Youth Allowance
Overview
Youth Allowance replaces a number of payments, including Youth Training Allowance, Newstart and Sickness Allowance for people under 21, AUSTUDY for people under 25 and Family Allowance for some secondary students. This means that young people who are studying, training or looking for work will receive the same amount of income support.
Youth Allowance is for young people who are:
- studying full-time and aged 16-24
- aged 18-20 and looking for work full-time, combining part-time study and looking for work, doing other approved activities (including voluntary work), or who are ill
- studying full-time and were getting Youth Allowance before turning 25 and are still doing the same course
- 15 years old and have reached school leaving age and are considered to be independent - ie: a homeless young person.
Youth Allowance is subject to a personal income and assets test as well as a parental means test. Youth Allowance rates depend on whether the recipient is single, has children, lives at home or needs to live away from home.
Rural and remote students
The following information will highlight those aspects of Youth Allowance that are particularly relevant to students in rural and remote Australia.
The parental means test looks at the parents income, assets and actual means to measure whether the parents are capable of financially supporting the student. The Parental Means Test does not apply if the parents are entitled to some form of government income support or if the student qualifies as independent.
A student is considered independent if he/she:
- has/had a dependent child
- is/has been married
- is/has lived in a de facto relationship for at least one year
- has worked full-time for at least 30 hours per week for at least 18 months since leaving school
- has worked part-time for at least 15 hours per week for at least two years since leaving school
- earned at least $13,767 over 18 months since leaving school
- is a refugee, ward of the state, orphan or homeless
- is 25 or more and a full-time student
- has parents who cannot exercise their responsibilities or it is unreasonable to live at home.
The Personal Income and Assets Test
The Personal Income and Assets Test applies whether the student is independent or not. It is based on how much the student earns a fortnight. A full-time student can earn $230 gross a fortnight without affecting Youth Allowance. If the student earns between $230 and $310 per fortnight each $1 over $230 will reduce Youth Allowance by 50c in the dollar. Income above $310 per fortnight reducesYouth Allowance by 70c in the dollar.
For the actual Youth Allowance rates refer to: www.youthallowance.centrelink.gov.au/howmuch.htm.
Extra benefits are paid to people who have to pay private rent or who live in remote areas.
Away from home rate - If the student is dependent on the parents but has to live away from home while he/she is studying, the student may qualify for the Away from Home Rate of Youth Allowance. The Away from Home Rate can be up to $120 higher per fortnight than the Living at Home Rate.
Rent Assistance - Rent Assistance may be available if the student has to live away from home to study. How much the student can get depends on whether he/she is single, has children and the sort of accommodation the student is in, ie: sharing a house, renting alone, or paying board or lodging. The Rent Assistance is between $6 and $75 per fortnight.
Remote Area Allowance - An additional allowance is available if the student lives in a remote area. Information about the 'special" zones is available from Centrelink.
To find out more about Youth Allowance visit Centrelink's Website.
Submissions and evidence received
The WA Youth Affairs Conference held at Fairbridge Farm in May 1999 adopted the following recommendations about the common Youth Allowance.
- This conference supports changes to the Youth Allowance to allow for geographical costs such as high rentals and transport costs in isolated areas.
- Level of parental support to young people who receive a means tested Youth Allowance payment to be set at the same level as a young person would receive if they were receiving the payment directly.
- Common Youth Allowance rates to be based on need, rather than age.
- Youth Allowance rates to be the same as equivalent adult rates.
- Establish a Youth Allowance special needs category for marginalised young people in collaboration with relevant community agencies.
- Higher income threshold for young people on Youth Allowance to increase incentives to work.
- Recommend initiatives such as youth service units to be expanded to all Centrelink offices.
The inquiry has received a number of submissions which refer to Austudy. Austudy is now subsumed within the common Youth Allowance. Barbara L Schultz from Cowell in South Australia wrote:
"We are a farming family in a marginal area. It has been necessary for our children to go to boarding school (Port Lincoln) for years 11 and 12, as the local school only offered Open Access College, remote education. Following that we have so far supported the children in a total; of 14 years of tertiary education. We are ineligible for Austudy assistance due to the farm assets. However we can see that the answer is not necessarily removal of the assets test."We do not want handouts. Justice and equality in access to education will only be reached when all students who must live away from home for the purpose of education are given the difference in cost, between living at home - and away.
"If city students do not receive financial assistance from Austudy, they may live at home and attend a tertiary institution "around the corner". If the rural family cannot pass the Assets or Income test, the student receives nothing, and the family must then pay to board the student in the city to access education. You cannot get just the "away" portion of the Austudy Allowance."
Dale Price from Glencoe, also in South Australia, submitted:
"Rural PAYE taxpayers are particularly disadvantaged in terms of tertiary support programs. On the surface they earn too much to qualify for support but in reality earn insufficient income to support family members to attend tertiary institutions. All rural families face extra costs e.g. accommodation etc. not faced by metropolitan families. A rural support payment should be available to all families who have family members attending tertiary institutions. This will redress the rural metropolitan inequity and those with the ability to write down income."
Community meeting in Boulia Qld, 4 October 1999:
"Means testing of assets does not take into account the high costs associated with living in a remote area. For people on remote properties, this includes the huge interest payments they have to make."
Public meeting in Bairnsdale Vic, 11 November 1999:
"Our assets just put us right on the limit (for Youth Allowance) so that we are unable to get any assistance for our daughter's tertiary education in Melbourne. Several years ago - when it was still Austudy - and we were a declared drought area, Centrelink was initially unaware of their own regulation that in drought conditions certain parts of the assets test would be overlooked. That enabled us to get Austudy for a short period of time. With the change to Youth Allowance we've found that that allowance for drought-affected areas has been deleted. Both of us have to find off-farm work now to support our daughter at Uni."
Your experiences?
What is your experience with the common Youth Allowance scheme?
- If you have ever applied for Youth Allowance, please tell us about your experience.
- Were you successful?
- If not, what was the reason?
- Do you think parental means test rules are appropriate and fair?
- Do you think the rates of allowance are adequate?
- What are the actual costs of supporting an isolated student in education?
Please e-mail bushtalks@hreoc.gov.au
Or post your comments to:
Rural and Remote
Education Inquiry
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 1042
