Part 1: Performance reporting
- Output Group 3.1 | Labour market assistance
- Output Group 3.2 | Support for people with disabilities
- Output Group 3.3 | Support for carers
- Output Group 3.4 | Support for the aged
Output Group 3.3 | Support for carers
Contribution to Outcome 3
Support for carers contributes to Outcome 3 by helping to support carers through the provision of income support and income supplement payments.
Strategies
- provide targeted income support and supplementary payments for carers that recognise their diversity
- maintain policies that encourage the social and economic participation of carers, including voluntary or paid work and study
- provide carers who wish to re-enter the labour market with assistance while in the caring role and when their caring responsibilities cease
- increase community awareness of carer payment programs and other support for carers provided by the Government.
Outputs under Output Group 3.3
Carer Allowance
Carer Allowance is an income supplement for people who provide daily care and attention at home to a person who has disabilities or a severe medical condition. The payment is not means-tested; it is indexed annually.
Carer Payment
Carer Payment is an income support payment for people whose caring responsibilities prevent them from undertaking substantial workforce participation. The payment is means-tested and paid at the same rate as other social security pensions.
Performance summary
Key achievements included:
- payment of a one-off Carer Bonus of $1000 to eligible recipients of Carer Payment and a one-off Carer Bonus of up to $600 for Carer Allowance recipients for each eligible care receiver for whom they provide care
- supporting the work of the National Family Carers Voice
- completing the review of Carer Allowance customers who are carers of children whose eligibility had been assessed before July 1998 and had not been subject to medical review for five years
- amending the lists of recognised disabilities that automatically qualify carers of children for Carer Allowance by adding or modifying six disabilities or medical conditions
- completing the review of the lists of recognised disabilities used in the assessment of eligibility for Carer Allowance (Child).
Work is required to:
- continue supporting the work of the National Family Carers Voice
- contribute to the young carers summit being organised and conducted on the Government's behalf by Carers Australia. The summit will provide young carers with the opportunity to obtain information and to talk with government at all levels about improving support for young carers.
- evaluate the child and adult disability assessment tools
- implement any recommendations from the review of the lists of recognised disabilities used in the assessment of eligibility for Carer Allowance (Child)
- implement the 2004–05 Budget measures for carers, including:
- extending Carer Allowance eligibility to carers who do not live with the person for whom they provide substantial levels of personal care on a daily basis
- providing additional respite services and age-appropriate information to help young carers stay in education while also providing care
- providing up to four weeks' respite for parents aged 70 years and over who are caring for a son or daughter with disabilities when funding is matched by state and territory governments. Parents aged 65 to 69 years who care for a son or daughter with disabilities and need to spend time in hospital will be eligible for up to two weeks' respite care.
- piloting a range of programs that will further assist carers in their role
- explore the issue of succession planning for parents of sons and daughters with severe disabilities by establishing an advisory body to work with the Australian Government and state and territory governments.
Financial and staffing resources summary
| Group 3.3: Support for carers | (A) Budgeta 2003–04 $'000 |
(B) Actual 2003–04 $'000 |
Variation (column B minus column A) $'000 |
Budgetb 2004–05 $'000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administered Expenses (including third party outputs) | ||||
| Special Appropriations | ||||
| Assistance to Carers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3767 |
| Carer Allowance (Adult and Child) (Social Security (Administration) Act 1999) | 942 341 | 965 430 | 23 089 | 825 943 |
| Carer Payment (Social Security (Administration) Act 1999) | 909 606 | 921 008 | 11 402 | 945 200 |
| Total Administered Expenses | 1 851 947 | 1 886 438 | 34 491 | 1 774 910 |
| Group 3.3: Support for carers | (A) Budgeta 2003–04 $'000 |
(B) Actual 2003–04 $'000 |
Variation (column B minus column A) $'000 |
Budgetb 2004–05 $'000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price of Departmental Outputs | ||||
| Policy Advice | 1 645 | 1 645 | 0 | 2 870 |
| Purchasing, Funding & Relationship Management | 773 | 773 | 0 | 1 349 |
| Research and Evaluation | 195 | 195 | 0 | 339 |
| Service Delivery (Centrelink) | 16 219 | 26 965 | 10 746 | 23 931 |
| Service Delivery (other) | 844 | 844 | 0 | 880 |
| Revenue from Government (Appropriation) for Departmental Output Groups | 19 676 | 30 422 | 10 746 | 29 369 |
| FaCS Componentc | 3 457 | 3 457 | 0 | 5 438 |
| Centrelink Component | 16 219 | 26 965 | 10 746 | 23 931 |
| TOTAL FOR GROUP 3.3 | 1 871 623 | 1 916 860 | 45 237 | 1 804 279 |
| Staffing Years (Number) | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FaCS (including the Social Security Appeals Tribunal) | 29 | 27 |
- Final estimates have been used for special appropriations while additional estimates have been used for annual appropriations.
- Budget prior to additional estimates.
- FaCS includes the Social Security Appeals Tribunal.
Performance information
Administered items
The majority of performance information presented below is calculated using data for June 2004. This means that the information corresponds to a point in time rather than a yearly average.
Carer Allowance
Effectiveness—adequacy
Maximum payments to recipients—Carer Allowance to be regularly indexed in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Carer Allowance is indexed on 1 January each year.
Quantity
Number of customers receiving Carer Allowance
198 083 received Carer Allowance (Adult)
96 153 received Carer Allowance (Child)
2856 received both Carer Allowance (Adult) and Carer Allowance (Child)
17 464 did not receive Carer Allowance (Child) but did receive a Health Care Card only (also 515 were 'not coded')
Number of people cared for by customers receiving Carer Allowance
339 630 Carer Allowance care receivers, including 205 663 adults, 111 774 children and 22 193 children for whom a Health Care Card only was received.
Price
$965.4 million
Carer Payment
Effectiveness—adequacy
Maximum payments to recipients—as a percentage of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE)
Carer Payment is adjusted twice a year in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). If the single pension rate (excluding the component added in as part of the new tax system) is less than 25 per cent of MTAWE, then Carer Payment is increased to that rate (with, for partnered recipients, a proportional flow-on to the partnered rate of pension).
Effectiveness—independence
Percentage of customers with income from employment and average amount of income from employment per fortnight (June 2004)—11 per cent of customers with an average amount of income from employment of $380 per fortnight
Percentage of customers with non-employment income and average amount of non-employment income per fortnight (June 2004)—88 per cent of customers with an average amount of non-employment income of $62 per fortnight
Effectiveness—take up/coverage
Percentage of Carer Payment customers also in receipt of Carer Allowance—76 per cent (June 2004)
Effectiveness—targeting
Percentage on part rate due to means test—Data were not available due to changes to Centrelink systems with the introduction of Working Credit in September 2003. Data for 2003–04 will be included in the 2004–05 annual report.
Quantity
Number of customers receiving Carer Payment—84 082
Number of people cared for by customers receiving Carer Payment (at June 2004)—89 404
Price
$921.0 million
Commentary
In 2003–04, the number of customers receiving Carer Payment increased by 11 per cent, down from a 13 per cent increase in 2002–03. The number receiving Carer Allowance decreased by 1 per cent, down from a 10 per cent increase in 2002–03. The change in customer numbers reflects a number of factors:
- demographic changes, such as the ageing of the population and an associated increase in the incidence of people suffering from disabilities
- greater public awareness of the two payments
- the increase in numbers of people with disabilities and medical conditions being cared for at home
- the liberalisation of the qualification criteria for Carer Payment
- broader targeting of Carer Allowance
- reduction in the number of Carer Allowance customers following the review in 2003 of the status of children whose eligibility had been protected from medical review for five years.
Departmental outputs
Cost
Ratio of departmental expense to administered expense
For every dollar spent on administered items under Output Group 3.3, 1.6 cents were spent on departmental outputs.
Policy advice
Quality—customer satisfaction
Ministers and ministers' offices satisfied with the quality of policy advice and department meets standard for policy advice
Ministers and their offices did not provide feedback on individual output groups but did provide feedback on departmental performance as a whole. Information on ministers' and their offices' assessment can be found in Volume two, Part two, 'Ministerial and parliamentary services'.
Quantity
Number of items to ministers
134 ministerial submissions and other written briefings or advice prepared; 600 ministerial replies to correspondence completed.
Price
$1.6 million
Purchasing, funding and relationship management
Quality—assurance
Department ensures that service providers meet terms and conditions of funding
The relevant areas in FaCS and Centrelink negotiated the Disability and Carers Output Specification for 2003–04. It establishes performance measures for the delivery of carer payments and services that FaCS purchases from Centrelink. This specification forms part of an overarching Business Partnership Agreement between the two organisations. A framework was developed to monitor and report against agreed standards for delivering services.
Quantity
Number of contracts or service agreements under management
1—Business Partnership Agreement with Centrelink
Number of service providers under management
1—Centrelink, through the FaCS–Centrelink Business Partnership Agreement
Price
$0.8 million
Research and evaluation
Quality—assurance
Research and evaluation is of a high standard (timely, fulfils terms of reference, complete, methodologically sound) and contributes to policy understanding and development
Research and evaluation in progress met the timelines and terms of reference and used sound methodology. All research and evaluation was of a consistently high standard.
Quantity
Major pieces of research and evaluation completed—1
Price
$0.2 million
Service delivery
Quality—assurance
Service providers deliver services to the standards agreed with FaCS
The Business Partnership Agreement with Centrelink sets FaCS' key result areas and performance measures for carer program payments. Centrelink monitors performance against agreed standards for the delivery of services.
Quality—customer rights and obligations
Control of incorrect payment and fraud: savings in administered items arising from compliance activities
Review mechanisms common across most payment types for detection and control of incorrect payment and fraud are described in Volume two, Part two, 'Right payments to the right people'. For the purposes of this report, these reviews include compliance reviews, service profiling and general program reviews.
In 2003–04, the Integrated Review System and an interrogation of the Centrelink mainframe data indicated that 214 404 Carer Payment reviews were completed. It is estimated that rate reductions resulted in fortnightly savings of $1 376 475, and upward variations resulted in fortnightly increases of $261 664. It is estimated that debts totalled $6 705 643. Performance outcomes for debt recovery and prosecution activity are reported in Volume two, Part two, 'Right payments to the right people'.
Percentage of reviews and appeals where the original decision is changed
Price
$27.0 million—Centrelink
$0.8 million—other