If you, or someone you know, provides care for a spouse or family member, you may be eligible for the Carer’s Supplement.
There are more than 2.7 million carers in Australia, or roughly one in every 10 people. Out of these, around 1.3 million are caring for an ageing parent, spouse or loved one.
Around one-third of carers would be considered primary carers, or carers who provide the majority of care for a person. More than two-thirds of primary carers are women.
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There are several government supports available for carers, but one that is less well known is the Carer’s Supplement.
If you receive any of the following payments from the government – the Carer Payment, Carer Allowance, Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Partner Service Pension, DVA Carer Allowance or DVA Carer Service Pension – then you can receive the Carer’s Supplement of up to $600 per eligible person in your care.
Crucially, those who hold only a Carer Allowance Health Care Card are not eligible to receive the supplement. You must have received or been approved to receive one of the eligible payments before 1 July.
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The supplement is an annual one-off payment to help with the costs of caring for an elderly person or a person with a disability or medical condition.
You don’t need to apply for the payment or do anything to get it. If you’re eligible, the government will pay this year’s supplement into your bank account between 5 July and 2 August.
The supplement amount is $600 for each eligible person in your care, on top of your regular payment, if you are the sole carer. If you share care with someone else, you will receive a reduced supplement amount based on how much care you provide.
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If it gets to early August and you believe you should have received the supplement but haven’t, sign in to your myGov account and go to Centrelink.
From there, select Payments and claims, followed by Manage payments, then My payments to check to see if it’s been recorded as paid.
If it has, double check that the bank account details you supplied to Services Australia are correct. If the payment isn’t showing, call Services Australia’s disability, sickness and carers line on 132 717 between 8am and 5pm on weekdays.
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