Centrelink has brought forward its annual Christmas shutdown of posting debt and review notices, as the Department of Human Services manages ongoing fallout from the "robo-debt" saga.

Departmental staff usually stop sending new review and debt letters to welfare recipients in the days before Christmas, but amid ongoing criticism of the government's efforts to match tax and employment data to Centrelink records, new correspondence was stopped in late November.

The government has stopped sending review and debt letters early. Credit:Erin Jonasson

One insider said departmental staff continued to investigate existing cases but had been told not to issue new debt notices until early 2018.

As part of efforts to recovery over payments of Centrelink benefits, the department matches tax records and pay reports to the welfare agency before income is averaged over 26 fortnightly reporting periods.