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Applying for carers payment

Melstar71Contributor

Applying for carers payment

From advice from my social worker I'm in the process of applying for the carers payment in regards to my husbands mental health. Looking at the questions on the form they seem to discriminate against carers of mental health and focus too much on physical and dementia care. Has anyone on here been successful in obtaining this payment for caring for someone with mental health issues? What made it successful? I'm working to keep my partner out of physcriatric care which prevents me from gaining employment and I feel that the questions on this form do not reflect that. Any advice will be gratefully appreachiated!

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In response to: Applying for carers payment

Unknown userMember

Re: Applying for carers payment

Hi @Melstar71 thanks for your post.

You might be interested to read @Kato111's recent post planning for the future who was wondering about how to organise the DSP. Fellow member @artee shared about how she arranged the pension for herself as a carer, and for her husband who is living with an ABI. She mentioned that organising the carers pension was far more straightforward, I wonder if she could elaborate on this a bit more for Melstar71? I wonder if @Attahua is also receiving the carers pension now too? I am not an expert in this area. However I think to be eligible you would need to show that the disability (either physical or mental) is a pesistent and enduring condition that is not likely to improve for a lengthy period of time. This is typically trickier to "prove" or justify for mental illness than it is for physical illness, as the assessment is a lot more subjective. Hopefully other carers who know more about it can jump in and offer their support. Not sure what state you're in but you might also find it helpful to get some advice from Carers Australia or ARAFMI in your state.

Take care of yourself,
Mosaic.

In response to: Re: Applying for carers payment

AttahuaSenior Contributor

Re: Applying for carers payment

I hadn't even considered the carer's payment as I assume I wouldn't qualify as I work full time??!!

In response to: Re: Applying for carers payment

NikNikSenior Contributor

Re: Applying for carers payment

Hi @Attahua - it doesn't hurt to find out 🙂
Centrelink might be able to help and Mosaic's suggestions above might be helpful too.
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