Social Security Point-in-Time Service Updates

The Social Security Point-in-Time Service has been updated to include the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Coronavirus and Other Measures) Act 2020 (Cth) (Act 97 of 2020), and includes legislation released prior to 19 November 2020.

Act 97 of 2020

This Act:

• provides for the payment of two Further Economic Support Payments of $250 to around five million social security and veterans’ payment recipients and concession cardholders in the lead up to Christmas and in the new year as part of the Australian Government’s economic response to COVID-19 (Schedule 1);
• temporarily amends the circumstances in which a person may be regarded as independent for youth allowance purposes, to assist young people to qualify for youth allowance who would have qualified if they had not lost, or been unable to attain, employment because of the economic effect of the COVID19 pandemic (Schedule 2);
• creates a temporary pathway for young people who are seeking to qualify as independent for the purposes of assessing Youth Allowance (student) to encourage young Australians to undertake seasonal agricultural work to help address concerns across the agriculture sector about immediate workforce availability for the upcoming harvest season (Schedule 3);
• introduces a revised Paid Parental Leave work test period for a limited time, to enable people to access parental leave pay and dad and partner pay who do not meet the current work test provisions because their employment has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (Schedule 4);
• improves assistance for families affected by stillbirth and infant death in respect of payments for newborn children, by increasing the maximum amount that eligible families are able to access after a stillbirth or a child’s death up to the child’s first birthday. The proposal will also remove discrepancies within the payments system in respect of multiple instances of stillbirth or infant death within the same family (Schedule 5); and
• allows the Minister to determine average weekly earnings trend figures ordinarily published by the Australian Statistician, for child support assessment purposes, where publication of trend estimates for the Average Weekly Earnings series has been suspended, for example due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market (Schedule 6).

These amendments have been updated in the Point-in-Time Social Security Service current to 19 November 2020. (NB: Subscription required).

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