The federal government is ditching controversial plans to review the eligibility of 90,000 people on the Disability Support Pension after only a tiny fraction of recipients were found not to qualify for the payment.
The DSP medical reviews were expected to save the government $61.2 million over five years by cancelling 2,300 people’s benefits each year and moving 1,800 people onto the lower Newstart payment.
But on Thursday during Senate Estimates, the Department of Social Services revealed the 2016-17 budget policy had been scrapped after only 2 per cent of those reviewed to date were found to be ineligible – just 555 people from 28,784 finalised reviews.
Read more... (off-site)- Topics:
- Centrelink
- Author:
- Luke Michael
- Source:
- Pro Bono
- Date published:
- Fri 26th Oct, 2018