UPDATED – ORIGINAL POSTED MARCH 27
Due to COVID19 The government have suspended Centrelink Mutual Obligations, however what a lot of Newstart (Jobseeker) and ParentsNext recipients don’t realise right now is that you are still required to report your income (if that is what you normally do) to receive your Centrelink payment.
With the large influx of new Centrelink welfare applicants due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the MyGov website and Centrelink App have been overloaded, crashing, and experiencing frequent glitches.
Many Newstart (Jobseeker) recipients received the following text sms message to notify them that there will be a temporary exception on Centrelink income reporting up until April 3.
The message reads, “Customers who are due to report their earnings Monday 30 March – Friday 3 April 2020 will receive their payment automatically. Read more “
There has been no follow-up message to indicate that there will be any extension to this non-reporting acceptability period, and the “Read more” link leads to general Australian Human Services website COVID-19 information.
Another common, recent Centrelink App error has been the normal “Report” prompt to Report income to trigger fortnightly payments is not appearing when it should be.
The error message states, “You do not have any tasks “ when your normal reporting period is active and unreported.
You may have also received a text recently that stated Centrelink Mutual Obligations are now suspended until 27 April 2020.
Many Centrelink welfare recipients are mistakenly believing that this text, plus the report prompt not appearing in their App, means they are not required to report their income as they normally do each fortnight .
You still need to submit your Employment Income Report to Centrelink to receive your ParentsNext or Jobseeker Payment
Whether you have received any income or not, you are still required to report your income as normal, even if your income for that period is $0. (With the exclusion of the aforementioned dates March 30 – April 3)
If you report late, your payment may be delayed. (See our listed income reporting methods listed below)
There is another common error message appearing in the Centrelink App if you are able to see and use the Report prompt.
Upon completion of reporting you may receive this message.
The message reads “This report was completed, but we could not retrieve your receipt. This may be because you completed your report using a channel other than the online Report Employment Income. ”
We are unable to confirm whether or not your Report is actually registered by Centrelink as submitted, as many Centrelink clients advise that upon returning to their Centrelink App home screen, they once again see the current date period Report prompt, as though no Report has been submitted.
If you receive this message, or cannot see the report prompt message in the Centrelink App as per usual (and are unable to report as you usually do using the Centrelink App) you may wish to ensure your payment is on track by trying some alternative online Centrelink reporting methods.
There are three more Centrelink online reporting methods for you to use to successfully Report straight away and get your Newstart (Jobseeker) Payment processing
Method One
While you are logged into the Centrelink App in your smart phone, click on the “Report” tab and then proceed with your Report as normal
Method Two
Report by going to the MyGov Centrelink website , log in and proceed with your Report as normal.
Method Three
Call the dedicated Reporting phone number:
133 276
which will voice authenticate you and accept your Report by voice alone. This method will also issue you with a receipt, and also sms text it to your phone (if you agree) for further peace of mind.
If you are still unsuccessful…
As a last resort you can always try to phone the general Centrelink phone number ( the number is below, however prepare for long wait times) , or attend a Centrelink Office near to you in person.
They may be able to assist you to report manually, or at least get it on the record that you have tried to report using various methods.
Find out where your closest Australian Government Services Australia office is located here.
The general Centrelink phone number is 136 150
For further details regarding Reporting your income, please go to the Human Services website here .
And if this article was of use to you, please hit the Facebook “Like” button up the top, or comment down below!
Singlemum.com.au Staff Writers
