Report snapshot: Revenue NSW’s administration of hardship assistance

About this report 

Revenue NSW is a division within the Department of Customer Service responsible for collecting fines and taxes, administering grants and recovering debt on behalf of state government agencies. As part of its role, Revenue NSW has a responsibility to ensure fines and debt processes do not have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable people.

Revenue NSW has a Hardship Policy to assist people experiencing hardship in accordance with its Customer Commitments which include acting with empathy, ease of access, situation resolution and clear explanations.

There are a range of payment options to provide hardship assistance under the policy including fine write-offs, payment plans and Work and Development Orders. Most decisions on hardship assistance are made by Revenue NSW. An individual can appeal a decision to the Hardship Review Board.

This audit assessed the effectiveness of Revenue NSW in delivering hardship assistance in compliance with relevant legislation, policies and guidelines.

Findings

Revenue NSW delivers assistance to people experiencing hardship using the range of payment options available under its Hardship Policy. It has established a governance framework to support effective implementation, including processes, procedures and delegations for assessing hardship applications.

Revenue NSW is not effectively monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the outcomes of the hardship assistance it provides under the Hardship Policy.

Revenue NSW can improve some of its processes that support it to make fair, consistent and transparent decisions on hardship assistance. It can also improve how it communicates decisions to people applying for hardship assistance.

Recommendations

The report makes five recommendations to:

• evaluate and publicly report on the implementation of the Hardship Policy
• improve quality assurance across fines and debt operations
• improve correspondence to people seeking hardship assistance
• improve the documentation of governance, risk management and ethics in artificial intelligence and automation used in fines and debt operations
• communicate more clearly the role of the Hardship Review Board.

Further information

Please contact Renee O'Kane, Chief of Staff, on 9275 7347 or by email.