People are being told they will have their benefits cut if they don’t attend job agency appointments, as government resists calls to pause ‘mutual obligation’

A woman with chronic illnesses and an immunocompromised partner and the single mother of a toddler are among those being told they’ll have their benefits cut if they don’t attend face-to-face job agency appointments, despite an unprecedented surge of Covid cases.

Welfare mutual obligationsParticipation requirements welfare recipients must fulfil each month to continue..., which have been suspended in Covid-affected areas for much of the pandemic, were reintroduced nationally in late October. Last week the government rebuffed calls to pause them, despite soaring infection numbers.

Guardian Australia has confirmed that while some job agencies are allowing people subject to mutual obligations to meet their requirements from home – by conducting meetings by phone or online, for example – others are insisting participants attend in person.