Income and assets tests for blind customers 108-03010080
Expand allDetermining the rate of payment for blind customer's claiming RA
Two rate calculations are required to determine the rate of payment for an Age Pension (Blind) or a Disability Support Pension (DSP) (Blind) customer wishing to claim Rent Assistance (RA) with their pension. The customer may be eligible for the transitional rules for pension customers if they were current on a relevant pension at 19 September 2009 and have been on the transitional rules rate since this date. If they are eligible, a rate calculation under the transitional rules must be done. The customer's income and assets must be taken into consideration when they claim RA. A rate calculation taking into consideration the customer's income and assets is made and compared with a rate calculation using no Means Test, the higher of the two rates is payable.
These amounts may not be current. They are examples only. For current payments, see Rates and thresholds.
Table 1
|
Item |
Description |
|
1 |
Customer with income This example is for a single pensioner with:
Rate calculation one, using Means Test Maximum rate payable is $11,000 + $1,820 RA = $12,820 Determine the income excess:
Determine the total income reduction by calculating 50% of the income excess:
Subtract the income reduction amount from the maximum payment rate:
Rate calculation, transitional rules The customer may be eligible for the transitional rules for pension customers if they were current on a relevant pension at 19 September 2009 and have been on the transitional rules rate since this date. If unsure, see the Grandfathering Summary (GFS) screen. If they are eligible, a rate calculation must be done under the transitional rules. This amount is compared to the rate payable under the current Means Test, with the highest rate of the two applying. For more information on how the transitional rules apply and examples, see Transitional rules for pension customers who were on payment at 19 September 2009. For this example, the rate calculated under the transitional rules for this customer is $7,200. Rate calculation two, non-means tested The maximum rate of payment customer is entitled to for a non-means tested pension (excluding RA) is $11,000 per annum. Rate comparison The customer is entitled to the higher rate of the Rate one or rate two. The higher rate is rate two of $11,000. As rate calculation two ($11,000) is higher than rate calculation one ($6,820) and transitional rules ($7,200), a payment of $11,000 per annum is the customer's entitlement. |
|
2 |
Customer with no income and assets under the threshold This example is for a single customer with no income and assets under the threshold. The same rates will be used as in example one. Rate calculation one, using Means Test As customer income is nil and the assets are below the threshold, the pension entitlement would be the full rate plus RA entitlement. $11,000 + $1,820 = $ 12,820 per annum. Rate calculation two, non-means tested The maximum rate of payment customer is entitled to for a non-means tested pension is $11,000 per annum. Rate comparison The customer is entitled to the higher rate of the two calculations. As rate calculation one ($12,800) is higher than rate calculation two ($11,000), a payment of $12,800 per annum is the customer's entitlement. Note: transitional rules would not apply for customers with no affecting income. |
Income stream reminder letters incorrectly sent to DSP (Blind) customers from 20 September 2023
Table 2