Sooner or later you will probably have to deal with Centrelink. This statement shouldn’t strike fear into anyone’s heart, but it often does. Why? You will be dealing with public servants whose wages you, as a taxpayer, fund. Yet many individuals will run a mile rather than confront the need to deal with an Australian Government agency. Ongoing reports of processing delays, phone wait times and incorrect rulings no doubt add to the preconceptions that dealing with Centrelink is frustrating. But does it necessarily have to be this way? Today Head of the Customer Service team, Steven Sadler, is sharing his expertise on ways of keeping your interactions with Centrelink as simple and speedy as possible. Steven has been supporting Retirement Essentials members to get the best possible Age Pension and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card outcomes for many years now. He leads a team of Centrelink experts who do this same thing, day in and day out. So over to Guru Steven to share ways of managing your Centrelink interactions.
It’s not a one-stop journey
A typical Centrelink journey is not a single contact one. It has, instead, seven distinct stages:
- Preconditions before applying
- Your likely eligibility
- Document requirements
- Tackling the application
- Understanding and declaring income
- Understanding and declaring assets
- Dealing with Centrelink decisions
Here’s how Steven suggests you can work your way through these different stages.
- Don’t assume eligibility – know the rules
As with most other government benefits or allowances, there are pre-conditions that need to be met before you apply for the Age Pension. Age is one – you now need to be 67 (although you can apply up to 13 weeks beforehand). Residency (as opposed to citizenship) is another – . Steven cautions members to be careful about their understanding of residency. You need to be living in Australia on the day you apply and potentially the 2 years prior to applying (if you plan to subsequently move overseas).
Steven recently helped Sam and Margaret who had booked an expensive overseas trip and with the departure date fast approaching, realised they might be elsewhere when their application was lodged. They got it in on time, but completing your application in a rush is not exactly ideal.
- Will you pass the means test?
To receive an Age Pension you will need to pass the means test – which means both the income and assets tests. A quick check using the Retirement Essentials Age Pension Eligibility Calculator will help you know your likely results. If you have accurately input your numbers and are hundreds of thousands of dollars above the limits, then there is little point in proceeding. If, however, you are close to eligible there may be ways to restructure in order to maximise your Age Pension entitlements.
- Document requirements
“If you choose to apply directly with Centrelink yourself, you should collate the most recent statements for all of your financial assets to make answering their questions as easy as possible. Should you choose to use Retirement Essentials to apply, we can help with this preparation via our phone application service. Overlooking vital information doesn’t help. If you have shares in a private company, even if the company has not been active for years, your interest in it may still be relevant. Forgetting random bank accounts is not useful, nor is overlooking gifts made in the past five years. Your super fund can prepare a Centrelink schedule on your behalf which may make things easier for you.
- Declaring income tips
There are two main errors many people make when declaring income. Firstly, Centrelink evaluates gross income, not net, so you need to advise accordingly. This also means your salary before salary sacrificing, not after. Don’t forget, also, that income extends to more than employment earnings. It comes from other sources as well such as an overseas pension, company fees, consultancy payments and the like as well as deemed income from your financial assets. Secondly do not penalise yourself by entering interest/dividend payments or Account-Based Pension payments as income, that’s not how Centrelink assess’ them – you could miss out on benefits if you do.
- Declaring assets tips
The big bloopers here are overvaluing your assets – your home contents are valued at garage sale value not emotional value, nor the amount for which they may be insured. Similarly with cars or other vehicles – it is their current depreciated value that matters, not what you originally paid. Understanding how the ‘younger spouse’ rule works for super is also crucial as it can reduce your assessable assets.
- Dealing with Centrelink decisions
Dealing with a knockback is upsetting. But in Steven’s experience, this is not necessarily a final assessment. Centrelink employs assessors (yes, real human beings) who make decisions based upon the information supplied. Sending in accurate information is key to a good result, but challenging decisions is fine, even if it takes a little more time.
Don’t do these things
- Don’t assume as a couple that your finances are separate – in the eyes of Centrelink (with the exception of the younger spouse super rules) what you have is jointly owned and assessed.
- Getting it wrong is not the end of the line – don’t assume that making a mistake means you will be ‘in trouble’. Mistakes may be made when inputting your data. Generally speaking, says Steven, Centrelink will use your documentation to verify information and will follow the amount on the documents or query the discrepancy.
- Don’t assume Centrelink won’t make errors – or hasn’t got old information on file – it’s ok to query the assumptions made in your assessment.
- Don’t give up because the process is long or arduous. Yes, it may take three months to find out you didn’t qualify and then another three to get a new ruling. Giving up means no income and that’s not an ideal solution.
Says Steven, ‘Our team knows what not to do which means our member applications are usually very straightforward to assess. If we do get a knockback we are onto the phone promptly to get Centrelink to check what we believe to be an eligible case.’
Want to talk to an Age Pension Specialist? This 30-minute consultation will:
- Assist you with any Centrelink entitlements questions you may have.
- Help you with specific circumstances relating to your Centrelink entitlements
- Provide confidence that you understand Centrelink’s rules and their impact on you.
- Help you understand more about the application process.
Retirement Essentials charges $155 upfront for our consultation discussion
What has your Age Pension experience been like?
Relatively straightforward?
Or could have gone better?
The pension application process was really very straightforward, provided the necessary due diligence homework and documentation is collated beforehand – my single pension was submitted 1st week of July and approved in a month, and first backdated payment to the 19th July. Quick and easy process. Obviosuly helps if your financial situtaion is not too complicated.
I needed to contact the Family Allowance section at Centrelink. The wait times were appalling and then they just cut you off before you get through to a person. BUT then I discovered that by telephoning early at 8:00am, I at least got on to a telephone queue that meant I was going to be eventually answered. Two hours later the call was answered and the person was very helpful. Be warned though, Centrelink makes some colossal errors. I nearly missed out on a benefit by just accepting a ruling that I sensed was wrong but felt powerless to challenge. Centrelink finally admitted its mistake and 6 months later the issue was resolved. Patience and determination are important with Centrelink. While waiting in the telephone queue make certain you have something else to do so that you don’t lose your patience.
I have now been waiting 7 months for pension. I had a cafe that closed down which has made my application complicated. o have provided so information that I think Centrelink knows me better than I know myself. I feel surely i can’t be the only person who ever had a business close down and needed to go on the pension so why 7 months and on the way to 8?
Phone your federal MP and ask him or her to follow this up with your regional office.
As soon as I reached the Retirement Age, someone jumped the gun and cut my DSP by around $350, 2 weeks before it would have been legal to do so. I phoned Centrelink twice and found that once the officers I spoke to realised a “mistake” had been made, their conversation shut down. I then phoned my federal MP and he told the Regional Manager to phone me. Although this “mistake” was rectified, I found myself under pressure to live off my superannuation. So I stated that it was a private fund that no employer had ever contributed to and that I was under no legal compulsion to switch. I was also asked if I was going to get out to work, to which I replied that I was illegally fired by the Dept of Social Security at age 32. Despite the fact that doctors told me I would never work again, my compensation claim was cut off soon after I was fired. I received only a refund of super contributions plus a small amount of interest. Contrast this with how men were treated. They were supered out and if or when they recovered, they were fully supported in getting back to work. People should very closely follow the amounts they are being paid. Also closely monitor the actions of super funds.
Hello, I am 73 years old. My husband is employed. I have retired 6 years ago.
I want to get a commonwealth seniors health card. How do I get about this. Pls let me know the process through retirement essentials.
Hi Esther, I can see you already have a consultation booked with one of our specialists for the 16th, they will be able to guide you on the best next steaps.
Having waited two weeks beyond our ‘expected date’ to receive our LIHCCs (and seen the date disappear!), spending two hours waiting to get through and been told that they were working on it, I went via the complaints channel. It seems to work, albeit you end up getting their letter about the complaint a few months later. If you have lodged correctly and not heard about the progress of your claim, the complaints process is definitely worth considering!
Contacting your local MP’s office also works well.
I have found phoning Centrelink after 4 or 5pm was usually quite quick to be answered. Centrelink still have staff answering the phone in Western Australia which is 2 hours behind the east coast or during daylight savings time 3 hours behind. (ie 7 or 8pm in the east)
I have been waiting on this current claim eight months, received a reject showing errors in their figures so made an appointment, contested this with correct information, and included approximately 30 pages of a previous loan I had gone guarantor for. At that stage the interviewer said that this guarantor issue was probably why they cut me off because should the recipient of that loan not pay off, ‘the loan company could come at Centrelink to pay it off’. I think this is highly unlikely! The value of my house could cover the loan three times over, and the borrower could also pay with his assets, plus it is more than 3/4 paid off already. Is going guarantor a reason for Centrelink to cut one off? I can no longer pay my electricity, rego, or the dog food. I cannot. feed the chickens. I am desperate now and frustrated by the lack of route to take to check out.
Hi Mary, no being guarantor on a loan is not a reason for Centrelink to decline you, I think the person you were speaking with was grasping at straws. Most likely there was some other clerical error or oversight and your situation was not assessed correctly.