Independence for Youth Allowance (YA) customers 001-04060000

A young person's independence affects their eligibility and/or rate of YA. Young people:

• aged 22 years or older are considered independent
• under 22 need to meet one of the criteria below to be considered independent

A young person may consider themselves to be independent because they do not receive any support from, or have not lived with, a parent or carer for a period of time.

If a YA customer does not meet the requirements of any of the independence criteria, they will be assessed as dependent and subject to the Parental Means Test.

Customers not meeting the Independence criteria may be eligible for the away from home rate for Youth Allowance (YA) customers.

A YA customer is regarded as independent if:

• they are, or have been married or a member of a YA couple
• they have, or have had a dependent child
• they have been self-supporting through full-time paid employment
• they have been self-supporting through paid employment from a regional or remote area (full-time students only)
• they are an orphan
• they are a refugee. Note: a refugee is only considered independent under this criterion where their parents are not in Australia and they are not substantially dependent on another person on a long term basis
• they are in State care, provided they are not living with a parent
• their parents cannot exercise responsibilities
• they have a partial capacity to work (YA job seeker only)
• it is unreasonable for the customer to live at home (UTLAH)
• they are specially disadvantaged with respect to employment
• they are 22 years of age or older

Specific verification may be required in some cases.

A customer who meets one of the above criteria and is 15 years of age can be paid if they:

• are also over the minimum school leaving age for the state or territory in which they reside, or
• have a formal exemption from attending school if they are under the minimum school leaving age for the state or territory in which they reside

Customers under 15 or under the school leaving age may need to be assessed for Special Benefit (SpB).

Note: customers may have previously established their independence with a non-reviewable category. This must be taken into account when assessing YA claims.

From 1 March 2021, independence when a student has undertaken approved agricultural work may apply for YA, ABSTUDY or SpB customers where they:

• have been deemed to have claimed independence under this criterion prior to the claiming cut-off date of 2 March 2023
• earned at least $15,000 gross income from approved agricultural work anytime between 30 November 2020 and 31 December 2021
• were undertaking full-time studies, or an approved concessional study load, in an approved course, and
• had a combined parental income below $160,000, plus $10,000 for each additional child included in the Family Unit Regional (FUR), for either the 2018/2019 or 2019/2020 tax years

The COVID-19 concession period could apply between 25 March to 24 September 2020 (inclusive) to customers claiming independence under workforce criteria between 1 January 2021 and 24 September 2022.

The Independence Calculator is located in Process Direct. Use the Independence Calculator for Youth Allowance (YA), ABSTUDY and Special Benefit (SpB) customers to assess the following criteria:

• Self-supporting through full-time paid employment (30 hours per week for 18 months)
• Earned at least 75% of the National Training Wage Schedule rate in a 14 month period (regional and remote)
• Part-time employment of at least 15 hours per week for at least 2 years (regional and remote)
• Participated in the workforce for at least 3 of the last 4 years (ABSTUDY)
• Undertook approved agricultural work between 20 November 2020 and 31 December 2021

The Check independence through work history online tool is available on the Services Australia website. It helps customers aged under 22 years check if they meet the independence criteria based on their work history.

In addition to calculating income to verify earnings, a customer may still be required to supply their payslips within 14 days to verify their independence claim. Before completing the independence assessment Service Officers need to verify the customer's evidence of employment. The customer can post the evidence, upload it online or take it to their local service centre within 14 days.

When the customer provides evidence, to verify they meet independence by self-supporting through full-time paid employment, use the Independence Assessment Tool on the Resources page to calculate verified hours.