Benefit Grants and Cancels - December 2019 quarter
During the COVID-19 pandemic response, we are releasing a reduced amount of supporting material for the Benefit Fact Sheets and this page has not been updated with information from the latest quarter.
A grant is the formal acceptance of entitlement to a benefit. The numbers reported below are for benefits granted during the December 2019 quarter (i.e. total benefit grants granted from October to December 2019).
A cancellation (cancel) is the formal process that stops the entitlement to a benefit. The numbers reported below are for benefits cancelled during the December 2019 quarter (i.e. total benefit cancellations made from October to December 2019).
Five-year trend
A total of 55,341 benefit grants were granted to working-age recipients on a main benefit, or a decrease of 9.3 percent when compared with the December 2014 quarter. On the other hand, there were 37,738 benefit cancellations issued during the December 2019 quarter, down by 8.4 percent compared with the December 2014 quarter.
Obtaining work was the main reason for the cancellation of a main benefit.
Grants
Five-year trend
Of the total number of benefit grants provided during the December 2019 quarter, 61.7 percent were granted for Jobseeker Support. This was 1,418 more, or 4.3 percent higher than the number of JS granted during the December 2014 quarter.
Annual comparison - Grants
|
December 2018 quarter |
December 2019 quarter |
Annual change |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Total number of main benefit grants granted to working-age people |
52,317 | 55,341 | 5.8 percent increase |
|
Number of Jobseeker Support granted |
30,814 | 34,143 | 10.8 percent increase |
|
Number of Sole Parent Support granted |
6,551 | 6,756 | 3.1 percent increase |
|
Number of Supported Living Payment granted |
3,204 | 3,457 | 7.9 percent increase |
|
Number of other main benefit granted |
11,748 | 10,985 | 6.5 percent decrease |
Note 1: Working-age people are aged 18 to 64 years.
Note 2: Other main benefits include Youth Payment/Young Parent Payment (YP/YPP), Emergency Maintenance Allowance (EMA), Emergency Benefit (EB), Jobseeker Support Student Hardship (JSSH), Widow’s Benefit (WB), Widow’s Benefit Overseas (WBO), and Sole Parent Support Overseas (SPSO).
Cancellations
Five-year trend
Of the total number of benefit cancellations during the December 2019 quarter, 74.3 percent were issued for Jobseeker Support (JS). There were 35 more JS cancellations, or a slight increase of 0.1 percent, when compared with the same period in 2014.
Obtaining work remains the top reason for discontinuing a main benefit.
Annual comparison - Cancellations
|
December 2018 quarter |
December 2019 quarter |
Annual change |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Total number of cancels by working-age people |
35,710 | 37,738 | 5.7 percent increase |
|
Number of Jobseeker Support cancels |
25,794 | 28,023 | 8.6 percent increase |
|
Number of Sole Parent Support cancels |
5,361 | 5,236 | 2.3 percent decrease |
|
Number of Supported Living Payment cancels |
2,585 | 2,460 | 4.8 percent decrease |
|
Number of other main benefit cancels |
1,970 | 2,019 | 2.5 percent increase |
Note 1: Working-age people are aged 18 to 64 years.
Note 2: Other main benefits include Youth Payment/Young Parent Payment (YP/YPP), Emergency Maintenance Allowance (EMA), Emergency Benefit (EB), Jobseeker Support Student Hardship (JSSH), Widow’s Benefit (WB), Widow’s Benefit Overseas (WBO), and Sole Parent Support Overseas (SPSO).
