Many Australians, including those with disability or carers of people with disability, require government welfare assistance to meet their everyday costs of living. When these payments are a person’s primary source of income they are called an ‘income support payment’, which is a specific category of social security payments. Australian social security payment policy is administered by the Department of Social Services, and income support payments are delivered by the Department of Human Services through its network of Centrelink offices. Payments are targeted to individuals who do not have the means to support themselves.
These Centrelink payments support working-age people who have employment restrictions due to disability or are caring for someone with disability, a severe medical condition or who are frail-aged. Recipients of these payments are encouraged to participate in employment where they have capacity to and can gain from the benefits of working, including improved wellbeing. Carer Payment recipients, for example, can engage in employment or study for up to 25 hours per week (including travel time), and remain eligible for payment. These payments are an important part of a larger network of services and assistance designed to improve the wellbeing of Australians.
This page focuses on people aged 18–64 receiving Disability Support Pension (DSP) or Carer Payment. Data are sourced from the Department of Human Services administrative data and exclude recipients aged under 18. People aged 65 and over receiving these payments are covered in Income support payments for older people. Information on government expenditure on these payments are included in Welfare expenditure.
As at 29 June 2018, 908,200 adults aged 18–64 received DSP or Carer Payment, equating to 5.9% of the population aged 18–64. Of these:
- 75% received DSP (680,300 or 4.4% of the population aged 18–64)
- 25% received Carer Payment (227,800 or 1.5% of the population aged 18–64).
Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment
DSP: is a means-tested income support payment for people aged 16 and over but under age pension age (at claim) who have a reduced capacity to work because of impairment. This includes those who are: permanently blind; unable to work for 15 hours or more per week for the next 2 years due to their disability or medical condition; unable, as a result of impairment, to undertake training that would equip them for work within the next 2 years.
Carer Payment: is a means-tested income support payment for people providing constant care for someone with a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability or severe medical condition. The carer cannot support themselves through substantial paid employment because of their caring role. People receiving this payment are also eligible for other allowances and supplements, such as the Carer Allowance (income testing for eligibility introduced September 2018), annual Carer Supplement and annual Child Disability Assistance payment. Carer Allowance and Carer Supplement are not reported on this page.
Overall, the number of people aged 18–64 receiving DSP or Carer Payment increased by 35% over the last 2 decades—from 672,700 in 2001 to 908,200 in 2018 (as at end June in each year). The rate of increase varied for women and men (81% for women; 5% for men). In 2001, 1.5 times as many men received DSP or Carer Payment as women (408,100 and 264,600 respectively). By 2018, the number of women who received DSP or Carer Payment was higher than for men—478,600 and 429,600 respectively (Figure 1).
When accounting for population growth, the proportion of the population aged 18–64 receiving DSP or Carer Payment remained relatively stable. Proportions increased slightly between 2001 and 2014 (5.6% to 6.8%) and declined thereafter to 5.9% in 2018.
Between 2001 and 2018, the number of:
- DSP recipients aged 18–64 increased overall by 10% (616,400 to 680,300), peaking in 2012 at 793,900 and falling in 2018 to 680,300 (14% decline between 2012 and 2018). The proportion of the 18–64 population receiving DSP remained relatively stable between 2001 and 2014 (5.1 to 5.3%) and declined thereafter to 4.4% in 2018.
- Carer Payment recipients aged 18–64 increased 4-fold (56,300 to 227,800). The rate of increase was slower between 2014 and 2018 than in previous years, with a 9.0% increase over this period. The proportion of the population aged 18–64 receiving the Carer Payment increased from 0.5% in 2001 to 1.4% to 1.5% from 2014 onwards (Figure 1).
See 'Chapter 3 Income support over the past 20 years' in Australia’s welfare 2019: data insights for more long-term trends.