Covid-19 Disaster Payment
- further tweaks
EB&A comment. Please note that this support is aimed purely at employees (ie permanent or casual, full-time or part-time). Therefore we do not believe that sole-traders would be eligible.
Highlights, bold and underlines are ours.
Published: 04/08/2021 17h00
Covid-19 Disaster Payment
- changes to amounts to be paid
as well as applicable dates
EB&A comment. Please note that this support is aimed purely at employees (ie permanent or casual, full-time or part-time). Therefore we do not believe that sole-traders would be eligible.
Highlights, bold and underlines are ours.
Published: 27/07/2021 16h15
Covid-19 Disaster Payment
- Rules and How to Apply
EB&A comment. Please note that this support is aimed purely at employees (ie permanent or casual, full-time or part-time). Therefore we do not believe that sole-traders would be eligible.
Highlights, bold and underlines are ours.
COVID-19 Disaster Payment
You may get this payment if you lost income or work due to COVID-19 and you meet all the eligibility rules.
EB&A note: this payment is taxable income.
EB&A note: as an Australian resident, you can only claim online via your myGov linked Centrelink account.
You must meet ALL eligibility rules to get the COVID-19 Disaster Payment.
Eligibility requirements
To get it you must meet ALL of the following:
• you're an Australian resident or hold an eligible working visa
• you're 17 years or older
• you're not getting an income support payment, ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Dad and Partner Pay or Parental Leave Pay
• you're not getting the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment, a state or territory pandemic payment or a state small business payment for the same period
• you live in, work from or have visited a Commonwealth-declared COVID-19 hotspot
• you live in, work from or have visited a location subject to a state or territory restricted movement order
• you had paid employment and because you were in the COVID-19 hotspot or are subject to restricted movement, you can’t attend work on or after day 8 of the lockdown
• you’ve lost income on or after day 8 of the lockdown and don’t have any appropriate paid leave entitlements
There are no liquid assets rules for the current NSW events.
Key NSW Event eligibility dates
These are the key dates for the recognised events:
Paying tax on your payment
You may have to pay income tax on your taxable Centrelink payments.
They will not automatically deduct tax from most of their payments. But you can ask them to do this for you if you get a taxable Centrelink payment.
If they deduct tax from your payment, you must lodge a tax return with the ATO.
How to claim
To claim you need a myGov account linked to a Centrelink online account.
Updated: 19/07/2021 11h00
Covid-19 Disaster Payment
EB&A comment. Please note that this support seems be aimed purely at employees (ie permanent or casual, full-time or part-time). Therefore we do not believe that sole-traders would be eligible.
Highlights, bold and underlines are ours.
A support payment for workers adversely affected by a state public health order.
This is a lump sum payment to help workers unable to earn income due to a COVID-19 lockdown, hotspot or period of restricted movement.
You may be eligible if all of the following apply:
-
you can’t attend work and lost income on or after day 8 of a COVID-19 restriction of movement event
-
you don’t have access to appropriate paid leave entitlements through your employer
-
you’re not getting an income support payment, ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Dad and Partner Pay or Parental Leave Pay
-
you're not getting a state or territory pandemic payment, Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment or state small business payment for the same period
The COVID-19 Disaster Payment is a lump sum payment to help you when COVID-19 restrictions last for more than 7 days. You can’t get this payment for the first 7 days of an event.
You must submit a new claim for each additional week of lockdown or restricted movement. This is so we can make sure your circumstances haven’t changed and you’re still eligible to get the payment.
Lockdown is a period of restricted movement when people must stay at home and can only leave for approved reasons.
A hotspot is an area of COVID-19 local transmission declared by the Chief Medical Officer. The Department of Health website lists the current hotspots.
You need to meet all the eligibility rules to get the payment.
To get it you must meet all of the following:
-
you're an Australian resident or hold an eligible working visa
-
you're 17 years or older
-
you're not getting an income support payment, ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Dad and Partner Pay or Parental Leave Pay
-
you're not getting the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment, a state or territory pandemic payment or a state small business payment for the same period
-
you live in, work from or have visited a Commonwealth-declared COVID-19 hotspot
-
you live in, work from or have visited a location subject to a state or territory restricted movement order
-
you had paid employment and because you were in the COVID-19 hotspot or are subject to restricted movement, you can’t attend work on or after day 8
-
you’ve lost income on or after day 8 and don’t have any appropriate paid leave entitlements
-
if you are claiming for a period prior to the third week of lockdown, you have liquid assets of less than $10,000 [this rule has currently been suspended for the short term]
As this is a Federal Government scheme, this grant needs to be applied for through Centrelink.
How much you can get
How much you get depends on your situation.
If you lost less than 20 hours work, you’ll get $325 (temporarily increased for now to $375) for each recognised event, if you're eligible.
If you lost 20 hours or more of work, you’ll get $500 (temporarily increased for now to $600) for each recognised event, if you're eligible.
Updated: 15/07/2021 09h30
Published: 13/07/2021 10h30
