External
Policy
Last updated: 12 November 2007
Access to financial hardship
Hardship provisions can apply to people who either:
- receive an assets reduced rate of either:
- to whom one of the above payments is not payable because of the application of the assets test.
Additional conditions to be met before hardship provisions apply
The following conditions must also be met before hardship provisions can apply:
- either:
- the person must not have disposed of assets of more than $10,000 within a year, or of income, for less than adequate financial consideration, or
- if the person has disposed of income or assets the Commission has determined that for the purposes of the application of the hardship provisions, the disposal is to be disregarded,
- the person, or the person's partner has an unrealisable asset,
- the person would be considered to be in severe financial hardship if the financial hardship provisions were not applied,
- the person must lodge a written request for payment of service pension or income support supplement under the hardship provision.
Crisis payment to people in severe financial hardship
A crisis payment is a one off non-taxable payment to extend assistance to people who are in severe financial hardship and who:
- have been forced to leave their home due to an extreme circumstance, or
- have been subjected to domestic or family violence and choose to remain in the family home after the perpetrator has left or been removed, or
- have just been released from lawful custody.
The payment is designed to assist in the establishment of a new residence or to re-establish a current residence after domestic or family violence has occurred.