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Death of a carer (CLK) 009-03080000



This document outlines what happens when the death of a carer is reported to Services Australia. This includes making decisions about qualifications for bereavement payment.

Qualification and payability

The agency needs to check whether the carer was receiving Carer Payment (CP) and/or Carer Allowance (CA) when they died. Entitlement to bereavement payment can then be determined. The amount of bereavement payment that may be payable depends on the carer's circumstances.

If the carer was a member of a couple and receiving an income support payment, such as CP, the surviving partner may be eligible for a lump sum bereavement payment (LBP) if they are a pensioner for LBP purposes or a long term social security recipient.

CA is payable up to the day prior to the carer's death and is cancelled from the date of death.

If the carer was not partnered or was partnered to a person not receiving an income support payment, CP is paid for the entitlement period in which they died. If the carer was partnered to a pensioner or long term social security recipient, CP is payable for the bereavement rate continuation period. The amount of CP paid after death will reduce any LBP payable to the surviving partner.

Carer has passed away before new claim is finalised

If the death action has already been recorded on the deceased carer's record, it may need to be undone to process the claim. See Undoing a death action.

Note: the death action must be completed on the same day as the claim is finalised. This will ensure the system generated letters, which are not appropriate to send to a deceased estate, are not issued. Send a Q999 letter to the executor of the estate to advise them of the outcome of the claim.

Deceased customer on reporting at time of death

If employment income for the last period:

  • are known, these must be recorded before stimulating the payment
  • are not known, the payment must still be stimulated

After the payment is stimulated, the customer should be taken off reporting before recording the death action.

The Resources page contains links to forms and publications, example text for Q999 letters and a link to the Services Australia website for information on what to do when someone has passed away.

Social Work Services

Centrelink - Notification, confirming and recording a death

Death of an income support customer or their partner

Cancellation and suspension of Carer Payment and/or Carer Allowance

Death of a Parenting Payment customer, their partner or their child

Assessing entitlement to a Lump Sum Bereavement Payment

Processing a claim after the death of a customer

Replacing payment made to a deceased customer where payment was returned from financial institution

Transfer from Wife Pension (WP) to Carer Payment (CP)