Dad and Partner Pay (DAP) 007-05000000

DAP was paid under the Paid Parental Leave scheme. It was provided to the dad or partner caring for a child born or adopted on or after 1 January 2013 and before 1 July 2023.

The dad or partner was required to lodge a claim and be assessed as meeting the eligibility criteria.

The payment was taxable and paid as a lump sum at the national minimum wage for a maximum of 2 weeks. DAP payments were delivered by Services Australia.

The payment may be reassessed when there is a change of circumstances such as change of care or changes to their income, work or paid leave. DAP may also be affected when a customer travels overseas.

For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023, DAP ends. The 2 weeks (10 payable days) is rolled into PPL. See Eligibility for Paid Parental Leave (PPL) for children born or entering care on or after 1 July 2023.

Customers who received a COVID-19 Disaster Payment (paid by Services Australia on or after 3 June 2021) during their 10 month qualifying period and lodged their DAP claim on or after 4 September 2021, can include their COVID-19 Disaster Payments as qualifying work.

Customers who performed at least 1 hour of paid work or paid leave (including weekends) and received COVID-19 Disaster Payment can count whichever is greater:

• 7.6 hours for each weekday in the period (not including weekends)
• The number of hours actually worked each day (including weekends)
• The number of hours of paid leave each day

Special circumstances

For DAP claims made on or after 4 September 2021, customers who do not meet the work test may qualify for an exception if:

• they experienced special circumstances within their work test period, and
• this affected their ability to perform paid work

An exception to the work test may be applied if:

• special circumstances existed, and
• the customer would have met the work test if the special circumstances did not exist

The special circumstance exception reasons include:

• severe medical condition or caring for a close family member who is affected by a severe medical condition
• natural disaster declared by the Commonwealth, a State or Territory
• family and domestic violence

The customer must provide evidence to support their claim for special circumstances. This includes both:

• evidence of the special circumstance (see additional information below if family and domestic violence), and
• evidence of employment (employee or self employed)

Severe medical condition

To meet this exception either the customer was:

• affected by a severe medical condition that prevented them from performing paid work, or
• caring for a close family member who was affected by a severe medical condition and providing this care prevented them from performing paid work

Severe medical condition includes severe illness and severe injury

Note: this exception, a close family member is defined as;

• the customer’s partner, or
• the customer’s child (natural/adoptive or step-child), or,
• the customer’s parent (natural/adoptive or step-parent), or
• the customer’s sibling or step-sibling, or
• the parent (natural/adoptive or step -parent) of the customer’s partner, or
• a person the customer has legal custody or guardianship of, (for example a foster child)

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 'family member' includes cultural kinship relationships.

Customers are required to provide:

• evidence of the severe medical condition they or their family member were affected by, and
• evidence that they would have otherwise met the work test had it not been for the severe medical condition

Natural disaster

To meet this exception the customer must have been severely affected by a natural disaster during their work test period and this prevented them from performing paid work. The natural disaster must have been declared by either the:

• Commonwealth or a State or Territory, or
• Commonwealth, State or Territory authority responsible for managing responses to natural disasters

Customers are required to provide:

• evidence that they were severely impacted by the natural disaster, and
• evidence that they would have otherwise met the work test had it not been for the disaster

Family and domestic violence

To meet this exception the customer:

• must have experienced, or was dealing with the impact of family and domestic violence during their work test period, and
• this prevented the customer from performing paid work

Family and domestic violence claims must be referred to a social worker who will assess whether family and domestic violence affected the customer’s ability to work during their work test period. The social worker may contact the customer to discuss the circumstances over the phone. If there is enough evidence already on the customer’s record, the social worker can complete a file assessment.

The customer will be requested in the claim to provide evidence to confirm the family and domestic violence, but if it is not provided, the social worker will determine:

• if there is already enough evidence on the customer’s record, or
• if further evidence is required

Service Officers must not request evidence of the family and domestic violence. See Dad and Partner Pay (DAP) for children born or adopted between 1 January 2013 and 30 June 2023.

The customer will also be required to provide evidence from their employer confirming that the customer would have been employed during the work test period. The employer may not know why the customer was unable to work and the customer is not expected to divulge this information to their employer. See Paid Parental Leave Work Test.