Government agency Centrelink has been accused of dodging complaints from welfare recipients. CENTRELINK has been accused of handpassing complaints from welfare recipients. The Commonwealth Ombudsman's office says it was inundated with complainants who thought they were phoning Centrelink after the services agency removed its hotline number on correspondence in early 2012 but continued issuing contact details for the ombudsman. As a result, the ombudsman's office had to introduce a recorded message in late 2012 to encourage people to phone Centrelink's hotline to resolve their issue in the first instance. Its annual report estimates it diverted 5000 calls. Centrelink agreed in June 2013 to restore its number but that may take up to 18 months. The ombudsman received a total of 5093 complaints about Centrelink in 2012-13, the highest number of any Australian government agency or program. The report also identified ongoing problems with Centrelink's administration of income management, which quarantines between 50-70 per cent of welfare payments to a basics card that can only be used at government-approved stores. Compulsory income management has been used in remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities since 2007. The report gave examples of complaints by seven indigenous people on income management who had their rent deducted from welfare payments despite the fact they were not liable to pay rent for their dwellings. Another Centrelink complaint handled by the ombudsman, involved a Victorian indigenous man erroneously placed on income management while visiting his daughter in the territory.