Pension Supplement 108-08020000

Item

Description

1

Commencement of the Pension Supplement

The Pension Supplement commenced on 20 September 2009. Pension Supplement replaced:

• Utilities Allowance (UA)
• Telephone Allowance (TAL)
• Pharmaceutical Allowance (PhA), and
• Goods and Services Tax (GST) Supplement

Customers have the option to receive Pension Supplement Minimum as a quarterly payment. Requests to change the frequency for which Pension Supplement Minimum is paid can be made:

• verbally
• in writing, or
• part of a new claim process

JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker) customers get a higher maximum basic rate of payment that is equivalent to the Parenting Payment (single) rate, inclusive of the Pension Supplement basic amount, if they are:

• the single, principal carer of a dependent child, and
• granted an activity test exemption

For more details, see Principal carer of a dependent child.

From 20 March 2020:

• Wife Pension customers transitioned to JSP
• They are paid a transitional rate of JSP
• they can get Transitional Pension Supplement while they continue to qualify for Wife Pension under the pre 20 March 2020 rules
• Some former Wife Pension customers were getting the 2009 Pension Reform transitional rate. They get an equivalent rate of transitional Pension Supplement:
• to meet the higher 2009 Pension Reform transitional rate payable
• while the customer remains eligible

2

How changes affect Residential Aged Care assessments

The Pension Supplement information will be provided to the Department of Social Services (DSS) to allow them to determine eligibility of Residential Aged Care assessments.

3

Taxable payment

The Pension Supplement Basic Amount component is taxable if the primary payment is taxable.

All other components of the Pension Supplement are non-taxable.

For more information on taxable payments, see Taxable and non-taxable (tax exempt) payments for Centrelink Payment Summary.

4

Recovery of Advance Payments when only receiving minimum Pension Supplement

A customer may have an outstanding Advance Payment and they are only receiving the Pension Supplement Minimum.

Fortnightly payment of Pension Supplement

When a customer has an outstanding Advance Payment, the recovery of the advanced payment will continue from the fortnightly payment.

Quarterly payment of Pension Supplement

If the customer has elected to receive Pension Supplement Minimum as a quarterly payment and this is the only entitlement the customer has, it will be used to recover the Advance Payment.

5

Example of quarterly Pension Supplement calculation

Quarterly Pension Supplement payments commence or cease upon notification from the customer.

Notification to start quarterly Pension Supplement

When the customer requests quarterly Pension Supplement:

• if the notification was received within an entitlement period the customer will receive the daily Pension Supplement Minimum up to the date of effect with their next income support payment
• from the date of effect the daily Pension Supplement Minimum will cease to be paid fortnightly and start to accrue for a quarterly payment

Notification to cease quarterly Pension Supplement

When the customer requests to cease the quarterly Pension Supplement payment:

• the amount already accrued for the next quarterly Pension Supplement, up to the day before the date of effect of the change, will be paid to the customer with their next fortnightly income support payment
• the customer will then commence the Pension Supplement Minimum fortnightly

Item

Description

1

Letter text 1

You are eligible for the ABSTUDY Pension Supplement for the period ...../...../....... to ...../...../........ Payment of $ .............. will be made on ...../...../....... .

2

Letter text 2

You are eligible for the ABSTUDY Pension Supplement from ..../...../....... Fortnightly payments of $ .............. will commence on ...../...../........

3

Letter text 3

You are eligible for the ABSTUDY Pension Supplement from ..../...../....... You will receive $.............. on ...../...../....... for the period ...../...../....... to ...../...../........ Fortnightly payments of $ .............. will commence on ...../...../........