The Law Handbook 2024

316 Section 5: Managing your money Their responses are scored to determine the carer’s eligibility for the payment. A copy of the ADAT is contained within the Adult Disability Assessment Determination 2018 (Cth), which can be accessed via the Federal Register of Legislation (www.legislation. gov.au) . A person cannot receive a Carer Payment and another income support payment. However, the person may be entitled to other payments (e.g. the Carer Allowance or Family Tax Benefit). A person who receives a Carer Payment for a disabled child may also be entitled to the Carer Allowance. The person being cared for must meet the care receiver income and assets test. The carer is not obliged to live with the care receiver, only to provide constant care in the care receiver’s home. A person receiving a Carer Payment may continue to be paid while they take respite from providing care for 63 days per calendar year or longer if Centrelink considers this to be appropriate ‘for any special reason in the particular case’ (s 198AC(3)). Rate of payment The basic rates of the Carer Payment and the Age Pension are the same. The rate of the Carer Payment is subject to the pension income or assets test (see ‘Income and assets tests for pensions’, below) (ss 210, 1064 SS Act). A pensioner may also be eligible for Rent Assistance and other supplements that increase the pension above the standard rate. (See also A Guide to Australian Government Payments for more information about the Carer Payment.) Disability Support Pension Eligibility To be eligible for the Disability Support Pension (ss 7, 94, 95 SS Act), a person must be an Australian resident and be aged between 16 and Age Pension age. A person must also: • be permanently blind (s 95(1)(a) SS Act ); or • have a permanent physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment rated at least 20 points under the impairment tables and a ‘continuing inability to work’ (s 94(2)). To be eligible, a person must also be living in Australia when claiming the pension, unless claiming under an international agreement. There is no ‘qualifying residence’ requirement if the person is anAustralian resident when they become permanently blind or begin to have a continuing inability to work, or if they are a dependent child of an Australian resident when one of these events occurs. If the blindness or impairment and inability to work occurred before the person became an Australian resident, or during a period of non-residence, they must have either 10 years qualifying residence or a qualifying residence exemption. The impairment tables in theSocial Security (Tables for the Assessment of Work-related Impairment for Disability Support Pension) Determination 2023 measure the functional impact of any permanent medical condition. The impairment tables are available online at: www.legislation.gov.au/Details/ F2023L00188. Once a condition has been ‘diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised’, it is accepted as being permanent if it is more likely than not to persist for at least two years from the date the claim is lodged with Centrelink. Impairment ratings are allocated following a Job Capacity Assessment arranged by Centrelink. A continuing inability to work means an inability to do any work or training activity for at least two years. Or, if a person can undertake a training activity, that it won’t equip the person for work within two years. ‘Work’ is defined as employment for at least 15 hours a week (since 1 July 2006) at award wages or above. The work must be in Australia (even if not locally available). A person who is permanently blind qualifies for the Disability Support Pension without having to satisfy the ‘continuing inability to work’ requirement. If the person does not have a severe impairment (i.e. 20 points under one impairment table) they must also show that they have actively participated in a ‘program of support’ for 18 months in the three years before lodging their claim. A ‘program of support’ is a program designed to assist people to find, prepare for and maintain work, and is wholly or partly Commonwealth-funded. There are guidelines to assist Centrelink to determine whether a person has actively participated in such a program. If a person’s condition(s) prevents them from improving their capacity to find and maintain work, and therefore, they are unable to participate in a program of support, they can be exempted from this requirement. Other exemptions also apply to the participation requirement; see the Social Security (Active Participation for Disability Support Pension) Determination (2014).