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DVA and Centrelink Arrangements (DFISA ceased 2022)

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Last amended 
25 February 2022

DFISA was removed 1 January 2022.  This is for historical reference only.

Who paid DFISA?

DVA paid DFISA in all circumstances, irrespective of whether Centrelink or DVA assessed the primary payment and calculated the rate of DFISA.

Who calculated DFISA?

A person's rate of DFISA was calculated by the agency that assessed their income support payment.

 

Centrelink's role

DVA's role

Centrelink DFISA – where Centrelink assessed the person's income support payment

Centrelink calculated the person's daily rate of DFISA.

Centrelink transmitted the daily rates to DVA.

DVA calculated the fortnightly rate based on the daily rate transmitted by Centrelink.

DVA delivered the payment to the person's nominated account, and advised the person of the amount payable and the payment destination.

DVA DFISA – where DVA assessed the person's age pension 

 

DVA calculated the person's rate of DFISA.

DVA delivered the fortnightly payment to the person's nominated account, and advised the person of the amount and the payment destination.

Income support assessment unchanged by DFISA

The rate of DFISA was determined by the person's income support payment assessment. Regardless of which agency calculated DFISA, the person's income support payment did not change. Both agencies applied the same rules for calculating the DFISA rate. Therefore, the calculated rate of DFISA was the same, whether DVA or Centrelink administered the income support payment.

Who should clients contact?

DFISA recipients could contact either DVA or Centrelink with queries about DFISA.

Establishing proof of identity for DFISA payments

Proof of identity for DFISA was established when the person claimed the primary income support payment and did not need to be re-established when DFISA became payable. Proof of identity was the responsibility of the agency administering the primary payment. This included situations when Centrelink granted a payment at nil rate.

No POI was required where a person was already receiving DFISA and their age pension was being transferred from Centrelink to DVA. This is because the person's identity was proven at the time of the initial claim for adjusted disability pension from DVA. The only exception to this was where a full POI has not been previously carried out, or where the person has not contacted DVA for a number of years and the delegate was not reasonably satisfied as to their identity.

DVA's role

DVA staff could answer queries about the calculation of the rate of DFISA and payment of DFISA, where DVA calculated the rate of DFISA. Where Centrelink calculated the daily rate of DFISA, DVA staff could answer questions about payment delivery and the calculation of the fortnightly instalment; that is, the daily rate transmitted by Centrelink, summed for each of the days in the pay period.

Centrelink's role

Centrelink staff could answer queries about the calculation of the daily rate of DFISA where Centrelink calculated the rate, but could not answer questions about the delivery of the DFISA payment or the calculation of the fortnightly instalment.

DFISA paydays

People receiving income support from Centrelink may have received their income support payment on any of the 10 working days in a fortnight. This option is not available at DVA. As DFISA was a DVA payment, DFISA was only paid on DVA pension paydays. This means that a person may have received their income support payment in one week, and receive DFISA in respect of the impact of adjusted DP in the following week.    

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The Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The information below is for historical reference only.

Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) ceased on 1 January 2022 because adjusted disability income became exempt income under the Social Security Act 1991.  It was an income support payment paid by DVA to people whose income support payment under Social Security Law was reduced, or not payable, because of the impact of adjusted disability pension. DFISA was the difference between the person's existing entitlement, and what the entitlement would have been had adjusted DP been exempt, but was assessed in the calculation of rent assistance.

 

 

Centrelink is a Government service delivery agency responsible for delivering a range of Commonwealth Government services (including social security pensions and allowances) to the Australian community through a network of more than 400 Centrelink offices.

An age pension is a means tested income support payment paid by Centrelink  or DVA on behalf of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The majority of age pensions are paid through Centrelink. However, eligible veterans  who have an accepted disability or receive a Disability Compensation Payment from DVA, but do not have qualifying service, may be paid their age pension by DVA. Their partner may also receive their age pension from DVA, if eligible.

 

 

Commencing from the Thursday falling on 11 July 1991, DVA pension payday falls on each succeeding alternate Thursday.  Refer to the fact sheet IS144 Pension Paydays, Allowance Payment Dates & Pension Periods for a listing of these days.

 

 

On 1 January 2022, both DFISA and the Disability Income Rent Test were removed.   Thus the term Adjusted Disability Pension was made redundant.  The following is for historical reference only.

Section 118NA of the VEA defined adjusted disability pension as:

  • disability pension (known as disability compensation payment from 2022) paid under Parts II or IV of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA); and
  • permanent impairment payments and special rate disability pension paid under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.

Adjusted disability pension did not include war widow's/widower's pension, or payments made by other governments to compensate for war or service related injuries.