Age Pension and carers · calculator
Carer Payment calculator
For people who give constant care to someone with a disability or a serious illness: the fortnightly rate after the pension means tests.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Carer Payment is paid at the same rate as the Age Pension: since 20 September 2026, up to $1,237.70 a fortnight for a single carer and $933 for each member of a couple, including the Pension and Energy Supplements. It is for a person who provides constant care at home to an adult or child with a severe disability, illness or condition that is expected to last at least six months, and who cannot support themselves through substantial paid work because of it. The carer's own income and assets are assessed with the pension tests: $226 a fortnight of income free for a single carer, then 50 cents per dollar, and the same assets free areas as the Age Pension. The person being cared for must also pass a care receiver income and assets test, which this calculator does not model. Carer Allowance, $162.60 a fortnight, can be paid on top.
Carer Payment per fortnight
$1,237.70
Full rate
| Maximum rate (Pension and Energy Supplements included) | $1,237.70 |
| Rent Assistance in the maximum | $0 |
| Deemed income from savings | $164.96 a fortnight |
| Rate under the income test | $1,237.70 |
| Rate under the assets test | $1,237.70 |
| Assets counted | $180,000 |
| Assets free area | $333,000 |
Income test stops the pension at $2,701 a fortnight; assets test at $745,750. How this is worked out.
Who Carer Payment is for
Carer Payment can be paid when a carer provides constant care to a person with a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability, to a child with a severe disability or a severe medical condition, to two or more children with a disability or medical condition, or to a disabled adult and a child together, among other combinations (Social Security Guide 1.2.5.20). The condition must be permanent or expected to last at least six months, unless it is terminal or the care is short term or episodic. Constant care is assessed with standard tools that measure the care receiver's needs, not the hours the carer reports.
The carer's means tests
The carer is assessed exactly like an Age Pension recipient: the pension income test, with income free areas of $226 a fortnight for a single person and $396 combined for a couple, and the pension assets test, with the same free areas and the same $3 a fortnight reduction per $1,000 (Social Security Guide 4.2.5). For a couple, the partner's income and assets are combined with the carer's. A carer whose partner earns $1,600 a fortnight, renting at $500, with modest savings, receives about $720.21 of Carer Payment, set by the income test.
Working and studying while receiving Carer Payment
Carers can work, study or volunteer for a limited number of hours a week, including travel time, without losing the payment, as long as the care continues. Their earnings are assessed under the income test like any pensioner's. Carers who have reached Age Pension age may also use the Work Bonus.
Carer Payment and other payments
Carer Payment is an income support payment, so a carer's family receives Family Tax Benefit without the family income test. Carer Allowance, a flat $162.60 a fortnight for families with income up to $250,000, is paid in addition and is not means tested in the same way; a carer who receives Carer Payment for a child may qualify for Carer Allowance automatically. A family on $140,000 receives $162.60 a fortnight of it. See Carer Allowance.