{"id":82294,"date":"2026-05-06T04:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=82294"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:14:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T03:14:44","slug":"mental-health-issues-straining-income-support-systems-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/05\/06\/mental-health-issues-straining-income-support-systems-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Issues Straining Income Support Systems \u2013 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The consequences of the surge in mental ill-health conditions are driving Australia\u2019s income support ecosystems to breaking point according to the authors of a new report.<\/p>\n<p>New research commissioned by the CALI and prepared by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.superfriend.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Super Friend<\/a> shows 8.5 million Australians accessed some form of income support in the past year, at a cost of $78.9bn.<\/p>\n<p>The ecosystem spans:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_82297\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-82297\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/05\/CALI_Cross_Sector_Project_Report_DIGITAL_PAGES.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-82297\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/05\/crosssectorupdatecali.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/05\/crosssectorupdatecali.jpg 250w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/05\/crosssectorupdatecali-214x300.jpg 214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-82297\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click the image for the full report.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Employer-funded sick leave<\/li>\n<li>Workers\u2019 compensation<\/li>\n<li>Social security payments<\/li>\n<li>Life insurance<\/li>\n<li>Motor vehicle compensation schemes<\/li>\n<li>Veteran compensation and pensions<\/li>\n<li>Early access to superannuation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The report \u2013 <em>Cross Sector Update &#8211; Mapping Australia\u2019s Ecosystem of Income Supports<\/em> \u2013 finds around two million more Australians are receiving income support payments compared with a decade ago, with mental health conditions a key driver of claims growth across government, employers, and insurers.<\/p>\n<p>CALI\u2019s CEO <strong>Christine Cupitt<\/strong> said the trend was testing the system\u2019s capacity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis report shines a light on a major productivity challenge facing our nation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore and more Australians are taking time off work and getting financial support because they\u2019re injured or sick, with mental health conditions often the main reason.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_69010\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-69010\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-69010\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/Christine-Cupitt-headshot-1-scaled-e1701894110135.jpg\" alt=\"Christine Cupitt.\" width=\"150\" height=\"177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/Christine-Cupitt-headshot-1-scaled-e1701894110135.jpg 925w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/Christine-Cupitt-headshot-1-scaled-e1701894110135-254x300.jpg 254w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/Christine-Cupitt-headshot-1-scaled-e1701894110135-867x1024.jpg 867w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/Christine-Cupitt-headshot-1-scaled-e1701894110135-768x907.jpg 768w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/Christine-Cupitt-headshot-1-scaled-e1701894110135-696x822.jpg 696w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/Christine-Cupitt-headshot-1-scaled-e1701894110135-356x420.jpg 356w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-69010\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Cupitt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe surge in mental health claims is testing the income safety net\u2019s ability to cope because it wasn\u2019t built with mental health in mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo single part of the safety net can tackle this challenge alone. We need a connected and coordinated approach, led by the Federal Government, to respond to the productivity challenge of mental ill-health in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cupitt said life insurance typically plays a role later in the process, when claims are more complex and longer in duration.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;the longer someone is out of work, the less likely they are to return to work&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mental ill-health accounts for around one in three total and permanent disability claims and one in five income protection claims, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023-24, life insurers paid $8.3bn in benefits to about 55,000 Australians unable to work, representing around 11% of total national income support.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr Ross Iles<\/strong>, Chief Research Officer at Super Friend, said the findings showed Australians did not have a single, clear income support pathway and that navigating support could be confusing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParticipating in work has clear health benefits, both on physical and psychological levels for individuals, and on multiple levels of society in general. However, the longer someone is out of work, the less likely they are to return to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/05\/CALI_Cross_Sector_Project_Report_DIGITAL_PAGES.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> for the full report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The consequences of the surge in mental ill-health conditions are driving Australia\u2019s income support ecosystems to breaking point according to the authors of a new report. New research commissioned by the CALI and prepared by Super Friend shows 8.5 million Australians accessed some form of income support in the past year, at a cost of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":82300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282,8281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-associations","category-health-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}