Hundreds of jobseeker payments cancelled illegally by government IT system, watchdog finds

Ombudsman says staff at DEWR were wrong to rely on an automated system to stop money for claimants

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The legality of the system designed to penalise jobseekers has been thrown into doubt after the commonwealth ombudsman found a government department’s automatic system unlawfully cancelled payments.

The ombudsman has found 964 jobseekers had their payments unlawfully cancelled between April 2022 and July 2024 by the automated IT system that underpins the targeted compliance framework (TCF) system.