There are many reasons you may want someone else to help you manage your Centrelink payments when dealing with Services Australia. You could be travelling, caring for someone, have too much on your plate or just finding it too difficult to keep your information up to date.
If it’s something you need, you can authorise someone to help you do your everyday business with Centrelink. You may want a little or a lot.
You might want to authorise a family member or a close friend, an accountant or other organisation. It means you have someone else to ask questions, make updates, act on your behalf and get your payments, depending on what you decide.
Read: How to ensure benefits are paid promptly
You might want to allow friends or family to ask questions to help you better understand your payments. Giving them permission to inquire allows Centrelink to talk to them and tell them what’s going on. You can go also give them authority to update your records if you want.
There may be times when you need someone to make decisions for you, or even receive your payments on your behalf to help you manage your finances. If you do, you can choose to authorise a correspondence nominee and/or a payment nominee.
A correspondence nominee can make decisions and act on your behalf. He/she can ask questions, make updates, even make claims for payments and services on your behalf. A copy of the letters Centrelink sends you will also be sent to them. They can even access your Centrelink online account to manage your online business.
Read: Centrelink support when you lose a loved one
If it’s hard for you to manage your bills, you can authorise a payment nominee to help you with your living expenses. They’re required to keep a record of all payments received and how they’ve spent your payment on your behalf. They can ask questions about how much you’ll be paid and where the payments will go to, and they will have limited access to your Centrelink online account.
Services Australia can also work with a Power of Attorney, which is a document you can set up when you have the capacity to understand what you’re doing, to authorise a person or a group of people to manage things for you when you no longer have the capacity to do so. If you already have a Power of Attorney, Services Australia recommends you also appoint that person to be your nominee.
Read: How Services Australia revalues your market-based investments
Remember that having an arrangement in place doesn’t prevent you from speaking or doing business with Centrelink.
You can cancel any arrangement you have set up at any time. Just call Services Australia or cancel it online.
To find out more about the different types of arrangements, go to servicesaustralia.gov.au and search for ‘nominee’.
Hank Jongen is general manager, Services Australia.
Were you aware that you could nominate someone to help with Centrelink business? Have you taken advantage of that service? Why not share your tips in the comments section below?
