Cancellation of Age Pension 065-03080040

Age Pension may be cancelled for various reasons. Most cancellations will be due to a change in the customer’s circumstances or a failure to comply with their Centrelink notification obligations.

Some of the cancellation reasons can be used to cancel Age Pension manually, or the system will automatically cancel Age Pension when the new information is updated on the customer's record. For example, when a change of income or assets takes a customer over the income or assets threshold. When the income or assets are updated, the system will:

• calculate if the customer has lost eligibility, and
• automatically cancel the Age Pension due to income or assets

There is a comprehensive list of cancellation codes that can be used for Age Pension.

A customer can also ask to have their payment cancelled. In these cases, the customer must be advised of their options and that their payment cannot be restored. If they need financial help in the future, they must submit a new claim.

If a vulnerable and at risk customer remains without income support payment for a minimum of 6 weeks due to an automatic suspension or cancellation, the customer may be eligible for manual intervention. Note: customers who are overseas permanently are not eligible for this initiative and any MFUs generated for customers in this situation should be cancelled.

Customers not eligible for Age Pension may qualify for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC). Customers whose Age Pension has been cancelled for specific reasons (see Resources page for a list), may receive a Notification Task on their Centrelink online account homepage inviting them to claim for CSHC.

To claim CSHC, the customer can claim online or complete a Claim for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (SA296).

Age Pension customers who also receive loan payments under the Home Equity Access Scheme are eligible to continue receiving their loan payments if Age Pension cancels for certain reasons. In these circumstances, the Age Pension status is set to Current Zero Rate (CZR) for reason PLS to enable the loan payments to continue being paid. During periods of CZR-PLS, the customer is not eligible to receive any other Age Pension rate components.

For further information, see Home Equity Access Scheme cancellation and rejections.