Changes to payments from 1 April

Main benefit rates are being increased by $25 a week as part of the Government’s response to COVID-19 (for couples, the increase will be $25 in total).

This increase to the after-tax rate will apply to:

• Jobseeker Support
• Sole Parent Support
• Supported Living Payment
• Young Parent Payment
• Youth Payment

This is in addition to the usual changes to payments made on 1 April each year.

Benefit and payment rates increase on 1 April 2020, due to both the Annual General Adjustment and the increase in main benefit rates.

Increases in your benefit or superannuation payment may affect some of your other payments such as Temporary Additional Support, Accommodation Supplement and Childcare Assistance – but generally people will be better off because of these changes.

If you’re paid weekly, you’ll get a part payment at the new rate in the week 6 April, and a full payment at the new rate in the week 14 April.

If you get paid fortnightly, you’ll get a full payment at the new rate in the week 14 April.

Please note: Due to Easter, payments due on Tuesday 14 will be paid early on Friday 10 April.

Increases for some clients may take a little longer to process

While changes for most clients are made automatically, some need to be done manually – which could take a bit longer, especially at the moment. We are prioritising these and will have all payments updated as soon as we can. Don’t worry, we’ll still calculate your payment from 1 April and make sure this is paid to you.

As part of the Government’s Income Support Package:

• you’ll be able to earn more each week before your benefit reduces. This is sometimes called the abatement threshold.
• Section 192 reductions will be removed.

To check your payments, you can log into MyMSD.