Services Australia is on track to reduce its backlog of more than one million claims to normal levels by the middle of the year thanks to a recent recruitment effort. In just 10 weeks, over 500,000 Centrelink and Medicare claims have been processed and cleared from the backlog, following the hiring of over 3000 new staff members.
The backlog, which peaked at 1.35 million claims, is now down to 1.1 million as of December 2023. Government Services Minister Bill Shorten expressed the organization’s commitment to swiftly addressing the backlog, acknowledging the frustrations of those awaiting payments.
Since the recruitment drive, significant progress has been made, with a reduction of almost 40 percent in outstanding claims. This trend is expected to continue as the new staff members gain more experience and expertise. The government had allocated over $200 million in funding to support the hiring of additional staff to manage the increasing number of claims.
David Hazlehurst, the chief executive of Services Australia, projected that the number of outstanding claims will decrease to between 400,000 and 500,000 by April. While the recruitment process began in January, Hazlehurst noted that it will take some time for the new staff to make a substantial impact on the backlog due to training requirements.
Since the influx of new staff, there has been a significant decrease in Medicare online account claims by 78 percent and Commonwealth seniors health card claims by 59 percent. This reduction in outstanding claims is expected to improve call wait times as fewer individuals will need to inquire about the status of their claims.
