Nick Bruining: Centrelink appointment system a game-changer to slash wait times for age pension and updates

The addition of 3000 extra staff at Services Australia was supposed to have reduced Centrelink wait times — but problems in other areas are now emerging. For existing customers, it means an online update of your financial position might be better done over the phone or in person, rather than relying on the technology promoted by the Federal Government. But Your Money can reveal a new Centrelink appointment system is now in operation, and we also have some tips on how to cut down the time you’re waiting on the phone. Following a barrage of criticism over new Centrelink age pension processing times reported earlier this year, Services Australia added 3000 new staff to work through the backlog and take calls, with more to be added this financial year. In February, the average time to process an age pension claim was 78 days while a disability support pension claim took 82 days. Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen told Your Money late last week that the average processing time for an age pension claim was now down to 55 days. “Disability support pension claims are down from 93 to 73 days. With the additional staff we’ve reduced outstanding claims by over 800,000,” Mr Jongen said. Application processing times for Centrelink-issued concession cards — such as the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card — have dropped from 42 days to 16 days. But with the upper cut-off thresholds for the coveted card set to increase from next Friday, there’s expected to be a rush of new applications. For singles, the income test limit for the CSHC rises to $99,025, while for couples it’s a combined $158,440. While new application wait times may have fallen, some customers updating their Centrelink records online are finding that, in some cases, the updates are taking weeks to process. On behalf of their parent, one of the Your Money team uploaded revised financial information on a rental property in early August. That should have resulted in an increase in their parent’s fortnightly age pension. Six weeks later — and with no change to the payment rate — a call to Centrelink finally resolved the issue. But the wait time for a staffer to answer the call was significant. Adding to the frustration, there is no chat or other messaging system available via the myGov website to ask questions or to request a call back. But Your Money has discovered that Centrelink will now book appointments either in person or on the phone. Via the Centrelink website, customers can either book a 15-minute phone appointment or a 30-minute face-to-face meeting. Simply Google “Centrelink appointments”. The online system seems to work best with bank balances and unitised investments. In this case, updates are processed more quickly. Other information which generally requires human intervention to be added into the systems still needs to be uploaded, but you could wait weeks for it to be processed. If you haven’t booked an appointment, you can instead take the physical information into a Centrelink office, or be a bit smart about when you call them. If visiting your local office, try to avoid the busy days of Monday or Thursday and avoid lunchtime when many staff are on a break. If calling to provide an update, there are ways to speed up the process, too After uploading the documentation via myGov, get in touch when call centre wait times are likely to be quieter. When calling from WA, recognise that east coast callers are blocked after 5pm Eastern States time. If you call after 4pm WA time, the only new callers are likely to be from WA. Callers who join the queue before 5pm are not normally kicked off and will be answered. Nick Bruining is an independent financial adviser and a member of the Certified Independent Financial Advisers Association