Economic Support Payment 101-20031226

A person was entitled to the first $750 Economic Support Payment if, for any date between 12 March 2020 and 13 April 2020, they were:

• normally residing in Australia, and
• received one of the following payments or held one of the following concession cards:
• ABSTUDY (Living Allowance)
• Age Pension
• Austudy
• Bereavement Allowance (BVA)
• Carer Payment (CP)
• Carer Allowance (CA)
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Family Tax Benefit A or Family Tax Benefit B (FTBA or FTBB) received fortnightly or as a lump sum
• Double Orphan Pension (DOP)
• Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
• Newstart Allowance (NSA)
• Parenting Payment (PP)
• Partner Allowance (PA)
• Sickness Allowance (SA)
• Special Benefit (SpB)
• Widow Allowance (WA)
• Wife Pension (Age and DSP)
• Widow B Pension
• Youth Allowance (YA) (students, apprentices and job seekers)
• Commonwealth Seniors Card Holders (CSHC)
• Pension Concession Card (PCC)
• Veterans' Service Pension; Veterans' Income Support Supplement; Veterans' Compensation payments; and War Widow(er) Pension
• Commonwealth Gold Card

Customers who only received one of the following payments or concession cards:

• Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC)
• Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
• Crisis Payment (CrP)
• Essential Medical Equipment Payment (EMEP)
• Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Card
• Foster Child Health Care Card
• Health Care Card only Carer Allowance
• Jobs, Education and Training Childcare Assistance
• Low Income Health Care Card (LIC)
• Dad and Partner Pay (DAP)
• Paid Parental Leave (PLP)
• Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP)
• Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA)
• Single Income Family Supplement (SIFS)

A person was entitled to the second Economic Support Payment of $750 and the third and fourth Economic Support Payments of $250 each, if on the respective test date they were:

• normally residing in Australia, and
• received an eligible payment or concession card
• Age Pension
• Bereavement Allowance (BVA)
• Carer Payment (CP)
• Carer Allowance (CA)
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Family Tax Benefit A or Family Tax Benefit B (FTBA or FTBB ) received fortnightly or as a lump sum
• Double Orphan Pension (DOP)
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)
• Pension Concession Card (PCC)
• Veterans Service Pension; Veteran's Income Support Supplement; Veteran's Compensation payments; and War Widow(er) Pension
• Commonwealth Gold Card
• not paid the Coronavirus Supplement due to receiving a payment that attracted the Coronavirus Supplement as they were paid at a nil rate (CZR))

The test dates were:

• 10 July 2020 for the second Economic Support Payment
• 27 November 2020 for the third Economic Support Payment
• 26 February 2021 for the fourth Economic Support Payment

• Customers who only received one of the following payments or concession cards:
• Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC)
• Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
• Crisis Payment (CrP)
• Essential Medical Equipment Payment (EMEP)
• Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Card
• Foster Child Health Care Card
• Health Care Card only Carer Allowance
• Jobs, Education and Training Childcare Assistance
• Low Income Health Care Card (LIC)
• Dad and Partner Pay (DAP)
• Paid Parental Leave (PLP)
• Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP)
• Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA)
• Single Income Family Supplement (SIFS)
• Customers who received the Coronavirus Supplement for one of the following payments on the designated test date:
• JobSeeker Payment (JSP), including those that transitioned from Sickness Allowance (SA) and Wife Pension (WP)
• Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker)
• Youth Allowance (YA) (student)
• Youth Allowance (YA) (apprentice)
• ABSTUDY with Living Allowance
• Austudy
• Parenting Payment (Single and Partnered)
• Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
• Special Benefit (SpB)
• Sickness Allowance (SA)
• Partner Allowance (PA)
• Widow Allowance (WA)

The test dates were:

• 10 July 2020 for the second Economic Support Payment
• 27 November 2020 for the third Economic Support Payment
• 26 February 2021 for the fourth Economic Support Payment

Note: ABSTUDY incidentals alone do not attract the Coronavirus Supplement and therefore do not preclude payment of the second Economic Support Payment.

The Resources page has example scenarios for customers who were eligible or ineligible to receive the second Economic Support Payment.

Payments were made automatically.

• The first Economic Support Payment was delivered to customers from 31 March 2020. Customers did not need to lodge a claim
• The second Economic Support Payment was delivered to customers from 13 July 2020. Customers did not need to lodge a claim
• The third Economic Support Payment was delivered to customers from 30 November 2020. Customers did not need to lodge a claim
• The fourth Economic Support Payment was delivered to customers from 1 March 2021. Customers did not need to lodge a claim
• Delivered on a date after their normal pay date where the customer was receiving an income support payment
• Paid by Services Australia and the Department of Veteran's Affairs to the person's nominated bank account

Customers who were in an institution and were a group payment schedule had the Economic Support Payment held over and paid on their normal payday.

Customers who held a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card may not have their bank account information recorded. These customers now have access to add or update their bank account information through their Centrelink Online Account or Express Plus mobile app. The opportunity should be taken to obtain their bank account details if these customers contact the agency. When customer bank details are added or updated for a CSHC holder, the system will automatically check their Economic Support Payment eligibility and issue payment where required. Payments issued will not be available to view immediately, but will be visible on the customer's record the following day.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs paid customers for their eligible payments and concession cards:

• Veteran Service Pension
• Veteran Income Support Supplement
• Veteran Compensation payments
• War Widow(er) Pension
• Commonwealth Gold Card

The Economic Support Payment will shows on the following screens:

• Payment Summary (PS)
• Payment Detail (PD)
• One Off Payments (OOP)
• Economic Support Payment (OTPMM)

Note: if the customer was not claiming or receiving an eligible payment or concession card on the eligibility test date/s, the system will not have run a check on the customer's Economic Support Payment eligibility. In these cases, the OTPMM screen will not display an option to check Economic Support Payment.

To determine if the customer was receiving an eligible income support payment or concession card on the required dates, check the following screens:

• The Payment and Services section on the Customer Information tab (accessed via the CRN/BP link in Customer First). It will show recent:
• income support payment information in the Payments section and
• Healthcare cards held by the customer in the Services section
• The Payment Summary (PS) screen can be used to search payments received by the customer for a selected period of time in the past. Set the Display payments option to 'ALL' to ensure all payment types display
• Select the appropriate payment and the Payment Details (PD) screen will display
• Press 'Continue' to view the Payment Details Component (PDC)
• The PDC screen can be used to check the different components the customer has received over a selected period of time
• The Concession Entitlement Summary (MCCS) screen shows concession card information for the customer. If there is no end date displayed, the customer currently holds the concession card
• For Farm Household Allowance recipients, the Economic Support Payment is paid through the SAP system. The payment will show on the Payment List screen (accessed via the Workspace link in Customer First)

To be eligible to have received the Economic Support Payment the customer must have been be living in Australia during the eligibility period or overseas for an approved portability reason. The Travel Outside Australia Summary (TOAS) screen will show the customer's overseas travel and portability information.

The Resources page has a Checking for Economic Support Payment qualification task card with more specific details and examples on determining a customer's entitlement to the Economic Support Payment.

If the customer was entitled to payment but has not yet received the payment, see Item 9.

See Tier 0 technical support - self-sufficiency if technical support is needed.

The Economic Support Payment will appeared in the customer's Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink app up to 48 hours before it was paid. Pension customers received their payment the standard two days after payment was issued.

Instalment customers

FTB customers:

• who were current with a zero rate payment choice will received the payment
• who were receiving a zero rate due to Mandatory Continuous Adjustment (MCA) will received the payment
• with regular care children (RCC) and who received Rent Assistance only will received the payment

Blended family customers each received the payment.

Lump sum customers

Customers who claimed Family Tax Benefit (FTB) as a lump sum after the end of the financial year:

• were eligible for the first Economic Support Payment if they were eligible for FTB in the 2019-20 financial year for any day between 12 March 2020 and 13 April 2020
• were eligible for the second, third and fourth Economic Support Payments if they were eligible for FTB in the 2020-21 financial year for the respective test date

Customers received this payment sum when they received their lump sum payment of FTB.

Note: some customers may be approved an extension to lodge their lump sum claim for financial year ending 2021. Therefore ESP may be payable until 30 June 2023.

The One Time Payment Main Menu (OTPMM) screen will show the details of the customer's payment and the reason if the customer has not received the Economic Support Payment. For example, if the payment was delivered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

Note: if the customer was not claiming or receiving an eligible payment or concession card on the eligibility test date/s, the system will not have run a check on the customer's Economic Support Payment eligibility. In these cases, the OTPMM screen will not display an option to check Economic Support Payment.

The One Off Payments (OOP) screen will show the details of an Economic Support Payment made to a customer including the service reason, date and amount.

The Concession Entitlement Summary (MCCS) screen will show the details of the customer's concession entitlement. A customer may have received the Economic Support Payment if they had a current Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) and were not receiving a primary benefit or allowance.

Service Officers will need to refer the case to Local Peer Support (LPS) if a customer was entitled to this payment and the payment is not showing on:

• the Payment Summary (PS) screen or
• the OTPMM screen
• the OOP screen

Before referring to LPS, check that the customer has bank details recorded on the Payment Destination (PA) screen.

For technical support, see Tier 0 technical support - self-sufficiency.

If LPS determine that the customer was entitled to the Economic Support Payment and is not in financial hardship, they are to raise the issue to the ICT Level 2 helpdesk for payment. This is to be done via mySupport as per the existing LPS escalation procedures.

If a customer had a pending (NCL) activity for a benefit type that attracted the Coronavirus Supplement on an Economic Support Payment test date, the system did not run an assessment for the Economic Support Payment until a later date. This is because customers who received the Coronavirus Supplement at a rate of more than $0 were not eligible to receive the second, third or fourth Economic Support Payments and the customer had a pending NCL activity.

However, if that pending new claim was later rejected and the customer was receiving an eligible benefit or concession card on the test date, they became eligible to receive the Economic Support Payment. A 12 week automatic review of the system was undertaken following the scheduled Economic Support Payments test dates to pick up any remaining cases where eligible customers did not receive the payment and automatically issue the payment.

If the customer is in financial hardship and requests that their payment be issued before the automatic review of the system, please refer the case to Local Peer Support (LPS) via the Technical Support Model.

Before referring to LPS check to ensure that the customer has bank details recorded on the Payment Destination (PA) screen.

The Economic Support Payment was income managed, consistent with other lump sum payments.

The Economic Support Payment is not a recoverable debt unless it has been determined that the payment was obtained fraudulently (for example, the customer knowingly made a false or misleading statement or knowingly provided false or misleading information in order to receive payment).

If a staff member believes they have identified fraudulent behaviour they should record a tip off via the Report Suspected Fraud and Corruption System. See Resources for link.

See Report Suspected Fraud and Corruption.

Note: Duplicate or excess payments made to a customer due to a reassessment of eligibility (e.g. not residing in Australia/suspension period including 31.03.2020) will not have these payments raised as an overpayment for debt recovery.