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1 If Centrelink pays you more than you were entitled to, even if it was not your fault, the amount you were overpaid becomes a debt. The most common debt complaints we see are where: 1. People don t agree that they have a debt (or think the amount is wrong); 2. People agree they have a debt, but they have special circumstances that mean Centrelink should consider waiving the debt; 3. People agree they have a debt, but it was caused by solely Centrelink and should be waived on the ground of sole administrative error; 4. People are in hardship and the repayment instalments or withholdings from their Centrelink payments are too high. This self-help guide is for people who want to have their debt waived on the ground of special circumstances (the most common kind of waiver). If Centrelink says that it might refer your debt to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for possible criminal prosecution, you should always get advice from a welfare rights advocate before appealing the debt, attending an interview with Centrelink or making any statement to Centrelink. WAIVER OF DEBTS SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES WAIVER A Centrelink debt may be waived in part or in full. The amount that is waived does not have to be paid back. The waiver is permanent. A very common reason for waiving a debt is that there are special circumstances in your case so if you are appealing a debt it is important that you collect evidence of the circumstances which you think make your case special (even if you think there are other issues in your case). There are two main rules for this kind of waiver: KNOWINGLY you can t have knowingly incurred the debt; and your circumstances must be special You can only have a debt waived because of special circumstances if the debt was not caused by you: knowingly telling Centrelink the incorrect information or knowingly failing to tell Centrelink certain information. For you were telling Centrelink about your income from work but you were deliberately telling them the incorrect amount, your debt cannot be waived because you fail the knowingly requirement. To fail the knowingly requirement, you need to have actually realised at the time that you were giving incorrect information or failing to give the required information. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES There is no definition of special circumstances in the law. It can be anything that makes your case different or unusual from others, but it usually needs to be something quite significant so as to make it fair or reasonable to waive your

2 debt. The circumstances may have existed at the time you incurred the debt or they might only exist now. You will usually need to show that there are several circumstances which make your case special. Usually you should collect evidence about: your financial situation and any financial problems you have; your health and the health of your family; anything that affected your ability to understand your obligations (or that might have made you misunderstand them); and any other personal circumstances impacting negatively on you or your family. This evidence can be in any form. It may be a letter from your GP, a credit card statement or a letter of support from a counsellor. The steps described below are a good way to prepare for an appeal against a Centrelink debt in most cases. A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO APPEALING A DEBT STEP ONE: BEGINNING TO REPAY THE DEBT Even if you plan to appeal the debt, you are legally obliged to begin paying the debt by the due date. If you later win your appeal, repayments you have made may or may not be refunded to you by Centrelink. Centrelink will usually send you a letter or account payable which makes it sound like you need to repay the whole debt within 28 days. Don t panic, you do not. You should contact Centrelink before the due date on the letter and make a repayment arrangement which is reasonable and does not cause you undue hardship. For example, you may only be able to manage $15 or $20 per fortnight after your rent and other costs are taken into account. You should not agree to more than you can manage. You can appeal if you do not think Centrelink are being reasonable. STEP TWO: COLLECT EVIDENCE FOR YOUR APPEAL There is no time limit for appealing a Centrelink debt (unless you have already been to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and you want to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal). So in most cases it is better to take the time to prepare for an appeal and collect evidence. EVIDENCE ABOUT YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION Evidence about your financial situation is very important. Usually, a debt will not be waived because of special circumstances unless one of those circumstances is that you are having financial problems. Start by filling in the Statement of Financial Circumstances Form on our website. Next collect evidence about any financial problems you have. For example, if you have a credit card debt get the most recent statement showing your repayments and how much you owe. EVIDENCE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY S HEALTH Evidence of any health problems you or your family have is also very important in most cases. You do not have to get a medical report from a specialist. In most cases, a letter from your GP giving a summary of your health and any medications you take is enough. If owing Centrelink the debt is having an impact on your health (for example, it is causing you a lot of stress and affecting your mental health), you should ask the doctor to comment on that.

3 If there are any extra costs from your medical problems (such as high medication costs or medical equipment), collect evidence about this. For example, your chemist can print out your medication list for you or you could provide your receipts. LETTERS OF SUPPORT If you are receiving support from another agency or community worker, you should ask them for a letter of support. For example, you may have been in a refuge or been getting financial counselling or help from a charity. An example of a letter you can give to a community worker or financial counsellor asking them to write you a letter of support is included in this self-help guide. MISTAKES BY CENTRELINK Mistakes made by Centrelink can be part of your special circumstances. If you think Centrelink made mistakes, you should explain why. It can help you to explain if you make some notes or write down a chronology of what happened and when. For example, you might have given Centrelink your payslips when you claimed your payment but this was not taken into account and you did not realise, or you might have been telling Centrelink about your income for your family assistance payment but Centrelink did not adjust your income support payment. If Centrelink s mistakes are wholly responsible for the debt, then the debt has to be waived. But it is very hard to show this. However, even if Centrelink mistakes are not 100% responsible for the debt, they can still be included as part of the special circumstances in your case. The law about Centrelink mistakes is complicated and it is a good idea to get advice from the Welfare Rights Centre if you think Centrelink has made mistakes in your case. STEP THREE: LODGE YOUR APPEAL Once you have collected your evidence, you should lodge an appeal. Appealing is easy and free. There are several levels of appeal. The first level of appeal is to a Centrelink authorised review officer (ARO), a senior officer working in Centrelink who has the power to change the original decision. Many appeals are successful at this level. There is no time limit for appealing a debt to an ARO. You can lodge an appeal just by telling Centrelink you want to appeal to an ARO. But it is a good idea to do it in writing and there is a form to help you explain why you want to appeal included in this self-help guide. Once you lodge an appeal, you may be called by a Centrelink subject matter expert (SME). They are not the ARO but they can change the decision. If they decide your debt shouldn t exist or should be waived in full, then that will be the end of it. But if not, they must send your case to the ARO. The SME may try to explain to you why you have the debt, but if you are not satisfied with the explanation you should insist on continuing with the appeal. You can ask the SME where to send your evidence and how to forward your evidence to the ARO. The Centrelink ARO will try to call you about your case. They will often only try to call you a couple of times before making their decision. Once they have made their decision they will write to you explaining their reasons. If you do not agree with the Centrelink ARO s decision, you can appeal to an independent tribunal called the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT). You can lodge the appeal by phone or online. See

4 There is no time limit for appealing a debt to the SSAT. If you are unhappy with an SSAT decision you can appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. If you wish to do this you must appeal to the AAT within 28 days of receiving the decision of the SSAT to be sure that your appeal will be accepted. For more information on appealing see the factsheet Appealing a Centrelink decision. THIS FACTSHEET CONTAINS GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU NEED LEGAL ADVICE PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL WELFARE RIGHTS CENTRE. YOU CAN FIND YOUR LOCAL WELFARE RIGHTS CENTRE AT WELFARE RIGHTS CENTRES ARE COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRES, WHICH SPECIALISE IN SOCIAL SECURITY LAW, ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY. THEY ARE INDEPENDENT OF CENTRELINK. ALL ASSISTANCE IS FREE. THIS FACTSHEET WAS UPDATED IN OCTOBER

5 [Date] Dear Doctor Re: My Centrelink debt Centrelink has told me that I have to repay them a substantial debt. I am asking Centrelink to waive my debt due to the special circumstances of my case. It would be very helpful if you could write me a letter that explains: my current medical problems and treatment; whether, in your opinion, the existence of this Centrelink debt is having an adverse impact on me; and any other special circumstances you are aware of. As I cannot afford to pay for this letter, I am very grateful for your time and assistance in this matter. Yours sincerely [signature and name]

6 [Date] Dear [community worker, counsellor etc] Re: My Centrelink debt Centrelink has told me that I have to repay them a substantial debt. I am asking Centrelink to waive my debt due to the special circumstances of my case. It would be very helpful if you could write me a letter that explains: Your role and the role of your service How your service is helping me The main issues affecting my life at the moment Whether you think the Centrelink debt is affecting my ability to deal with the issues you are helping me with any other special circumstances you are aware of. Please address the letter to whom it may concern. I am grateful for your help in this matter. Yours sincerely, [signature and name]

7 Date: I want to appeal to an Authorised Review Officer I am writing to request a review by an Authorised Review Officer. The decision I am appealing against and my reasons for appealing are set out below. Yours sincerely, My details My name: Centrelink customer number: Date of birth: Phone number: 1. I am appealing against the following decision: 2. The decision was made on the following date (if known): 3. I feel that the decision is wrong for the following reasons: 4. 5.

8 6. I think Centrelink has made an error (if applicable): 7. I think the Authorised Review Officer should take the special circumstances of my case into account. These special circumstances are: 8. I think the following evidence supports my request for a review: