Portability - Disability Support Pension

Question

Senator RUSTON: In terms of the portability of the DSP, can people still be in receipt of DSP if they travel overseas? Obviously, I think, up to four weeks is fine. How long can you be overseas on a DSP and still retain your entitlement to receipt of that payment? Mr Flavel: I'm pretty sure it's six weeks, Senator. Senator RUSTON: So, if you go on a holiday for six weeks, that's fine. What happens after that six weeks? Mr Flavel: The portability arrangements differ by payment, and the ones for DSP in particular were changed some time ago, so I might actually just take this block on notice because I just want to- Senator RUSTON: Basically, in terms of the portability and the trigger points at which things change: Are there any circumstances where somebody who's on a DSP could permanently live overseas? What would those circumstances be? How many people, if any, are currently permanently living overseas and still in receipt of a DSP and, if it is at all possible to understand where they were living, which countries do they now reside in? I'm assuming they can only reside in countries where we have international agreements. That's an assumption. It would be good for you to confirm that. How many people have had their payments cancelled or suspended because they've travelled overseas for longer than the six-week period? Is the payment just suspended until such time as they return to Australia or is there an action that's needed to be taken by the DSP recipient on return? Mr Flavel: Generally, in terms of primary payment, the general principle is that you have to be residing in Australia in order to access a payment. The portability arrangements allow a certain period overseas without losing access to your primary payment. The primary payment gets reduced to zero at the end of the portability period, but, in some circumstances, if the person returns not long after that, they can be essentially reactivated at their rate of DSP.

Answer

Please see attached answer.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• DSS SQ26-000741.pdf (opens in a new tab)