Registration for Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) 065-07010010

The Pension Bonus Scheme is closed to new registrations from 1 July 2014.

Service Officers must not register customers in the PBS unless the customer reached Age Pension qualification before 20 September 2009 and lodged or can be deemed to have lodged an application to register before 1 July 2014.

As the PBS is closed to new registrations, The Registration for the Pension Bonus Scheme (SA319) form is no longer available. Forms lodged by customers after 1 July are to be accepted and processed. The system will read contact dates from the Customer Contact (CCD) screen and the lodgement date of the Registration for the Pension Bonus Scheme (SA319) form and automatically reject registrations when appropriate.

To be eligible for a Pension Bonus Payment (PBP) a person must be a registered member of the PBS.

If the customer is dissatisfied that they cannot register in the PBS they may test their eligibility to a Pension Bonus they may apply for a bonus when they claim Age Pension. If they are not a registered member of the PBS, the Pension Bonus claim will be rejected, however this will allow them to seek a review of the decision if they wish.

The remaining information on this page is provided to assist with registration applications made before 1 July 2014.

As part of the Government's Secure and Sustainable Pension Reforms, the PBS was closed to new entrants who are not eligible for Age Pension before 20 September 2009. Service Officers must not register customers in the PBS unless the customer reached Age Pension qualification before 20 September 2009. Service Officers must recommend customers who wish to register to contact the Centrelink Financial Information Service (FIS).

All existing members may remain in the scheme and claim their pensions in due course, in line with existing arrangements, including customers who took advantage of early registration provisions and registered before 29 June 2009, when Royal Assent was given.

For a customer enquiring about the PBS it is mandatory that the Service Officer recommends an appointment be made with a FIS Officer. They will explain the scheme in detail and discuss all options available to the customer.

No identity confirmation needs to be lodged to register for the PBS, only proof of age and residency is required. To register for the PBS an applicant can use an International Social Security Agreement to meet the residence qualification. However, the applicant will need to be eligible for an autonomous Age Pension when they eventually claim the bonus. That is, a customer cannot be paid a bonus if they are granted Age Pension under the provisions of an International Social Security Agreement. If they are granted Age Pension autonomously, the applicant can be paid for the full period of registration - including the period they were under an International Social Security Agreement.

A person's Age Pension qualification date is the date that the person meets age and residence qualifications for Age Pension. A person must also be an Australian resident on this date.

If a person applied to register for the scheme more than 13 weeks after their age pension qualification date then the:

• period between their qualification date for Age Pension, and
• date they lodge the SA319 (the pre-application period)

must be examined to determine if they would have been either accruing and meeting the work test or non-accruing for that entire period (if they had been a member of the scheme).

If the person did not meet the rules of membership for that pre-application period, they were not eligible to register at all, from any date.

If the person did meet the rules in the pre-application period, they were eligible to register from the date the application is received, and they may be entitled to have their registration date backdated to the date they were qualified for Age Pension.

To enable their registration date to be backdated, a person must have an acceptable reason for not registering on time.

If the customer does not have an acceptable reason for not registering on time (for example, was advised by a FIS Officer or Service Officer to register but declined), registration would start from the date the SA319 was received (or CCD date if within 14 days).

Customers who had no expectation of being eligible for an Age Pension under the income and assets tests but who have benefited from the extended curtilage changes from 1 January 2007 or the asset taper changes from 20 September 2007 have an acceptable reason for not registering on time.

For members of a couple, each person would have been required to lodge their own registration form, if they both intend to participate in the Scheme and, even if only 1 of them was meeting the work test requirements. The non-working partner must have also registered for the scheme if they intended to claim the bonus. Note: if 1 member of a couple was already in receipt of Age Pension, that person would not need to register for the PBS in order for the other person to register for the scheme and accrue bonus periods (unless that person is the working member of the couple).

A person who has received any amount of Age Pension in the past is never eligible to receive a bonus. However, they may become registered members of the scheme to enable their partner to receive a bonus.

DVA has a similar scheme to PBS and eligible customers may register in either or both schemes. Eligibility ages for veterans with qualifying service and widow/ers are 5 years lower than for Age Pension. Ex-service members can register to join the PBS with Centrelink or the DVA. A member of the PBS registered with DVA may, if eligible, transfer their registration to Centrelink. Social Security rules would then apply and only those bonus periods that have accrued while eligible under the social security rules would be transferred.

Only those New Zealanders who are Australian residents under social security law can use the provisions of the International Social Security Agreement with New Zealand to register for the PBS. That is, if the applicant holds a permanent visa or holds a 'protected' special category visa then they are an Australian resident and can register for the PBS. If the applicant does not have a permanent visa or a 'protected' special category visa, then they are not an Australian resident and cannot register for the PBS.

Although the customer may not wish to claim Age Pension they may qualify for the CSHC. To claim CSHC the customer can claim online or a Claim for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (SA296) may be completed.

From 6 September 2008, the following changes occurred:

• Where a PBS registration has been recorded incorrectly (i.e. on the wrong customer's record), the registration is able to be deleted without preventing the customer from registering in the future
• A PBS registration can be manually rejected when a customer fails to reply to correspondence (FRC)
• Where a claim for a PBP has been determined, the PBS registration is automatically cancelled Pension Bonus Claim (PBC) regardless of the outcome of the claim for payment (that is, where the claim for payment is either paid or rejected). This ensures that the PBS membership has ceased but will not prevent the customer from being re-registered if required