Welfare payments suspended after recipients don’t search for jobs

Unemployed welfare recipients had their payments cut more than 2 million times in a year after failing to look for work or attend job interviews, or behaving inappropriately in meetings, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

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Unemployed welfare recipients who failed to attend job interviews or appointments, did not look for work, or who behaved inappropriately in meetings had payments suspended more than 2 million times in 12 months.

About 78 per cent of the 744,884 Jobactive program participants — jobless Australians deemed able to search for work — had at least one payment suspension last financial year, according to federal government data. Of these, 192,482 were from NSW.

Nationally, more than 60,000 people were cut off from welfare more than 10 times in the year to July 2019, while one person had their payments suspended 52 times.

Jobactive participants can receive a fortnightly Newstart Allowance of up to $555.70 for a single person without children, or $601.10 with a dependent child, in return for completing job searches, attending interviews and going to meetings.

Nearly 80 per cent of the Jobactive program participants had at least one payment suspension last financial year. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

They are handed “demerit points” for failing to meet required activities and are penalised once they gain five points.

Of the 179,211 people who racked up five demerit points, 15,016 were given a financial penalty or kicked off the program entirely.

In 2051 cases the department issued four-week financial penalties, meaning the recipient potentially lost more than $2000 in payments.

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Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash said welfare recipients who had their payments repeatedly suspended were not living up to taxpayer expectations.

“The welfare system should not be thrown in the face of the Australians taxpayers who fund it by those who abuse it,” she said.

“Our focus will always be to get people off welfare and into work. Taxpayers expect nothing less.”

Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash said taxpayers don’t want to see those on the welfare system abuse it. Picture Gary Ramage

About 163,000 welfare recipients did the “right thing” and did not have any payments suspended.

In March the government unveiled a $1.3 billion-a-year overhaul to the Jobactive system that would allow job seekers to better access vacancies and training online.

This month a trial of the new system started in the Coffs Harbour to Grafton region on the NSW mid-north coast, with a national rollout to follow in 2022.

The current program was criticised in a Senate Committee report last year which found it wasted time for employers and jobseekers.

The review found requirements such as applying for 20 jobs a month was too restrictive and had turned into a “tick the box” exercise.