Voluntary participation for the principal carer of a dependent child 102-17010010

Some customers who are the principal carer of a dependent child will have part-time mutual obligation requirements once their youngest child reaches a certain age. This age depends on the type of payment received by the customer:

• Parenting Payment Single (PPS) principal carers whose youngest child is aged 6 and younger than 14
• JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA) job seeker principal carers have part time mutual obligation requirements from the start date of their payment, and their youngest child must be under the age of 16
• Special Benefit (SpB) under JSP conditions principal carers whose youngest child is aged 6 or older

Note: for PP and SpB customers, the customer can participate voluntarily if they wish while their youngest child is below this age.

Partnered customers whose youngest child is aged 6 or more and single customers whose youngest child is aged 14 or more are no longer eligible to receive PP and must claim either JSP or YA (job seeker) as a principal carer of a dependent child.

Customers who do not have mutual obligation requirements may choose to volunteer to participate in employment services.

For some activities, the customer may also be eligible for Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) (Transition to Work).

See Eligibility to access employment assistance through Workforce Australia for information on referrals to Workforce Australia.

Eligible PP, Carer Payment (CP) and SpB customers can volunteer for Parent Pathways. This service offers flexible and individualised support to parents and carers with children under the age of 6 to plan for or pursue their study, training and work goals.