Cost of Living Payment 101-22033004

The Cost of Living Payment ceased from 30 July 2023 and is no longer payable.

The Cost of Living Payment gave financial support to Australian households to help with living costs.

The Cost of Living Payment was automatically paid to eligible payment recipients and concession card holders who:

• were residing in Australia and
• had a payment entitlement or held a card on 29 March 2022, referred to as the test day

The Cost of Living Payment was a one-off payment of $250 and was paid automatically into the customer's nominated bank account from late April 2022.

The one off amount was only payable once for each person, regardless of whether they qualified under more than one payment type (or concession card).

To be eligible customers must have received one of the following Centrelink payments or Concession Cards on the test day, 29 March 2022:

• ABSTUDY (Living Allowance)
• Age Pension
• Austudy
• Carer Payment (CP)
• Carer Allowance (CA) (paid if not receiving a primary income support payment)
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Double Orphan Pension (DOP)
• Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
• JobSeeker Payment (JSP)
• Parenting Payment (PP)
• Special Benefit (SpB)
• Youth Allowance (YA) (students, apprentices and job seekers)
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)
• Pension Concession Card (PCC) not receiving a payment
• An eligible Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) payment or a DVA Gold card

The customer must have resided in Australia on the test day, which was 29 March 2022.

Customers that made a claim for an eligible Income Support Payment on, before or after the test date and that claim was granted were eligible to receive the Cost Of Living Payment only if the Income Support Payment eligibility period covered the test date.

If customers were receiving an 'eligible payment or Concession card' from Services Australia or a DVA 'eligible payment or DVA Gold card', they were only eligible for one payment of the Cost of Living Payment.

Customers were paid and who subsequently become not eligible for payment on the test date did not have this one off payment recovered, unless it is determined that they provided false or misleading information.

Customers who were in a nil rate period (CZR) because of employment income were eligible to receive the payment, unless they were on:

• ABSTUDY Living Allowance
• 100% Home Equity Access Scheme
• Rapid Connect Failure

Customers who were serving a waiting or preclusion period during the test date did not receive the Cost of Living Payment. This includes:

• Income Maintenance Period (IMP)
• Compensation Preclusion Period
• Ordinary Waiting Period
• Seasonal Work Preclusion Period
• Newly Arrived Residence Waiting Period
• Moving to a Lower Area of Employment Opportunities
• a Waiting Period after the application of a cancellation for a Work Refusal failure or
• a third mutual obligation failure

If the waiting or preclusion period was reduced or waived and the customer received an eligible payment that covered the test date, they did qualify for the Cost of Living Payment. The payment was automatically paid.

The Cost of Living Payment was be paid from late April 2022 to customers if they were eligible on the 29 March 2022 (the test day).

Eligible customers did not need to do anything, payments were made automatically to a customer's nominated bank account.

Payments were made in addition to an eligible customer's regular fortnightly payment and customers were able to easily identify their payment from the payment transaction description presented on their bank statement.

Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) paid eligible DVA payment or a DVA Gold card holders directly.

The payment were:

• 100% income managed where applicable
• non-taxable and not count as income for income support purposes
• not be used to recover debts (either Child Support or debts to the Commonwealth)

Customers did receive:

• a letter to advise of the payment being made to their nominated bank account
• a link to the Services Australia website

Arrears payments for the Cost of Living Payment were not possible beyond 30 June 2023.

For more details, see the Process.

Eligible customers who were suspended or cancelled and who were subsequently restored and payable for the test date were eligible for the Cost of Living Payment.