A new report clearly shows that carers are missing out on government assistance because they don’t know they are entitled to it.

They say you don’t know what you don’t know, and a new report clearly shows that carers don’t know what government assistance they are able to claim.

For example, did you know that if you provide daily care to someone with ‘substantial functional impairment’, you might qualify for the standard allowance paid to carers? Or, in the unfortunate event of your partner’s death, you might qualify for a bereavement allowance to assist you through the difficult time?

In fact, it appears that thousands of Australians, including carers and the recently bereaved, are missing out on assistance worth $623 million because the government does not actively promote awareness of such entitlements, according to a report by The Australia Institute.

Their new report, called ‘Missing out: Unclaimed government assistance and concession benefits’, reveals that across just four Centrelink payments – Parenting Payment, Carer Allowance, Disability Support Pension and Bereavement Allowance – more than 168,000 Australians are likely to be missing out on government assistance they are entitled to.

The analysis says the main reason for this is a lack of awareness of available support and knowing how to access such help.

A good example is the Carer Allowance which is not means tested and, as it is a supplement, it can be received in addition to other assistance payments.

Government information on carers in Australia reveals that significant numbers are missing out on this allowance. Statistics are also available from the ABS, and an adjusted ABS figure finds that there were 532,532 carers in Australia at the time of the HILDA survey. However, FaHCSIA reported that a lesser number of people, 416,900, were paid the Carer Allowance in 2007–08, suggesting that 115,632 eligible carers did not receive the benefit.

This allowance is not means tested, and the fact that around 21 per cent of qualified people are not receiving it is likely to be due to a lack of awareness about the payment and the complexity of the forms that need to be completed.

A government review in 2008 found that many recipients of the Carer Allowance had been ‘surprised’ to find that they were eligible and others, who had been caring for some time prior to applying, expressed ‘frustration’ at not being made aware of the support sooner.

The majority of Carer-Allowance recipients interviewed for the review learned about the allowance from their GP, other medical professionals, or friends and family. Only a small number indicated that they had found out about the assistance through Centrelink, usually when they were applying for other types of assistance. This finding highlights the need to explore the options for promoting awareness of assistance payments.

Unlike the Tax Office which will pursue unpaid tax, or Centrelink seeking to recover any money that may have been incorrectly paid because of a change in personal circumstances, there is no obligation on Centrelink to pursue people who are eligible for payments but may not be aware.

The report says Centrelink’s guide to payments states: ‘It is your responsibility to decide if you wish to apply for a payment and to make the application, having regard to your particular circumstances.’

While complex paperwork and eligibility criteria were identified as factors in missing out on support, one-in-four concession card holders said they avoided using their cards due to feelings of stigmatisation.

Research Fellow David Baker says while there is information about welfare fraud and the government cracking down on ‘cheats’, there is little about what it is doing to find those people missing out on assistance they are entitled to.

Baker says that in 2004 the government reported that approximately 1.3 million Australians, the equivalent of one-in-twenty, were missing out on some form of government support. Yet, he says in the six years since this estimate was published there have been no significant policies announced or implemented to systematically identify these people.

The paper recommends: establishing an Entitlements Commission; simplifying benefits and reporting; outsourcing the task of matching people with Centrelink; and applying Centrelink’s existing data-matching ability to identify those who are eligible but missing out.

Welcoming The Australia Institute’s report, UnitingCare Australia’s National Director, Susan Helyar says it’s time for the Government to put a broom through its complex social support payments systems to ensure the right people are getting enough support when they need it.

Helyar supports the call for an entitlements commission that will take decisions about the adequacy of support payments out of the political arena and base decisions on the kind of careful analysis that The Australia Institute and others have provided.

The Australia Institute is a Canberra-based think tank that conducts research on economic, social and environmental issues. The Institute is funded by memberships, donations from philanthropic trusts and individuals, and commissioned research.

The paper can be downloaded at https://www.tai.org.au/index.php?q=node/19&pubid=760&act=display