Qualification for Age Pension (Blind) 065-04030000

A pension paid to an Age Pensioner who is permanently blind is commonly referred to as a 'Blind' Pension. However, there is no payment called 'Blind Pension'.

A customer can qualify for Age Pension (Blind) if they are qualified for an Age Pension and can be regarded as permanently blind.

To be considered 'permanently blind', the customer must satisfy one of the following guidelines:

• Visual acuity on the Snellen Scale after correction by suitable lenses must be less than 6/60 in both eyes. For information on whether other ratings on the Snellen Scale qualifies a customer as being assessed as permanently blind, see Assessing permanent blindness
• A field of vision constricted to 10 degrees or less of arc around central fixation in the better eye irrespective of corrected visual acuity (equivalent to 1/100 white test object)
• A combination of visual defects resulting in the same degree of visual impairment as that occurring in the above points

Customers receiving a Service Pension, Veteran Payment, Income Support Supplement (ISS) or War Widow(er)'s Pension (WWP) from the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) cannot receive a social security income support payment such as Age Pension (Blind). These DVA payments come under the multiple entitlement exclusion, therefore customers cannot receive a payment from both Centrelink and DVA.

Customers receiving Age Pension (Blind) are paid free of the income and assets tests.

Customers will receive the basic rate of pension unless they want to claim Rent Assistance (RA) or if their partner wants to claim an income tested payment in their own right, e.g. Carer Payment (CP). In this case, the customer and their partner will have to disclose their income and assets so that a calculation can be done to determine whether they will be eligible for RA or if the partner's payments will be affected.

Customers can choose to receive their letters from Centrelink in an accessible format.