Services Australia has said it's sorry after an error made by one of its officers resulted in the accidental cancellation of one Australian's disability support pension for more than 12 months.
The error was revealed in a short case study in the Commonwealth Ombudsman's latest annual report and outlined how a single staff error caused the incident.
The report states the recipient reviewed the cancellation but did not have payments reinstated for more than a year. Only after the ombudsman launched an investigation did the recipient have their pension reinstated, subsequently receiving $45,000 in back-paid support payments.
"As a result of the [Commonwealth Ombudsman]'s engagement with Services Australia during an investigation, the complainant's circumstances were reviewed and they were back-paid over $45,000 for the entire period since their DSP was cancelled," the report read.
The agency, which primarily deals with the administration of support payments, said it was sorry for the distress caused by the error and that the staff member had received feedback to improve their service quality.
"We apologise for the distress and inconvenience this incident has caused," a spokesperson said.
"We fully cooperated with the Commonwealth Ombudsman's inquiry, and as a result, the circumstances were reviewed and the customer was back-paid the full amount owed.
"In this instance a staff member made a mistake, and feedback was provided to the staff member and their manager to improve their customer service in future."
The case study highlighted just one complaint of the nearly 13,000 it received relating to the Department of Social Services and Services Australia over the 2019-20 reporting period.
The ombudsman said it had received 12,794 relating to the two government departments and had finalised 12,822 over the period.
It represented more than three-quarters of the 16,664 Commonwealth complaints it received during the year, with Home Affairs following behind at 1621 complaints and the Attorney-General's Department with 456.
