Independence

If you apply for Youth Allowance, you will be assessed as either being dependent or independent.

You may be considered independent if:

• you are aged 22 or over and a full-time student or Australian Apprentice, or
• you are or have been legally married, in a registered relationship or living in a de facto relationship with another person as a member of a couple, or
• you have, or have had a dependent child, or
• you have supported yourself through employment, or
• you have a partial capacity to work as determined by a Job Capacity Assessment, (jobseekers only) or
• you have parents who cannot exercise their responsibilities, or
• you are unable to live at home due to extreme family breakdown, violence in the home, or serious threats to your health or well-being, or
• you are a refugee without parents living in Australia, or
• you are an orphan and have not been legally adopted, or
• you are in State care, or only stopped being in State care because of your age.

Independence through employment

Independence through part time work or earnings

Students from areas classified as Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote can be assessed as independent if, since leaving secondary school, they have:

• earned at least 75 per cent of Wage Level A of the National Training Wage Schedule included in a modern award, in an 18-month period since leaving secondary school, or
• worked part-time (at least 15 hours each week) for at least 2 years since leaving secondary school.

To be assessed as independent under these arrangements, you must be a full-time student and need to move away from home to study because your parents’ home is in an area considered to be inner regional, outer regional, remote or very remote.

It is also a requirement that your parents earned less than $150,000 in the base tax year (for example, in May 2012, the base tax year is the year ending 30 June 2011) or the current tax year if their income has changed substantially.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics determines whether an area is considered to be inner regional, outer regional, remote or very remote. Find out which area your family home is in using the Student Regional Area Search service.

Independence through working full-time

You may be considered independent if you have supported yourself through full-time paid employment for at least 18 months within a period of two years. Full-time employment means that you have worked an average of 30 hours per week throughout the 18 months.

The hours that you work each week can be averaged over periods of no more than 13 weeks (for example, you will meet the independence criterion if you have worked at least 390 hours in each of six periods of 13 weeks).

You must be working full-time for a total of at least 18 months. You cannot meet this requirement within a period of 12 months.

More information

• Away from home (students and Australian Apprentices)
• Youth Allowance section

On the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs website

• Guide to Social Security Law - partial capacity to work