Household Stimulus Package 101-03060000

The majority of the HSP payments were paid automatically in 2009 to eligible Family Tax Benefit and income support payment recipients. Payments have been made after the 2009 period to some recipients who have had an assessment reassessment completed for the financial year 2008-09 (for example, a FTB lump sum claim completed). The automatic payments of HSP ceased from 3 September 2016.

HSP assessments may be triggered by the FTB reconciliation process or completion of a FTB lump sum claim that has been pending income. In this instance a manual follow up (MFU) will be created for specialist staff to check entitlement to the payment.

Recipients may still be eligible for HSP payments in strictly limited and rare circumstances. In these cases, a manual payment may be made by specialist staff only.

The circumstances a recipient could be entitled are:

• they lodged a claim in the required two year period for the 2008-09 financial year,
• have not received the HSP payment previously (that is, for that particular child/ren), and
• they were otherwise entitled to a FTB payment at the relevant dates in 2009.

HSP assessments are processed by the Families Ongoing Entitlement Team and enquiries can be emailed to the team. Service Officers are not permitted to take payment action themselves. The Resources page contains a link to contact details for Families Ongoing Entitlement team.

A payment of $950 paid for each eligible child:

• to recipients eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A with an eligible FTB child between the ages of four and 18 (inclusive) on 3 February 2009, or
• under the Household Stimulus Package Administrative Scheme when a recipient was entitled to FTB Part A for an FTB child aged between 4 and 15 years of age, and that child entered their ongoing care during the period 4 February 2009 - 31 March 2009, and one of the following applied:
• the recipient was entitled to FTB Part A for the child at some time during the period 1 November 2008 - 2 February 2009, and there were special circumstances relating to why the recipient was not entitled to FTB Part A for the child for 3 February 2009 (for example, due to a temporary loss of care of the child), or
• the recipient was entrusted with the ongoing care of a child under a formal foster care arrangement, or
• a non-parent carer recipient (such as a grandparent) was entrusted with the ongoing care of a child due to an inability or failure of the child's parents to provide care for the child
• recipients under 19 years of age and receiving Carer Payment (CP) or Disability Support Pension (DSP) on 3 February 2009

A payment of $900 per family paid to:

• recipient eligible for FTB Part B on 3 February 2009, or
• under the Household Stimulus Package Administrative Scheme when a recipient was entitled to FTB Part B for an FTB child aged under 16 years of age, and that child entered their ongoing care during the period 4 February 2009 - 31 March 2009, and one of the following applied:
• the recipient was entitled to FTB Part B for the child at some time during the period 1 November 2008 - 2 February 2009, and there were special circumstances relating to why the recipient was not entitled to FTB Part B for the child for 3 February 2009 (for example due to a temporary loss of care of the child), or
• the recipient was entrusted with the ongoing care of a child under a formal foster care arrangement, or
• a non-parent carer recipient (such as a grandparent) was entrusted with the ongoing care of a child due to an inability or failure of the child's parents to provide care for the child

A payment of $950 paid for each eligible child to:

• recipient eligible for FTB Part A with a full-time student between the ages of 19 and 24 (inclusive) on 3 February 2009

Note: For FTB recipients who had a shared care or blended care arrangement, this amount was apportioned based on the FTB shared care and/or blended family percentage.

A payment of $950 paid for each eligible student qualifying under one of the following categories:

Administrative Scheme

If the recipient received one or more of the following payments in Semester 1 2009 and had not already received a HSP:

• Youth Allowance (YA) (students and Australian Apprentices only)
• Austudy
• ABSTUDY Living Allowance who were over 16 or if independent (any age), including ABSTUDY boarders where term payments are made and Residential Cost Option students
• Veterans Children's Education Scheme (VCES)
• Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme (MRCAETS)

Student payments

If the recipient was receiving one or more of the following payments in respect of 3 February 2009:

• Youth Allowance (YA) (students and Australian Apprentices only)
• Austudy
• ABSTUDY Living Allowance who are over 16 or if independent (any age), including ABSTUDY boarders where term payments are made and Residential Cost Option students
• Veterans Children's Education Scheme (VCES)
• Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme (MRCAETS)
• Sickness Allowance
• Special Benefit (under Age Pension age as at 14 October 2008 and did not receive an Economic Security Strategy (ESS) payment).

Education Entry Payment (EdEP) Temporary Supplement

Recipients who qualified for an EdEP on or after 1 January 2009 and were in receipt of one of the following payments:

• YA
• Newstart Allowance (NSA)
• Sickness Allowance (SA)
• Parenting Payment (PP) partnered
• Widow Allowance (WA)
• Partner Allowance (PA)
• Department of Education, Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)

Note: the Training and Learning Bonus - (EdEP) Temporary Supplement ceased from 30 June 2010. Only recipients who commence a course on or before 30 June 2010 were eligible to be paid the EdEP Temporary Supplement.

A one-off payment of $950 payable to:

• students who were undertaking full-time study in a higher education degree by research program (masters or doctorate degree) in Semester 1 2009 and receiving for Semester 1 2009:
• an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), or
• an Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) (APA(I)), or
• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) PhD Scholarship, or
• any other scholarship with a value of at least $20,427 in the 2009 calendar year, and
• living in Australia at the date of claim, and
• a citizen or permanent resident of Australia

A payment of $950 to all eligible Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment (ECRP) or Farm Help Income Support (FHIS) recipients as of 3 February 2009.

A zero rate of entitlement for the payment period including 3 February 2009 resulted in non-eligibility.

Payment of the HSP bonus payments commenced 11 March 2009. Generally HSP payments coincided with a recipient's usual payment payday. Some recipient were eligible to receive more than one type of bonus payment. The Resources page contains information about the HSP payment delivery dates.

For recipients who claimed their FTB annually as a lump sum payment, entitlement to the HSP payment was assessed when their 2008-09 actual income was received from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and their lump sum FTB payments were made, if tax returns were lodged by 30 June 2011.