Independent Social Security Handbook

ONLINE EDITION now available “free”* in Western Australia!!!

Word version

The ONLINE EDITION of the Independent Social Security Handbook is now available “free”* for community workers and welfare agencies in Western Australia who receive funding from the Department of Community Development. Employees of the Department also have free access to the ONLINE EDITION.

This arrangement has been brought about as the Sydney Welfare Rights Centre (WRC) and the Department have entered into a partnership to ensure that you have access to this important resource.

What is the Independent Social Security Handbook?

The Independent Social Security Handbook is produced primarily for community workers so that they can help their clients with their Social Security problems. The Handbook contains 47 chapters and provides information on all of the major Social Security payments as well as information about issues such as people’s legal rights and appeal rights (see below for a list of chapters).

The ONLINE EDITION of the Handbook is fully updated every three months to take into account all the latest changes to Social Security law and policy and their administration by Centrelink.

How can my organisation access the ONLINE EDITION of the Handbook?

Simply email the Welfare Rights Centre at welfarerights@welfarerights.org.au and advise that you are an employee of the Department of Community Development or a community worker in Western Australia (your organisation must receive funding from the Department to be eligible). Soon after, you will receive an email from the Welfare Rights Centre with further instructions to follow the registration process.

Once you have gained access to the "Independent Social Security Handbook", click on the relevant chapter and away you go. Once you are in a chapter you can click directly on the sub-headings in chapters or you can easily return to the contents page of the Handbook to access another chapter.

Why use the ONLINE EDITION of the Handbook?

If you are a community worker your job will probably require you to know a bit about Social Security and its administration. You will probably have clients who have had adverse decisions made about their Social Security payment by Centrelink.

To help them you will need some information about Social Security provisions and Centrelink procedures. All the information you need is included in the ONLINE EDITION of the Handbook. If you need to know about the appeals system, or how to get information under Freedom of Information (FOI) provisions, or if your client has had their Social Security payment reduced or cancelled because of a breach, then the ONLINE EDITION contains all the information for you to help them. And of course, if you can’t fix the problem or require further advice, don’t hesitate to contact the Welfare Rights Centre (WRC) on 9211 5389, or 1800 226 028 for people calling from outside the Sydney metropolitan area.