Overview
Welfare expenditure broadly comprises spending on welfare services and cash payments. Welfare-related aims are also supported by tax expenditures or foregone revenue such as tax exemptions, offsets and deductions that can be claimed for certain activities or by particular classes of taxpayer. Expenditure on both welfare services and cash payments has been based on who the payments or services are targeted at, using the ABS Government Purpose Classification (GPC) for financial transactions for welfare services. The four target groups are families and children, older people, people with disability, and others (such as Indigenous Australians, widows, refugees and migrants).
Cash payments (or benefits) include pensions, carer allowances and parenting payments which provide income support for older people, people with disability, people who provide care for others, families with children, and war veterans and their families. One-off payments such as those made as part of the Economic Security Strategy are also included.
Welfare services comprise services for which payments are made, for example child care services, or home and community care services for older people or people with disability. Spending on welfare services includes employee expenses, program costs, concessions and fees that clients paid. Assistance provided to meet child care costs, such as the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Tax Rebate is included in welfare services. Welfare spending, defined according to the four GPC welfare services categories, does not include all government spending on welfare services programs. For example, some programs relevant to people with disability are in GPC categories of education, health or housing.
Publications
The latest issue in the welfare expenditure series is Welfare expenditure Australia 2005–06. This publication provides estimates of welfare expenditure in Australia for the period 1998–99 to 2005–06.
In 2007, the WEA series was put on hold, due to budget constraints, however an update of welfare expenditure for the period 1998–99 to 2008–09 is provided in Australia’s welfare 2011, released in November 2011.
To access earlier reports, go to Expenditure publications.