Portability - Commonwealth Rent Assistance

Question

Senator ASKEW: Okay. Rent allowance can still be paid if a person travels overseas, is that correct? Mr Flavel: I think it's subject to the normal portability arrangement, so it's payable up to a certain length of time. Senator ASKEW: Do you know how long that is? Mr Flavel: No, I don't, sorry. It's a supplement, so generally it will be attached to the primary payment-so whatever the arrangements are for the primary payment. Senator ASKEW: So if they receive other payments for the whole time they're on- Mr Flavel: They would have to be getting another payment. You might be on DSP, you could be on JobSeeker. There are different portability arrangements for different payments, so it will depend, I think, on those portability arrangements. It's not CRA specific. Senator ASKEW: There would need to be a time frame, though. You would imagine that it would stop after a certain amount of time. Mr Flavel: Yes, sorry, that's my point. It does but it's just not a uniform amount for CRA, because CRA is a supplement. Senator ASKEW: So they just attach to whatever is- Mr Flavel: That's right. It's paid on top. You have to be receiving an income support primary payment in order to be eligible for Commonwealth rent assistance. Senator ASKEW: Do you know how many people are continuing to receive rent assistance while they're overseas? Mr Flavel: No, I don't. Senator ASKEW: Could you get a breakdown of how many weeks people are overseas for and still receive the payment? Is that possible to get on notice? Mr Flavel: What we can do is provide what the rules are. I'm just not confident we can actually provide you with data on how many people and for how long. Senator ASKEW: Because it would come and go, obviously, throughout the year as people- Mr Flavel: Correct. Senator ASKEW: Finding out the length of time that some people would be overseas would probably be the main thing, because sometimes they're away a lot. If you could see what you can find for that, that would be great, and the rules explaining that would be fantastic, thank you.

Answer

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Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• DSS SQ26-000753.pdf (opens in a new tab)