Thread: Age Pension

finished submitting all the paper work and got an email to say estimated descision date is Oct 1 2020

Sounds about right. Nine weeks was normal because of staff cutbacks, we were told, so that's slightly quicker. Hope you get the best result.

out till the 2nd October now after the latest round of document requests

i got to say this has been one of the most frustrating experiences i have ever had

just little things like uploading documents they say they want, timeouts and network errors aside...

on the mobile app you can only upload pics or take pics to upload and there is a size limit if uploading multiple at the same time

on the web version when you upload documents you can upload pics or pdfs etc but again there are size limits which make it really hard when you have a 20 page document to upload

when you upload a document it has to be assigned to one of the tasks they have given you. which is fine till you need to upload a document to finalise your claim so it comes off hold, but that task is missing from the task list, so you cannot assign the document and get the task off hold so the claim progresses...

i await the next installment

I sympathisise. We resorted to going to Centrelink offices and explaining the documents wouldn't upload. They were sympathetic, said it's a common problem, and scanned them in and uploaded them for us. They won't accept bank statements which are more than 3 months old at the time they process the application.

Originally Posted by incisor

out till the 2nd October now after the latest round of document requests

i got to say this has been one of the most frustrating experiences i have ever had

just little things like uploading documents they say they want, timeouts and network errors aside...

on the mobile app you can only upload pics or take pics to upload and there is a size limit if uploading multiple at the same time

on the web version when you upload documents you can upload pics or pdfs etc but again there are size limits which make it really hard when you have a 20 page document to upload

when you upload a document it has to be assigned to one of the tasks they have given you. which is fine till you need to upload a document to finalise your claim so it comes off hold, but that task is missing from the task list, so you cannot assign the document and get the task off hold so the claim progresses...

i await the next installment

Do you have companies and trusts? These will always cause delays in assessing claims. Often the complex arrangements that the self-employed use to avoid income tax need to go to a Complex Assessments Officer in Area Office as Regional Office assessors are rarely trained in complex assessment. You need to know that Centrelink use different criteria to the ATO in determining income. Deductions allowed by the ATO are often not allowed by Centrelink.

Before I retired the bench mark for assessing claims was 6 weeks. Anything not granted by 6 weeks after claim was brought to the notice of the section manager who would locate the claim and the assessor and ask why. Canberra were cracking the "Customer Service" whip then and too many outstanding claims made a black mark on the section managers record. Mostly not finalised because the client had not returned requested documentation. I worked with one section manager who was **** scared of having a bad claim record. He would ask the assessor to approve and pay the claim without the documentation necessary to assess it. He was dumbfounded when I refused to do so. I told him I can not approve a claim without the necessary information. You can do so and your log-in and signature will be on record. I saw the union delegate and she said "Good, the union is with you".

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Do you have companies and trusts? These will always cause delays in assessing claims. Often the complex arrangements that the self-employed use to avoid income tax need to go to a Complex Assessments Officer in Area Office as Regional Office assessors are rarely trained in complex assessment. You need to know that Centrelink use different criteria to the ATO in determining income. Deductions allowed by the ATO are often not allowed by Centrelink.

Before I retired the bench mark for assessing claims was 6 weeks. Anything not granted by 6 weeks after claim was brought to the notice of the section manager who would locate the claim and the assessor and ask why. Canberra were cracking the "Customer Service" whip then and too many outstanding claims made a black mark on the section managers record. Mostly not finalised because the client had not returned requested documentation. I worked with one section manager who was **** scared of having a bad claim record. He would ask the assessor to approve and pay the claim without the documentation necessary to assess it. He was dumbfounded when I refused to do so. I told him I can not approve a claim without the necessary information. You can do so and your log-in and signature will be on record. I saw the union delegate and she said "Good, the union is with you".

i'm a sole trader, nothing more nothing less

no trusts, no companies, nothing flash, my income doesn't warrant it...

the fact i own two properties, one i have lived at for over 20 years and one that is only worth 80k is what has them in at this stage..

i cannot believe the drama created by living in one place for more than 20 years, it is crazy

anyway, time will tell the tale

The standard delay was 9 weeks when I did mine late last year.
I don't think customer service is their top priority now.

Originally Posted by incisor

i'm a sole trader, nothing more nothing less

no trusts, no companies, nothing flash, my income doesn't warrant it...

the fact i own two properties, one i have lived at for over 20 years and one that is only worth 80k is what has them in at this stage..

i cannot believe the drama created by living in one place for more than 20 years, it is crazy

anyway, time will tell the tale

Centrelink sent me a letter asking for bank statements for the last 4 yrs saying failure to do so could stop my Pension ( Nice ) , they said it was easy just scan and upload on Mobile Phone blah blah !! , the only thing my phone does is ring up !! as it was invented for , anyway tried on the PC total disaster so printed out 4yrs of statements in hard copy and posted to Canberra in a rather big envelope , was about 6 months ago so rang up to see if they had received it and get a receipt number , they said they had but no one could say what they wanted it for . There probably as bad with with real paper as i am with electronic Mobile **** .