The Australian Priority Investment Approach to Welfare (PIA) policy initiative was established as part of the 2015-16 Budget, following a comprehensive review of Australia’s welfare system. The initiative uses data analysis to identify groups at risk of long-term welfare dependence. These analyses provide insights into how the system is working and uses those insights to find innovative ways of helping more Australians live independently of welfare.

The PIA data includes administrative data collected for the purpose of recording eligibility for benefits, service delivery activities and payments. Data are collected from Department of Human Services (DHS) forms and online data systems. A subset of the PIA data has been converted into Synthetic data by a privacy preserving mathematical process. Synthetic data mimics characteristics of the administrative data at the aggregate or group level, but no longer contains data that is reflective of any particular individual.

The synthetic PIA dataset contains 56 separate point-in-time quarterly snapshots dated from July 2001 to June 2015 and relates to individuals who have made a claim for, are receiving or have received payments or services administered under social security law and family assistance law. This includes benefit types such as Aged Pension, Youth Allowance, Newstart and Disability Support Pension.