Integrated Services Project update – November 2022

The partnership between FCVic and Social Security Rights Victoria (SSRV), the Integrated Services Project (ISP), aims to improve client outcomes through financial counsellors and social security lawyers working together more effectively.

SSRV Annual General Meeting

On the 23rd of November 2022, Social Security Rights Victoria (SSRV) held our Annual General Meeting at our office in Fitzroy Town Hall. During the evening, the organisation reported and reflected on the work performed during the 2021-2022 financial year. We’d like to share some of the highlights from the last year with you.

• With the easing of Covid-19 restrictions SSRV has transitioned to a hybrid model of work with most staff spending some time in the office and some working from home.
• We continued to deliver services at a high standard and successfully delivered 660 legal advice appointments, 258 limited legal assistance services and 78 representation services (matters where our lawyers appeared before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal) to the Victorian community.
• Our Worker Help Line and Legal Assistance Line continue to operate five days a week thanks to contributions by our special projects, including the Integrated Services Project, Disaster Recovery Project, Family Violence Project, DSP Help Project, and the Worker Help Line Project itself.

If you’d like to reach more about our achievements over the last year, you can access our annual report by clicking here.

DSP Help Project Funding

As many of you will be aware, the DSP Help Project (Dermott’s baby) wound up in March this year. The project used human-centered design and technology to assist people to make better DSP applications and appeals. We finished that project with a website covering DSP eligibility generally, and including tools and resources to make gathering and compiling medical evidence easier for applicants, and easier for doctors. The website remains active to date and you can access it here: dsphelp.org.au.

We’re excited to announce that we have received more funding to continue DSP Help in 2023 and beyond. In addition to updating our DSP related resources, we’ll be taking everything we’ve learned from this project and applying it to a new issue: Centrelink debts. The vision is to have a similar resource available which will make it easier for clients to prepare a review request, and easier for support workers to help. We’re keen to have financial counsellor input into this, so expect a call out in the new year.