Vulnerable Canberrans may be missing out on ACT Government concessions, rebates and social support because schemes are advertised, assessed and administered inconsistently, a new Auditor-General’s report has found.

The audit examined 12 schemes designed to help people afford rates and levies, utilities, transport, healthcare, education and housing.

The report found the ACT Government does not have a single definition of who is living on a low income, experiencing financial hardship or otherwise needing support to pay for essential needs. Eligibility rules are set scheme by scheme, meaning similar forms of support can require different concession cards, income tests or documents.

The audit warned that inconsistency could make it harder for people to understand what help they qualify for. Eight of the 12 schemes use government-issued concession cards to determine eligibility, but not always the same cards. In one example, a sole parent with one dependent child earning $65,000 in 2024-25 would have been eligible for the Rent Relief Fund but not the Future of Education Equity Fund.

The Auditor-General also found no standard approach to promoting the schemes. Some are advertised through websites, social media, printed material and direct contact with potential recipients, while others are promoted only through ACT Government websites. Only one of the 12 schemes had key information available in Easy Read format, only two showed images of eligible concession cards, and only five relevant websites had built-in translation functions.

Application processes were also fragmented. The report found there was no central application point and no single mechanism for residents to register concession cards that could make them eligible for multiple schemes. Only rates and levy rebates and bus and light rail fare concessions can be linked to the ACT Digital Account, while only driver licence fee concessions can be accessed through Access Canberra Service Centres.

The audit examined schemes expected to provide about $69 million in support in 2025-26 and $261.3 million over the four financial years to 2025-26. Utilities account for the largest share, with $119.2 million targeted at helping people pay electricity, gas and water bills through the Electricity, Gas and Water Rebate and the Home Energy Support Program.

The report said the largest scheme reviewed was the Electricity, Gas and Water Rebate, planned to provide $114.8 million over four years. But the audit found that, despite providing $27.2 million in rebates in 2024-25, it was administered solely through a services agreement with energy retailers and had no communications plan, risk management plan or performance management plan. By contrast, the smaller Home Energy Support Program, which provided $1 million in rebates in 2024-25, had standard operating procedures, a communications plan, a risk register and a performance management plan.

The audit also raised concerns about limited public reporting. Most schemes had no formal performance measures, none had performance management plans, and eight of the 12 schemes had not been audited, reviewed or evaluated in the past five years. The report said this made it difficult to know whether the schemes were meeting people’s needs.

Two schemes received more detailed attention: the Future of Education Equity Fund and ambulance fee exemptions. The Education Directorate was found to have robust processes for promoting the equity fund, helping families apply and assessing eligibility, but the audit said risks around handling family and student data were not fully managed through a single, regularly reviewed risk document.

For ambulance fees, the audit found about 46 per cent of ACT Ambulance Service attendances were exempt from fees because of concession cards, financial hardship or exceptional circumstances. Shared Services Finance was praised for proactively identifying people who should not be invoiced and for managing ambulance-fee debt in a way that considered vulnerable people and those in hardship.

The Auditor-General made five recommendations. They include developing a consistent definition of low income and financial hardship, harmonising communication and application processes, linking or centralising applications where possible, reviewing whether schemes are efficient and meeting people’s needs, and improving privacy and risk management for the education fund and ambulance invoicing.

The report said the relevant ACT Government agencies were given drafts of the audit and that their comments were considered, but no agency comments were provided for inclusion in the report’s summary chapter.