Is the main need the cost of raising children, parenting income support or caring for a person with disability or illness?
Families, parents and carers
Families & caring
Family Tax Benefit, Parenting Payment, Carer Payment and Carer Allowance sit in the Commonwealth system but use different family, care, income and residence tests.
What this part of the system means
Families & caring
Family and caring support spans payments for raising children, sole or principal carers, and people providing substantial daily care. Similar-looking payments can use different definitions of care, child age, family circumstances and income.
Decision prompts
Questions to answer first
These do not determine eligibility. They help identify which payment, scheme or authority to check next.
Is the payment for the carer, the family unit or the person receiving care?
Do child age, care hours or residence rules apply?
Is there an income test, family-income test or assets test?
Primary sources
Where this section will be grounded
Compass links back to the administering agency or official scheme. Placeholder content is deliberately kept separate from a formal entitlement decision.
Other parts of the Australian support system