Survey of New Disability Support Pension Customers
During February and March 2004, the Department of Family and Community Services commissioned a telephone survey of 1,001 new Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers. Participants in the survey had been receiving DSP for between three and seven months.The purpose of the survey was to provide an improved understanding of the circumstances and characteristics of new DSP customers. Responsibility for the dataset transferred to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations with the Disability Policy Section as part of the Machinery of Government changes at the end of 2004.
The survey sample was constructed to ensure good representation of customers across three key variables—age, gender and medical condition. As a result, the sample does not reflect the total new Disability Support Pension customer population. However, the advantage of the constructed sample is that data on specific groups within the sample can be analysed and reasonably robust conclusions drawn. In fact, a key message from the survey is the breadth and disparity of the new Disability Support Pension customer population and the risks of regarding claimants as a single, homogenous group.
This report, written by the Nucleus Group, contains preliminary analysis of the survey results.
You can view the Executive Summary or download the entire Preliminary Analysis Report (PDF 2.4MG).
For more information on the research or to obtain a copy of the report, please contact Katrina Burke on (02) 6121 3504.