Social Security Act 1991

A person is qualified for carer allowance for a disabled adult (the care receiver) if:

the care receiver is an Australian resident; and

the care receiver is a family member of the person or is a person approved in writing by the Secretary for the purposes of this paragraph; and

the care receiver has been assessed and rated under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool and given a score under that assessment tool of at least 30, being a score calculated on the basis of a professional questionnaire score of at least 12; and

the care receiver receives care and attention that meet the requirements in subsection (2); and

the person is an Australian resident; and

the person satisfies the carer allowance income test under section 957A; and

the person’s work in providing the care and attention is not on wages that are at or above the relevant minimum wage; and

neither the person nor anyone else is qualified for carer allowance for the care receiver under section 954.

For Australian resident see section 7. For family member see subsection 23(1).

For qualification for carer allowance in circumstances of hospitalisation, see section 955.

For the effect of temporary cessation of care and attention on carer allowance, see section 957.

For the effect of 2 people being qualified for carer allowance, see sections 964 and 965.

The care and attention:

must address special care needs:

that the care receiver is assessed under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool as having; and

that relate to the care receiver’s bodily functions or to sustaining the care receiver’s life; and

must be received by the care receiver on a daily basis, for a total of at least 20 hours a week; and

must:

be received by the care receiver from the person alone; or

be received by the care receiver from the person together with another person whose work in providing the care and attention is not on wages that are at or above the wages mentioned in paragraph (1)(f), whether or not both persons are present every day when the care receiver receives the care and attention; and

must be received in a private home that is the residence of the care receiver, the person or the other person (if any), but not the residence of both the care receiver and the person; and

must not be care and attention of a kind (if any) specified, by legislative instrument, by the Secretary for the purposes of this paragraph.

If a person is qualified for carer allowance for a disabled adult, the disabled adult is not able to qualify for carer allowance for another disabled adult.

A person may qualify for carer allowance under this section and/or section 954 for 2, but no more than 2, disabled adults.