This newsletter covers an update on the National Redress Scheme (the Scheme). It provides details on the Scheme’s general community survey, 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/help-support/get-free-help-apply/redress-support-services.

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

We want to hear from you

The National Redress Scheme (the Scheme) wants to hear from the general community and from people who might find the Scheme personally relevant through an online survey(Opens in a new tab/window).

Taking part in the survey will help us to learn more about community awareness and understanding of the Scheme and help to improve how we talk about and share information about the Scheme. The survey does not ask anyone to disclose any personal experiences and will take about 15 minutes to complete.

Taking part is your choice and you can change your mind at any time.

Recent progress and recent institutions to join:

Application progress

As of 25 February 2022, the Scheme:

  • Had received over 13,948 applications.
  • Made 8,839 decisions — including 7,611 payments, totalling over $656.6 million (m), with an average of $86,270.
  • Has made 8,435 offers for redress. Applicants have six months to consider their offer of redress.
  • 5,553 applications are currently being progressed, with 111 applications on hold because one or more institutions named in the application had not yet joined the scheme.
  • The total number of applications finalised and redress payments in Year 1 are 239 ($19.8M), 2,537 ($205.0M) in Year 2, 3,283 ($285.0M) in Year 3 of the Scheme and 1,890 ($146.8M) in Year 4 of the Scheme.
  • 40 IDMs are currently actively making decisions.

Participating institutions update

All institutions where child sexual abuse has occurred are encouraged to sign up to the National Redress Scheme as soon as possible.

As at Declaration 1, signed by the Minister on 10 February 2022:

  • All Commonwealth and State and Territory government institutions and 572 non-government institutions are now participating in the Scheme. 
  • Approximately 70,000 sites across Australia are now covered by the Scheme. 
  • To date, 63 institutions have been declared under the Funder of Last Resort (FOLR) arrangements. 
    • These institutions are defunct, a government is equally responsible for the abuse 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 on via the Federal Register of Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2022C00171(Opens in a new tab/window)

For the latest information about institutions, visit our website:
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 Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm AET 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: facebook.com/FamiliesInAustralia(Opens in a new tab/window).

The Australian Government acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, water, culture and community. We pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

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