Sunday 17 February 2008

Utility Allowance for Disability Support pensioners and carers to be in place by end of March 2008

Another Rudd Government election promise is about to be rolled out at the end of March.
Those on Disability Support or Carers pensions should see the Utility Allowance turn up in their first Centrelink payment for April, if all goes well.
The increase for those already receiving this allowance should show up at the same time.
The expanded telephone allowance with internet connection component is also due to receive the go-ahead this month.
Nice to see this example of the Howard Government's inequitable welfare delivery bite the dust.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

THIS IS AT ODDS WITH THE CENTRLINK WEBSITE I JUST CHECKED 250308. NO UTILITY ALLOWANCES FOR DSP's . THERE IN BLACK & WHITE.
http://myaccount.centrelink.gov.au/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4g3djUESYGZLqH6kWhijggRX4_83FSgeKQ5UMDczVU_RD_SVT9I31s_QL8gNzSi3NDCEQDNCpHd/delta/base64xml/L0lDVE83b0pKN3VhQ1NZWW9LVVEhL29Gb2dBRUlRaENFTVloQ0dJUUlTRkNJQWdBR2Nad1dFQVFCZy80QjFpY29uUVZ3R3hPVVRvSzc5WVE3RG1HNFJBLzdfMF83RkUvMjM2L29yaWdpbmFsQWN0aW9uLyUwaW50ZXJuZXQlMGludGVybmV0Lm5zZiUwcGF5bWVudHMlMHF1YWxfaG93X3V0aWxpdHkuaHRt#7_0_7FE

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,
Centrelink website current record of changes to Utilities Allowance to include DSPs. Downloaded at 8am 25 March 2008.

"Utilities Allowance
Utilities Allowance will increase from $107.20 a year to $500 a year for singles, and from $53.60 to $250 a year for each member of a couple
Utilities Allowance will be paid quarterly rather than half yearly
Single customers receiving Utilities Allowance will get $125 every 3 months
Couples receiving Utilities Allowance will get $62.50 each every 3 months
Utilities Allowance will be paid to recipients of Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, Wife Pension, Widow B Pension and Bereavement Allowance.--
The changes to Utilities Allowance, Seniors Concession Allowance and Telephone Allowance will commence from 20 March 2008"
[http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/ea3b9a1335df87bcca2569890008040e/ebc2c2b4a67ebd44ca2573ef001e04a5!OpenDocument#what]