels of satisfaction with the way employees who handled the complaint treated the customer, the high level of confidence in Centrelink ensuring the confidentiality of the complainant, and the lack of discrimination against customers who make a complaint.

Survey results were generally consistent across the three tier complaints handling system. While the survey showed that the level of customer satisfaction with the way Centrelink dealt with complaints improved from the 2006 survey from 41.2 per cent to 42.7 per cent, the extent to which customers said that they were completely satisfied with the resolution of their complaint declined from 46.4 per cent to 38.5 per cent.

As in previous surveys, results highlighted some areas for improving Centrelink's complaints handling process. Most customers said the time it took to resolve a complaint was too long. Many customers were dissatisfied that they were not told about progress in dealing with their complaint, or the reasons behind the resolution of their complaint.

Improving complaints handlingPerformance against the internal measures of timeliness for handling of Tier 2 and Tier 3 complaints highlights a need for performance improvement. This was also reflected in the postcomplaints survey results. Tier 2 and 3 complaints are generally more complex and require investigation across multiple areas of Centrelink, which has led to some complaints taking longer to resolve. Centrelink has developed a range of strategies to improve timeliness and respond to the findings of the post-complaints survey. These strategies will be implemented in 2008-09

Chapter 5: Developing a networked organizationDeveloping a networked organisationCentrelink's strategic theme ‘developing a networked organisation' aims to achieve its outcome by linking with others inside and outside the organisation to provide quality outcomes and seamless service for our customers.

Centrelink tracks its performance against this strategic theme by measuring the proportion of Centrelink Areas that have implemented the endorsed community engagement initiatives.

Top level resultTable 21: Centrelink targets and result for 2007-08

Target Result

Proportion of Centrelink Areas that have implemented the endorsed community engagement initiatives

75% 100%

Highlights for 2007-08 All 15 Areas implemented common strategies to develop relationships to strengthen

community engagement

provided assistance to local communities and the Australian public during times of natural disaster and emergencies, and

continued to work closely with the Department of Human Services and its agencies to deliver combined services to drought affected communities and to harness joint capabilities in areas such as IT services and procurement.

DescriptionCentrelink has a strong focus on connecting with the community so that customers get the right help—for example, Centrelink plays a key role in delivering services to Australians in areas affected by disaster or an emergency.

Centrelink quickly established systems for processing payments and dedicated hotlines, and provided counselling services during the floods in the Hunter-Central Coast in New South Wales, in Queensland and in Gippsland, Victoria. As well, Centrelink delivered Australian Government payments and grants to people and businesses affected by the Equine Influenza outbreak.

As an agency within the Portfolio of Human Services, Centrelink was also involved in a number of projects with Medicare Australia and CRS Australia that focus on providing improved customer service delivery.

Case StudyMental health—Working togetherDuring the year, Centrelink Victoria set up a new forum to review and improve our services and understanding of customers with mental health issues. The Centrelink Victoria Mental Health Working Group has representatives from government agencies, hospitals, service providers and

organisations in the mental health field in Victoria. The working group provides Centrelink with opportunities to identify best practices in service delivery for customers with mental health issues and improve awareness among local Centrelink employees. This initiative is building working relationships with mental health organisations and service providers across the state to provide better services to our mutual customers who face mental health issues.

Strategic objective Build better connections with the community

Build better connections with the communityCentrelink has continued to build strong relationships with local communities, state, territory and Australian Government departments, and a range of other service providers, so that people can more easily access assistance. Particularly in times of emergency response situations, Centrelink has worked collaboratively to ensure Australians get the help they need.

During 2007-08, all 15 Areas implemented strategies to develop relationships to strengthen community involvement. This measure has led to greater consistency in community engagement across Centrelink's network. At the same time it has helped to identify and introduce better community engagement products and practices.

The four approaches Areas used to build and implement consistent and effective practices for managing local relationships between Centrelink and the community and business sectors were to:

update Community Profiles

update Community relationships stocktake and community engagement plans

update and distribute a local Centrelink contact list to community sector organisations, and

improve the quality of referrals to community service and emergency relief providers.

Across Centrelink other mechanisms are used to gain community sector feedback, including:

community reference groups

communication with peak community organisations

local area networks, and

Area Stakeholder Engagement meetings.

Community reference groupsCentrelink has a number of community reference groups and other consultative bodies nationally to gather input on and feedback about Centrelink's service delivery. These community reference groups mainly include representatives from peak community and service delivery bodies.

Carers Service Delivery Reference GroupThe Carers Service Delivery Reference Group includes members from carer organisations throughout Australia who also represent the interests of Indigenous, multicultural and young carers, and carers with mental health issues.

In 2007-08 the group met once and provided valuable feedback on the production and review of Centrelink carer forms, letters and publications. The group also provided feedback from mutual customers about Centrelink services for carer customers and offered suggestions for improvements.

Older People's Reference GroupMeetings of the Older People's Reference Group are held each year and discuss key messages and focus on strategic issues relating to service delivery to seniors. Nominee arrangements, transfer to age pension from another Centrelink pension/allowance and the capacity of the Age Pension to pay for increasing cost of living expenses were key issues at the May 2008 meeting. Other issues were taken on board by Centrelink, for example suggestions for articles in future editions of News for Seniors and News for Carers.

Participation Community Reference GroupThe Participation Community Reference Group provides advice to Centrelink on service delivery to job seekers. Twenty-two community organisations are represented on the group, including peak community bodies and organisations representing families, the homeless, young people and single parents. The Participation Community Reference Group met three times during 2007-08, once via teleconference in September 2007, and at meetings in December 2007 and June 2008.

Disability Customer Service Reference GroupThe Disability Customer Service Reference Group provides advice on all aspects of Centrelink's service delivery to customers who have an illness, injury or disability, including how to improve the Centrelink practices and service. Members represent peak disability organisations and meetings are held twice a year.

The Disability Customer Service Reference Group met twice in 2007-08, once in September 2007 and again in April 2008.

National Multicultural Reference GroupThrough the National Multicultural Reference Group, Centrelink continued to seek advice and feedback from peak bodies representing communities from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds about the quality and effectiveness of its service delivery to multicultural customers. When the group met in June 2008, the main focus was to tell members about a range of activities that will affect Centrelink's processes and customers in the future. Topics included the policy department reviews of employment services, Job Capacity Assessments, and English language tuition programs, as well as the new arrangements on trial at Centrelink's Concept Office. Group members put forward their views, and were encouraged to make formal submissions to the reviews.

Multicultural advisory committeesCentrelink consults regularly with multicultural communities at state, territory and local levels through its multicultural advisory committees. These committees operate in most states, territories and regions with high multicultural populations. The forums provide members with an ongoing opportunity to learn about upcoming changes, provide feedback on local service delivery, and to strengthen local partnerships. Feedback, for example, on the affect of the housing downturn on Centrelink's multicultural customers was helpful in Centrelink's interagency discussions on related issues, and provided ideas for service delivery improvements.

Communicating with peak community organisationsCentrelink has longstanding relationships with many community organisations, including peak bodies that provide feedback on and input to service delivery development.

National Welfare Rights NetworkThe National Welfare Rights Network (NWRN) plays an important role in providing formal and informal feedback to Centrelink on improving service delivery, particularly for vulnerable customers.

Centrelink and the NWRN meet twice a year to discuss issues relating to the NWRN clients. Flowing from the discussions at the first meeting in 2007-08, Centrelink supported the NWRN to set up a debt prevention working group.

The NWRN regularly requests information from Centrelink relating to issues affecting mutual customers. Ongoing communication between the organisations also includes information sharing on issues that may receive media attention, such as Indigenous customers, privacy of customer records, participation and Centrelink's policy on dealing with difficult customers.

The NWRN also contributes to Centrelink's Participation Community Reference Group, Disability Customer Service Reference Group, and National Multicultural Reference Group.

African community consultationsIn early 2008 Multicultural Services Branch held 26 consultations in 21 locations nationally with a total of 349 leaders of African communities. The consultations covered service delivery issues facing customers arriving from over 15 African nations.

While generally satisfied, the need for more information about non-income support services provided by Centrelink was highlighted. Many service delivery improvement ideas were generated. The consultations paved the way for ongoing community meetings like these at the local level.

The issues raised at the consultations were addressed during the consultations or followed up with internal Centrelink stakeholders. Issues outside the scope of Centrelink were raised with relevant government agencies.

Centrelink provided three updates to participants on the progress of issues raised and created a ‘virtual' network of African community groups and elders to create a ‘gateway' of ongoing communication.

Participation in community events

NAIDOC weekFrom 8-15 July 2007 Centrelink once again celebrated NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee) Week. The 2007 NAIDOC Week theme was ‘50 Years: Looking Forward, Looking Blak', which marked the 50th anniversary of NAIDOC.

Reflecting its ongoing support and commitment to Indigenous peoples, Centrelink helped and encouraged its employees to join their local communities in recognising the diversity of Indigenous culture and achievements. Events included flag raising ceremonies, information days and cultural performances.

National Career Development WeekNational Career Development Week (NCDW) was held from 2-8 June 2008. The week is to promote awareness of career development and emphasise the need for working age Australians to develop the skills needed to manage their own careers. Centrelink's network of Career Information Centres participated in a wide range of NCDW events across the country. These included presentations, exhibitions and joint information sharing sessions, designed to strengthen relationships with employment service providers, Job Network members and local community partnerships.

National Families WeekCentrelink celebrated National Families Week throughout its offices from 11-17 May 2008. The week acknowledges the role of families in their communities. This year's theme was ‘Work and family—getting the balance right'.

A Families Week event was held on 13 May 2008 in the new Caroline Chisholm Centre in the Australian Capital Territory, where Brian Babington, CEO of Families Australia, and Centrelink's CEO, Jeff Whalan, were the guest speakers.

Over 300 people from community groups, government departments and agencies attended the event. Centrelink employees were also encouraged to bring along their children

Case StudyCentrelink employees supporting the communityPort Macquarie Customer Service Centre employees came up with a novel idea to help local job seekers.

They set up a clothing library within their office containing good quality clothes, donated by Centrelink employees, which job seekers can borrow to attend interviews. When clothes are returned, employees take them home, wash and press them, and bring them back to be borrowed again.

One library borrower said ‘When I went to Centrelink for help looking for work and was told about the clothing library, I thought, “I’ll give that a go”. I borrowed a pair of black pants and a white collared shirt with pin stripes. I felt comfortable in my interview, and the best thing is, I got the job. I know if I ever come across a job seeker who needs the extra help, I’ll also be recommending the clothing library to them’.

National Child Protection WeekFor the fourth year running Centrelink, in partnership with the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), promoted National Child Protection Week. The week contributes to increasing community awareness of child abuse and neglect.

National Child Protection Week was held from 2-8 September 2007. Centrelink supported the week in Customer Service Centres across Australia by hosting activities such as colouring-in competitions for children, morning and afternoon teas, and foyer displays.

National Reconciliation WeekNational Reconciliation Week provides a special focus for nationwide reconciliation activities. It is a time to reflect on achievements and future aspirations for reconciliation. Throughout Reconciliation Week many Centrelink offices and teams held events around the country.

Reconciliation Week was acknowledged and promoted as part of the new Caroline Chisholm Centre's official opening ceremony, as both events coincided. The official opening ceremony included a ‘Welcome to Country' by Matilda House, an Elder representing the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Caroline Chisholm Centre stands. At the event, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Julia Gillard, MP and Centrelink's Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Whalan acknowledged the importance of Reconciliation Week.

Centrelink is proud to be a part of Reconciliation Week and all that it represents, and is committed to making a difference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by providing responsive, high quality government services and opportunities.

Carers WeekFrom 14-20 October 2007 Centrelink worked with Carers Australia to promote Carers Week through the Centrelink Network, acknowledging the important role carers play in the community and raising awareness of carers' needs. Centrelink was involved in a range of activities, including hosting events for carers and community organisations that support carers, and also holding

customer seminars with speakers from carer organisations such as Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centres.

International Day of People with DisabilityInternational Day of People with Disability promotes the ability, contribution and achievements of people with a disability. The day encourages support for the dignity and rights of people with a disability through awareness and understanding of disability issues. Centrelink supports the day each year by hosting events such as morning or afternoon teas, and sausage sizzles with community groups in local Customer Service Centres, Call Centres and Area Offices.

Case StudyInternational Day of People with DisabilityTo celebrate International Day of People with Disability, a group of children from the Goodna Special School were treated to a barbecue at the local Centrelink Customer Service Centre (CSC) on 10 December 2007. ‘This is the second time we’ve held the barbecue and we want to go on doing it’, Jules, Team Leader, Goodna CSC said. ‘It’s a joy for us to have the kids around.’

With support from local businesses Goodna CSC coordinated community activity to put on the barbecue lunch for 90 children from grade one through to grade eight.

There were colouring-in activities with great prizes and each child went home with a showbag full of goodies, courtesy of Centrelink and Disability Services Queensland.

The principal of the school, Jan, said the event was one of the few times all of the school’s 90 students can go on an excursion together to the same place.

‘Events like this are very important as they give the children practice in relating well with others,’ Jan said.

Refugee WeekCentrelink celebrates the achievements of refugees each year during Refugee Week. Community presentations and local activities are aimed at heightening employee awareness of refugee issues and experiences. In 2008 Refugee Week was held from 15-22 June.

Once again, Centrelink Multicultural Services Branch promoted Refugee Week activities across Centrelink offices nationally. Branch representatives attended the Refugee Week launch by the Refugee Council of Australia on 13 June 2008 in Sydney. The Branch also held a morning tea that included guest speakers from the Karen community and the Centre for Refugee Research, University of New South Wales. As well, Multicultural Service Officers organised activities in Customer Service Centres across the network to raise awareness and foster understanding of refugee issues.

Seniors' WeekCentrelink celebrates state and territory Seniors' Weeks at various times during the year by participating in local activities aimed at raising employee awareness of seniors' issues and experiences.

Centrelink employees undertake a variety of activities during seniors' week. This includes fundraising for community groups at both the national and local level, providing a free sausage sizzle at seniors' events, and contributing to volunteer organisations. Centrelink's Financial Information Service Officers also take the opportunity to promote and offer their services to seniors.

Media coverageIn 2007-08 Centrelink continued to use the media in every state and territory to raise awareness about Centrelink assistance.

While Centrelink communicates individually with customers, the organisation worked closely with national, state, territory and regional media to raise awareness in the broader Australian community about Australian Government support, services and payments.

In 2007-08 initiatives that attracted significant media coverage included Centrelink's fraud detection programs, Australian Government Drought Assistance, changes to the pension assets test, assistance for people affected by the Equine Influenza outbreak and a joint Centrelink/WorkVentures scheme that provided low-cost computers to customers.

During the year, General Manager, Hank Jongen participated in regular talkback radio and morning television interviews around the country, answering Centrelink related questions on a variety of topics. This included appearances on nationally syndicated programs, such as Charles Wooley's Across Australia, ABC Local Radio's Nightlife with Tony Delroy, Network Ten's 9am with David and Kim, the Nine Network's Mornings with Kerri-Anne and WIN Television's Susie.

Key media topics included:

customer feedback—to tell people what to do if they are unhappy with a Centrelink service or decision

debt prevention—to inform customers about their responsibility to tell Centrelink when things change, to make sure they continue to get their correct entitlements and not end up with an overpayment

access—to let customers know about the different ways of doing business with Centrelink, and

fraud—to demonstrate that Centrelink takes its job as custodians of taxpayers' money seriously, and to deter people from intentionally setting out to defraud the Australian Government.

Community Budget broadcastIn 2007-08 Centrelink once again hosted a live and interactive community Budget broadcast.

Covering changes announced in the 2008-09 Budget, a panel including Senator the Hon. Joe Ludwig, Minister for Human Services, the Hon. Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Hon. Brendan O'Connor MP, Minister for Employment Participation answered phone and fax questions from community organisations around Australia.

The broadcast was hosted at 54 Centrelink offices across Australia. In all, 868 people from 660 community groups, non-profit organisations and other government departments watched the broadcast. Evaluation feedback forms suggest those who attended found the broadcast worthwhile.

A transcript of the broadcast, together with a summary of the questions and answers were made available on the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au

Building relationships with the business sectorCentrelink asks many businesses for information to ensure that customers receive their correct entitlements—for example, to verify customer earnings. Centrelink also offers support and services to businesses and other third party organisations. Annual surveys of the business sector identify ways to improve relationships with businesses and make it easier for businesses to deal with requests.

Centrelink Business SupportIn 2007-08 the Centrelink Business Support Team continued to offer:

Centrepay—a service that allows Centrelink customers to pay bills through regular and manageable deductions from their Centrelink payments (see page 75)

Rent Deduction Scheme—a service that allows customers in public housing to have their housing payments deducted automatically from their Centrelink payment and sent directly to the relevant authority (see page 76)

Customer Confirmation eServices—services that allow businesses to receive confirmation of a Centrelink customer's entitlement to concessions (see page 76)

Income Confirmation Services—services that enable organisations to receive customer payments and income and assets details so that eligibility for government programs and subsidies can be determined (see page 76)

Superannuation Confirmation Services—services that allow superannuation providers to confirm online with Centrelink a customer's eligibility for early release of their superannuation payments (see page 76), and

Tasmanian Assistance Services—services that deliver the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme, the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme, and the Tasmanian Wheat Freight Scheme on behalf of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (see page 27).

Centrelink Business HotlineThe Centrelink Business Hotline is a national contact centre established to reduce red tape and make it easier for employers and other third party organisations to interact with Centrelink. In 2007-08 the Business Hotline handled 148 425 calls, down from 164 124 calls in 2006-07. On average calls are answered in under 11 seconds.

The reduction in call numbers was more than offset by an increase in fax related work. Incoming faxes are captured as digital images rather than the traditional paper, with one million pages received and managed electronically during the year, which previously would have gone in paper form to offices across the country. In 2007-08 the Business Hotline used this electronic transfer system to:

handle 212 010 incoming faxes—a significant increase on the 127 968 in 2006-07

support other Centrelink work—for example, receiving faxes of lodged customer forms from all Centrelink Agents in the Northern Territory and documents from Participation Solution Teams is also managed by the Business Hotline via this process. These customer records are generally available on the mainframe for processing

provided the Information Reporting Helpdesk that supports 18 national electronic data exchange projects—for example, weekly or fortnightly electronic file transfers with

145 Business Service organisations resulted in the Business Hotline dealing with around 440 000 customer earning updates

respond to requests for earning verification to both Coles Myer (through their payroll provider EDS) and Woolworths—requests that, in the past, would have been by mail. Both organisations report significant administrative savings using this process, and

received twice yearly income stream reporting information from 26 financial organisations representing 75 superannuation funds, resulting in updates to the records of over 140 000 Centrelink customers.

Emergency managementDuring responses to emergencies or disasters, Centrelink continues to provide its normal services to the community as well as extra assistance to those people most affected and needing additional help and support.

Centrelink's involvement in evacuation and recovery centres following disasters is highly regarded by communities and partner agencies across all levels of government and the non-government sector.

National Emergency Call CentreThe National Emergency Call Centre (NECC) is a virtual call centre that can provide an immediate, single first point of contact for enquiries from the public during an emergency of national significance.

Centrelink has a lead role in delivering, maintaining and operating the NECC so that the Call Centre is always ready to start operating immediately following an emergency. In 2007-08, there were no national emergencies that required NECC to be activated.

Should the need arise, the NECC is set up to draw on existing Australian Government call centre resources. The NECC capability (both infrastructure and employees) is supplied by:

Centrelink

Medicare Australia

Child Support Program

Australian Taxation Office, and

the Department of Defence.

If activated, the NECC is capable of operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has the capacity to handle up to 5000 calls per hour in the first hour of activation, and up to 50 000 calls per hour for a limited period from then on during business hours. The capability is provided by 7000 trained call centre employees across Australia.

Core NECC information technology capability includes:

interagency connectivity to the NECC IT system

online information for NECC operators to provide clear and consistent messages to the Australian public in a national emergency

the NECC database, which is used to collect and store information provided by people who call the NECC hotline, and

the ability to provide collected data to NECC Australian Government Lead Hazard Agencies.

Case StudySocial work assistance—Floods in Mackay, QueenslandOn Friday, 15 February 2008, Mackay received 895mm of rain over five hours, generating the city’s worst flood in 20 years.

Several Mackay Centrelink employees, including two of the six social workers, were among those whose homes were inundated or damaged, but by Monday most were back at work ready to help others.

Along with the rest of their team and other Queensland social workers who volunteered to assist, up to eight social workers at a time worked long hours to provide services from the Customer

Service Centre, community recovery centres and through outreach services in partnership with state government and non-government organisations.

Jill, a Senior Social Worker, said ‘We needed to be seen as part of the recovery process and I think we’ve been very successful at that. People could see we were sympathetic to their plight and were taking their situation seriously’.

Assistance in emergencies

Hunter Central Coast stormsOn 10 June 2007, the Prime Minister announced Australian Government support for people adversely affected by the storms in the Central Coast and Hunter Valley regions of New South Wales. This financial assistance continued into 2007-08.

Centrelink employees on the ground worked closely with New South Wales Government agencies at recovery centres to coordinate assistance and ensure people had access to financial and emotional support. Centrelink employees assisted people at the recovery centres and worked alongside non-government organisations, local councils and state government agencies. Between June 2007 and June 2008, Centrelink's Hunter Floods Hotline answered 30 895 calls. Centrelink also had up to 80 employees processing claims at any one time.

As at 30 June 2008, 31 514 Australian Government Disaster Relief Payment (AGDRP) claims worth $37 million were granted.

Queensland floodsIn early 2008, serious flooding devastated significant areas of Queensland, including Emerald, Charleville and Mackay.

Centrelink responded quickly to the floods delivering assistance, which included AGDRP. Part of this response involved sending media liaison employees to affected areas to provide the media with fast and accurate information about assistance.

This quickly created a clear understanding among the communities of emergency assistance available from the Australian Government and where to access it.

Emerald/Charleville floods January 2008—On 24 January 2008, the Australian Government announced assistance for people adversely affected by storms and associated flooding in Emerald, Charleville and surrounding areas.

Centrelink worked with state government agencies and non-government organisations to provide assistance. Employees and other assistance was provided at evacuation and recovery centres, including in Charleville and Emerald. The Australian Government Drought Bus was sent to Charleville on 22 January 2008 to provide extra capability, as Centrelink's Customer Service Centre in Charleville was closed because of the floods. The Drought Bus successfully supplemented service delivery provided by local employees, who worked temporarily from the Charleville Neighbourhood Centre. The Drought Bus assisted approximately 229 people (averaging 32 per day) and also went to Emerald and other remote areas such as the Gem Fields, Capella, Clermont, Springsure and Blackwater.

As at 30 June 2008, 794 claims worth $929 400 were granted and Queensland Floods Hotline employees answered around 1200 calls.

Mackay floods February 2008—On 15 February 2008, the Australian Government announced assistance payments for people following flooding in the Mackay region, which began on 14 February 2008. The flooding was generated from a monsoonal trough over the coast of central Queensland that affected the Mackay area and other parts of Queensland. The payment provided

immediate financial assistance to people with homes destroyed or significantly damaged, as well as those seriously injured and hospitalised for more than 48 hours as a result of the floods.

Not long after the payment was activated, Centrelink social workers arrived in the area to support people and to provide counselling and information about other services.

As at 30 June 2008, 8312 claims worth $9.8 million were granted. Assistance continued until August 2008.

Case StudyBeaudesert support for the Equine Influenza crisisIn August 2007, Equine Influenza broke out in Australia, impacting people earning a living through horses.

When the Australian Government announced an assistance package, Centrelink employees stepped up to the mark and ensured the most up-to-date information was available.

Areas coordinated their efforts with state departments of communities and primary industries and various racing bodies such as Queensland Harness and the Gold Coast Turf Club. Area Pacific Central conducted information sessions at Coffs Harbour, Ballina, Beaudesert and Southport.

Ian, one of Centrelink’s Financial Information Services Officers, was asked to help out at the New South Wales Government’s temporary Equine Influenza site in Tamborine Village and at the Centrelink Beaudesert Customer Service Centre.

‘At Beaudesert there were people affected by the Equine Influenza who were not in the thoroughbred racing industry. They were feeling a bit forgotten as lots of publicity was about the racing industry. They really appreciated my presence at the public seminar arranged by Centrelink. I heard some heart-breaking stories and was happy that the assistance package offered some hope,’ Ian said.

Gippsland floodsOn Friday 29 June 2007, the Prime Minister announced assistance to people directly affected by the widespread flooding in the Gippsland region of Victoria. This assistance was available until December 2007.

Centrelink worked alongside the Victorian Government and community organisations such as the Australian Red Cross, to help people affected by the floods.

As at 3 February 2008, Centrelink had granted 649 claims for assistance worth $780 000 and the Gippsland Floods Hotline employees answered 318 calls.

Equine InfluenzaOn 9 September 2007, the Australian Government announced a financial assistance package for people and businesses facing additional costs and financial hardship as a result of the Equine Influenza quarantine measures that started on 25 August 2007.

Workers involved in commercial horse-dependent industries who lost their jobs or most of their income, and sole traders whose incomes effectively stopped, received an Equine Workers Hardship Wage Supplement Payment, equivalent to the Newstart Allowance rate.

Altogether there was up to three $5000 Equine Influenza Business Assistance Grants were available to each business that derived the majority of their income from the commercial horse industry, and had experienced a significant downturn in income and increase in costs because of the Equine Influenza quarantine measures.

Centrelink held a number of special information sessions in affected areas to help industry workers access Equine Influenza assistance payments. These payments were available from September 2007 through to March 2008. As at 30 June 2008, over 21 500 claims for financial assistance worth $84.2 million were granted.

East TimorIn 2007-08 Centrelink provided ongoing support for some medical evacuees of East Timor. Centrelink social workers provided most of the support. This included financial assistance and personal support to people receiving ongoing medical treatment and rehabilitation. As at 30 June 2008, over $268 000 had been paid in assistance.

Ongoing assistanceIn 2007-08 Centrelink also provided some ongoing assistance for people and businesses affected by Cyclone Larry, Cyclone Monica and Cyclone George. There was also ongoing assistance for people affected by the Bali Bombings of 2002 and 2005, and the bushfires in Victoria and Tasmania in 2006 and Western Australia in 2007.

Drought assistance

Australian Government Drought Assistance Mobile ServiceThe Australian Government Drought Assistance Mobile Service units (known as the Drought Bus) visit drought affected areas in rural Australia to provide information and support to farmers, their families and communities.

Centrelink Social Workers are an integral part of the Drought Bus teams. They offer support to farmers, their families and others through counselling, advocacy and linking people with available services. Social workers also help with a range of mental health and wellbeing issues, including helping people to deal with high levels of stress, anxiety and depression, suicide risk, family relationship issues, domestic violence, grief and loss, personal crises, anger management, social isolation, substance abuse, health issues, caring responsibilities, financial crises, and so on. Social workers connect customers with local services, explain the benefits of services, and focus on encouraging people in small communities to seek professional help.

Social workers support Drought Bus team employees and are available for consultations in complex situations. They also focus on linking the teams with local communities, and on ensuring that the drought assistance mobile service is responsive to and respectful of local needs.

Murray-Darling Basin Coordination UnitIn July 2007, the Australian Government launched the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) drought assistance package. This response includes the Murray-Darling Basin Service Delivery Coordination Unit based in Griffith, New South Wales. The unit coordinates support services, creates links with other government and non-government agencies, and provides a focus helping people affected by drought or changes to water allocations, to move forward. Six MDB Social Workers work out of Centrelink Customer Service Centres in Griffith, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Shepparton, Berri, Toowomba and the Rural Call Centre. They provide support and counselling, assistance with community capacity and resilience building, and operate community outreach services to drought affected individuals, families and communities.

Additional government drought assistanceIn September 2007, the Australian Government announced another $714 million in drought assistance. The new measures are to make it easier for farmers and small business to access Exceptional Circumstances assistance, provide direct grants to irrigators, and to help with social pressures faced by farming families across rural and regional Australia. Centrelink is administering 11 of the 16 new measures, which include a combination of traditional income support and new

rural grants. As a part of the new package, Centrelink has expanded its social work and Rural Support Officer network to provide support to drought-affected communities across Australia.

Delivering information technology services to CRS AustraliaSince March 2006, Centrelink has delivered Information Technology (IT) services and support to CRS Australia's operations. This arrangement leads to efficiencies by pooling IT expertise and capabilities across agencies within the Department of Human Services portfolio.

As well as this ongoing IT services and support, Centrelink also implemented major upgrades to the CRS Australia IT environment including improvements to:

server and desktop operating systems

software distribution, asset and recovery management capabilities, and

system, performance monitoring and reporting tools.

The IT relationship between CRS Australia and Centrelink is managed to ensure performance and service levels are continually monitored and improved. In 2007-08, a new service management protocol was established to support the improvement agenda. As well, Centrelink worked with CRS Australia to improve employee capability to meet the ever-increasing demand in the IT systems change management area.

Department of Human Services Indigenous Ambassadors ProgramThe Department of Human Services Indigenous Ambassadors Program began in September 2005.

There are four Indigenous Ambassadors:

Arthur Beetson, rugby league legend

Kyle Vander-Kuyp, Olympic athlete

Bo de la Cruz, women's touch football champion, and

Michael O'Loughlin, Sydney Swans AFL star.

The ambassadors visit and talk with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples around Australia. Their visits help build awareness of Australian Government services and provide valuable insight into how to access these services. In 2007-08 Ambassadors attended a number of Centrelink Employment Expos and information days in South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales.

Altogether in 2007-08 Indigenous Ambassadors attended 80 events on behalf of Human Services' agencies. For more information visit www.centrelink.gov.au

LPG Vehicle SchemeThe LPG Vehicle Scheme began on 14 August 2006 to assist private-use owners who decide to have liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) systems in their vehicles. Delivered on behalf of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, with Medicare Australia and Centrelink as the contact points for enquiries and lodging forms.

The scheme offers grants of $1000 or $2000 respectively to applicants who either buy a new vehicle that had an LPG system installed at manufacture, or they have an LPG system installed in an existing vehicle.

During 2007-08 over 81 000 grants were paid, worth over $162 million.

Procurement initiatives with the Human Services PortfolioIn 2007-08 Centrelink led and participated in new collaborative purchasing arrangements with the Department of Human Services and Human Services Portfolio agencies.

These arrangements involved collaborative tendering and/or ‘piggy-backing' for planned procurements with an estimated value of $1 million (or more).

Centrelink's procurement activity across the Human Services Portfolio is generating access to greater buying power, providing overall gains in value for money outcomes and creating administrative savings in tendering through portfolio-lead agency arrangements.

Examples of these arrangements are:

child care

recruitment services/labour hire panel

data cabling services

personal computer and laptop hardware

stationery, and

a new credit card contract.

Chapter 6: Building capability for governmentBuilding capability for governmentCentrelink's strategic theme ‘building capability for government' aims to achieve its outcome by ensuring Centrelink has the right resources and underlying capability to progress the Government's agenda on an ongoing basis and in times of crisis.

Centrelink tracks its performance against this strategic theme by measuring:

how we attract, train and retain skilled people to deliver customer outcomes

how we demonstrate united leadership and teamwork at all levels, and

Centrelink's IT services and capability.

Top level resultsTable 22: Centrelink targets and results for 2007-08

Target Result

Attract, train and retain skilled people to deliver customer outcomes

time to fill vacancy

employee initiated separation rate within industry benchmark

increase in employees who have a performance agreement verified

90 days 104 days

8-10% 8.69%

90% 95.65%

Target Result

Demonstrated united leadership and teamwork at all levels

proportion of leadership program attendees who have demonstrated improved leadership skills

increase in workforce availability

80% 92.53%

11.53 days per FTE(a)

12.28 days per FTE

Centrelink's IT services and capability

proportion of problems resolved within agreed timeframes

1. Less than 10 Priority 1 problems raised in the last 30 days(b)

2. 80% of Priority 1 problems resolved within 30 days(b)

Proportion of IT services meeting agreed service levels for employees

timeliness of service desk incident resolution

management information requests met within agreed timeframes

<10 <8

80% 100%

90% 100%

75% within 2 hours

75%- 85% within 2 hours

80% 92.4%

(a). Full-time equivalent.

(b). A Priority 1 problem is where a system, network or application is unavailable, there is no alternative available, and this impacts on Centrelink's ability to meet its commitments.

Highlights for 2007-08 Enabled a prompt and flexible workforce presence as part of the Northern Territory Emergency

Response

developed and started implementing the National Learning Strategy

developed and implemented the new 2007 People Survey

further reduced unscheduled absences

implemented the Body Stress Prevention Strategy

developed and launched the Workforce Diversity Plan 2008-2010

implemented a nationally accredited Indigenous mentoring program

substantially completed the five year IT Refresh Program, and

strengthened system capability to deliver greater automation and increased processing efficiency.

DescriptionCentrelink continued to build organisational and workforce capabilities to meet current demand and prepare for future change.

From May 2008, Centrelink implemented a new organisational structure to best position the agency for the future in terms of affordability and workforce design, minimising any impact on the Centrelink service delivery network and service to customers.

Centrelink continued to look at innovative ways to attract and retain employees to address the challenges associated with an ageing population and an increasingly competitive labour market. The Alumni program is helping Centrelink to tap into the experience of retired and former employees.

The 2007 Centrelink People Survey showed an increase in the number of employees who reported job satisfaction (increased six per cent to 77 per cent of employees), balanced work and personal life (increased four per cent to 80 per cent of employees), and felt their safety and security was protected (increase of three per cent to 80 per cent of employees).

Centrelink continued to increase employee workforce availability, significantly reducing its national unscheduled leave since absence days peaked in 2003-04. Centrelink's employee initiated separation rate has remained within the healthy organisational benchmarks of eight to 10 per cent.

Centrelink is committed to building information technology (IT) capabilities that support capacity to deliver services required by government. In 2007-08 Centrelink developed and implemented standards and processes strengthening IT system efficiency and effectiveness, by:

building on IT Service Management processes and disciplines that will contribute to addressing risks associated with IT infrastructure performance, and

upgrading hardware and software in Call Centres, Customer Service Centres and the end-to-end IT environment, ensuring a reliable base for future service delivery.

The Centrelink IT platform met service level expectations to provide service delivery systems availability and support for corporate applications, consistently achieving results above 99.8 per cent.

Strategic objectives Attract, train and retain skilled people to deliver customer outcomes

Demonstrate united leadership and teamwork at all levels

Enable Centrelink's IT services and capability

Attract, train and retain skilled people to deliver customer outcomesStrategic People PlanCentrelink's Strategic People Plan is a rolling three-year plan, which prioritises and directs human resources activity in line with Centrelink's business requirements. Centrelink's Strategic Directions and its business plan drive the Strategic People Plan.

Some significant Strategic People Plan achievements during 2007-08 were:

National Learning Strategy—carried out extensive consultation to develop, and subsequently launch the Customer Service Adviser (CSA) Learning Pathways

Workforce Diversity Plan 2008-2010—developed the Diversity Plan and, introduced a number of associated initiatives

Occupational Health and Safety Action Plan—implemented the national Body Stress Injury Prevention Policy, and

Performance Management online—made system improvements to better integrate the system into local management practice.

People Capability FrameworkAs part of Centrelink's People Capability Framework, in 2007-08 all customer facing and Area support role statements were developed and National Support Office job statements started.

The People Capability Framework was used as the basis for a number of projects in 2007-08, including:

Behavioural Based Recruitment Trial—a project to test the affect on team leader selection outcomes of moving from selection criteria prompts to behaviour based questions in job advertising, job applications and selection interviews

CSA Pathways Project—a generic learning map for all Centrelink CSAs. It recognises there are a core set of leadership/behavioural capabilities that are common to the CSA role. The CSA Pathway assists CSAs and their team leaders to identify development needs and match these to learning opportunities, and

Career Directions Development Paper—a national framework to ensure employees are given realistic opportunities to grow and develop, to achieve organisational objectives and career aspirations.

The focus for 2008-09 is to complete National Support Office job statements and begin developing the Career Pathways Map. The map will help employees to understand the incremental development required to achieve their long-term career goals.

Workforce planningIn 2007-08 Centrelink managers carried out a comprehensive workforce realignment process in response to a potential overspend resulting from:

the continuing drop in customer numbers

completion of some large pieces of work, and

applying the range of efficiency measures for the Australian Public Service (APS) and Centrelink.

This process assessed current functions, roles, experiences and skills across the organisation to help ensure Centrelink is well positioned for the future and equipped to continue delivering high levels of service and responding flexibly to fluctuations in customer demand.

From January 2008 Centrelink put in place a number of strategies to ensure workforce numbers align with its budget. Through natural attrition, Centrelink experienced a net loss of 1154 employees and reduced its recruitment activity. Other strategies included not proceeding with planned expansion of Centrelink Call Centres and reducing the number of Australian Government Mobile Service Units from three to two units.

Workforce strategies activities in 2007-08 included:

developing an Area North Australia Workforce Plan to support the Northern Territory Emergency Response

integrating two national employee opinion surveys, and

implementing monthly executive workforce reporting on emerging workforce trends.

Detailed workforce analysis and strategy development was carried out on:

Centrelink's Employee Value Proposition

information technology workforce issues, and

Indigenous employment trends.

Workplace diversityCentrelink is committed to creating and supporting:

a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community it serves, and

a work environment where all employees feel valued for their contribution.

In December 2007, the People Committee endorsed Centrelink's Workforce Diversity Plan 2008-2010. This plan takes a plain-English principles based approach consistent with the approach taken by progressive APS agencies and private sector organisations. The plan supports and strengthens the National Indigenous Employees Plan 2005-2008 and the Disability Action Plan developed under the Commonwealth Disability Strategy.

During 2007-08 significant progress was made on diversity initiatives such as:

releasing a new Bullying, Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination Policy

developing a Reasonable Adjustment Policy, and

reviewing recruitment policy and activities from a diversity perspective.

Employment of people with disabilityIn 2007-08 almost five per cent of Centrelink employees identified as having a disability. Activities to encourage employment of people with disabilities in 2007-08 included:

developing a Reasonable Adjustment Policy

continuing the Disability Coalition and the Employees with DisAbilities Network, which promote a culture of equitable inclusion for all employees with disabilities, and

participating in the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations research program to identify good practice in recruiting and retaining people with mental illness.

For information about Centrelink's achievements in 2007-08, which ensure its policies, programs and services are accessible to people with disabilities, see Appendix 11, Disability Discrimination Act 1992 reporting.

Employment of Indigenous AustraliansCentrelink is committed to providing a workplace of choice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in line with Centrelink's National Indigenous Employees Plan 2005-2008, which has four main areas of focus:

providing greater employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians

assisting Indigenous employees to fulfil their career goals, by providing development and learning opportunities

ensuring Indigenous employees receive appropriate support, and

increasing our understanding of the identity and experience of Indigenous Australians and reflecting this awareness in our internal and external service delivery.

At 3.5 per cent, Centrelink has an employment rate of Indigenous Australians higher than the APS average of 2.1 per cent and higher than Indigenous representation in the community at 2.3 per cent.

Indigenous Employment Working GroupIn 2007-08 Centrelink set up a national working group to help ensure Centrelink's current and future employment strategies and programs support better recruitment, development and retention of Indigenous Australians.

In response to the working group's recommendations, programs, practices and products were developed in consultation with Indigenous employees. These include:

producing guidelines for recruiting and attracting Indigenous applicants

distributing Kick start your career—an employment brochure and a poster

creating an employment DVD, and

appointing an Indigenous Employment Coordinator—part of the Diversity Team.

Other initiatives to assist and recognise Indigenous employees also started in 2007-08.

Indigenous Employment Portal—provides Centrelink Indigenous employees, human resource practitioners, team leaders and managers with information and resources to assist them in recruiting, supporting and developing our current and future Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.

Contribution to Community—in recognition of the many Indigenous employees who are active in their local community (apart from in their work) a proforma was designed that helps them to document their full range of skills in performance appraisals, claims against selection criteria and/or accredited learning exercises.

Indigenous Mentoring Program—assists Indigenous employees to gain the confidence, knowledge, skills and tools to meet the challenges of current and future business needs. Twenty-three Indigenous employees from across Centrelink are qualified mentors, and 17 have completed ‘train the trainer' in Indigenous mentoring to train and assess future mentors.

Identified Positions—to ensure the most suitable person is selected to undertake development and delivery of programs to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples Centrelink is committed to recruitment through the use of ‘Identified Positions'. Centrelink currently has 265 Identified Positions.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Awareness Training—aims to improve service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, customers and colleagues by increasing knowledge and understanding of the issues that affect Indigenous societies and communities and by assisting employees to communicate sensitively and effectively with Indigenous people. By 30 June 2008, 1780 employees were trained.

Cultural Trainers Network—consists of 68 Indigenous employees who are skilled to deliver cultural awareness training across service delivery environments, including in other Human Services agencies. (For more information, see Cultural Awareness training later in this chapter.)

Formal Protocols—acknowledgment of Country, including Welcome to Country—in line with Centrelink's Commitment to Reconciliation, Centrelink acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country and, whenever possible, ensures that invitations to events are sent to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders and community representatives.

Employment of people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgroundsAs part of Centrelink's Diversity Plan, a Guide to Best Practice Principles and Background to Multicultural Recruitment in Centrelink was produced in 2007-08 to encourage the recruitment and retention of employees from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The guide includes practical information on how to define requirements, attract suitable applicants, select and retain new employees. The guide is also designed to assist managers with:

general multicultural recruitment—ways to ensure that people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds generally are welcomed and included in Centrelink's recruitment and selection processes, and

specific language/cultural recruitment—ways to tailor recruitment to applicants with specific cultural knowledge or with specific language skills. This may be appropriate where the Area or CSC has a large number of customers with a similar background or where there is the need to better support customers from a new and emerging community group.

At 10.7 per cent of total employees, Centrelink has a higher employment rate of people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds than the APS average of 5.8 per cent.

Focus on youth

National Graduate ProgramIn 2007-08 Centrelink recruited 89 graduates mainly in the areas of Information Technology, with 41 graduates recruited to Business Analyst, Technical Programmer and Infrastructure positions. A finance stream was also introduced in 2007-08, with five graduates starting on a tailored finance stream within the January 2008 intake. The other 43 graduates worked across National Support Office and the Centrelink Area Network.

Duke of Edinburgh Awards ProgramCentrelink continues to support employees (aged 25 years and under) to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Program. Centrelink became the first organisation to gain a national operating license in early 2007 and currently has 20 Bronze participants, 11 Silver participants and 20 Gold program participants. This represents a participation rate of just above three per cent (with around 1600 eligible employees). The Australia-wide program participation rate is around one per cent. In 2007-08 the range of award activities that Centrelink participants undertook included:

assisting with the St Vincent de Paul night patrol van delivering food to homeless people

taking on a strict fitness regime to improve overall health

completing a Northern Territory placement as part of the emergency response, and

undertaking language studies.

Australian Apprenticeship ProjectDuring 2007, Centrelink started a trial project employing 78 full-time and school based apprentices in Canberra and four areas outside Canberra. Full-time apprentices were employed across three streams—general, IT and Customer Service. These apprentices undertook formal accredited training (Certificate III) while undergoing on-the-job work experience with Centrelink. School based apprentices (Years 11 and 12 students) were employed one day per week in a Centrelink office. Apprentices were placed in various positions undertaking basic office administration tasks, customer support roles, IT program development and records management duties. At the end of the program, a graduation ceremony was held in early 2008.

Indigenous programsIndigenous scholarships offered under the Centrelink Indigenous Cadetship and Scholarship Program assist Indigenous employees to gain tertiary level qualifications and develop their career potential. In 2007-08 seven Indigenous employees were accepted to the Scholarship Program.

Indigenous Cadetships offered under the National Indigenous Cadetship Project conducted by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) assist Indigenous students undertaking their first undergraduate degree. In 2007-08 Centrelink offered seven new cadetship positions.

Indigenous Traineeships offered under the DEEWR Indigenous Australian Contract Management Development Program provide school leavers with sustainable career pathways in contract management. In 2007-08 Centrelink supported two participants through traineeships.

Mature Age StrategyRedeveloped in the context of Centrelink's Workforce Diversity Plan 2008-2010, Centrelink's Mature Age Strategy outlines six areas for managers and other employees to consider in their approach to dealing with mature age workers.

Examples of ongoing activities include:

analysis of survey comments provided by employees intending to leave Centrelink to identify common issues that may need addressing

identifying mature age workers in workforce plans

promoting employment conditions that support work/life balance

developing and using older workers as coaches or mentors, and

running the Alumni Program.

Alumni ProgramThe Centrelink Alumni Program offers former and retired employees of Centrelink the opportunity to keep in touch with Centrelink colleagues and events and to be considered for short-term employment opportunities.

All registered Alumni members receive regular newsletters to keep them informed of what is happening in Centrelink.

As at 30 June 2008, 1412 former Centrelink employees had registered and filled 294 positions, as Alumni, in various roles across the organisation.

National Recruitment Panel of ProvidersFollowing an open tender process in 2007, Centrelink renewed the panel of providers to deliver recruitment and selection and/or labour hire services for non-Senior Executive Service employees and non-IT roles. A panel is an efficient way of managing recruitment across the organisation and leads to savings and efficiencies.

Panel providers assist Centrelink to attract, select and recruit ongoing and non-ongoing employees, covering a range of customer service, administrative support and professional employee categories, and provide additional related services as required. They also provide temporary personnel to Centrelink to fill short-term labour requirements.

Positive Attendance ProjectIn 2007-08 there were further increases in employee availability. Peaking at 15.88 days absence per full-time equivalent employee (FTE) in 2003-04, the 2007-08 result was 13.5 days per FTE, which is a reduction of 0.24 days per FTE compared with 13.74 days per FTE in 2006-07. For an organisation of Centrelink's size, this is a significant productivity improvement and equates to a gain of over 26 000 working days, or an increase in workforce availability of over 120 employees per working day.

Create a rewarding, safe and healthy work environmentCentrelink actively seeks to identify, adopt and develop best practice in health and safety management to reduce the social and financial cost of occupational injury and illness.

Centrelink’s workers’ compensation premium is 2.07 per cent for 2008–09, which is a reduction from the revised premium rate of 2.19 per cent in 2007–08. Centrelink’s long-term injury trend shows a reduction in the number of workers’ compensation claims and, in particular, the number of body stressing (muscular skeletal) injuries. Centrelink’s claim frequency is well below the targets set by the Centrelink Health and Safety Plan 2004–12.

Contributions to this outcome include:

early intervention rehabilitation and treatment programs

prevention activities focused on key injury risks

implementation of actions in response to the Centrelink People Survey results, and

improved per formance measurement.

Centrelink’s health and safety activities in 2007–08 included:

establishing a national health and safety committee

consulting with employees and employee representatives about the development of the new health and safety management arrangements

implementing a national body stress injury prevention program

improving occupational health and safety policy and practice, including contractor safety, working alone and fieldwork safety guidelines

undertaking an occupational health and safety management systems audit to identify safety improvements

improving health and safety training and development standards and products, and

promoting good health through the HealthLink program.

For information required under section 74 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991, see Appendix 13, Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 reporting.

Management of customer aggression risksManaging customer aggression risks remains a high health and safety priority. In 2007-08 Centrelink continued to develop and implement strategies to reduce the risk of customer aggression. The activities undertaken include:

improving physical security standards, including installing closed circuit television in Centrelink Customer Service Centres

implementing a consistent standard of customer aggression training for all employees involved in face-to-face customer service

implementing improved customer service arrangements for transactions that are sometimes associated with aggressive behaviour, and

participating in a Comcare project to share best practice in customer aggression management.

Physical security reviewsIn 2007-08 Centrelines Protective Security Team commissioned three security reviews from external sources. They were:

the Protective Security Division of the Australian Federal Police assessed physical security issues associated with new customer service initiatives.

the Kellogg, Brown and Root Pty Ltd assessment of the physical security of Customer Service Centres, and

the Protective Security Section of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation carried out a security assessment of the Tuggeranong Data Centre facility, covering the site’s physical security environment and security controls.

Overall, Centrelink performed well in these reviews and recommendations have been considered and implemented, as appropriate.

Performance managementCentrelink’s Performance Management System supports the business planning process and provides a clear link between an employee’s performance and development and the achievement of Centrelink’s strategic directions.

The Performance Management System:

applies to all employees in Centrelink and full participation is the responsibility of every employee

ensures rigour, consistency and professionalism in performance assessment

outlines what will be rewarded, what is important and what is expected, including behaviours consistent with the Australian Public Service Values and Code of Conduct

includes measurement of performance against the Australian Public Service Integrated Leadership System, and

is linked to capability and development of our employees.

In 2007-08 the Performance Management System was upgraded to make it easier, and more intuitive to use for both managers and employees. At the end of the June quarter 2008, 95.65 per cent of employees had a verified performance agreement in place—above the target of 90 per cent.

Centrelink People SurveyThe 2007 People Survey was the amalgamation of the Staff Poll and the Organisation Change Survey. Each year, the Staff Poll was conducted to gauge employee views on satisfaction, commitment and engagement. The Organisation Change Survey was designed to identify the ideal culture, measure employee motivation and assess readiness for change.

Centrelink conducted the People Survey in October 2007 to:

gather employee feedback about workplace issues such as communication, leadership, training, ethics and performance management

gain insights into the issues that affect employee motivation and engagement, and

develop targeted actions to improve employees' workplace environments.

Sixty-four per cent of Centrelink employees participated in the survey. The results show that employees were highly committed, understood Centrelink's purpose and experienced open and motivating interactions with their supervisor.

The improvement in the 2007 results against 2006 was impressive. Employee motivation results in commitment, satisfaction and interest improved significantly.

Over 25 sessions were conducted throughout Centrelink during 2007-08 to de-brief employees on the survey results and to promote action planning, including planning at the local level.

A toolkit was developed to assist managers to deliver the survey results to their people.

National focus areas from the survey relate to creating a positive workplace climate including:

promoting a culture of respect and inclusion

improving workload management

ensuring more tailored and timely internal communication

clarifying roles and career options, and

recognising employee achievements.

External awards

Officer of the Order of AustraliaIn the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jeff Whalan, former Centrelink Chief Executive Officer, was appointed to the Order of Australia for service to the community through the implementation and administration of government policies and initiatives in the area of social services and welfare programs, and the development of corporate accountability and stakeholder management processes.

Public Service MedalsIn 2008 Joan Savic, Legal Services and Procurement Branch and Andrew Lesbirel, IT Service Delivery Strategy and Management Branch, received Public Service Medals. For more information see the Case Study on page 121.

Minister's Award for Exemplary ServiceCentrelink participated in the inaugural 2007 Minister for Human Services Award for Exemplary Service. There were 30 Centrelink recipients.

2007 Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Sector ManagementCentrelink received the Gold Award from the Institute of Public Administration in the 2007 Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Sector Management. The award was for developing and implementing the Australian Government Drought Assistance Buses. This successful service delivery model was designed to reach and support Australians affected by drought.

Internal awardsIn 2007-08 Centrelink recognised the special achievements of its employees with a number of awards.

Centrelink National AwardsThe 2007 Centrelink National Awards were presented at a ceremony on 24 September 2007 on Centrelink's 10th birthday. The awards celebrate outstanding business achievement. Winning, highly commended and commended awards were selected in the following categories:

Ross Divett Memorial Award (see page 120 for details)

Customer Service Awards

Emergency Response Awards (new awards—see page 120 for details)

Environmental Management @ Work Award (new award—see page 120 for details)

Process Improvement Award

Responsiveness to Government Award

Building Networks Award, and

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Special Commendation (new award—see below for details).

Ross Divett Memorial AwardThis is the highest achievement award for work that exemplifies the legacy that the late Ross Divett, Deputy CEO, left with the organisation through his ‘plan-do-review-act' business strategy. The award was presented to the three coordinators of the Drought Buses. They helped to provide services to more than 10 000 customers and visited more than 280 towns in the worst drought-affected areas in rural Australia.

Emergency Response AwardThis award recognises innovation, excellence or achievement in contributing to outcomes for the Government or Centrelink stakeholders, including customers, during times of crisis. This year the award went to the Wangaratta Customer Service Centre for outstanding service to customers and the community during the bushfires of northeastern Victoria.

Environmental Management @ WorkThis award recognises innovation, excellence or achievement of good practice in terms of ecologically sustainable development within Centrelink's business operations.

Chief Executive Officer Special CommendationAt the discretion of the CEO, this award recognises an outstanding achievement not covered by existing awards. It is not bestowed annually.

Centrelink Australia Day Achievement AwardsThe 2008 Centrelink Australia Day Achievement awards were presented to 32 employees and teams. Recipients were presented with a certificate and Australia Day Achievement medallions from the National Australia Day Council at ceremonies conducted throughout Centrelink. Recipients were recognised for their achievements in the following categories:

Excellence in Centrelink Employment

Inspirational Role Model as a Centrelink Employee

Significant Contribution to the Community, and

Significant Contribution to the Centrelink Community.

National Youth AwardsDuring National Youth Week in April 2008, Centrelink recognised the innovation and creativity of young Centrelink employees and the way Centrelink serves young people in the wider community. The work performed by award recipients reflects the variety of ways that Centrelink provides services to meet the needs of local communities and the specific circumstances of individuals. National Youth Awards cover three categories:

Youth Servicing and Commitment—Community, Indigenous, Multicultural

Excellence in a Call Centre Environment, and

Lesley Tannahill Award—a prestigious award established in memory of the late Lesley

Tannahill, National Manager, who developed the ‘Youthlink’ concept. It acknowledges a young

employee who has made a significant contribution to Centrelink.

Case Study2008 Australia day honoursIn the 2008 Australia Day Honours, Joan Savic from Legal Services and Procurement Branch was thrilled to receive a Public Service Medal. ‘It was completely unexpected because I tend to work behind the scenes in an area that is important, but doesn’t get much public recognition’, Joan said. Joan’s medal was for consistently promoting best practice in privacy and Freedom of Information throughout the organisation and across the Australian Public Service.

As well, Andrew Lesbirel, IT Service Delivery Strategy and Management Branch received a Public Service Medal in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours. Andrew said ‘I am passionate about finding the best ways of using technology to improve service delivery to our customers, and to give them more choices about how they do business with Centrelink’. Andrew was recognised for outstanding public service in the development of new technical solutions to improve online service delivery.

Chief Executive Officer's Service Recognition AwardsThe Chief Executive Officer Service Awards recognise length of service by Centrelink employees in the Australian Public Service. Employees received recognition awards for 20, 25, 30 and 35+ years of service and were presented with Chief Executive Officer's Service Recognition Certificates.

Demonstrate united leadership and teamwork at all levelsCEO Leadership Dialogue SeriesThe CEO Leadership Dialogues were initiated in November 2006 to assist with meeting the strategic priority ‘Demonstrate united leadership and teamwork at all levels'. The dialogues involve representative groups of employees—APS 4 through to EL2—from around Australia engaging directly with the CEO and other Executive members to discuss important issues in small syndicate groups.

The dialogues filter through to local level employees from the participants through a ‘storyboard'. The storyboard highlights the discussion themes and messages from the day.

This helps participants to share their experiences and what they learned from the day with their colleagues.

In 2007-08 nine CEO Leadership Dialogue Series events were held—two in Canberra and one each in Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Townsville. Between 50 and 120 Centrelink employees participated in each event.

The dialogue series has led to better consultation between National Support Office and the network and better communication among leaders at all levels. Participant feedback has been extremely positive with 97 per cent of participants indicating they would recommend attending a future Leadership Dialogue to their colleagues.

The focus for 2008-09 is to continue delivering the Leadership Dialogue Series and promote united leadership behaviours to assist in building a networked and integrated organisation.

Centrelink Stakeholder Engagement meetingsCentrelink Stakeholder Engagement Meetings were initiated in April 2007 and complement the CEO Leadership Dialogue Series. In 2007-08 the CEO hosted six events in Canberra, Perth,

Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Darwin. The events aim to improve Centrelink's relationship with local stakeholders and provide a way for Centrelink to hear directly about further improving services.

Stakeholder Engagement Meetings are informal, held in the evenings for community representatives from the Job Network; disability, Indigenous and charity organisations; and local government agencies to network with Centrelink leadership teams and discuss issues and achievements. Between 50 and 90 local stakeholders attended each event.

Positive feedback from participants encouraged the CEO to make the Stakeholder Engagement Meetings a permanent addition to the CEO Leadership Dialogue Series.

Leadership developmentIn 2007-08 Centrelink delivered nationally coordinated leadership development programs targeting current and up-and-coming senior managers. Depending on the program, participants may have experienced:

a 360 degree capability appraisal and feedback process

an Integrated Leadership System self assessment

internal or external coaching sessions

an intensive residential or three-day workshop

structured simulation exercises

peer partnering and networking, and/or

a Centrelink specific Business Challenge, with results reported to the CEO and selected Senior Executive Service employees.

The Centrelink Leadership Arena was introduced to provide Centrelink employees with a scheduled opportunity to hear from Centrelink leaders and external speakers.

In 2007-08 a branch of Toastmasters International was established for employees within the Centrelink National Support Office. Toastmasters provides opportunities for employees to practice and develop confidence in public speaking and interpersonal communication skills.

Table 23: National leadership development program participation for 2007-08

Classification 2007-08 participants

Senior Executive Service 32

Executive Level 2 191

Executive Level 1 238

Centrelink Band 3 (APS 5 and 6) 150

Total 611

Australia and New Zealand School of Government programsIn 2007-08 Centrelink continued to support Australia and New Zealand School of Government by sponsoring three places on the Executive Masters of Public Administration Program and a place on the Executive Fellows Program. To date, 28 Centrelink managers have studied under the

Executive Masters Program and nine members of the Senior Executive Service have participated in the Executive Fellows Program.

Australian Rural Leadership FoundationThe Australian Rural Leadership Foundation's annual Australian Rural Leadership Program identifies, develops and supports highly effective leaders in rural and regional Australia. Centrelink recognises the challenges facing leaders in rural and regional areas and provides an annual scholarship to an employee.

Ethics and internal fraudCentrelink is committed to supporting employees to meet their obligations to adhere to the Australian Public Service Values and comply with the Code of Conduct. The Ethical Conduct Subcommittee continues to support the People Committee to help create an ongoing ethical culture in Centrelink.

As part of Centrelink's Ethics Framework, 98 per cent of employees had attended awareness building presentations and re-signed their Declarations of Confidentiality by the end of 2007. Centrelink's commitment to enhancing an ethical culture is supported by an ongoing communication strategy including the publication of a quarterly newsletter— Centrelink Values— that focuses on ethical expectations.

Additionally, the Centrelink Employees As Customers phone line was set up. Apart from promoting a supportive environment for employees, the phone service specifically helps employees when serving customers who are also employees.

Qualifications

Team Leader qualification programAn interactive online training program for Centrelink's team leaders was launched in January 2008. Currently there are 60 particpants undertaking the program. The program builds knowledge and skills in key areas of leadership for Centrelink in line with the Australian Public Service's Integrated Leadership System. Successful completion leads to a Diploma of Government (Management).

The online learning community features a variety of integrated activities, discussion boards, project bank, and learning toolboxes. Benefits include increased flexibility and access, as learners can contribute at their own pace, at convenient times, from their own location.

Diploma and certificate qualificationsCentrelink issues qualifications to support a range of job roles. Diploma and Certificate IV level qualifications from the Public Sector Training Package are delivered to Business Integrity employees to meet the Fraud Control Guidelines, and to managers, team leaders and other employees developing careers in the public sector. The Diploma of Project Management, delivered by an external provider, is quality assured through systems managed by Centrelink before the qualification is issued. Over 180 employees participated in the programs in 2007-08.

Employee training

Executive Assistant ProgramIn 2007-08 the Centrelink Executive Assistant Program was created to assist all Executive Assistants (EAs) and their Senior Executives.

Strategies to attract, train and retain Centrelink EAs include:

creating an EA internal website which includes information and tools which EAs need to do their jobs—for example, information about financial delegations, internal and external directories, acronyms, accommodation booking, performance agreements, stores, travel, templates and security

ensuring EAs receive professional career training

organising an EA ‘buddy' system, which offers support to all new EAs from experienced Centrelink EAs (known as ‘buddies') and provides networking opportunities, and

providing assistance to fill temporary and ongoing EA vacancies within Centrelink.

Cultural Awareness trainingIn 2007-08 over 1000 Centrelink employees attended Cultural Awareness training, making a total of 4200 participants since 2006. The Cultural Awareness training program is designed to improve service delivery to Indigenous customers, communities and colleagues by increasing employee knowledge and understanding of the issues affecting Indigenous Australians.

During the year Centrelink delivered Cultural Awareness training to Government Business Managers moving into communities under the Northern Territory Emergency Response. Cultural Awareness training was also delivered to Centrelink employees sent to the Northern Territory. Centrelink also provided the training to employees from Australian Hearing, the Child Support Program and the Department of Human Services.

Outbound programThe Outbound program was set up initially to give employees from Centrelink's National Support Office exposure to the pressures that affect network employees and the customers they serve. However, it also allows the opportunity for exchange of ideas and information between different areas of Centrelink.

All Centrelink Senior Executive Service employees are now expected to make at least one Outbound visit each year. The visits give them the chance to see first-hand how services are delivered. Centrelink Customer Service Centre and Call Centre employees also benefit by learning more about the strategic directions of the organisation. All participants in Centrelink's National Graduate Program are also expected to make an Outbound visit.

The Outbound program is also open to employees from the policy departments on whose behalf Centrelink delivers services. These visits mean policy officers can see how their services are delivered at the front line and this helps them when they develop new policies and programs.

In 2007-08 there were 344 participants in the Outbound program.

Enable Centrelink's IT services and capabilityIT RefreshOn 30 June 2008 Centrelink marked the end of the five-year IT Refresh Program. IT Refresh was a $312 million, five-year program, announced in the 2003-04 Budget. The aim of IT Refresh was to modernise Centrelink's IT systems to provide a platform for improved online delivery of services, reduce the risk of service compromise due to system failure, deliver savings, provide an infrastructure that could be used by other government agencies, and deliver savings of around $305 million.

The first three years of IT Refresh focused on improving and upgrading Centrelink's infrastructure to support online capabilities. In the latter years the program focus shifted to support increased self-service for customers and third party organisations by strengthening the online environment.

Major achievements for 2007-08 included:

launching the Third Party Services Portal to provide third parties with more capacity to interact online with Centrelink on behalf of mutual customers

implementing geographic customer record coding of customer records in Centrelink's Integrated Systems and linking specific locations to mapping tools. This is especially valuable during disasters and emergencies because it can help to identify affected customers and the number of Centrelink employees needed to manage relief activities

establishing an electronic data exchange facility with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to verify financial assets

migrating all customer-facing and telephony-channel legacy (that is, old or soon to be obsolete software) middleware (that is, software that is an intermediary between systems, software and an application) to lessen the risk of service compromise, realise a cost benefit and reduce system complexity

completing work to lower operating costs and reduce client network servers from around 900 to 450, which has resulted in removing over 30 server cabinets or equipment and freeing up space for new initiatives and growth

implementing data warehouse technology to provide improved management information, leading to more timely and accurate policy performance information and support for internal and government decision making, and

introducing speaker verification technology and a form of Interactive Voice Recognition technology, to make it easier for customers to do things like report earnings over the phone or update family income estimates.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) 2007 performance audit of the program endorsed Centrelink's management of IT Refresh, finding that the program clearly met its commitments to government and exceeded anticipated savings.

The ANAO report identified that key reasons behind the success of IT Refresh were the successful planning approach, a strategically focused coordination unit, and effective oversight, including extensive external scrutiny through the IT Refresh Oversight Committee and an independent adviser, and regular gateway ‘health check' and project progress reviews. (For more information about the audit, see Appendix 5, Australian National Audit Office activity.)

IT architectureTo fully serve the changing needs of the Australian public, Centrelink maintains one of the most sophisticated IT environments in the southern hemisphere.

Centrelink's Enterprise Architecture is a comprehensive framework for managing and aligning our business strategy with our IT capabilities. It positions Centrelink for integration with other government departments and agencies. As a major player in government IT services, Centrelink also works closely with the Australian Government Information Management Office to work towards an integrated government response to service delivery.

In 2007-08 a key focus for Centrelink's IT architecture was to build systems capabilities to support greater automation and increased processing efficiency through the Process Enhancement Program (see page 130).

Income Security Integrated SystemSince the early 1990s, Centrelink has used the discipline of IT architecture to rationalise and get better value out of our IT investments. The prime example is the creation of the Income Security Integrated System (ISIS). The system provides a single view of a customer across a range of program/benefit systems, maintains customer histories to calculate retrospective entitlements, and interfaces with external systems in the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and others.

The system has provided a stable platform to ensure efficient and effective operation. It supports 20 000 employees and hundreds of programmers and testers who are developing future versions. Since 1999 middleware has been used to extend ISIS to external access by customers and business, via browser, Interactive Voice Recognition, and web service interfaces.

In 2007-08, as part of its strategic planning, Centrelink looked at whether the ISIS architecture could respond to the changes over the next 15 years. This resulted in support for maintaining the core principle of a single view of all data for a customer, and that the strong cluster boundary concept would continue to allow incremental change and renewal of the system over time.

Using a service oriented architecture approach Centrelink is integrating ISIS with services provided by other agencies, as well as with other services and technologies within Centrelink. Early additions will include digitisation, authentication and workflow systems.

IT release managementIn 2007-08 Centrelink implemented around 3100 change requests throughout all IT systems— an increase of about 10 per cent on 2006-07. During the year, eight major releases were conducted. Four were quarterly and four mid-range, as well as regular weekly releases for both mainframe and mid-range infrastructure and application changes. These system changes contributed to better Centrelink services and capabilities.

Centrelink Enterprise Data WarehouseIn 2007-08 Centrelink improved its management information capability. The first stage implementation of an Enterprise Data Warehouse, which contains broad customer demographics and some initial program-specific data, has improved access to and consistency of information via a single database repository.

The Centrelink Enterprise Data Warehouse includes a Business Intelligence suite, which has led to improved reporting and access to information about Centrelink's customers and business.

With the first stage implemented, Centrelink now has a solid base for developing future business intelligence and analytic capabilities.

More IT positions in AdelaideThe Core Business IT Systems and Support Branch, which started operating in Adelaide on 28 May 2007, has now grown to over 115 employees, which exceeds original estimates. The branch has successfully migrated development work for several applications, which was previously undertaken at National Support Office in Canberra. It will continue to develop capability and the branch is expected to grow to around 150 employees by mid-2009, further improving Centrelink's overall IT capability.

Usability CentreThe Usability Centre provides human-centred services to development teams, mainly within Centrelink, but also for other Australian Government and state and territory government agencies.

The services mean users can participate during analysis, design and construction phases, to ensure the usability and accessibility of the products, tools and processes that are developed for both customers and employees. The Usability Centre operates a range of industry-standard methodologies, either bringing users to the controlled environment of the Usability Laboratory in Adelaide, or using mobile technology to ‘visit' users in their usual environment.

The Usability Centre also provides assessments of product compliance with corporate, whole-of-government and industry standards and guidelines on usability and accessibility.

Internet securityCentrelink has continued to increase its interconnection with government and business partners via its external gateways. During 2007-08 Centrelink enabled additional gateway services and now supports over 220 services to external organisations.

In 2007-08 technology to scan web traffic was integrated into system gateways to provide more protection. Once again, Centrelink gateways achieved provisional certification under the INFOSEC Registered Assessor Program to the PROTECTED level in June 2008.

During the year, Centrelink did not detect any successful attempts to hack into its systems.

New internet-facing applications continue to be penetration and ethical hack-tested.

Security technologiesDuring 2007-08 the IT Refresh Program completed two security projects, which aim to improve the security of government service delivery and Centrelink internal security. These projects have delivered a number of outcomes for internal and external users of Centrelink and government services.

For external usersA contract was signed and work began on security services for the Australian Government Information Management Office's Australian Government Online Service Point, based on the earlier development by Centrelink of the Department of Human Services' Citizen Portal, Authentication Hub service at https://myaccount.humanservices.gov.au

Following the speaker verification pilot project, a contract was prepared with Telstra for speaker verification technology, which uses individual customer voice characteristics as an authentication mechanism.

As well, the whole-of-government pilot authentication service (the VANguard Program) was developed into a production system for digital certificate based access to Centrelink online services.

Security and access services were also developed for Centrelink's Business Portal.

For internal usersIn 2007-08 a tender for a contact-less smartcard solution was completed. This new technology will replace Centrelink's existing identification solutions and provide for IT system access, employee identification and integrated building access.

Process Enhancement ProgramThe Process Enhancement Program (PEP) focuses on digitisation and consolidation of Centrelink's customer service processing layer. The main aim is to increase efficiency of information processing and to improve the accuracy of decision making.

While PEP will continue beyond 2007-08, the key focus for the past year was to set a platform for future efficiency gains. This included innovative use of document scanning technologies and supporting systems capabilities to digitise paper based information (such as forms). As a result, processing and managing this information is now managed more easily in the service delivery network.

During 2007-08 PEP:

provided interim IT capability to support the National Workflow Management (Business Integrity) pilot and other initiatives such as the emergency response to the Mackay floods, in line with Centrelink future IT architectural directions

consolidated all current scanning projects to provide a consistent platform for future development in this area of technology

made progress with critical digitisation proposals and increased capacity and functionality of the scanning capability, pending the long-term solution

developed a strategy and timetable which will lead to transition of all Centrelink Business Lines into a virtual national processing platform.

considered long-term capability options, including the re-capitalisation of Centrelink systems infrastructure to strengthen online and digitisation capabilities, and

established an IT development methodology for process design, enterprise content management, collaboration capability and their implementation.

Chapter 7: Demonstrating value for moneyDemonstrating value for moneyCentrelink's strategic theme ‘demonstrating value for money' aims to achieve its outcome by ensuring Centrelink is accountable for the efficient use of resources and ensuring the best service offer at the best price.

Centrelink tracks its performance against this strategic theme by measuring whether Centrelink continues to build confidence in service delivery costs, resource management and business processes. On a monthly basis, Centrelink reports:

revenue within budget

expenditure within budget, and

net operating result within budgeted gross revenue.

Top level resultsTable 24: Centrelink targets and results for 2007-08

Target Result

Continue to build confidence in service delivery costs, resource management and business processes:

- revenue within budget +/-5% -4.90%

- expenditure within budget +/-5% -2.46%

- net operating result within budgeted gross revenue + 1% -1.04%

Highlights for 2007-08 Achieved a better overall result than the $32 million operating result anticipated in the 2008-

09 Portfolio Budget Statement. The net operating loss was $27.5 million or one per cent of total revenue of $2.7 billion

maintained a positive cash position during the year, with a closing balance of $318 million, and

increased revenue from the rendering of services, which was $2 billion, up five per cent mainly due to Budget measures workload.

DescriptionThroughout the year, Centrelink maintained a strong focus on promoting a culture of sound financial awareness and management, and succeeded in managing a changing financial environment and associated workforce impacts.

Regular monitoring of financial performance, including a variance analysis, is conducted each month for revenue and expense transactions between actual and budget at the General Ledger account level.

Functional areas across Centrelink were encouraged to produce monthly reviews and assess forecasts against budget and to take appropriate action.

Strategic objective Continue to build confidence in our service delivery costs, resource management and business

processes

Continue to build confidence in our service delivery costs, resource management and business processesAs at 30 June 2008, Centrelink's net operating result did not meet target. The net operating result was -1.04 per cent, which was outside of the target of within +1 per cent of budgeted gross revenue. This was mainly due to increased expenses incurred in relation to the income management component of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Budget measure. The result however, was $4.5 million better than the anticipated $32 million operating deficit reported in the 2008-09 Portfolio Budget Statements.

Operating resultCentrelink reported an operating loss of $27.5 million for 2007-08. This equates to negative one per cent of total income of $2.7 billion.

Table 25: Centrelink's operating result

2006-07

$'000

2007-08

$'000

Income 2 511 031 2 658 633

Expenses 2 503 244 2 686 163

Operating result 7 787 (27 530)

RevenueCentrelink's revenue is primarily derived from the policy departments with whom Centrelink has Business Partnership Agreements. Centrelink provided services on behalf of more than 20 departments.

Revenue adjustments in 2007-08 included returns to government of:

$85 million under the Centrelink Funding Model for reduced customer workloads in line with the workload reconciliation principle of the funding model, and

$58.8 million Direct Appropriation revenue in relation to Access Card Budget ($57.8 million) and other Budget measures.

Significant additions to revenue in 2007-08 included:

$18.5 million for the 2008-09 Budget, in relation to work to be delivered in 2007-08 including $3.2 million for Seniors Bonus, $2.9 million for Queensland Flood Assistance, $2.7 million for the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER), $2.2 million for Concession Cards retention while overseas, $1.9 million for Welfare Payments Reform, $1.7 million for Child Care Benefit—remove minimum rate, $1.3 million for Carer Bonus and $1.3 million for Teen Dental Plan Budget measures

$54.6 million for 2007-08 Additional Estimates, including $24.1 million for Drought Assistance/Exceptional Circumstances, $10.7 million for Utilities Allowance, $6.7 million for the Commonwealth Disability Package, $5.7 million for Disaster Relief Funding—Hunter, Central Coast and Gippsland regions, $5.5 million for Equine Influenza Assistance and $3.9 million for Rephasing for LPG Centrelink Funding Budget measures

$42.9 million for 2007-08 NTER Budget measures

$41.3 million for the 2007-08 Budget, including $20.9 million for Fraud and Compliance measures, $7.6 million for A Better Future for Indigenous Australians, $5.1 million for Assurance of Support simplification package, $4.1 million for Securing the future of aged care for Australians, and $3.6 million for Pension Bonus Scheme Budget measures, and

$20.4 million additional revenue for Job Capacity Assessments.

Table 26: Revenue to Centrelink for services 2007-08

Source of revenue(a) $'000

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations 942 315

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs 938 586

Department of Human Services 76 509

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 31 583

Department of Health and Ageing 14 033

Other departments 29 038

External entities 13 518

Total revenue for services 2 045 582

(a) Excludes other revenue ($1 million), gains from sale of assets ($0.5 million), resources received free of charge ($2.7 million) and direct appropriations received from government ($608.8 million).

Table 27: Summary of resources

Resources Budget(a) 2007-08 $'000

Actual 2007-08 $'000

Budget(b) 2008-09 $'000

Price of output

Output: Efficient delivery of Australian Government services to eligible customers

Revenue from government (appropriation) for departmental output

608 799 608 799 607 171

Revenue from other sources 2 059 899 2 049 834 2 165 464

Total price of output 2 668 698 2 658 633 2 772 635

Total revenue for outcome (total price of output)

2 668 698 2 658 633 2 772 635

Equity injection 41 460 41 460 3 536

Total capital for agency 41 460 41 460 3 536

Staffing years (number) 24 900 24 769 24 700

(a). Portfolio Budget Statements 2008-09, estimated actual result for 2007-08.

(b). Portfolio Budget Statements 2008-09, budget for 2008-09.

ExpensesIn 2007-08 employee benefit expense increased nine per cent to $1.7 billion as the effects of pay increases on salary and leave provisions are offset by workforce reduction initiatives. The overall workforce declined by 1273 Average Staffing Level (ASL).

Supplier expenses increased by three per cent to $808.9 million. The main drivers of this include:

increased assessments made in relation to assets valuation for determining customer entitlements

increased Medicare Australia delivery of Family Assistance Office services conducted on behalf of Centrelink, and

straight-lining of operating lease expenses relating to the Caroline Chisholm Centre.

Balance sheet and cash flowCentrelink's financial position is strong and has improved since 2006-07. The value of total assets exceeded total liabilities by $301.6 million. Cash available at the end of the financial year, including cash held at the Official Public Account, was $318 million.

Centrelink invested $219.4 million in non-financial assets during the year. This was mainly for leasehold improvements ($101.3 million), infrastructure, plant and equipment ($64.1 million) and software ($54 million).

Centrelink's capital adjustment includes a return to government, including $18.3 million for the Access Card Budget measure.

Purchasing activity and contract managementCentrelink has performed its procurement activities in accordance with the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines (January 2005). Centrelink's Chief Executive's Instructions and related policy and procedural publications support the guidelines and are periodically reviewed for consistency with the Commonwealth Procurement Framework.

Centrelink continued to work closely with the Department of Human Services and portfolio agencies to achieve cooperative procurement and contracting activities. Clustering (approaching the market together) or ‘piggybacking' (joining another agency's contractual arrangement) has led to reduced tendering costs and savings through economies of scale.

Formal interagency consultation processes operate at the beginning of all new major tender exercises and several collaborative tenders were undertaken in 2007-08.

For examples of collaborative arrangements see Procurement initiatives with the Human Services Portfolio in Chapter 5, Developing a networked organisation.

Consultancy servicesCentrelink complies with the Department of Finance and Deregulation's Financial Management Guidance No. 15: Guidance on Procurement Publishing Obligations (July 2007), to distinguish between consultancy and non-consultancy contracts for annual reporting purposes.

In 2007-08, 15 new consultancy contracts were entered into, involving total actual expenditure of $755 403. In addition, eight ongoing consultancy contracts were active involving total actual expenditure of $293 747.

Appendix 16, Consultancy contracts let during 2007-08 valued at $10 000 or greater (including GST) shows all new consultancy contracts let by Centrelink during 2007-08 with a value of $10 000 or more.

Table 28 shows total expenditure on consultancy contracts for the current and previous two financial years.

Table 28: Expenditure on consultancy services

Financial year Total consultancy services expenditure ($)

2005-06 3 370 236

2006-07 3 216 253

2007-08 1 049 150

Note: Centrelink has reviewed its procedures for identifying consultancies and reporting their related expenditure and has introduced an enhanced quality assurance regime. The effect of this action has been a significant decrease in the number of contracts identified as consultancies, and a corresponding reduction in the total reported expenditure in 2007-08. It should also be noted that consultancy expenditure varies from year to year.

Competitive tendering and contractingDetails of Centrelink's open approaches to the market are publicly available through the Australian Government's procurement information system, AusTender.

Information on contracts let, when the value is $10 000 or greater, including consultancies, is also available on the AusTender website at www.tenders.gov.au

All of Centrelink's contract templates include standard clauses providing the Auditor-General with appropriate access to a contractor's premises.

Exempt contractsCentrelink has no contracts or standing offers that were exempted from publication on the Government's procurement information system.

Property managementCentrelink maintains a leased portfolio of 434 sites occupying 565 060 m2. The property portfolio comprises 316 Centrelink Customer Service Centres, 25 Call Centres, 35 other customer service sites, 37 sites housing National and Area Support Offices and 21 storage and other sites.

Jones Lang LaSalle provides leasing and facilities management services for the portfolio under a property services contract with Centrelink. In 2007-08 office lease and associated costs for the portfolio were $230.6 million.

Management of the property portfolio focused on providing accommodation to meet the needs of a constantly changing service delivery environment. This requires offices to be well located, within reach of customers, and with a good quality internal environment from which to deliver government services.

During 2007-08, four Customer Service Centres and one Remote Area Service Centre were relocated to enable better access for customers to Centrelink services. In an ongoing program to improve customer and staff amenity and enhance the image and presentation of Centrelink's service delivery network, 61 Centrelink Customer Service Centres were refurbished to current standards. In addition, six Call Centres were also refurbished to current standards. In total, $80 million was spent on capital improvements to Centrelink sites.

Centrelink also provides staff housing in remote locations where a suitable rental market does not exist, sometimes in the form of transportable homes. It owns 26 such residences.

In 2005, Centrelink entered into an agreement with a developer to design, construct and lease a new 40 000 m2 office building as part of its National Support Office co-location in the Tuggeranong precinct in the Australian Capital Territory. The new Caroline Chisholm Centre was completed and occupied in the first half of 2008.

Customer compensationDuring 2007-08 Centrelink received 2804 claims for customer compensation under Legal Liability and Compensation for Detriment Caused by Defective Administration schemes. In total, 1264 successful or partially successful claims were approved during the year.

Centrelink continued to assist the Department of Finance and Deregulation (DoFD) in relation to Act of Grace claims. In 2007-08 Centrelink received 179 Act of Grace claims. Of these, DoFD approved 116 claims.

Of the 179 Act of Grace claims received, 25 per cent of claims were for Family Payments and 14 per cent of claims were for Carer Bonus Payments and Older Australian Bonus. The remainder of claims received were for other social security payments.

Chapter 8Financial statementsChapter 9APPENDICESAppendix 1: Commonwealth legislation affecting CentrelinkEnabling legislationCommonwealth Services Delivery Agency Act 1997

Legislation conferring functions on CentrelinkA New Tax System (Bonuses for Older Australians) Act 1999

A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999

A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999

A New Tax System (Family Assistance and Related Measures) Act 2000

A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Consequential and Related Measures) Act (No. 1) 1999

Aged Care Act 1997

Child Care Act 1972

Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989

Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988

Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency (Consequential Amendments) Act 1997 Disability Discrimination Act 1992 Disability Services Act 1986

Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (More Help for Families—One-off Payment) Act 2004

Farm Household Support Act 1992

Health Insurance Act 1973

Hearing Services Administration Act 1997

Income Tax Assessment Act 1936

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

National Health Act 1953

Social Security Act 1991

Social Security (Administration) Act 1999

Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999

Social Security (Rewrite) Transition Act 1991

Social Security Legislation Amendment (One-off Payments for Carers) Act 2005 Student Assistance Act 1973 Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

Compliance legislationCrimes Act 1914

Data-matching Program (Assistance and Tax) Act 1990

Financial accountabilityA New Tax System (Fringe Benefits) Act 2000

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax Transition) Act 1999

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2006

Auditor-General Act 1997

Bankruptcy Act 1966

Criminal Code Act 1995

Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (2006 Budget Measures) Act 2006

Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997

Fringe Benefits Tax Act 1986

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986

Lands Acquisition Act 1989

Taxation Administration Act 1953

People managementAge Discrimination Act 2004 Disability Discrimination Act 1992

Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987 Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976 Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973 Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991

Public Employment (Consequential and Transition) Amendment Act 1999

Public Service Act 1999

Racial Discrimination Act 1975

Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988

Sex Discrimination Act 1984

Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988

Superannuation Act 1922

Superannuation Act 1976

Superannuation Act 1990

Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 Workplace Relations Act 1996

Administrative lawActs Interpretation Act 1901

Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975

Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977

Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000

Federal Court of Australia Act 1976

Freedom of Information Act 1982

Judiciary Act 1903

Ombudsman Act 1976

Privacy Act 1988

GeneralArchives Act 1983 Auditor General Act 1997 Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 Copyright Act 1968 Electronic Transactions Act 1999

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Appendix 2: Our servicesAttorney-General's Department Family Relationship Advice Line

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Drought Assistance, including Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment, Exceptional

Circumstances certificates, Interim Income Support, Small Business Assistance and Professional Advice and Planning Grant

Equine Influenza

Exceptional Circumstances Exit Assistance including Exit Grant, Advice and Re-training Grant and Relocation Grant

Ex-gratia payments

Farm Help Program

Irrigation Management Grant

Transitional Income Support (start date 16 June 2008, sunset date 30 June 2009)

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations ABSTUDY

ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement

Assessment, referral, compliance and related services

Assessment Subsidy for Overseas Trained Professionals

Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme

Australian Apprenticeships Access Program

Australian Apprenticeships Centres

Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program

Austudy

Career Information Centres

Career Planning Program*

Connections

Education Entry Payment

Employment Entry Payment

Fares Allowance

Group Training in the Trades Program

Information regarding Australian Skills Vouchers Program# and Australian Apprenticeship Centres

Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program

Language, Literacy and Numeracy Supplement

Mature Age Allowance

Mobility Allowance

Newstart Allowance

Parenting Payment

Partner Allowance

Pensioner Education Supplement

Productivity Placement Program

Sickness Allowance

Utilities Allowance

Widow Allowance

Work for the Dole Supplement

Youth Allowance (job seekers)

Youth Allowance (students)

Youth Pathways*The Career Planning Program ceased on 31 December 2007.

#The Australian Skills Vouchers Program ceased on 31 March 2008.

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Age Pension

Assessment, referral, compliance and related savings regarding Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Assurance of Support

Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment

Baby Bonus

Bereavement Allowance

Carer Allowance

Carer Payment

Child Care Benefit

Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

Community Agents Program

Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) Participation Supplement

Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program

Concession cards

Crisis Payment

Disability Support Pension

Double Orphan Pension

Family Tax Benefit (Parts A and B)

Financial Information Service

Foreign Pension Access and Assessment

International Agreements

Jobs Education and Training (JET) Child Care Fee Assistance

Maternity Immunisation Allowance

Nominee Arrangements

Northern Territory Emergency Response

Pension Bonus Scheme

Pension Loans Scheme

Pharmaceutical Allowance

Remote Area Allowance

Rent Assistance

Seniors Concession Allowance

Special Benefit

Telephone Allowance

Utilities Allowance

Widow B Pension

Wife (Age) Pension

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australian passport queries

Contact centre services for passport information

Smartraveller Advisory Telephone Services

Department of Health and Ageing Home Quarantine Call Centre

Medicare Safety Net (Family Tax Benefit customer validation)

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (concession validation)

Residential Aged Care (income and assets assessments)

Department of Immigration and Citizenship Assessment of Domestic Violence

Assistance with Citizenship Testing

Assurance of Support

Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources LPG Vehicle Scheme

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme

Emergency Call Centre Service

Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme

Tasmanian Wheat Freight Scheme

Department of Treasury Verification service for First Home Owner's Scheme

Department of Veterans' Affairs Community Support Service

Defence Force Income Support Allowance

Veterans' Agent Service

Veterans' Information Service

Other organisations

Australian Crime Commission Australian Identity Protection Register

Australian Electoral Commission Assisting Centrelink customers who worked for the commission during the 2008 federal

election, to meet their mutual obligation requirements and minimise overpayments

Data-matching to identify Australians who are about to become eligible to vote

Election Call Centre Service

Improving public access to enrolment forms

Australian Federal Police Investigation and ancillary services

Australian Taxation Office Australian Business Register/Australian Business Number confirmation services

Electronic transfer of payment summaries

Office sharing arrangements

Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Financial Transaction Reports

Australian Valuation Office Purchase Valuation Services

Child Support Program Electronic Data Exchange

Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Prosecution of alleged criminal offences in relation to social security programs, employees,

facilities and operations

Coles Myer Ltd Electronic data transfer to assist Centrelink customers employed by Coles Myer to minimise

overpayments

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Bank Account Verification and Electronic Data Exchange

Family Assistance Office Delivery of Family Assistance Office services

Foreign governments Claim assistance

Medicare Australia Data-matching to determine eligibility for concessions under the Pharmaceutical Benefits

Scheme and the Medicare Safety Net

South Australian Government Provision of the DroughtLink Hotline

State/territory corrective services Transfer of data relating to Centrelink customers who are imprisoned and released, to minimise

overpayments and ensure correct benefit is paid

State/territory Registrars-General offices Electronic transfer of death certification information

State/territory TAFE colleges Electronic transfer of student enrolment data to assist Centrelink customers meet their

obligations and minimise overpayments

State/territory universities Electronic transfer of student enrolment and change of study load data, to assist Centrelink

customers meet their obligations and minimise overpayments

Torres Strait Regional Authority Community Development Employment Projects program

Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment Emergency Overflow Call Centre Service for people affected by storms/floods/bushfires

Appendix 3: Organisational chart—list of positionsChief Executive Officer

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Clients, Capability and Corporate

Client Business

General Manager

National Managers

DEEWR

FaHCSIA

DHS and Other Agencies

Strategy and Capability

General Manager

National Managers

Planning and Demand Management

Strategic Performance and Information Management

e-Services

People and Ministerial

General Manager

National Managers

People Strategy

People Development and Training

People Services

Ministerial and Parliamentary

Finance

Chief Financial Officer

National Managers

Financial Management and Services

Legal Services and Procurement

Property and Environment

Budget and Management Accounting

Communication

General Manager

National Manager

Communication and Marketing

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Customer Service

Education, Employment and Support Programs

General Manager

National Managers

Education, Employment and Disability Programs

Education, Employment and Disability Network

Indigenous Services

Multicultural

Network Support Tools

International (dual role)

Rural/Murray-Darling Basin Unit

Families, Seniors and Business Integrity

General Manager

National Managers

Seniors, Carers and Supplementary Payments

Families and Child Care

Business Process Design

Business Integrity Programs

Business Integrity Performance

Business Integrity Operations

Network Operations

General Manager

National Managers

Centrelink Call Operations

Centrelink Call Performance

Area Managers

Area South and East Queensland

Area South and West Queensland

Area North Central Victoria

Area Pacific Central

Area South Australia

Area South East Victoria

Area Sydney East

Area Sydney West

Area South West New South Wales

Area West Australia

Area Hunter

Area West Victoria

Area Tasmania (dual role)

Network Performance

General Manager

National Managers

Network Coordination and Emergency Management

Social Work

Remote Servicing

General Manager

Area Managers

Area North Australia

Area Central and Northern Queensland

National Managers

Income Management

Northern Territory Operations

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Information Technology

Corporate IT Systems

General Manager

National Managers

Security and Information Protection

Technology Architecture

Application Infrastructure and Middleware

IT Service Delivery Strategy and Management

Infrastructure Services

Core Business IT Systems

General Manager

National Managers

Applications Architecture

Business Systems Operations

Better Service Projects

Testing and Release Management

Corporate and Data Services

Applications Capability Development

Business IT Systems and Support

National Manager

IT Projects

Audit, Governance and Assurance

General Manager

National Managers

Internal Audit

Remote Indigenous Business Assurance

Appendix 4: Strategic Balanced Scorecard Strategy Map

Appendix 5: Australian National Audit Office activityAustralian National Audit Office activityCentrelink contributes to the social and economic outcomes set by government by delivering services on behalf of policy departments and other organisations. In many cases Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) audit recommendations include recommendations for action by Centrelink's policy departments, and refer to Centrelink's relationship with those departments. In all cases Centrelink works with policy departments to discuss ANAO recommendations in the context of the relevant Business Partnership Agreements, or similar arrangements.

Audits in 2007-08 involving CentrelinkThe ANAO issued three audits during 2007-08 involving Centrelink (see Table 29). Details of the audits are available on the ANAO website at www.anao.gov.au. Centrelink agreed to all recommendations and is currently addressing them.

Table 29: Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) audits tabled 2007-08

ANAO audit subject ANAO report number Date tabled

Proof of Identity (POI) Report 8 of 2007-08 3 October 2007

IT Refresh Report 17 of 2007-08 19 December 2007

Management of Customer Debt-Follow-up Report 42 of 2007-08 19 June 2008

ANAO Audits tabled 2007-08

Proof of IdentityReport 8 of 2007-08, tabled October 2007.The audit's objective was to determine whether the Proof of Identity (POI) information recorded by Centrelink is in line with relevant policy and effectively supports informed decision making about Centrelink customers' eligibility for the various payments and benefits.

The ANAO used sample results to assess the administration of POI requirements against three main criteria, which are, in summary:

Centrelink has adequate POI policy/guidelines for establishing a customer's identity

Centrelink's customer POI information held on paper files is correct and sufficient to meet the requirements of the agency's policy and guidelines to establish the identity of Centrelink customers, and

Centrelink's customer POI information held on paper files matches the POI information held in the main electronic database.

In summary, the audit recommended:

That Centrelink undertake a post implementation review of the 2004-05 At Risk Customers project to:

(a) provide assurance that Centrelink achieved its objective of improving its processes for customers at risk of not receiving their entitlement because they cannot meet Centrelink's standard POI requirements, and

(b) identify further opportunities for improvement.

That Centrelink improve the application of the current POI model by:

(a) ensuring that, where it is available to them, Quality Online (QOL) checking officers examine the customer's photocopied POI to check that:

– sufficient POI has been provided to satisfy the POI requirements

– photocopying of the documentation is of the required quality such that they are useful for Centrelink's purposes (data entry and verifying a customer's identity in the future), and

– the photocopies have been certified ‘Original Sighted and Returned', and

(b) improving Customer Service Advisers' (CSAs) compliance with the POI operational guidelines by reviewing the current training and guidance provided to CSAs.

To increase the likelihood that QOL checking officers will detect and rectify errors made by CSAs when entering POI document details into Centrelink's ISIS system, the ANAO recommended that Centrelink:

(a) reinforce with QOL checking officers through relevant training, the importance of CSAs correctly entering POI information in ISIS, and

(b) review, and amend as appropriate the current POI questions in the QOL process to determine whether they enable QOL checking officers to effectively identify coding errors made by CSAs.

Centrelink agreed with the recommendations.

Since the tabling of this report, the third recommendation has been implemented, and recommendations one and two are substantially complete.

IT RefreshReport 17 of 2007-08, tabled December, 2007.The audit's overall objective was to assess the effectiveness of IT Refresh and, in particular:

the extent to which Centrelink has the funds invested by the Government to develop its IT capability and realise the anticipated service delivery, financial and other benefits, and

how Centrelink's program management approach and IT Refresh's oversight arrangements have contributed to the achievement of the outcomes of the program.

The audit examined the operation of IT Refresh from its inception in 2002-03 and made an assessment of what was likely to be completed by the end of the program in June 2008. The audit also looked at the program's governance arrangements and its management from both lifecycle and functional viewpoints against internationally recognised program and project management standards.

In examining Centrelink's management of IT Refresh, the audit identified the elements of Centrelink's approach that were effective and any areas for improvement. The findings were also to provide input to future programs, both for Centrelink and other agencies running major IT programs.

In summary, ANAO recommendations were:

To realise fully the benefits from the agency's investments in the development of the Enterprise Data Warehouse and the Business Definitions Registry, Centrelink should:

(a) give priority to the population of the Enterprise Data Warehouse, and

(b) ensure that the Business Definitions Registry is populated, promoted and used.

For all future programs and projects, Centrelink should:

(a) allocate multi-year funds to programs and projects and review these allocations each year in relation to actual performance in the previous year, to provide input to the annual budget process, and

(b) assess the financial performance of multi-stage projects at the end of each key project stage.

To provide independent assessments of high risk IT procurements, Centrelink should undertake reviews of Quality Assurance Framework procurement activities.

Centrelink agreed with all the ANAO's recommendations.

Of the three recommendations made by the ANAO, responses to the second and third are implemented, and the first will shortly be finalised.

Management of Customer Debt-Follow-up Report 42 of 2007-08, tabled June 2008.This follow-up audit's objective was to examine Centrelink's progress in implementing the recommendations of the 2004-05 audit and the subsequent Parliamentary Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) inquiry.

The audit focused on Centrelink's debt management operations including prevention, identification, raising and recovery.

The audit scope took into account changes made to the Australian Government's welfare program structure since the previous debt audit. It examined Centrelink's debt management arrangements with—at the time of the audit fieldwork—its main purchaser departments: the then Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA), the then Department of

Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), and the then Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).

The two major criteria for this audit were:

to establish whether Centrelink had implemented the previous audit's and JCPAA's recommendations relating to customer debt management, and

to establish Centrelink's current performance in administering its customer debt.

In summary, the audit recommended:

that Centrelink and its purchaser departments undertake an analysis to determine the underlying drivers of the value and profile of the debt base with specific reference to the continuing:

– increase in the value of the debt base

– increase in the number of customers experiencing debt, and

– ageing of the debt base.

Based on this analysis, the ANAO recommended that Centrelink should review its approach to debt management, particularly debt prevention, and develop an integrated program of initiatives that aim to address the underlying drivers of the debt base, and

that Centrelink review the existing governance arrangements and operation of the Early Intervention Activity Database to identify and implement improvements to the integrity and usefulness of the data produced and relied on to support debt prevention strategy decision making.

Centrelink agreed with the audit's recommendations and is currently taking actions to implement them.

Continuing ANAO auditsAs well as the ANAO audits tabled in 2007-08, Centrelink contributed to a number of audits that will continue after 30 June 2008. These are:

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations—Centrelink Business Partnership Agreement

Fraud Tip-Off Line, and

Complaints Handling (follow-up).

ANAO liaisonThe Audit, Governance and Assurance Division coordinated the contribution of Centrelink divisions and branches to the ANAO's audit activities and monitored the implementation of recommendations from ANAO audit reports

Appendix 6: Reporting under the Freedom of Information Act 1982Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) requires each Australian Government department and agency to publish a statement setting out its roles, structure and functions, its arrangements for persons outside the organisation to participate in policy making or implementation, the documents it has available for public inspection, and the procedures for gaining access to those documents. This appendix, together with information in Chapter 4,

Strengthening our customer focus in line with government direction and on the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au, meet those requirements.

Centrelink reports statistics on the handling of formal Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet quarterly and annually. These are reported on their website at www.pmc.gov.au

FunctionsCentrelink's broad functions are described in Chapter 2, Corporate overview. The Commonwealth legislation affecting Centrelink is listed at Appendix 1, Commonwealth legislation affecting Centrelink. An organisation chart detailing Centrelink's structure is at Appendix 3, Organisational chart—list of positions.

Arrangements for customer participation in policy developmentCentrelink delivers a range of services on behalf of policy departments. Those departments welcome suggestions from the public and encourage people to contribute ideas about improvement to their policies, programs and services. Details of the public suggestions' schemes are in the Centrelink publication A guide to payments and services, which is available on the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au

Customers can also provide feedback to Centrelink about its services, including complaints, suggestions and compliments, in several ways. Details of how to provide this feedback are available at Centrelink Customer Service Centres or Call Centres and on the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au

Categories of documentsCentrelink has a wide range of publications including booklets, posters and fact sheets containing detailed information about Centrelink's payments and services. Publications are available from Centrelink Customer Service Centres, by phoning Centrelink, or on the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au

Centrelink's statement under Section 9 of the FOI Act was updated in September 2007 and is available on the National Archive of Australia website at www.naa.gov.au

Enquiries and requests to obtain documents listed on the section 9 statement should be directed to the Centrelink FOI Team Leader by phoning Centrelink, at any Centrelink Customer Service Centre or in writing to the Centrelink FOI Team Leader at:

Freedom of Information Team

Privacy and Information Access Section

Centrelink PO Box 542

CHARLESTOWN NSW 2290

In line with Section 8 of the FOI Act, the following types of documents are held by Centrelink and are available, subject to the exemption provisions:

papers and records relating to internal administration, statistical records as well as records relating to human and financial resource management

ministerial documents and general correspondence

policy documents, including procedural instructions, recommendations and decisions

legal documents, including requests for legal advice, advice given and other legal matters

documents and records relating to program administration, including customer records, investigation documents and appeal documents

tender documents

copies of instruments of delegations and authorisation given to Centrelink officers

papers relating to meetings (agenda, minutes and reports), and

statistical reports and analysis documents and records.

Facilities for obtaining access to documents held by CentrelinkThe FOI Act provides persons with a legally enforceable right of access to documents held by Centrelink. Many documents are available on request, in full or in part.

Centrelink Customer Service Advisers at Centrelink Customer Service Centres can provide customers with a range of documents that contain their personal information outside the formal provisions of the FOI Act. They can also assist a person to make a formal FOI request. Formal requests for access to documents must be in writing. A Centrelink form I want to access or change documents is available at any Centrelink Customer Service Centre. A letter, fax or statement over the counter at any Centrelink Customer Service Centre is also acceptable.

Generally there are no application fees or processing charges for a person seeking access to their own income support payment documents.

Appendix 7: Centrelink's Customer and Community Satisfaction Survey programParticipation in surveys conducted for Centrelink is voluntary. Market research companies conduct all of these surveys. The companies provide Centrelink with an aggregated report of results ensuring that no individual responses can be identified and that no individual will ever be identified in the research results provided to Centrelink.

Research companies are given customer details (such as name, gender, main payment type, address and phone number). Phone interviews are conducted with current customers aged 16 years or older, but exclude those:

with a silent phone number

with a mobile phone only or no phone

in prison, hospital, hostels or nursing homes

who do not want to participate in research, and

who may have special privacy needs.

Customers who have said they do not want to participate in the research are excluded for the next 12 months and those who complete a survey are excluded for the following four months. A quota (or ceiling) is used to ensure that customers from a single payment type do not overwhelm the sample. Survey results are weighted to reflect the views of the customers within the respective survey populations.

National Customer SurveyThe National Customer Survey is run annually with a random selection of around 1300 current customers. All major customer segments are represented in the survey. Recent contact with Centrelink is not a participation requirement.

To ensure that a good cross-section of customers is achieved, there is a quota of 120 completed interviews for each customer segment, except rural payments where there is a quota of 100 completed interviews. As this means that some segments are under or over-represented compared with their incidence in the population at large, responses are weighted to reflect the actual representation of each customer segment in the total Centrelink customer population.

The survey measures perceptions of overall service quality and tests performance against a range of image attributes and service elements that customers have identified as being important.

Customer Service Centre Customer SurveyThe Customer Service Centre Customer Survey targets customers who have recently visited a Centrelink Customer Service Centre (CSC) and measures their perceptions of the quality of service they received. The survey runs continuously, completing around 64 600 interviews each year. There is a target of 200 completed interviews for each CSC. Results are weighted by the CSC to reflect the actual distribution of customers who visit each individual centre.

The sample used to draw interviewees may incorrectly include a number of customers who state they did not attend a particular CSC on a particular day. This group of customers is not interviewed in the survey.

Call Centre Customer Satisfaction SurveyThe Call Centre Customer Satisfaction Survey targets a random selection of current customers who have recently phoned Centrelink and measures their perception of the quality of service they received.

This survey runs continuously, completing around 24 140 interviews a year, aiming to survey at least 3500 customers for each business line in the Call Centre. Results are weighted to the number and type of customers who have phoned a Call Centre in the period.

Top Level Customer Satisfaction ResultThe 2007-08 top level customer satisfaction result is measured by weighted targeted business lines through the Call Centre, Customer Service Centre and Customer Satisfaction Survey results.

Calculation Rule: (A/100 x 33.33) + (B/100 x 33.33) + (C/100 x 33.33)

Measure Item A = Family and Child Care Business Line index per cent of customer satisfaction with Centrelink services

Measure Item B = Seniors, Carers and Rural Business Line index of customer satisfaction with Centrelink services, and

Measure Item C = Working Age Participation Business Line index per cent of customer satisfaction with Centrelink services.

In 2004-05 top level customer Satisfaction Results were measured by weighted combination of Call Centre and Customer Service Centre Customer Satisfaction Survey results.

Calculation Rule: (A + B) / 2

Measure Item A = Weighted positive Customer Service Centre customer satisfaction results, and

Measure Item B = Weighted positive Call Centre customer satisfaction results.

In 2005-06 Centrelink more closely aligned the Customer Service Centre survey methodology with the Call Centre survey methodology. When this changed methodology is applied to previously published Customer Service Centre survey results for 2003-04 and 2004-05, the impact is an

increase in overall satisfaction from 84.1 per cent to 84.4 per cent in 2003-04 and an increase in overall satisfaction from 84.1 per cent to 84.3 per cent in 2004-05. Top level customer satisfaction results therefore increase by 0.15 per cent in 2003-04 and 0.1 per cent in 2004-05. These slight increases are not reflected in Figure 3, Overall customer satisfaction with last contact with Centrelink, 2004-05 to 2007-08 on page 58. This figure reflects previously published results.

Appendix 8: International visits to CentrelinkTable 30: International visits to Centrelink

Date Delegation Areas of interest

June 2008 Working Group on Social Security- Indonesian delegation

Concept Office-Labour market programs

June 2008 Ms Helen John-United Kingdom Department of Work and Pensions

Liverpool Call Centre, Liverpool Customer Service Centre-Service delivery

June 2008 Korean Employment Information Service Career Information Centre-Adelaide

May 2008 Jordanian Ministry of Finance National Support Office-Strategic planning, reporting framework

May 2008 Ms Hillary Reynolds-New Zealand Ministry of Social Development

National Support Office-Future strategies for students

May 2008 Korean Ministry of Labour Kippa-Ring Customer Service Centre-Employment services

May 2008 New Zealand Ministry of Social Development

National Support Office-Business Process Design, online services.

April 2008 Department of Social and Family Affairs-Ireland

Area Sydney West, Families, Liverpool Customer Service Centre, Liverpool Call Centre-Business transformation

April 2008 Singapore Central Provident Fund National Support Office-Age Pensions

April 2008 Deputy Minister, Human Resource and Social Development-Canada

National Support Office, Concept Office-Labour market programs

April 2008 Rotary Group Study Exchange Program- Ireland

Area Central and Northern Queensland, Aitkenvale Customer Service Centre

April 2008 Ministry of Labor and Social Security-China delegation

National Support Office-Overview of Centrelink, Australian Government concession cards

Date Delegation Areas of interest

April 2008 Sir Leigh Lewis-United Kingdom Department of Work and Pensions

Area Sydney East, Redfern Customer Service Centre

April 2008 Rotary Group Study Exchange Program- Norway

Area Central and Northern Queensland, Aitkenvale Customer Service Centre

April 2008 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Braddon Customer Service Centre-Youth issues

April 2008 Social Affairs and Health Committee from the Parliament of Finland

National Support Office-Families and child care, Social Security Agreement

March 2008

Vietnam Ministry for Health National Support Office-Concession cards and allowances

February 2008

International Labour and Social Policy, Ministry for Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovakia Republic

Rockdale Customer Service Centre-Operational support

February 2008

New Zealand Ministry of Social Development

Concept Office

February 2008

Dutch delegation Concept Office

February 2008

Swedish Minister for Employment and Minister for Social Security

National Support Office, Concept Office-Australian Labour Market polices and Welfare to Work reforms

February 2008

Mr Soren Skaarup-Citizens Service Denmark

National Support Office, Bankstown Customer Service Centre

January 2008

United Kingdom-HM Treasury & HM Revenue & Customs

National Support Office, Concept Office-Family Tax Benefit reforms

January 2008

Austrian Hauptverband der Osterreichischen Sozialversicherungstrager

National Support Office-Revision of Agreement between two nations and the implementation of data exchange processes

January 2008

Korean National Pension Scheme National Support Office-Discuss administrative arrangements for the forthcoming Agreement between the two nations

December 2007

United Kingdom Department of Work and Pensions

Memorandum of Understanding on data exchange

November Indian Study Tour-Department of National Support Office-Rural

Date Delegation Areas of interest

2007 Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances

Services, Families, training

October 2007

Japanese Delegation-Global Communications (Glocom)

Woden Customer Service Centre, Concept Office- eGovernment researchers (hosted by Self Service Strategy Branch)

August 2007

New Zealand Ministry of Social Development

National Support Office-Discussions on improving administrative processes between the two organisations

July 2007 Japanese Social Insurance Agency National Support Office-Discussions on administrative arrangements for the forthcoming Agreement between the two nations

Appendix 9: Our people—all Centrelink employeesThe figures in the tables below relate to Australian Public Service employees as at 30 June 2008. They include employees on paid and unpaid leave and employees on temporary performance at a higher level. They do not include figures for Senior Executive Service employees—see Table 55 for SES employees.

Legend

F Female

M Male

f/t Full-time

P/T Part-time

O Ongoing

N Non-ongoing

SES Senior Executive Service

IT Information Technology

Table 31: Centrelink non-Senior Executive Service employees

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 1 767 934 833 1 650 117 1 751 16

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 3 5 944 3 781 2 163 5 1 71 773 5 907 37

Centrelink 2 15 653 11 784 3 869 10 967 4 686 15 259 394

Centrelink 1 367 231 136 305 62 266 101

Passport Information Service Operator 55 41 14 20 35 33 22

Trainees/Cadets 16 10 6 10 6 12 4

Centrelink Professional 2 394 306 88 321 73 387 7

Centrelink Professional 1 981 844 137 659 322 821 160

Centrelink IT Manager 353 79 274 334 19 352 1

Centrelink IT Technical 11 2 9 11 0 11 0

Centrelink IT 480 103 377 472 8 478 2

Public Affairs 4 6 4 2 6 0 6 0

Public Affairs 3 26 18 8 24 2 25 1

Public Affairs 2 26 20 6 20 6 26 0

Public Affairs 1 10 9 1 9 1 10

Total 26 089 18 166 7 923 19 979 6 110 25 344 745

Table 32: National Support Office

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 1199 607 592 1104 95 1186 13

Centrelink 3 1576 944 632 1383 193 1563 13

Centrelink 2 952 697 255 774 178 894 58

Centrelink 1 40 21 19 39 1 28 12

Trainees/Cadets 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

Centrelink Professional 2 43 36 7 42 1 41 2

Centrelink Professional 1 16 14 2 9 7 13 3

Centrelink IT Manager 353 79 274 334 19 352 1

Centrelink IT Technical 11 2 9 11 0 11 0

Centrelink IT 476 103 373 468 8 474 2

Public Affairs 4 6 4 2 6 0 6 0

Public Affairs 3 26 18 8 24 2 25 1

Public Affairs 2 26 20 6 20 6 26 0

Public Affairs 1 10 9 1 9 1 10 0

Total 4735 2554 2181 4224 511 4630 105

Table 33: Call Centre network

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 110 65 45 103 7 110 0

Centrelink 3 573 399 174 475 98 573 0

Centrelink 2 4331 3345 986 2676 1655 4205 126

Centrelink 1 18 15 3 18 0 18 0

Centrelink Professional 2 31 22 9 16 15 31 0

Centrelink Professional 1 38 34 4 24 14 37 1

Centrelink IT 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

Total 5102 3880 1222 3313 1789 4975 127

Table 34: Area Central and Northern Queensland

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 30 22 8 29 1 29 1

Centrelink 3 195 141 54 180 15 193 2

Centrelink 2 537 448 89 407 130 511 26

Centrelink 1 18 14 4 15 3 11 7

Trainees/Cadets 3 2 1 0 3 0 3

Centrelink Professional 2 15 13 2 13 2 13 2

Centrelink Professional 1 42 36 6 35 7 34 8

Total 840 676 164 679 161 791 49

Table 35: Area Hunter New South Wales

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 38 20 18 35 3 37 1

Centrelink 3 289 201 88 232 57 288 1

Centrelink 2 718 571 147 464 254 717 1

Centrelink 1 6 6 0 5 1 0 6

Centrelink Professional 2 19 15 4 17 2 19 0

Centrelink Professional 1 73 64 9 44 29 54 19

Total 1143 877 266 797 346 1115 28

Table 36: Area North Central Victoria

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 37 23 14 34 3 37 0

Centrelink 3 282 170 112 238 44 278 4

Centrelink 2 777 537 240 543 234 777 0

Centrelink 1 14 10 4 12 2 14 0

Centrelink Professional 2 22 17 5 15 7 22 0

Centrelink Professional 1 71 62 9 49 22 59 12

Centrelink IT 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

Total 1204 819 385 892 312 1188 16

Table 37: Area North Australia

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 28 13 15 27 1 28 0

Centrelink 3 130 92 38 121 9 125 5

Centrelink 2 288 243 45 258 30 277 11

Centrelink 1 12 8 4 10 2 5 7

Trainees/Cadets 12 8 4 9 3 11 1

Centrelink Professional 2 12 11 1 12 0 12 0

Centrelink Professional 1 28 23 5 21 7 26 2

Total 510 398 112 458 52 484 26

Table 38: Area Pacific Central

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 26 15 11 26 0 26 0

Centrelink 3 234 148 86 206 28 233 1

Centrelink 2 554 408 146 394 160 550 4

Centrelink 1 6 1 5 6 0 6 0

Centrelink Professional 2 17 15 2 12 5 17 0

Centrelink Professional 1 55 46 9 38 17 39 16

Total 892 633 259 682 210 871 21

Table 39: Area South Australia

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 26 11 15 26 0 26 0

Centrelink 3 348 228 120 281 67 345 3

Centrelink 2 801 596 205 531 270 799 2

Centrelink 1 26 8 18 22 4 23 3

Centrelink Professional 2 27 21 6 23 4 27 0

Centrelink Professional 1 75 60 15 43 32 62 13

Total 1303 924 379 926 377 1282 21

Table 40: Area South and East Queensland

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 29 15 14 29 0 29 0

Centrelink 3 240 164 76 210 30 239 1

Centrelink 2 797 609 188 590 207 797 0

Centrelink 1 19 15 4 17 2 8 11

Centrelink Professional 2 25 21 4 16 9 25 0

Centrelink Professional 1 68 56 12 46 22 60 8

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Total 1178 880 298 908 270 1158 20

Table 41: Area South East Victoria

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 40 25 15 37 3 39 1

Centrelink 3 256 164 92 230 26 256 0

Centrelink 2 808 568 240 588 220 804 4

Centrelink 1 74 44 30 64 10 53 21

Centrelink Professional 2 23 15 8 20 3 22 1

Centrelink Professional 1 83 72 11 46 37 65 18

Centrelink IT 2 0 2 2 0 2 0

Total 1286 888 398 987 299 1241 45

Table 42: Area South West New South Wales

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 19 14 5 19 0 19 0

Centrelink 3 225 146 79 200 25 222 3

Centrelink 2 508 407 101 383 125 504 4

Centrelink 1 7 6 1 6 1 7 0

Centrelink Professional 2 17 11 6 13 4 17 0

Centrelink Professional 1 40 33 7 29 11 38 2

Total 816 617 199 650 166 807 9

Table 43: Area South and West Queensland

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 22 12 10 21 1 22 0

Centrelink 3 225 144 81 210 15 224 1

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 2 546 425 121 402 144 542 4

Centrelink 1 31 21 10 16 15 19 12

Centrelink Professional 2 22 20 2 21 1 22 0

Centrelink Professional 1 70 60 10 52 18 54 16

Total 916 682 234 722 194 883 33

Table 44: Area Sydney East

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 32 20 12 30 2 32 0

Centrelink 3 289 179 110 258 31 289 0

Centrelink 2 901 642 259 681 220 897 4

Centrelink 1 12 5 7 7 5 12 0

Centrelink Professional 2 25 16 9 23 2 25 0

Centrelink Professional 1 67 61 6 44 23 59 8

Total 1326 923 403 1043 283 1314 12

Table 45: Area Sydney West

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 31 17 14 31 0 31 0

Centrelink 3 243 160 83 219 24 243 0

Centrelink 2 812 620 192 631 181 812 0

Centrelink 1 27 18 9 25 2 23 4

Centrelink Professional 2 27 23 4 24 3 27 0

Centrelink Professional 1 75 69 6 65 10 68 7

Total 1215 907 308 995 220 1204 11

Table 46: Area Tasmania

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 31 15 16 30 1 31 0

Centrelink 3 277 164 113 228 49 274 3

Centrelink 2 728 501 227 538 190 598 130

Centrelink 1 29 18 11 22 7 15 14

Passport Information Service Operator

55 41 14 20 35 33 22

Centrelink Professional 2 10 7 3 7 3 9 1

Centrelink Professional 1 39 33 6 18 21 27 12

Total 1169 779 390 863 306 987 182

Table 47: Area West Australia

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 42 25 17 42 0 42 0

Centrelink 3 310 201 109 276 34 310 0

Centrelink 2 893 677 216 625 268 873 20

Centrelink 1 27 20 7 20 7 23 4

Centrelink Professional 2 38 30 8 28 10 38 0

Centrelink Professional 1 71 58 13 50 21 67 4

Total 1381 1011 370 1041 340 1353 28

Table 48: Area West Victoria

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink 4 27 15 12 27 0 27 0

Centrelink 3 252 136 116 224 28 252 0

Centrelink 2 702 490 212 482 220 702 0

Centrelink 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0

Centrelink Professional 2 21 13 8 19 2 20 1

Total F M F/T P/T O N

Centrelink Professional 1 70 63 7 46 24 59 11

Total 1073 718 355 799 274 1061 12

Appendix 10: Equity and diversityThe figures in the tables below relate to all employees as at 30 June 2008. They include figures for Senior Executive Service employees.

Legend

F Female

M Male

I Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander)

D People with disabilities

L People whose first language is a language other than English, or English and another language(s)

0 Ongoing

N Non-ongoing

Table 49: Equity and diversity groups

Total F M I D L

O N O N O N O N O N O N

Area Central and Northern Queensland

791 49 637 39 154 10 110 7 46 2 44 3

Area Hunter New South Wales

1 115 28 853 24 262 4 45 1 60 1 28 0

Area North Central Victoria

1 188 16 807 12 381 4 19 0 99 1 230 2

Area Northern Australia

484 26 377 21 107 5 92 9 20 0 41 3

Total F M I D L

O N O N O N O N O N O N

Area Pacific Central

871 21 614 19 257 2 49 0 52 0 39 1

Area South Australia

1 282 21 907 17 375 4 31 0 88 0 120 2

Area South and East Queensland

1 158 20 863 17 295 3 35 0 49 0 54 0

Area South East Victoria

1 241 45 856 32 385 13 13 0 66 0 171 2

Area South West New South Wales

807 9 612 5 195 4 29 1 43 0 53 1

Area South and West Queensland

883 33 656 26 227 7 39 1 56 0 76 3

Area Sydney East

1 314 12 912 11 402 1 27 0 78 0 321 1

Area Sydney West

1 204 11 897 10 307 1 19 0 54 0 391 4

Area Tasmania 987 182 655 124 332 58 34 1 62 1 59 5

Area West Australia

1 353 28 992 19 361 9 60 1 85 0 139 0

Area West Victoria

1 061 12 708 10 353 2 18 0 52 0 123 0

Call Centre Network

4 975 127 3 791 89 1 184

38 126 0 165 1 277 2

National Support Office

4 703 110 2 518 67 2 185

43 108 2 195 3 564 4

Total employees 25 417

750 17 655

542 7 762

208 854 23 1 270 9 2 730 33

Table 50: Equity and diversity separations

Total F M I D L

O N O N O N O N O N O N

Area Central and Northern Queensland

78 102 60 80 18 22 14 16

7 1 3 8

Area Hunter New South Wales

130 25 101 22 29 3 5 1 6 2 3 0

Area North Central Victoria

101 28 63 20 38 8 4 0 7 2 17 2

Area North Australia 77 34 55 30 22 4 19 7 5 1 6 3

Area Pacific Central 68 14 40 9 28 5 4 0 7 1 1 0

Area South Australia 100 52 66 40 34 12 4 0 7 0 9 1

Area South and East Queensland

117 24 80 20 37 4 6 0 6 1 2 1

Area South East Victoria

94 50 61 37 33 13 4 2 6 0 6 2

Area South West New South Wales

56 17 41 13 15 4 5 1 5 0 3 0

Area South and West Queensland

77 23 53 16 24 7 6 0 7 0 3 1

Area Sydney East 120 74 82 50 38 24 2 1 4 1 26 5

Area Sydney West 95 89 69 72 26 17 2 0 9 0 26 18

Area Tasmania 63 92 45 65 18 27 4 0 4 0 6 1

Area West Australia 255 56 193 45 62 11 17 2 10 0 9 0

Area West Victoria 89 48 60 41 29 7 2 0 3 1 7 2

Call Centre Network 654 36 480 29 174

7 35 1 16 1 31 1

National Support Office 649 211 329 129 320

82 12 5 31 3 77 6

Total separations 2823 975 1878 71 8 945

257

145

36

140

14

235

51

Table 51: Equity and diversity commencements

Total F M I D L

O N O N O N O N O N O N

Area Central and Northern Queensland

20 104 17 84 3 20 2 14

1 1 0 8

Area Hunter New South Wales 65 46 50 39 15 7 4 3 0 1 0 0

Area North Central Victoria 38 8 27 1 11 1 0 1 3 1 4

Area Northern Australia 75 56 64 46 11 10 5 16

2 1 7 5

Area Pacific Central 11 32 8 25 3 7 3 0 0 0 1 1

Area South Australia 24 50 10 41 14 9 1 0 0 0 2 3

Area South and East Queensland

34 38 24 30 10 8 1 0 0 0 4 1

Area South East Victoria 17 89 12 67 5 22 0 1 0 0 1 4

Area South West New South Wales

32 15 29 10 3 5 1 3 2 0 2 1

Area South and West Queensland

17 49 15 34 2 15 0 1 0 0 0 4

Area Sydney East 65 50 52 39 13 11 0 1 0 1 5 3

Area Sydney West 8 33 8 27 0 6 0 0 1 0 2 10

Area Tasmania 47 240 35 163 12 77 1 1 3 2 2 4

Area West Australia 73 73 60 57 13 16 4 4 1 0 6 0

Area West Victoria 10 43 8 36 2 7 1 0 0 0 0 1

Call Centre Network 568 157 415 113 153 44 32 1 7 1 34 3

National Support Office 217 205 121 134 96 71 3 6 4 4 23 7

Total commencements 1292 1318 936 972 356 346 59 51

22 14 90 59

Appendix 11: Disability Discrimination Act 1992 reportingThe Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) covers disability issues in relation to the administration of Australian Government laws and programs and the provision of goods, services and facilities. The Commonwealth Disability Strategy provides the background for Australian Government organisations to ensure that their policies, programs and services are accessible to people with disabilities.

Centrelink's people policies and guidelines meet the requirements of the DDA and the needs of people with disabilities.

As an employer, Centrelink ensures that:

employment policies and procedures comply with the DDA

employee training and development programs include relevant information about the needs of people with disabilities, as members of the community, as customers and as employees, and that they are accessible to people with disabilities

agency recruiters and managers apply the principle of ‘reasonable adjustment'

employment of people with disabilities includes capacity to support the needs and abilities of the individual, and

workplace strategies support the employment of people with disabilities.

AchievementsIn December 2007 the People Committee endorsed the Centrelink Workforce Diversity Plan 2008-2010. This plan adopts a plain-English principles-based approach consistent with the approach taken by progressive Australian Public Service agencies and private sector organisations. Centrelink's commitment to providing equal employment opportunity for people with disability is a key element of the Workforce Diversity Plan 2008-2010. The plan addresses the eight objectives of the Management Advisory Committee Report 6—Employment of People with Disability in the APS.

Another key achievement for 2007-08 was the development of a Reasonable Adjustment Policy. Reasonable adjustment refers to the administrative, environmental, or procedural alterations required to enable a person with disability to work effectively and enjoy equal opportunity with others. It applies to changes that allow employees or potential employees with a permanent or temporary disability to perform their duties; equal opportunity to be considered for transfer, promotion, training or other employment opportunities; access to workplace facilities; and to participate in work related programs.

A revised Bullying, Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination Policy was implemented in 2007-08. The DDA makes disability harassment in employment unlawful and describes harassment as a form of discrimination.

Future directionsFuture directions for Centrelink's commitment to employees with disabilities include:

continued participation in work experience programs for people with disability

ongoing participation in the Supported Wage System administered by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and

further development of recruitment strategies to promote employment of people with disability

Appendix 12: Employee remuneration overviewNon-Senior Executive Service remuneration arrangementsAs at 30 June 2008, 24 235 non-Senior Executive Service (non-SES) employees were covered by the Centrelink Agreement 2006-2009, and 1854 were on Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs).

Centrelink Agreement 2006-2009Table 52 shows the range of job classifications and salaries for employees covered by the Centrelink Agreement 2006-2009.

Table 52: Salary ranges for employees covered by the Centrelink Agreement 2006-2009

Classification Annual salary range

Centrelink 4 $76 282-$103 061

Centrelink 3 $55170-$70344

Centrelink 2 $44380-$55 169

Centrelink 1(a) $34 429-$43 208

Centrelink Australian Passport Information Service Operator $38 965-$47 899

Centrelink Professional 2 $76 282-$103 061

Centrelink Professional 1 $41 549-$68 648

Centrelink IT $47 899-$103 061

Centrelink Public Affairs 4 $99 725-$104 822

Centrelink Public Affairs 3 $80247-$97282

Centrelink Public Affairs 2 $62 067-$72 713

Centrelink Public Affairs 1 $51 035-$58 502

Centrelink Graduate Trainee $41 088-$43 208

Centrelink Customer Service Trainee $36 550

Centrelink Administrative Trainee $11 861-$26 844

Centrelink Cadet-full-time study $11 689-$18 522

(a) Junior rates apply:

Under 18 years—60 per cent

At 18 years—70 per cent

At 19 years—81 per cent

At 20 years—91 per cent

Non-Senior Executive Service Australian Workplace AgreementsTable 53 shows indicative salary ranges by Australian Public Service (APS) classification for non-Senior Executive Service (SES) Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) in 2007-08. Centrelink's AWAs are based on APS classifications, and do not use the work stream structure (for example, Centrelink 1-4, Centrelink IT, and so on) which applies in the Centrelink Agreement 2006-2009.

Table 53: Non-Senior Executive Service employees on Australian Workplace Agreements

Classification Indicative annual salary range

Executive Level 2 $87 941-$129 544

Executive Level 1 $76282-$112 320

APS Level 6 $60 000-$81 817

APS Level 5 $55 170-$67 489

APS Level 4 $49 460-$61 394

APS Level 3 $44 380-$54 806

APS Level 2 $38 965-$44 602

APS Level 1 $20 657-$34 600

Non-SES employees whose AWAs were approved before 15 June 2005 are generally entitled to performance bonuses, subject to meeting performance measures. Performance bonuses under these AWAs are usually paid at a rate of four per cent of salary per year. AWAs that have been approved since 15 June 2005 do not contain performance bonuses, but rather provide for salaries to be adjusted annually, based on assessed levels of individual performance.

A small number of AWAs negotiated after 15 June 2005 include access to achievement bonuses, which are linked to achievement of specific outcomes or deliverables within a specified period. Achievement bonuses are individually negotiated and are not standard arrangements. Table 54 includes performance and achievement bonuses.

Table 54: Total amount of performance pay for Non-Senior Executive Service employees on Australian Workplace Agreements

Classification Aggregated amount

Number of employees receiving performance pay

Average bonus paid per employee

Executive Level 2 $192 533.53 129 $1 492.50

Executive Level 1 $151 455.66 82 $1 847.02

APS Level 6 $37 246.33 18 $2 069.24

APS Level 5 $6 000.00 3 $2 000.00

APS Level 4 $2 000.00 1 $2 000.00

Total $389 235.52 233 $1 670.54

Senior Executive Service remuneration arrangementsThe remuneration arrangements for all Senior Executive Services (SES) employees are provided through AWAs and Common Law Contracts. Table 55 shows the composition of SES as at 30 June 2008.

Table 55: Composition of Senior Executive Service in 2007-08 as at 30 June 2008

Classification Total Female Male Full-time Part-time Ongoing Non-ongoing

SESB1 63 24 39 62 1 58 5

SESB2 12 5 7 12 12

SESB3 3 2 1 3 3

Total 78 31 47 78 1 73 5

These figures relate to the number of SES employees. They do not include employees on temporary performance.

Salaries are determined by the Chief Executive Officer and are broadly within three bands representing three classification levels. Table 56 outlines the salary range for each classification.

Table 56: Salary range for Senior Executive Service classifications

Classification Salary range

SES Band 1 $118 560 to $155 824

SES Band 2 $150 000 to $194 250

SES Band 3 (a)

(a) SES Band 3 salaries have not been included due to the small number of employees at that level.

SES employees are generally not entitled to performance bonuses. A small number of SES employees have access to performance or achievement bonuses, which are linked to specific outcomes or deliverables within a specified period. Table 57 shows details of performance or achievement bonuses paid during 2007-08.

Table 57: Performance pay or achievement bonuses for Senior Executive Service employees

Classification Aggregated amount

Number of employees receiving performance pay

Average bonus paid per employee

SES Band 1 $11 654.30 2 $5 827.15

SES Band 2 Nil Nil Nil

SES Band 3 Nil Nil Nil

Total $11 654.30 2 $5 827.15

Appendix 13: Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 reportingOccupational Health and Safety Act 1991 reportingFollowing changes to the workplace arrangements under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 (the OHS Act), Centrelink began consultations about the development of health and safety management arrangements with employees and their representatives. This consultation process was ongoing as at 30 June 2008. Health and safety committees have been created in accordance with the OHS Act. Health and safety representative elections are undertaken in accordance with the Act.

Investigations conductedIn 2007-08 Comcare commenced five investigations into reportable incidents. As at 30 June 2008, one investigation was complete and resulted in an improvement notice. This notice has been complied with.

In the 2006-07 Annual Report Centrelink reported that Comcare had not completed:

two investigations into provisional improvement notices, and

one investigation into a reportable incident.

Comcare completed these investigations during 2007-08. The investigation of both provisional improvement notices resulted in the cancellation of the notice. The investigation into the reportable incident resulted in the investigator making recommendations to Centrelink.

Table 58: Notices issued

Type of notice Number

Notices given to Centrelink under section 29 of the Act-provisional improvement notices

0

Notices given to Centrelink under section 47 of the Act-improvement notices 1

Total 1

Table 59: Incidents notified to Comcare

Type of incident Number

Serious personal injury 36

Prescribed incapacity (30 or more working days or shifts) 13

Dangerous occurrence 173

Total 222

Appendix 14: Advertising and research activityTable 60: Advertising costs

Payee Purpose Amount ($)

HMA Blaze Advertising related to Financial Information Services seminars 514 026

HMA Blaze Advertising related to Job Expos 53 464

HMA Blaze Advertising related to pension taper changes 135 128

HMA Blaze Advertising related to Indigenous services 53 464

HMA Blaze Advertising related to Call Centre recruitment 459 158

HMA Blaze Advertising related to graduate recruitment 87 552

HMA Blaze Advertising related to Drought Bus 858 544

HMA Blaze Advertising related to Equine Influenza 1 059 763

HMA Blaze Advertising related to Centrelink 1 104265

Table 61: Costs associated with advertising

Payee Purpose Amount ($)

Independent and General Pty Ltd Advertising to the ethnic community 33 989

RPH Australia Advertising for the print handicapped 30 017

SBS Multicultural broadcasting 151 504

Table 62: Reportable costs associated with market research organisations

Vendor 2007-08 Expenditure GST inclusive ($)

Description of services

DBM Consultants 38 720 The Centrelink Post Complaints Survey

DBM Consultants 96 250 Centrelink National Customer Survey.

DBM Consultants 327 372 Centrelink Call Research

DBM Consultants 876 797 Continuation of the Customer Service Centre Customer Survey program.

DBM Consultants 14 850 The Alternative Servicing in Call Centre Survey

Colmar Brunton Social Research

24 000 Income Management testing

Eureka Strategic Research

49 445 Communicating changes to the Pension Assets Test

ORC Australia trading as NWC Research

16 619 Assessing Student Program Effectiveness

ORC Australia trading as NWC Research

129 611 Framework to Monitor Communication Effectiveness project

ORC Australia trading as NWC Research

199 204 Reviewing the communication to support the Northern Territory Emergency Response initiatives and services

Synovate 68 359 Brand Check-up 2007-08

Taylor Nelson & Sofres Australia

141 350 Tuggeranong Centrelink Community Access Office research

Appendix 15: Centrelink customer research activities in 2007–08Table 63: Summary of Centrelink customer research activities 2007-08

Survey title Objectives Target audience/s and sample size

Summary of findings

Customer Service Centre Customer Satisfaction

The main purpose of this survey was to measure and monitor:

overall customer satisfaction with the quality of services provided by Centrelink Customer Service Centres on the customer's last visit

performance against the key drivers of customer satisfaction with Centrelink Customer Service Centre service quality

performance against the commitments made in the Customer Charter that can be influenced at the Centrelink Customer Service Centre level, and

performance against a range of indicators for key strategies under the customer goal in the Centrelink Balanced Scorecard

The survey aimed to contact current Centrelink customers, aged 16 years and over and living in Australia, who had been in a Centrelink Customer Service Centre in the past two weeks.

The ability to explain, speed and efficiency of services provided, and the way customers are treated by employees continue to have a significant impact on shaping customer perception of the overall quality of service. Customers have consistently reported high levels of satisfaction with the way they are treated by employees at Customer Service Centres.

Results vary at the local level. Customers who access services in rural and regional areas generally report higher levels of satisfaction than customers in metropolitan areas.

Seniors, carers and rural customers continue to report higher levels of overall customer satisfaction than other customer groups. Families and child care customers continue to report lower levels of satisfaction than other customer groups.

Centrelink Call Customer Satisfaction

The main purpose of this survey was to:

identify the level of overall customer satisfaction with the quality of services provided by Call Centres

measure performance against the key

Respondents were randomly selected from a census of all customers aged 16 years and over who phoned a Call Centre within the previous week and had an activity completed on the customer record.

The consultant only conducts interviews

The Call Centre Customer Satisfaction Surveys provide results for the 25 Centrelink Call Centres, including our Multilingual, Rural, and Indigenous Call Centres. Survey results are presented on a site, queue and national level.

Call Centre employees have consistently maintained high levels of customer

Survey title Objectives Target audience/s and sample size

Summary of findings

drivers of customer satisfaction, and

measure performance against the targets in the Centrelink Balanced Scorecard.

with Call Centre customers aged 16 years or over.

satisfaction for overall quality of service provided. High levels of satisfaction were reported from customers, with employees being courteous and respectful.

Customers’ confidence in the accuracy of information provided had a considerable impact on the overall reported levels of customer satisfaction.

Customer Experience of Complaints Handling

The research had three main objectives:

to better understand customers expectations of Centrelink during the complaints handling process

to identify the priorities for improvement based on the customer's experience of the process, and

to assist with improving service processes to deliver a customer experience, which ensures that complaints are handled in line with customer expectations.

The survey focused on evaluating the customer's experience when making a complaint, the solution offered by Centrelink to the customer's issue or problem, and the customer's general perceptions of the complaints process.

Respondents were customers who made complaints that were recorded in Centrelink's Customer Relations Unit database.

903 customers who made a complaint between November 2007 and April 2008 were selected to participate in the research.

The phone survey was conducted between 15 and 23 April 2008.

Over four in 10 customers felt that the experience of making a complaint to Centrelink was 'very good' or 'good'. As is to be expected, higher levels of satisfaction were recorded when complaints were resolved quickly, with customers whose complaint was resolved in a day (71%) or two to three days (67%) significantly more likely to rate their overall complaint experience either 'good' or 'very good'.

While satisfaction among customers who claimed that their expectations were met was 66%, only 43% of all customers surveyed were satisfied. The performance gap of 23% indicates there is scope for improvement in the way that Centrelink handles complaints. Resolving complaints in a timely manner, followed by fairness and objectivity in handling the complaint, provide the greatest opportunities to improve satisfaction with the complaints process.

The following service attributes had the highest level of agreement and were

Survey title Objectives Target audience/s and sample size

Summary of findings

perceived by customers to be strengths of the Centrelink Complaints Handling process:

Centrelink employees who handled your complaint were courteous and treated you with respect (76%)

Centrelink keeps customer complaints confidential (71%), and

Centrelink customers are not discriminated against after lodging a complaint (68%).

In contrast, with the lowest levels of agreement, the following service attributes were perceived by customers to be weaknesses of the Centrelink Complaints Handling process:

Centrelink employees informed you of a range of options for resolving your complaint (34%)

the complaint was resolved to your complete satisfaction (38%), and

Centrelink provided a timely resolution to your complaint (38%).

National Customer Survey

The overarching goal of the National Customer Survey was to evaluate Centrelink’s corporate image, reputation and service delivery among

customers. Key objectives were to:

assess customer perceptions of Centrelink’s

The survey aims to contact current Centrelink customers whether or not they have had recent contact with Centrelink.

The survey was conducted by telephone with a sample size of 1828 customers, with all major customer payment types

Key findings of the survey:

overall satisfaction with the quality of Centrelink’s people, services and information was 84%, consistent with the level of satisfaction recorded over the previous five years

Centrelink employees continued to receive high ratings from customers in

Survey title Objectives Target audience/s and sample size

Summary of findings

corporate image and reputation

monitor the overall quality of Centrelink’s service delivery

determine customer views on key and emerging issues (such as usage of different service delivery channels), and

provide information on specific image and service measures to be used for performance reporting across the organisation.

represented.

The survey was conducted in December 2007.

terms of being seen as ‘polite and friendly’ (91%). However, promptness remains an issue. Customer satisfaction with timely and consistent advice was least positive in the areas of employees ‘serving them promptly and not waiting too long’ (65%), particularly among Working Age Participation Business Line customers (55%)

Centrelink continued to receive high ratings in the areas of ‘giving information that is up-to-date and accurate’ (87%), ‘receiving the first payment promptly’ (86%) and ‘information discussed when visiting a Centrelink office is simple and easy to understand’ (86%)

less than one in 10 customers indicated that they had made a complaint to Centrelink in the previous six months. There was an improvement in customers’ perceptions of ‘ease of making a complaint’ between 2006 (64%) and 2007 (71%). Of those who had made a complaint, there was decreased satisfaction in the handling of the complaint in terms of ‘being kept informed’ (down 12 percentage points to 41% from the 2006 survey)

customer preference for the traditional service channels (Customer Service Centre or Call

Survey title Objectives Target audience/s and sample size

Summary of findings

Centre) remains strong and substantially ahead of the newer methods of web or automated phone facilities. However, more than four in five customers who had used Centrelink’s online services reported that dealing with Centrelink was more convenient online than by phone or at an office

as in previous surveys, customers continue to appreciate the convenience of Centrelink offices, in relation to convenience of location (87%) and being able to complete their business at a convenient time (85%). While still strong, performance decreased from 92% in 2006 to 89% in 2007 in the area ‘Centrelink gives you choices about the ways you can contact them’, and

80% of customers had a clear preference for information from Centrelink to be received by mail rather than any other means.

International Services Customer Satisfaction Survey

The key purpose of the survey was to evaluate Centrelink’s service delivery among its international customers.

Objectives were to:

ascertain the overall rating of Centrelink International’s service delivery

The survey was conducted by phone among Centrelink’s internationalcustomers in the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy (these three countries were nominated as they represented the majority of the international customers).

The sample for the survey comprised

The overall rating of the service received by customers when they last called Centrelink International Services was very positive. Over nine in 10 (92%) rated service as either ‘very good’ or ‘good’. Just two per cent of customers thought the overall service received was ‘poor’.

The service expectations of nearly all customers (97%) were either met or

Survey title Objectives Target audience/s and sample size

Summary of findings

rate performance on a range of service attributes that customers have previously identified as being important, and

identify new/emerging drivers of customer satisfaction

customers who contacted Centrelink International Services from 3 September 2007 to 7 March 2008. A total of 200 interviews wereconducted between 26 March and 1 April 2008.

exceeded.

Performance on various attributes of Centrelink International’s service delivery was rated using a five point scale of ‘very good’ through to ‘very poor’. For all the aspects of service measured, the ratings received in all countries were very favourable, with approximately nine out of 10 customers giving a rating of either ‘good’ or ‘very good’. The majority of the remaining customers tended to give a rating of ‘fair’, wit a few providing ratings of ‘poor’.

Appendix 16: Consultancy contracts let during 2007-08 valued at $10 000 or greater (including GST)The following legend serves as an explanatory guide to the data contained in Table 64:

(a).Explanation of selection process terms drawn from the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines (January 2005):

Open Tender (OT)—a procurement procedure in which a request for tender is published inviting all businesses that satisfy the conditions for participation to submit tenders. Public tenders are sought from the marketplace using national and major metropolitan newspaper advertising and the Australian Government AusTender website

Select Tender (ST)—a procurement procedure in which the procuring agency selects which potential suppliers are invited to submit tenders. Tenders are invited from a short list of competent suppliers

Direct Sourcing (DS)—a form of restricted tendering, available only under certain defined circumstances, with a single potential supplier or suppliers being invited to bid because of their unique expertise and/or their special ability to supply the goods and/or services sought, and

Panel—An arrangement under which a number of suppliers, usually selected through a single procurement process, may each supply property or services to an agency as specified in the panel arrangements. Tenders are sought from suppliers that have pre-qualified on the agency panels to supply to the Government. This category includes standing offers and supplier panels where the consultant offers to supply goods and services for a pre-determined length of time, usually at a pre-arranged price.

(b).Justification for decision to use consultancy:

A—skills currently unavailable within agency

B—need for specialised or professional skills, and

C—need for independent research or assessment.

Table 64: All consultancy contracts let during 2007–08 with a value of $10 000 or greater

Reference number

Consultant name

Description Contract price $

Selection process (a)

Justification (b)

CONS08/ 0093-A

Australian University Limited

Review of Murray-Darling Basin Initiative

$77 000 DS A

CONS08/0159 Fellows Medlock and Associates Pty Ltd

Advice on industrial relations

$78 000 DS B

SODS05/ 0574-0005-A

Grosvenor Management Consulting

General management services- strategic analysis and advice

$51 318 Panel C

CONS07/0343 Hinds Workforce Research Pty Ltd

Advice and strategies for organisational change

$248 969 OT B

DOAS07/ 0413-A

Holocentric Pty Ltd

Development of a proof of concept program management model

$77 200 DS B

CONS07/ 0532

Hugh Watson Consulting Pty Ltd

Review of Centrelink authoring and publishing for internal communication delivery

$68 200 DS C

SOXS08/ 0059-0001

IT Newcom Pty Ltd

IT advisory services

$203 500 Panel C

CONS08/ 0164

Kellog, Brown and Root Pty Ltd

Review of personal security across Centrelink offices

$60 000 DS B

CONS07/ 0394

National ICT Australia

Methodology for verification and mapping of business outcomes

$38 500 DS C

CONS07/ 0595-A

Participatory Corporate

Facilitation of development of

$45 000 DS B

Reference number

Consultant name

Description Contract price $

Selection process (a)

Justification (b)

Development Pty Ltd

methodology and evaluation approach for the Murray-Darling Basin Project

CONS07/ 0365

Smartnet Pty Ltd

Evaluate and implement cost reduction measures within Centrelink

$79 200 DS B

CONS07/ 0550-A

Surote Pty Ltd Advisory services for the development of a Centrelink IT Strategic Plan

$66 000 DS B

CONS07/0411 Tradeaid Pty Ltd

Probity advisory services

$58 080 DS B

SODS05/ 0606-0010

Value Creation Group Pty Ltd

General management services planning and management advice for new business

$65 000 Panel B

SODS05/ 0606-0015

Value Creation Group Pty Ltd

General management services- security review

$111 650 Panel C

Total $1 327 617

Appendix 17: Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performanceThe following summary of Centrelink's environmental management activities and performance is provided in accordance with section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act).

How Centrelink's activities are in accord with the principles of ecologically sustainable development-section 516A(6)(a)As stated in its Environmental Policy Statement, Centrelink:

Improves its business performance and conducts its operations in an environmentally responsible manner, clearly reflecting a commitment to fostering the sustainable use of the Earth's resources.

During 2007-08 Centrelink continued to demonstrate environmental responsibility by minimising the negative impacts it has on the environment through efficient use of resources, effective waste management and pollution prevention.

Centrelink's decision-making processes effectively integrate long-term and short-term economic, environmental and social considerations, and promote incentive mechanisms to suppliers.

Centrelink's Environmental Policy Statement, Ministerial Statement of Intent and the Eco-efficiency and Green Procurement Chief Executive Instructions all provide documentary evidence of the organisation's commitment to ecologically sustainable development (ESD).

Programs administered by Centrelink during 2007-08 that accord with the principles of ecologically sustainable development-section 516A(6)(a)

Drought AssistanceCentrelink is the principle delivery point for Australian Government Drought Assistance and assists people in communities that have been affected by the drought, including the delivery of payments and services for farmers, small businesses, farm hands, irrigators, industry and the wider community.

Murray-Darling Basin Irrigation Management GrantThe Murray-Darling Basin Irrigation Management Grant enables eligible farm enterprises in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) or those who draw water solely from the MDB, to access funds to implement water management strategies. These strategies contribute to farm plans for managing short-term reduced water allocations.

How Centrelink's outcomes contribute to the principles of ecologically sustainable development-section 516A(6)(b)Centrelink's contribution to ecologically sustainable development is the effective delivery of Australian Government services with minimised environmental impact.

Centrelink's environmental management strategies maximise the proportion of renewable materials and energy used to achieve business outcomes and minimise associated waste production through efficient consumption of resources and recycling of waste products.

Effect of Centrelink's activities on the environment-section 516A(6)(c)The nature of Centrelink's environmental impact is our very large ecological footprint of 434 offices throughout Australia, including resource consumption and waste production from associated business practices. As a very large consumer of materials and energy, Centrelink manages sizeable resource conservation, waste reduction, greenhouse gas emissions' reduction, and recycling processes. Due to our large size and geographical spread, we are in a strong position to influence better environmental practice and to demonstrate to the community our good environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

Measures Centrelink is taking to minimise the impact of our activities on the environment-section 516A(6)(d)

Environmental Management SystemCentrelink uses a corporate Environmental Management System (EMS) as its framework for continuous environmental performance improvements. Centrelink recognises the importance of its EMS in driving environmental performance improvements and is committed to robustly applying its procedures. By taking this approach, Centrelink is assured that its corporate EMS meets the environmental management needs of the organisation.

For example, Centrelink reviewed its environmental and other legal obligations in September 2007 to ensure the original register contains relevant and up-to-date information that facilitates organisational compliance against these requirements.

2007-08 environmental management objectives and targetsA major product of EMS procedural application is the development of a set of environmental management objectives, targets and performance indicators that form the basis for measuring the effectiveness of yearly environmental management programs.

Table 65 outlines Centrelink's environmental management objectives and targets for 2007-08.

Table 65: Centrelink’s environmental management

2007-08 Objective 2007-08 Target

Reduce energy consumption 2% reduction in total energy consumption

Increase use of renewable energy 5% increase in renewable energy consumption

5% of total fuel used is E10

Enhance energy efficiency of property portfolio

Increase average energy rating of property portfolio to 3.5 Australian Building Greenhouse Rating stars

Meet Energy Efficiency in Government Operations 2011-12 targets

Tenant light & power 7500 MJ per person per annum (MJ pp pa) Central services 400 MJ m2 pa

Improve vehicle fleet efficiency 50% of vehicle fleet has Green Vehicle Guide rating > 10.5

60% of vehicles in fleet have four cylinders or less

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

Increase in office paper use efficiency 10% reduction in total paper usage

50% of total office paper used has 50% recycled fibre content

Increase customer letter paper use efficiency

5% reduction in total paper usage

50% of total paper used has 30% recycled fibre content

Increase printed information product 5% reduction in total paper usage

2007-08 Objective 2007-08 Target

paper use efficiency

15% of total paper used has 30% recycled fibre content

Reduce employees air travel 5% reduction in distance travelled

Reduce solid waste 5% reduction in solid waste

Increase proportion of solid waste diverted to resource recovery

5% increase in recycling

Procurement and the environmentCentrelink recognises procurement of goods and services represents a business activity with significant environmental impact due to embodied resource use and end-of-life waste.

To reduce environmental impacts and end-of-life waste in procurement, Centrelink is developing a comprehensive environmental procurement policy to serve as a primary guide to achieving consistent green procurement outcomes. It is expected that this policy will be implemented in 2008-09.

Strategic Environmental AssessmentThe key theme of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is identifying opportunities for avoiding or reducing environmental impact so they can be incorporated into business decision making. Centrelink is developing its SEA capacity to strategically assess the environmental impact of business cases to ensure that eco-efficient options are used as the basis for further procurement activity. For example, a strategy is being developed to provide IT architects with an overview of Centrelink's environmental objectives, so that IT design work is done in the context of business problem resolution and environmental performance. It is expected that this strategy will be implemented in 2008-09.

Environmentally aware business cultureCentrelink continues to build an environmentally aware business culture that makes eco-efficient decisions as part of its normal business practices.

InternalCentrelink continues to implement the Building an Environmentally Aware Business Culture Program, which focuses on developing eco-efficient workplace behaviours. The aim is to maximise infrastructure efficiencies and integrate environmental considerations into business practices.

Centrelink's network of almost 300 environmental champions helps to implement environmental management programs at the local level of operation. To do this, the environmental champions are organised in a two-tier network with:

Environmental Champion Coordinators representing National Support Office divisions and Area customer delivery networks, and

Local Environmental Champions representing National Support Office branches and Centrelink Customer Service Centres and Call Centres within the Area customer delivery networks.

In practice, this arrangement generates local environmental champion networks within the various business units of Centrelink's organisational structure, who promote Centrelink's corporate environmental management objectives and help to implement the Building an Environmentally Aware Business Culture Program.

The program also includes plans for internally accrediting service delivery sites as ‘Green Teams' if they align their local business practices to organisational environmental management objectives. Information is also available through the program to help business units incorporate environmental management objectives into their local business plans.

The program is supported by training and awareness activities included in the Centrelink National Induction Program. All new Centrelink employees participate in this training.

External-government sectorCentrelink continued its participation and leadership of the Human Services' Environmental Management Forum, established to share environmental management best practice with other Human Services Portfolio agencies.

To extend this knowledge-sharing principle across Australian Government departments and agencies, Centrelink, along with the Department of Defence and the Australian Taxation Office, established the Government Agencies Environment Network (GAEN) in July 2007. GAEN provided advice and policy feedback to the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) and the Australian National Audit Office. GAEN also offered its services to the Government Sustainability Interdepartmental Committee chaired by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to contribute to the development of future government sustainability policies.

External-private sectorDuring 2007-08 Centrelink continued to interact with private sector environmental management stakeholders to ensure clear messages are sent to the market about the growing need to provide goods and services to Centrelink with minimal embodied environmental impact and enhanced product stewardship. For example, chairs provided under the Caroline Chisholm Centre clerical chair contract are made using significant amounts of recycled material and almost 100 per cent (by weight) of the packaging is recycled.

Energy

Overall performanceDue to energy consumption reporting arrangements, information relating to energy performance for 2007-08 will not be available until the end of October 2008. Information is provided for the previous years (see Table 66). Centrelink is making excellent progress towards meeting Energy Efficiency in Government Operations targets set for 2011-12 (see Table 67)—for example, Centrelink has already met the tenant light and power target set for 2011-12.

Importantly, DEWHA has independently audited Centrelink's energy performance data for 2005-06 and 2006-07 and found Centrelink's energy performance data both accurate and reliable.

Table 66: Centrelink energy performance data

2005-06 2006-07 % Change

Total energy consumption-gigajoules 425 434 418 480 -1.7

Electricity-gigajoules 338 444 338 586 +0.04

Gas-gigajoules 20 194 18 014 -10.8

Vehicle fuel-gigajoules 66 796 61 880 -7.4

Table 67: Centrelink energy performance against Energy Efficiency in Government Operations targets for 2011-12

2005-06 2006-07 2011-12 Targets

Tenant light and power (MJ pp pa) 7989 7384 7500

Central services (MJ m2 pa) 494 425 400

DemandEnergy use and associated emissions, represents Centrelink's most significant environmental impact. In 2007-08 Centrelink continued to focus on reducing energy demand during the reporting period by:

improving the energy efficiency of its property portfolio and vehicle fleet, and

promoting good energy management practices to its employees.

As a result, Centrelink's self-assessed Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) score for its property portfolio (see Figure 6) has increased along with the average Green Vehicle Guide (GVG) rating of the vehicle fleet (see Table 68). This means that in both areas, less energy is consumed and fewer emissions are produced.

Energy Conservation MeasuresDuring 2007-08 Centrelink finalised the first phase of its Energy Conservation Measures program, with 220 sites receiving upgrades to lighting systems that, in some cases, has led to a 40 per cent reduction in electricity demand.

In sites that have received upgrades, results are very positive, with annual energy savings of over 15 per cent in real terms—equating to over 6.3 million kilowatt hours per annum saved.

In addition to energy savings, maintenance call-outs for lamp replacements have fallen by 90 per cent in the completed sites.

A further 80 sites have now been targeted for refit, to contribute further to the energy efficiency of Centrelink's property portfolio.

Figure 6: C entrelink’s average Australian Building Greenhouse Ratings for property portfolioTable 68: Centrelink vehicle fleet environmental performance

2006-07 2007-08 Target 2007-08 Actual % Change

% fleet meeting GVG target 69 50 77 +11.6

% fleet with four cylinders or less 57 60 77 +35.1

SupplyApart from reducing demand, Centrelink also focused on energy supply by continuing with arrangements for the supply of a significant proportion of renewable energy, for example Greenpower electricity and ethanol based vehicle fuels, for example E10, which is petrol blended with 10 per cent ethanol.

Table 69: E10 usage

2006-07 2007-08 Target 2007-08 Actual % Change

E10 use (litres) 80 325 58 119 131 429 +63.6

OffsetsCentrelink's Greenhouse Gas emissions dropped by 1.3 per cent from 2005-06 to 2006-07 (see Table 70) and we are currently targeting a five per cent drop for 2007-08. Achievement against this target will be confirmed when emissions reporting under the Australian Greenhouse Challenge Plus Program (AGCP) is completed in December 2008.

Table 70: Greenhouse gas emissions

2005-06 2006-07 % Change

Emissions in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) 93 991 92 770 -1.3

In 2007-08 Centrelink continued to carry out significant emission offset activities for both its property portfolio and vehicle fleet. This included the purchasing of Greenhouse Friendly™ electricity (which facilitates the flaring of methane gas at landfills), and subscribing the entire Centrelink vehicle fleet to GreenFleet, resulting in tree planting. Apart from offsetting emissions, tree planting helps to deal with land use issues like dry land salinity and provides habitat for native fauna.

GreenFleet has only recently been accredited as a Greenhouse Friendly™ product. Because of this, subscriptions made before July 2008 do not count as offsets under the AGCP emissions reporting scheme. Table 71 shows offsets generated under both Greenhouse Friendly™ electricity and GreenFleet.

Table 71: Centrelink emission offset summary

2005-06

2006-07

% Change

Emissions offset in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e)

8 244 10 409 +26.3

PaperCentrelink's next major natural resource input is paper. Centrelink employees use paper for general administrative work and it is also used in customer letters and printed information products.

During the reporting period, Centrelink focused on reducing its paper use (see Table 72) as well as increasing the proportion of paper used that contains recycled fibre content (see Table 73). Centrelink has been successful in increasing the amount of general office paper used with recycled fibre content as a result of a decision to limit the available paper to a product with 50 per cent recycled fibre content from the beginning of October 2007.

Printed information products are reviewed for suitability to print on recycled fibre content paper at reprint, resulting in all of Centrelink's Life Event booklets being printed on 35 per cent recycled fibre content paper from July 2007. As well, over 30 per cent less paper was used for printed information products during the reporting period, equating to a drop in paper consumption of 750 tonnes.

Table 72: Total Centrelink paper consumption (tonnes)

2006-07 2007-08 Target 2007-08 Actual % Change

General office use 784 706 897 +14.4

Customer letters 566 538 913 +61.2

Printed information products 2396 2276 1672 -30.2

Table 73: Proportion of paper with recycled fibre content (per cent of total tonnage)

2006-07 2007-08 Target 2007-08 Actual % Change

General office use 16.7 50 63.2 +378

Customer letters 0 50 0 0

Printed information products 12 15 10 -16.7

WaterDue to the nature of Centrelink's property portfolio, which is mainly leased space, it is very difficult to accurately determine total water use. However, work has started in 2007-08 to estimate a baseline consumption figure for comparison against water consumption benchmarks put forward by DEWHA. In the meantime, installation of water conservation solutions such as dual flush toilets and low-flow showers continue as a function of refreshing Centrelink's property portfolio.

Water measurement will be more easily accomplished at the new Caroline Chisholm Centre in Tuggeranong because of greater data collection capacity in the building's management system. The building also incorporates water conservation techniques that lead to greater reuse of runoff and grey water capture and standard conservation techniques like dual flush toilets, low-flow showers, water-runoff collection and automated water supply in bathroom sinks.

Business travelCentrelink acknowledges that business travel generates significant environmental impact. In response, actions have been taken to reduce the impact of surface travel by increasing the vehicle fleet's efficiency as well as increasing its use of ethanol-based fuels.

Centrelink is committed to reducing air travel and is introducing a five per cent reduction target in distance travelled for 2008-09. To position itself to achieve this target, Centrelink is currently improving its capacity to conduct business via video and teleconferencing.

Table 74: Centrelink air travel consumption

2006-07 2007-08 Target 2007-08 Actual % Change

Travel in kms per person per annum 1395 1325 1583 +13.5

Waste managementDuring 2007-08 Centrelink took major steps towards reducing the impact of organisational waste. The primary step forward was in the amendment of cleaning contracts so that service providers are obliged to provide data reports on the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Centrelink defined its waste management model in the context of three main waste streams:

waste to landfill

mixed recycling, and

used paper.

In 2007-08 the waste management actions put in place focused on continually reducing the amount of solid waste produced, while simultaneously increasing the proportion of materials diverted for resource recovery.

During the year Centrelink's National Support Office sites had a centrally arranged recycling capacity, including a reporting capacity to determine the amount of material recycled. Other offices had individual arrangements that reflected what was available locally. However, these arrangements did not support the consistent reporting required by DEWHA.

As a next step in implementing the Centrelink waste management model, a trial rollout of mixed recycling bins to all offices in Victoria began in March 2008. These bins will complement the bins available for secure disposal and recycling of used office paper (both classified and unclassified).

It is anticipated that rollout of the national Centrelink Waste Management model will be well under way by the end of 2008.

Table 75: Centrelink waste management (tonnes)

2006-07 2007-08 Target 2007-08 Actual % Change

Total solid waste 2600 2470 2036 -21.7

Amount of solid waste recycled 1869 1962 1821 -2.6

Recycling activitiesDuring the reporting period, Centrelink modified its mobile phone policy to include a method for recycling equipment that otherwise would have gone to landfill. Implemented Australia-wide,

Centrelink recycles phones through the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association's Mobile Muster initiative.

As part of the Energy Conservation Measures Program, Centrelink has replaced more than 100 000 fluorescent tubes with more energy efficient equipment. This action alone has significantly improved Centrelink's energy efficiency as well as reducing overall emissions.

A further environmental benefit has been achieved through recycling activities associated with refits including glass (18, 825 kg), fluorescent powder (509 kg), mercury (300 g), brass (102 kg), aluminium (200 kg), resin and carbonate (204 kg) and other materials (160 kg).

Built environmentCentrelink negotiates arrangements that support improved environmental performance throughout its property portfolio including:

building performance specifications and fitout manuals

green lease schedules, and

fitout and refurbishment waste management plans.

Centrelink's mechanisms for reviewing and increasing the effectiveness of its environmental management strategies—section 516A(6)(d)

Environmental Management System application and enhancementCentrelink applies its corporate Environmental Management System (EMS) procedures each year with annual registers describing Centrelink's:

legal and other environmental obligations

significant environmental aspects and impacts

impact reduction objectives, targets and performance indicators

impact reduction program plans, and

impact monitoring, measuring and system review plans.

EMS Management ReviewAt the end of each EMS cycle, an EMS Management Review is conducted that reviews the system's suitability to manage Centrelink's environmental risks and the effectiveness of environmental management activities. The next cycle of EMS procedural application is based on this information, ensuring that future actions benefit from lessons learnt in previous cycles

Appendix 18: Centrelink annual report 2006-07, correction of material errorsThe following page reference relates to the 2006-07 Annual Report:

• Page 46, first paragraph under Figure 4 states ‘However, in 2006-07 this index changed...'— this should read ‘However, in 2005-06 this index changed...'

List of shortened forms

AAT Administrative Appeals Tribunal

ABGR Australian Building Greenhouse Rating

AEC Australian Electoral Commission

AGCP Australian Greenhouse Challenge Plus

ANAO Australian National Audit Office

APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

APS Australian Public Service

ARO Authorised Review Officer

ASL Average Staffing Level

AWA Australian Workplace Agreement

BPA Business Partnership Agreement

BSPVES Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme

CART Centrelink Academic Reassessment Transformation

CCeS Centrelink Confirmation eServices

CDEP Community Development Employment Projects

CEO Chief Executive Officer

CFMC Combined Family Assistance Office Medicare Claim

CRU Customer Relations Unit

CSA Customer Service Adviser

CSC Customer Service Centre

DAFF Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

DDA Disability Discrimination Act 1992

DEEWR Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

DEST Department of Education, Science and Training

DEWHA Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

DEWR Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

DHS Department of Human Services

DIAC Department of Immigration and Citizenship

DITRDLG Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government

DoHA Department of Health and Ageing

DVA Department of Veterans' Affairs

EA Executive Assistant

EMS Environmental Management System

EPBC Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation

ESD Ecologically Sustainable Development

FaHCSIA Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

FAO Family Assistance Office

FCSO First Contact Service Officer

FOI Freedom of Information

FTE Full-time equivalent

GAEN Government Agencies' Environment Network

HOME Household Organisational Management Expenses

IHSS Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy

IPP Information Privacy Principle

ISDN Integrated Service Delivery Network

ISIS Income Security Integrated System

IT Information technology

IVR Interactive Voice Recognition

JCPAA Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit

KPI Key Performance Indicator

MDB Murray-Darling Basin

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

NAIDOC National Aboriginal and Islanders' Day Observance Committee

NAPCAN National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

NCDW National Career Development Week

NECC National Emergency Call Centre

NIC National Indigenous Coalition

NTER Northern Territory Emergency Response

OHS Occupational Health and Safety

PEP Process Enhancement Program

QOL Quality Online

RAE Remote Area Exemption

RAP Reconciliation Action Plan

RVT Remote Visiting Team

SDI Service Delivery Indicator

SEA Strategic Environmental Assessment

SES Senior Executive Service

SIMS Secure Internet Mail Service

SMS Short Messaging Service

SOM Service Online Mail

SSAT Social Security Appeals Tribunal

TAFE Technical and further education

TFES Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme

TWFS Tasmanian Wheat Freight Scheme

CO001.0810