Need to know

Upon reaching 70% full vaccination in state or territory

Once a state or territory reaches 70% full vaccination, the automatic renewal of the temporary payment will end and individuals will need to reapply each week that a Commonwealth 'hotspots' remains in place to confirm their eligibility.

Upon reaching 80% full vaccination in state or territory

In the first week after a state or territory has reached 80% vaccination, there will be a flat payment of $450 for those who have lost more than 8 hours of work, while those on income support will receive $100.

In the second week, the payment will be brought in line with the JobSeeker payment at $320 for those who have lost more than 8 hours of work, while the payment will end for those on income support. 

It is anticipated that different states and territories will hit the full vaccination milestones at different times. 

As the COVID-19 Disaster Payment phase out is dependant on achieving vaccination milestones there is no set date as to when the phase out will begin.

The Government will leave the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment in place until 30 June 2022. It is for a taxable payment for support if you can't earn an income because you must self-isolate, quarantine or are caring for someone with COVID-19.

Social security clients may see an increase in their social security benefit payments.

As a result of the indexation to Centrelink payments, the cut-off means testing thresholds for both pensions and allowances have also increased. This means more clients may now be eligible for a benefit.

*Includes Energy and Pension Supplements

Here are the indexed Centrelink benefit payments rates and thresholds for pensions and allowances.

Many aged care fees, charges, subsidies and supplements were indexed on 20 September 2021.

Here is the updated schedule of fees and charges for residential and home care.

Here are the updated aged care subsidies and supplements.

Client fees relating to residential aged care and home care may have changed from 20 September 2021.

The maximum permissible interest rate used in calculating interest on any outstanding payment will decrease from 4.04% to 4.01% for residents entering care between 1 October to 31 December 2021.

Current and historical maximum permissible interest rates can be found here.

The quarterly review is a reconciliation process which:

• aligns the fees a care recipient pays with the fees associated with their care needs and changes to their financial circumstances
• incorporates any indexation into the fees that care recipients are asked to pay (usually in March and September each year).
• includes any changes made during the quarter that relate to a historical event (for example, the sale of an asset in a previous quarter that the DHS was not notified of until a later date).

If the review finds that the resident has:

• overpaid fees in the previous quarter then the Department of Human Services will refund the over payment
• underpaid fees in the previous quarter the resident will not be liable for the underpayment but they will have their fees adjusted from the start of the next quarter.

The effective dates of the four quarterly reviews are 1 January, 20 March, 1 July and 20 September. This means the next review will be on 1 January 2022.