How to make appointments with Centrelink instead of waiting on the phone

While the addition of 3,000 extra staff at Services Australia was intended to reduce Centrelink wait times, new problems have emerged in other areas.

But the good news is, Starts at 60 can reveal a new Centrelink appointment system has started operating and we have some important tips to speed up the time you’re waiting on the phone.

Following severe criticism of Centrelink’s processing times earlier this year, Services Australia has increased its workforce by 3,000 to handle claims and calls, with plans to add more staff this financial year.

Services Australia is the parent organisation of service delivery agencies such as Centrelink and Medicare.

In early February, the average time to process an Age Pension claim was 78 days.

In September, Services Australia said that the average processing time for an Age Pension claim was now down to 55 days, but that’s still well short of a previous target of 14 days.

Applications for Centrelink issued concession cards such as the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) have reduced from 42 days to 16 days but with the upper cut-off thresholds for the CSHC increased in late September, there’s a rush of new applications being processed.

For singles, the income test limit for the CSHC rose to $99,025 and for couples, a combined $158,440.

And while new application waiting times may have reduced, people updating their Centrelink records online are finding that in some cases, those updates are taking weeks to process.

You can provide updates online via my.gov.au and having the Centrelink “service” linked to your account.

The online system seems to work best with bank balances and unitised investments. In this case, updates are processed more speedily.

Unitised investments includes shares, most public super and pension funds and managed investment funds.

Other information generally requires human intervention to be coded into Centrelink systems. That can still be uploaded online, but you might be waiting weeks for it to be processed. This might include a rental property or a non ASX listed company investment.

Existing Centrelink customers requiring a manual update of their financial position have found that in some cases, they are better off following up the uploaded information by phone or in person. That ensures it is processed in a timely manner.

Unfortunately, there is no chat or other message mechanism available via my.gov.au, to ask questions or to request a call-back.

But the good news is, Centrelink will now book appointments either in person or on the phone.

On the Centrelink website, customers can either book a 15 minute phone appointment or a 30 minute face-to-face meeting.

Simply Google “Centrelink appointments”

If you haven’t booked an appointment, you could physically take the information into a Centrelink office instead, or be a bit smart about when you call them.

If visiting your local office, try to avoid the busy days of Monday or Thursday if possible and avoid lunch-time, when many staff are on a break.

If calling to provide an update, there are ways to speed up the process.

After uploading the documentation via my.gov.au, make a call when the call centre wait-times are likely to be less.

That’s avoiding the times and days above and also, knowing how the system operates.

Callers who join the queue before 5:00pm are not normally kicked-off and will be answered so calling towards the end of the day might reduce your wait time.

Read more here for money related questions.