Waiting Periods

About

A waiting period is the amount of time you have to wait before you can get a payment.

If you are applying for Newstart Allowance or Sickness Allowance you will usually not get paid for the 1st week you are eligible for payment. This is called the 'ordinary waiting period'. Other waiting periods may also apply, depending on your circumstances. These include:

Newly arrived resident

If you are a newly arrived resident and you have not been given refugee or humanitarian status, you may have to wait 2 years before you can receive a payment.

Income Maintenance Period

If you received leave entitlements from your last job, including annual leave, long service leave, sick leave, and maternity leave, you may have to serve an 'income maintenance period'. If you have received redundancy entitlements you may also have to serve an 'income maintenance period'. This means you may not receive a payment from the date you received any leave or redundancy entitlements up to the end of the period covered by those entitlements.

Under the Income Maintenance Period provisions, leave and time-related redundancy payments are treated as income for a period equal to that for which it was paid. For example, 2 weeks annual leave would result in a 2-week Income Maintenance Period.

Any portion of the redundancy payment that is 'rolled-over' by the employer is exempt from the Income Maintenance Period.

The Income Maintenance Period applies to people who apply for, or are in receipt of Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance, Partner Allowance, Widow Allowance, Austudy, Parenting Payment, Sickness Allowance and Disability Support Pension (except if you are permanently blind).

For more information, refer to the Did you receive a leave or redundancy payment? factsheet.

Liquid Assets Waiting Period

If you have money available to you (liquid assets) of more than $11,000 (if you have a partner or dependent children) or $5,500 (if you are single) on the day you or your partner became unemployed or unable to work because of sickness or accident, you may have to serve a 'liquid assets waiting period' of up to 13 weeks.

Note: You only serve a liquid assets test waiting period once every 12 months, and you can serve it at the same time as the income maintenance period.

Seasonal Work Preclusion Period

If you or your partner have done seasonal work in the last 6 months and earned a higher than average income, you may have to wait longer before being paid (a formula is used to work out how much longer it takes a person on average wages to earn what a seasonal worker makes in a season).

The Seasonal Work Preclusion Period includes earnings of intermittent, casual and contract workers.

Many intermittent, casual and contract workers have similar work patterns to seasonal workers.

People who work seasonally, intermittently, casually or on a contract and receive higher than average income from these jobs will have a period when income support payments are not payable.

Applicants for Newstart Allowance, Partner Allowance, Carer Payment, Widow Allowance, Special Benefit, Disability Support Pension (except if you are permanently blind), Sickness Allowance, Parenting Payment, Youth Allowance and Austudy will be assessed for a Seasonal Work Preclusion Period.

[ return to top ]

Moving to an area of low employment

If you reduce your chances of getting a job (without a good reason) by moving to an area where the chances of you finding work are much lower, you may have to wait 26 weeks before you receive any payment.

If you are in hardship

If you are in hardship and you are serving the ordinary waiting period, seasonal work preclusion period, liquid assets waiting period or income maintenance period, it may be possible to reduce the amount of time you have to wait before payment is made. Talk to a Customer Service Adviser at your local Centrelink Customer Service Centre.

The 2-year waiting period for new residents, also known as the Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period, is sometimes not applied to claims of Special Benefit if you have suffered a substantial change in circumstances beyond your control.

Appealling against a waiting period

You always have the right to appeal any decision made by Centrelink.

Related information

• Factors affecting payments and eligibility
• Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period
• Reviews and appeals
• Special Benefit

[ return to top ]