Surviving the Centrelink DSP Review

This Positive Life (NSW) fact sheet offers information and practical tips for people on the Disability Support Pension to help them understand and deal with a Centrelink review.

While the information in this document is designed for NSW residents, the Centrelink Review process is similar in most states and this fact sheet provides a useful overview. For further information or support if you live outside NSW, contact your local PLWHA organisation [1].

The fact sheet can be downloaded [2] as a printable PDF document (175kB), or you can contact Positive Life [3] to have a copy sent to you.

Positive Life (NSW)has also obtained a response from Centrelink to the issues raised in the fact sheet. Read the Centrelink response [4].

From the fact sheet

A DSP Review now referred to by Centrelink as a Medical Service Update, can be a confusing and unsettling process. In a focus group with people with HIV, participants discussed their most recent experiences of a DSP Review.

Although individual experiences can be quite different, participants agreed there are some common key points that people should bear in mind to help them through the process especially if they have not experienced a DSP Review before.

This factsheet offers information and some practical tips on how to better understand the DSP Reviews.

Previously, most DSP recipients were medically reviewed every two to five years though this doesn’t seem to have been the norm for most HIV positive DSP recipients until relatively recently. Centrelink is now moving from the two to five year review system towards an automated system of Service Profiling where DSP recipients are selected for service update (review) at random, dependent on pensioner profile.

Service Profiling Medical Service Updates (which is what these are called) work on the basis that a form is sent to you asking a range of questions relating to illness, disability, education, assets and income. It also includes a section for a GP or specialist to fill in. You have 91 days to return the form and an additional 21 days for the reminder.

This contact is a mail contact and doesn’t require a face-to-face interview though Centrelink may call you in for one after they’ve received the information.

Not everyone is reviewed. People who meet Centrelink criteria for very severe impairment are excluded.

The full fact sheet [2] includes personal stories from people who have had a review, information about the review process and guidance on preparing for the interview.

Attachment	Size	Type
Surviving the Centrelink DSP Review [2]	175.26 KB	PDF