You are here

Payment Arrangements for Dependent Child Bereavement Payment

Document

 

VEA →

 

Dependent Child Bereavement Payment

    

VEA →

 

An eligible pensioner is entitled to receive 98 days of entitlement at the rate that would have been payable had the child not died.

Components of pension included

    

VEA →

 

The additional components of pension in respect of a dependent child that make up the bereavement payment include:

 
Payment arrangements

    

VEA →

 

The child related components of pension representing the bereavement payment can be:

  • paid as a lump sum, or
  • incorporated into regular pension payments over the bereavement period; or
  • a combination of both.
Reassessment at end of bereavement period

    

VEA →

 

The pensioner's rate is reassessed at the end of the 98 day bereavement period.


 

 

 

Section 53S VEA - Provision continuing payment during bereavement period

Section 53T VEA - Provision identifying bereavement payment component and enabling lump sum payment

 

VEA → (go back)

 

Additional remote area allowance for a child

Chapter 5.2

 

More → (go back)

Section 5F(1) of the VEA defines dependent child as having the same meaning as in the Social Security Act 1991.  For income support purposes, dependent child is defined as:

Child under 16 years

  •       the pensioner has legal responsibility either alone or jointly with another person for the day to day care, welfare and development of the young person AND the young person is in the pensioner's care, or
  •       the young person is not a dependent child of someone else AND the young person is wholly or substantially in the pensioner's care.

A child under 16 years cannot be considered a dependent child if:

  •       they are not a full-time student, and
  •       their weekly income from any source is more than the amount specified in section 5(3)(c) of the Social Security Act.    

Child 16 years or older

A young person who has turned 16 years but is under 22 years can still be a dependent child of the pensioner if:

  •       they are wholly or substantially dependent on the pensioner, and
  •       their income in the financial year will not exceed the personal income limit, and
  •       they are receiving full-time education at a school, college or university.

A child over 16 years cannot be considered a dependent child if:

  •       they receive a social security pension or benefit such as youth allowance, or
  •       their personal income is more than the amount specified in section 5(4)(b) of the Social Security Act.    

Income includes earning from casual, part-time or full-time earnings.

Note: the meaning of a dependent child for DVA income support pension purposes is not the same as the meaning for Family Tax Benefit purposes.

 

 

A bereavement payment is an amount payable in respect of a deceased pensioner that represents a continuation of the pensioner's entitlement for a period following the death (the bereavement period).

The payment can be made as:

  • a lump sum in advance, or
  • a continuation of the deceased person's pension instalments, or
  • a combination of both, or
  • a portion of the rate of pension payable to the surviving member of a couple identified as a separate amount only for taxation purposes.

Remote area allowance is a supplementary payment added to the rate of income support pension where the pensioner's usual place of residence is situated in a remote area, and where the pensioner is physically present in the remote area.

FTB child has the same definition as given in section 22 and 22A of the Family Assistance Act (i.e. A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999).

 

For more information, see also 9.4.3/Effect of Children on Remote Area Allowance (RAA) CS Policy Library.

 

 

The income free area is the amount of income that an income support pensioner may receive without suffering any reduction in pension under the income test.