A disabled person is forced to reimburse the state for disability benefit
My relative has been disabled for several years and receives a disability benefit. then in January 2020 registered with the employment service as unemployed, for 8 months in addition to the disability benefit (160 AUD) also received unemployment benefit (on average 60 AUD). Now the SSIA suddenly announces that almost AUD 1,300 (disability benefit received in eight months) must be repaid, because it turns out that for a year now the law has been in force that recipients of disability benefits stop receiving it when unemployment benefits start to be paid. illegally and must now be repaid. The strangest thing is that no one has warned about the new amendment to the law, neither the employment service nor the SSIA... and the SSIA has continued to pay both benefits all the time... does that mean that they themselves were not aware of the changes in the law? In a conversation with the SSIA staff, we asked why they were claiming a refund for the invalidity benefit, not the unemployed one - they could not answer anything at all, only said that they were doing it the way they should. Maybe someone can suggest something, where to go and what to do about it?
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