Age pension suspension

A complainant made an in-person complaint to us about Centrelink.

The complainant alleged Centrelink had failed to apply a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and, as a result, their Age Pension payment remained cancelled.

Centrelink originally cancelled their payment as they did not receive requested information about a trust.

The AAT determined the complainant needed to provide more information before their payment could be restored.

Due to the complainant’s personal and financial circumstances, the AAT recommended Centrelink should contact the trust secretary for the required information.

We decided to investigate the complaint and requested further information from Centrelink.

We found Centrelink had contacted the complainant for the required information about the trust but not the trust secretary, as recommended by the AAT. The complainant had attempted to comply with Centrelink’s multiple requests. However, due to their circumstances, they were unable to provide all of the information required, and their payment remained cancelled.

Following our investigation, Centrelink contacted the trust secretary to obtain the required information. The complainant’s Age Pension payment was restored, and they received 14 months of payments in arrears.

Centrelink acknowledged its service delivery errors and provided feedback on the errors to the relevant internal area for improvement.

2024