Hundreds of thousands of Australians are having their Centrelink and Medicare claims processed faster, with wait times slashed across the board.
The government has also delivered on its commitment to reduce Services Australia's claims on hand to normal levels by mid-year.
Services Australia slashed Medicare and Centrelink claims by 66% at 21 July, from 1.35 million in early February, down to a regular number of around 460,000.
With the backlog cleared, this means from now on most claims will be processed within reasonable timeframes.
Average claim processing times have improved across most payments in the new financial year compared to last, including:
- 84% lower for Paid Parental Leave claims (25 days down to 4 days)
- 84% lower for Medicare Newborn enrolments (25 days down to 4 days)
- 82% lower for Medicare Online Account claims (11 days down to 2 days)
- 73% lower for JobSeeker claims (22 days down to 6 days)
At 21 July, the agency:
- was answering Centrelink calls around 6 minutes faster and Medicare customer calls 9 minutes faster than in January
- had cut congestion messaging on Centrelink lines by 58% compared to January
- was serving most customers (62%) in 15 minutes at 318 service centres across Australia.
The government provided 3,000 permanent additional staff late last year to improve claim processing times and access to services. These new staff have now processed 1.4 million claims and answered 1.9 million calls.
Minister for Government Services, the Hon. Bill Shorten MP, welcomed the results for customers.
"This effort has delivered over 890,000 outstanding Centrelink and Medicare claims for Australians in need," Minister Shorten said.
"In turning the corner to the new financial year, there is marked improvement in processing times on not only last year, but also when comparing performance back to 2018 in pre-COVID times.
"I know Australians are doing it tough and I've asked Services Australia to work hard to reduce its claim processing and call wait times.
"There's more to do, particularly in processing complex claims, but we're making significant inroads across the board."
The government committed $1.8 billion in the 2024-25 Budget to bolstering service delivery, which includes funding for 4,030 staff in 2024-25 and 3,530 staff in 2025-26.
Service delivery improvements
Average claim processing time improvements - Centrelink
CLAIM |
AVERAGE PROCESSING TIME |
||||
2024-25 FYTD Days to process (1-21 July) |
2023-24 FY comparison |
2018-19 FY (before COVID measures) comparison |
|||
Days to process 2023-24 |
% change since 2023-24 |
Days to process 2018-19 |
% change since 2018-19 |
||
Age Pension |
60 days |
76 days |
21%
|
75 days |
20%
|
ABSTUDY Schooling |
11 days |
22 days |
50%
|
15 days |
27%
|
Additional Child Care Subsidy Transition to Work |
13 days |
68 days |
81%
|
24 days |
46%
|
Carer Allowance |
13 days |
42 days |
69%
|
59 days |
78%
|
Carer Payment |
15 days |
54 days |
72%
|
64 days |
77%
|
Child Care Subsidy |
7 days |
24 days |
71%
|
23 days |
70%
|
Crisis Payment |
1 day |
3 days |
67%
|
1 day |
- |
Commonwealth Seniors Health Card |
15 days |
42 days |
64%
|
73 days |
79%
|
Dad and Partner Pay |
3 days |
63 days |
95%
|
19 days |
84%
|
Disability Support Pension |
81 days |
93 days |
13%
|
88 days |
8%
|
Family Tax Benefit New Claim |
9 days |
47 days |
81%
|
36 days |
75%
|
Family Tax Benefit Lump Sum |
3 days |
13 days |
77%
|
22 days |
86%
|
JobSeeker Payment |
6 days |
22 days |
73%
|
24 days (Newstart) |
75%
|
Low Income Card |
9 days |
53 days |
83%
|
31 days |
71%
|
Paid Parental Leave |
4 days |
25 days |
84%
|
21 days |
81%
|
Parenting Payment Single |
14 days |
28 days |
50%
|
48 days |
71%
|
Parenting Payment Partnered |
12 days |
52 days |
77%
|
58 days |
79%
|
Youth Allowance Jobseekers |
14 days |
26 days |
46%
|
27 days |
48%
|
Average claim processing time improvements - Medicare
CLAIM |
AVERAGE PROCESSING TIME |
||
2024-25 FYTD Days to process (1-21 July) |
2023-24 FY comparison |
||
Days to process 2023-24 |
% change since 2023-24 |
||
Medicare Newborn enrolments |
4 days |
25 days |
84%
|
Medicare Online Account |
2 days |
11 days |
82%
|
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Safety Net |
28 days |
98 days |
71%
|
Calls to Centrelink
Average speed of answer - week ending 21 July (compared to week ending 14 January) |
Congestion messages - week ending 21 July (compared to week ending 14 January) |
||
26 minutes depending on the day |
|
|
223,000 fewer messages in week of 21 July |
Calls answered within 30 minutes - 1 January to 21 July |
Calls answered over 30 minutes - 1 January to 21 July |
||
66% |
3.4 million calls |
34% |
1.8 million calls |
