National Redress Scheme – Update

This newsletter provides an update on the National Redress Scheme (the Scheme). It includes details on the Scheme’s application processing and participating institutions.

The update contains material that could be confronting or distressing. Sometimes words or images can cause sadness or distress or trigger traumatic memories, particularly for people who have experienced past abuse or childhood trauma.

Support is available to help you if you need it. To find out more, go to www.nationalredress.gov.au/support.

If you need immediate support, 24-hour telephone assistance is available through:

Application progress

As of 30 December 2022, the Scheme:

  • had received 21,674 applications.
  • made 11,915 decisions (through the Scheme’s Independent Decision Makers (IDMs))—including 10,453 payments, totalling approximately $919.4 million, with an average of $87,960.
  • made 1,257 advance payments since their introduction in September 2021.
  • issued 11,631 outcomes, of which 11,306 applicants (representing 97% of all outcomes issued) are eligible for redress and 325 (representing 3% of all outcomes issued) are ineligible.
  • was progressing 10,096 applications.
  • had 2,227 applications that are on hold or paused, including 2,063 where further information is required at the request of the applicant or nominee, or where there are difficulties in contacting the applicant, and 164 due to an institution not yet participating in the Scheme.
  • had finalised 10,893 applications.
  • had 45 IDMs actively making decisions.

Participating institutions update

The government encourages all institutions who have a history of interacting with children to sign up to the Scheme as soon as possible.

As at Declaration 7, signed by the Minister on 21 December 2022:

  • all Commonwealth and State and Territory government institutions and 629 non‑government institutions are now participating in the Scheme.
  • approximately 71,000 sites across Australia are now covered by the Scheme.
  • 96 unique institutions have been declared under the Funder of Last Resort (FOLR) arrangements.
    • These institutions are defunct and the Commonwealth and/or relevant state governments are the FOLR.
    • A number of institutions were recently added to the Scheme legislation.
    • This declaration is available via the Federal Register of Legislation:https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/F2019N00080.

For the latest information about institutions, visit our website: https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/institutions.

Find out more

For further information about the Scheme, go to www.nationalredress.gov.au or call 1800 737 377 from Australia or +61 2 6222 3455 from overseas.

For regular updates about the Department of Social Services and the Scheme, you can ‘like’ or ‘follow’ the Australian Families Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FamiliesInAustralia/.