Reductions or Increases in Rate of Service Pension or ISS

Issues affecting calculation of the rate of service pension or ISS

The calculation of a person's rate of service pension or ISS can be affected by:

• application of the financial hardship rules,
• participation in the Home Equity Access Scheme,
• receipt of periodic compensation payments, and
• receipt of Payments under the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme

Application of the financial hardship rules

If a person's assets reduced rate is less than the person's income reduced rate and the person has an unrealisable asset, the financial hardship rules may apply and the pension rate may be increased accordingly.    

Participation in the Home Equity Access Scheme

A person may be able to receive an increase in their rate of pension or ISS in the form of a loan under the Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS).  The HEAS is available to any person receiving either service pension or ISS, whether at the maximum rate or at a reduced rate, and to any person who is eligible for either pension or ISS but whose rate of payment is nil due to means testing

Receipt of periodic compensation payments

If a person (or their partner):

• receives periodic compensation payments,
• is eligible for a compensation affected pension for the periodic payments period, and
• was not at the time of the event that gave rise to the entitlement to compensation receiving that pension,

the person's pension, or the compensation affected component of that pension (as the case may be) is to be reduced for the periodic payments period. The result is the compensation reduced rate of service pension or ISS.

The amount by which the pension is reduced depends on whether the person is a member of a couple, and if they are a member of a couple, whether their partner is eligible for a compensation affected pension or qualified for a compensation affected payment under the Social Security Act.    

Receipt of payments under the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme

Receipt of a payment under the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme causes a 'dollar for dollar' reduction in the rate of pension. If, however, a person's pension and that of their partner are both to be reduced because of the payment, the reduction for each person is 50% of the payment. This effect is limited to a maximum of twelve months that amounts are payable under the scheme.