Centrelink payments for millions of people to see a cash boost as indexation kicks in for payments like Rent Assistance, Job seeker and other Services Australia payments.
Numerous news portals stated that more than 5 million Australian citizens will receive a cash boost at the end of this week. It is said that Services Australia payments are indexed on top of additional increases to Rent Assistance payment programs.
Table of Contents
- List of Program that receive Indexation benefits
- Changes in Centrelink Payments
- Increase in Rent Assistance
- Increase in JobSeeker Payments
- Official Centrelink Payments Indexation Rates
List of Program that receive Indexation benefits
Following is the list of programs which will receive benefits:
- Pensions and Payments
- Age Pension program
- Disability Support Pension program
- Carer Payments
- Commonwealth Rent Assistanec
- JobSeeker program and
- Parenting Payments.
Changes in Centrelink Payments
The Department of Social Services has released an official notification containing the new Indexation rates that are going to be applied after 20 Sep 2024.
According to statement by Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth, since Labor was elected, Commonwealth Rent Assistance has increased by almost 45% as a result of indexation rises and budgetary initiatives. She also added that “This government recognises that many Australians continue to be directly affected by cost of living pressures. This indexation will deliver timely boosts to people receiving allowance payments and pensions, ensuring that these vulnerable cohorts have more money in their pockets for everyday expenses.”
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Increase in Rent Assistance
The rise in Indexation which will take place on September 20 might reach up to $41.50 a fortnight. There is no specified and standardized rate of increase for all payments, each payment has its own rate of increase depending upon indexation.
For example, the maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance will by increased by 10%. Single recipients who are receiving the maximum rate and are renting on their own, with no children will get an extra $23 per fortnight.
The families which have one or two children, will receive an increased Rent Assistance fortnightly payment by $27.02.
Increase in JobSeeker Payments
The JobSeeker payments is also seen to receive a payment boost. The DSS said in a statement that “Single JobSeeker Payment recipients with an assessed partial capacity to work of zero to 14 hours per week will move to the higher rate of JobSeeker, receiving $849.50 a fortnight”.
Australian JobSeeker Recipients who are moving in to a higher rate, the fortnightly payment will increase by $71.20 and for recipients who are on the lower rate will also receive an indexation increase.
Following are some key changes in Centrelink payments after indexation:
- Single recipients without children will receive a $15.30 boost to their payments, while single recipients with a child in their care will receive a $19.80 boost.
- Single age pensioners will receive an increase of $28.10 to their fortnightly payments, and recipients in a couple will receive a combined $42.40 increase to their payments.
- The same increase will apply to the Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment, taking the total per fortnight, including energy supplement, to $1114.40 for singles and $862.60 for each member of a couple.
- The Single recipients receiving a fortnightly Parenting Payment will also receive a $19.80 increase.
Official Centrelink Payments Indexation Rates
The Australian Government Department of Social Services has released an official documents containing the revised Indexation rates for Centrelink payments for September 2024 on September 1, 2024.
The list of changes in the payments can be found on the official notification from here: https://www.dss.gov.au/concessions/indexation-rates-september-2024.
