Qualification and assessment of Pension Bonus Bereavement Payment 065-07030050

The Pension Bonus Scheme is closed to new registrations from 1 July 2014. Applications to register in the PBS that were lodged, or deemed to be lodged, before 1 July 2014 can be processed as usual.

As part of the Government's Secure and Sustainable Pension Reforms, the PBS was closed to new entrants who do not qualify for Age Pension before 20 September 2009. All existing members may remain in the scheme and claim their pensions in due course, in line with existing arrangements. The closure of the scheme does not prevent the surviving partner of a PBS member from claiming a PBBP.

PBBP can be granted to the claimant only if all of the following are met:

• the claimant is eligible for the PBBP
• the deceased person for whom the PBBP is claimed was qualified for PBP, and
• the PBBP is lodged within the allowable period of 26 weeks or longer if discretion is applied

Claims for PBBP are processed by a centralised processing team.

Where PBBP is granted the PBBP amount payable will depend on all of the following:

• the notional Age Pension rate of the deceased person, affected by the combined assessable income and assets owned by the couple immediately prior to the death of the deceased person, excluding PBBP employment income and regular or lump sum compensation payments (of either the deceased or surviving partner)
• the overall qualifying bonus period of the deceased, and
• whether the marital status of the deceased had changed during the deferred period

The processing of the death action will trigger an invitation to the surviving partner to claim PBBP if they meet the requirements listed below. There will be cases where Services Australia is not aware the person is a member of a couple, therefore an invitation letter will not always be sent. If the surviving partner has a correspondence nominee the letter will be issued to the nominee.

An invitation letter will be sent when the deceased person:

• died on or after 1 January 2008
• was a member of a couple at the time of death
• was registered with the PBS and had not claimed a Pension Bonus prior to death
• since reaching Age Pension age, was not paid an income support payment, except for Carer Payment

The following additional documents must be provided when a claim for PBBP is lodged. The customer will need to provide all of the following:

• verification of partner's date of death and date of birth
• their partner's Evidentiary Certificates or work records, and
• if the customer does not have evidentiary certificates or for any periods the Evidentiary Certificates do not cover, a record of all work performed to show they had met the work test

The PBBP is based on the amount of Pension Bonus that would have been payable had the deceased partner claimed Age Pension and the Bonus immediately prior to their death. PBBP employment income and regular or lump sum compensation payments (of either the deceased or surviving partner) are not included when calculating the PBBP.