Last amended: What constitutes readily available funds
Readily available funds include cash on hand, financial institution accounts, term deposits, bonds, shares etc. Real estate, the family car and household contents are not considered readily available funds. When considering long term financial hardship, readily available funds include the surrender value of a life assurance policy, value of a second car or holiday home, etc. A person's readily available funds comprise:
The table below shows the readily available funds limits for eligibility under the financial hardship rules.
If the person is |
then the readily available funds limit is |
A member of a couple |
maximum combined annual rate of service pension (=$23,353, current at 20 September 2007) |
Not a member of a couple |
maximum single annual rate of service pension (=$13,980, current at 20 September 2007) |
Readily available funds may exceed the allowable limits by up to 10% if:
In such situations, a delegate [2] must review the case in three months to ensure that readily available funds are under the limit.
A person's readily available funds do not include:
Superannuation assets are not readily available funds for a person who is:
According to section 5J(1) [3] of the VEA a financial asset means;
A Delegate of the Commission [2] is a decision-maker who has been delegated authority to exercise the Commission's powers for the administration of pensions under the VEA [2].
Links
[1] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=node/16816%23comment-form
[2] https://clik.dva.gov.au/%23
[3] http://clik.dva.gov.au/legislation-library