Services Australia delivers social services and means tested social security payments. Since August 2019, Australia faced a series of crises starting with widespread drought and bushfires, followed by floods and a global pandemic. With widespread disruption to livelihoods, we recognised that now more than ever Australians needed simple, helpful, respectful and transparent paths to accessing income support through the social security system.
To meet these needs, we rapidly scaled our capability to assess claims through use of Straight Through Processing (automation). The aim was to provide payments to people in need as fast as possible and assure government that automated payments, while socially responsible and administratively efficient, were being made in line with four golden rules: The right person, on the right programme, with the right rate, commencing on the right date.
Our AUTOPASS team − Automation Payment Assurance – is responsible for the practice of conducting rigorous assurance checks of automated payment decisions to minimise risk of incorrect payments.
The success of our “good practice” was due to three factors:
- Our people – Who were agile and responsive in the face of overwhelming demand and customer need.
- Our processes – Which were modernised and improved to give us confidence in the automation outcome.
- Our technology – Which was able to cope with significant change and demand while providing confidence and accuracy in all payment results.