The Australian Government has announced a resolution scheme to address millions of potentially miscalculated social security debts resulting from income apportionment. Income apportionment is an unlawful method used to calculate social security debts for payment recipients with employment income prior to December 2020. The unlawfulness of the practice became public in August 2023. 

This paper provides an overview of income apportionment and outlines the Government's response to the issue, including developing a lawful method, debt review and recovery pauses, and dealing with historical cases.

The Department of Social Services estimates that use of the unlawful method dates back more than 30 years and could affect 5.3 million debts held by 2.9 million people totalling $4.3 billion. Legislation will be introduced to establish the scheme allowing those with historical debts affected by income apportionment to apply for a resolution payment worth up to $600.