It's that time of year again! Easter is just around the corner. For most, holidays bring a nice long break and a chance to spend quality time with friends and family.

But if you receive Centrelink payments, you may have to adjust how you conduct your reporting and receive payments.

That's because Services Australia (previously known as Centrelink) is closing its services and call centres over Easter.

As such, your payments and reporting days may be slightly different this Easter period.

Centrelink recipients are being reminded about upcoming closures over the Easter public holidays, which may change their reporting dates. Credit: Shutterstock.

Services Australia wants to remind you that their service and call centres will be closed on Good Friday (April 7), Easter Monday (April 10), as well as ANZAC Day on Tuesday (April 25), later this month.

While you can still access myGov, Express Plus mobile app, and phone self-service during the holidays, it's important to note that your reporting and payment days may be affected.

If you usually report your income or update your information on these specific days, you may need to make adjustments due to the closures.

It's always a good idea to plan ahead and be aware of any changes in services during public holidays to avoid any inconvenience or delays in receiving your payments.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to Services Australia through myGov or the Express Plus mobile app, as they will still be available for self-service options during the holidays.

Easter reporting and payment dates for pensioners. Credit: Services Australia.

It's important to keep in mind, however, that if your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, you can still do any of the following online:

• report your income,
• view your reporting dates for the next 12 weeks,
• change some of your appointments,
• apply for an advance payment,
• and request a document.

You may need to report your income a bit earlier, depending on your payment schedule.

That said, it may be a good idea to start reporting your income early so that you still get paid, despite the impending closure of services. Remember, you'll need to include an estimate of what you expect to earn for your complete reporting period.

If you make a mistake, you can always rectify it within 14 days.

ANZAC Day reporting and payment dates for pensioners. Credit: Services Australia.

If you are not required to report employment income, Services Australia may pay you early. Payments will not be delayed due to a public holiday but may be issued earlier than your usual payment date.

Early payment is the same amount as your regular payment, just given in advance. When an early payment is made, it will be as close to your normal payment date as possible.

It's important to budget accordingly, as this early payment will need to last until your next scheduled payment date.

Credit: Services Australia.

Credit: Services Australia.

In addition to this, a number of major Aussie retailers such as Woolies, Coles, ALDI and Kmart are closed on the Good Friday public holiday, so be sure to plan ahead for any errands you may need to run.

We wrote about their trading hours here in this article. Feel free to check it out!

We hope this article will be useful to you in preparing for this Easter period. Stay safe, and enjoy your break!

 

[Gsr]

Thank you, although this doesn’t affect me it affects a lot of other people who may not be aware of these changes.

 

[Klaus A]

I got an SMS from Centerlink to report on specific day. Thank you, Centerlink and thank you for the advise here too

 

[Gsr]

Centrelink have not improved. My grandson left school last year. We applied for Centrelink for him on 29th January, as you can’t apply til school returns we were told, just in case you go back to school. Paperwork supplied by early March except a separation certificate from his previous fast food casual employee, who he had to leave last November as they continually rostered him on shifts he couldn’t do due to his schooling, he was travelling an hour each way to a training college. Well after three weeks of ringing, calling in and asking we finally got the form. They kept insisting he didn’t need it. He had an appointment with a job provider on 5th April, no money unless you do it. We checked his myGov that night, nothing there. We checked last night, well he was supposed to have reported on 5th April, reported why we don’t know, he is unemployed and Centrelink know that. Now no money til 20th April, then only a normal payment. NO BACK MONEY. So not only are they ripping him off by not paying back money, they are ripping him off by delaying his first payment by almost three weeks after his reporting date, and he doesn’t get another payment for two weeks after that, and he still has to report. We now have to visit the local office after Easter, they won’t be happy with what I have to say. If this doesn’t get a positive result our local federal politician will be getting a call, someone has to be responsible for the idiots who make these decisions. He also had a call from Centrelink regarding his claim, the caller was INDIAN, he couldn’t understand most of what she was saying due to her accent, he kept telling her this, she just kept babbling on regardless, asking questions etc. this is unacceptable practice, at least having people who can be understood making the phone calls should be a minimum requirement for employment.

 

[Da Freddo]

Those people who posses astronomical intellect at Centerlink have excelled again.
My wife sent a letter detailing the amount We are downsizing her super every three months which is in pension faze, they have now included her super and then added her super in "pension faze" therefore doubling her original super! where do they find these people who posses such extraordinary intelligence?
Obviously not from this planet!!!
The lord giveth and Centerlink taketh away
As Elmer Fudd would say "so many idiots, so few buwwits"

 

[Klaus A]

Those people who posses astronomical intellect at Centerlink have excelled again.
My wife sent a letter detailing the amount We are downsizing her super every three months which is in pension faze, they have now included her super and then added her super in "pension faze" therefore doubling her original super! where do they find these people who posses such extraordinary intelligence?
Obviously not from this planet!!!
The lord giveth and Centerlink taketh away
As Elmer Fudd would say "so many idiots, so few buwwits"

I can add to this. I recently canceled my PO box. Nothing else changed. Because of that they ask me to update my living arrangements, Income and assets, my rental status by a date. otherwise my pension will be stopped. Tried to ring them. After going through the initial blurb, ROBO told me the next opperator is in 45min available.

 

[Kimwyatt5052]

I don’t understand why people think the Government should be supporting students straight out of school. They should be looking for employment. If employment is unsuccessful after a period of approx 3 months and they do not live with parents some sort of assistance for fares and phones can be paid but they haven’t contributed to society so why should they expect the govt to support them.

 

[Kimwyatt5052]

Centrelink have not improved. My grandson left school last year. We applied for Centrelink for him on 29th January, as you can’t apply til school returns we were told, just in case you go back to school. Paperwork supplied by early March except a separation certificate from his previous fast food casual employee, who he had to leave last November as they continually rostered him on shifts he couldn’t do due to his schooling, he was travelling an hour each way to a training college. Well after three weeks of ringing, calling in and asking we finally got the form. They kept insisting he didn’t need it. He had an appointment with a job provider on 5th April, no money unless you do it. We checked his myGov that night, nothing there. We checked last night, well he was supposed to have reported on 5th April, reported why we don’t know, he is unemployed and Centrelink know that. Now no money til 20th April, then only a normal payment. NO BACK MONEY. So not only are they ripping him off by not paying back money, they are ripping him off by delaying his first payment by almost three weeks after his reporting date, and he doesn’t get another payment for two weeks after that, and he still has to report. We now have to visit the local office after Easter, they won’t be happy with what I have to say. If this doesn’t get a positive result our local federal politician will be getting a call, someone has to be responsible for the idiots who make these decisions. He also had a call from Centrelink regarding his claim, the caller was INDIAN, he couldn’t understand most of what she was saying due to her accent, he kept telling her this, she just kept babbling on regardless, asking questions etc. this is unacceptable practice, at least having people who can be understood making the phone calls should be a minimum requirement for employment.

Why should the government support him straight out of school. He should be looking for employment as we all had to.

 

[Gsr]

Why should the government support him straight out of school. He should be looking for employment as we all had to.

Well he has been looking for employment since he left school. He applies for multiple jobs every week but we live in a country area and jobs are not thick on the ground like in major towns and cities. He is 17 years old so can’t be expected to move to a town on his own to find work, he wouldn’t be able to afford to rent even if he could find a place. The money the government gives jobseekers is not enough to even survive on so we will still need to help him financially. Since we are his full time carers, have both worked since we were 15, paid taxes all our lives, I’m still working at almost 70 because we have little super as it wasn’t a thing for most of our lives, and are trying to survive on part time pensions and my part time work, which I’m still taxed on, I’m sure the government can afford to help us out. At the moment we are fully supporting him with no extra help from the government. If the government didn’t waste money on things like baby bonuses for mega rich people, and for women who keep popping out babies just to get the bonuses, and on maternity leave payments, there would be more than enough money to help jobseekers. We all managed years ago, if we had a baby he/she was our responsibility, not the taxpayers, and things were just as hard back then.

 

[Gsr]

I don’t understand why people think the Government should be supporting students straight out of school. They should be looking for employment. If employment is unsuccessful after a period of approx 3 months and they do not live with parents some sort of assistance for fares and phones can be paid but they haven’t contributed to society so why should they expect the govt to support them.

Newborn babies haven’t contributed to society either so why should the government be paying baby bonuses and maternity leave for the parents. None of the parents having babies now have contributed nearly as much to society as we have either, and surely people need to be takiing responsibility for their babies, not expecting handouts from the taxpayers, which is where the money comes from.

 

[Milica]

Centrelink have not improved. My grandson left school last year. We applied for Centrelink for him on 29th January, as you can’t apply til school returns we were told, just in case you go back to school. Paperwork supplied by early March except a separation certificate from his previous fast food casual employee, who he had to leave last November as they continually rostered him on shifts he couldn’t do due to his schooling, he was travelling an hour each way to a training college. Well after three weeks of ringing, calling in and asking we finally got the form. They kept insisting he didn’t need it. He had an appointment with a job provider on 5th April, no money unless you do it. We checked his myGov that night, nothing there. We checked last night, well he was supposed to have reported on 5th April, reported why we don’t know, he is unemployed and Centrelink know that. Now no money til 20th April, then only a normal payment. NO BACK MONEY. So not only are they ripping him off by not paying back money, they are ripping him off by delaying his first payment by almost three weeks after his reporting date, and he doesn’t get another payment for two weeks after that, and he still has to report. We now have to visit the local office after Easter, they won’t be happy with what I have to say. If this doesn’t get a positive result our local federal politician will be getting a call, someone has to be responsible for the idiots who make these decisions. He also had a call from Centrelink regarding his claim, the caller was INDIAN, he couldn’t understand most of what she was saying due to her accent, he kept telling her this, she just kept babbling on regardless, asking questions etc. this is unacceptable practice, at least having people who can be understood making the phone calls should be a minimum requirement for employment.

There is a complaints line that you can call, i think it is provided by centrelink - you should be able to find it on-line? and also the ombudsman if you need more assistance. All the best!

 

[Milica]

Well he has been looking for employment since he left school. He applies for multiple jobs every week but we live in a country area and jobs are not thick on the ground like in major towns and cities. He is 17 years old so can’t be expected to move to a town on his own to find work, he wouldn’t be able to afford to rent even if he could find a place. The money the government gives jobseekers is not enough to even survive on so we will still need to help him financially. Since we are his full time carers, have both worked since we were 15, paid taxes all our lives, I’m still working at almost 70 because we have little super as it wasn’t a thing for most of our lives, and are trying to survive on part time pensions and my part time work, which I’m still taxed on, I’m sure the government can afford to help us out. At the moment we are fully supporting him with no extra help from the government. If the government didn’t waste money on things like baby bonuses for mega rich people, and for women who keep popping out babies just to get the bonuses, and on maternity leave payments, there would be more than enough money to help jobseekers. We all managed years ago, if we had a baby he/she was our responsibility, not the taxpayers, and things were just as hard back then.

The gov't should be assisting young people when they leave school - what happens if they don't live at home? How then are they meant to survive without a C/Payment. Centrelink is a payment paid to people whilst they are looking for work, it is not a wage. It is to assist with rent, food, fares, clothing, bills etc whilst a person is looking for work and it does not even cover the above if the person is not living at home. It still is not that easy to get a job as people seem to think it is, not too mention applying for jobs and then not hearing back. Good on him for applying and trying to find work, which i hope he does soon! and with your help, it sounds like he has good support:_)

 

[Milica]

Newborn babies haven’t contributed to society either so why should the government be paying baby bonuses and maternity leave for the parents. None of the parents having babies now have contributed nearly as much to society as we have either, and surely people need to be takiing responsibility for their babies, not expecting handouts from the taxpayers, which is where the money comes from.

I don’t understand why people think the Government should be supporting students straight out of school. They should be looking for employment. If employment is unsuccessful after a period of approx 3 months and they do not live with parents some sort of assistance for fares and phones can be paid but they haven’t contributed to society so why should they expect the govt to support them.

That's interesting, with all due respect how is the young person straight out of school with no life experiences meant to financially survive for the 3 months if they do not live at home? They have already contributed to society just by the mere fact of attending school right up to the age of 17 yrs, an accomplishment right there in our society! and once they are successful in obtaining employment, then they can contribute to society, do you mean by paying taxes?!

 

[Klaus A]

Well he has been looking for employment since he left school. He applies for multiple jobs every week but we live in a country area and jobs are not thick on the ground like in major towns and cities. He is 17 years old so can’t be expected to move to a town on his own to find work, he wouldn’t be able to afford to rent even if he could find a place. The money the government gives jobseekers is not enough to even survive on so we will still need to help him financially. Since we are his full time carers, have both worked since we were 15, paid taxes all our lives, I’m still working at almost 70 because we have little super as it wasn’t a thing for most of our lives, and are trying to survive on part time pensions and my part time work, which I’m still taxed on, I’m sure the government can afford to help us out. At the moment we are fully supporting him with no extra help from the government. If the government didn’t waste money on things like baby bonuses for mega rich people, and for women who keep popping out babies just to get the bonuses, and on maternity leave payments, there would be more than enough money to help jobseekers. We all managed years ago, if we had a baby he/she was our responsibility, not the taxpayers, and things were just as hard back then.

You are on a part time Pension and doing a part time job. For every dollar you are earning centrelink is taking 50% of your pension plus you have to pay 19% income tax plus 2% medicare. That's 71% on my calculator. My advice is ( I had to do that too) to reduce your working hours to the point that centrelink is not taking any of your pension...... May be your employer can than take on your grandson as an apprentice and you teaching him

 

[Johnp5370]

Thank you, although this doesn’t affect me it affects a lot of other people who may not be aware of these changes.

Does not affect us because being Self Funded Retirees means we are treated very unfairly with no Pension whatsoever. Also the Assets tests are extremely inefficient way for a Govt to operate old aged arrangements. Simply pay all aged the pension and get rid of all the bureaucracy which will mean large ongoing savings anyway for govt.

 

[Jumping Jack Flash]

Honestly, in your 60's if you are on the pension and still want to work, you should be able to keep ALL of your pension and ALL of your salary but UNFORTUNATELY, if you reside in the soon to be 'communist' state of Victoria (thanks for nothing DICTATOR Dan ), you will have to pay for his mistakes regarding the COVID debacle this moron put us all through! .... livid as hell! You bet I am!!!

 

[Gsr]

You are on a part time Pension and doing a part time job. For every dollar you are earning centrelink is taking 50% of your pension plus you have to pay 19% income tax plus 2% medicare. That's 71% on my calculator. My advice is ( I had to do that too) to reduce your working hours to the point that centrelink is not taking any of your pension...... May be your employer can than take on your grandson as an apprentice and you teaching him

I am looking at that idea, reduce my working hours and let the government support me more. My grandson just had an interview where I work so I’m also hoping that the fact I’m a good reliable worker will help him secure a job. It is not his ideal job he would like, but as I tell him, it is a job and money until he can secure the apprenticeship he really wants. It will pay better than Centrelink and he won’t have to deal with all the crap being on jobseeker entails.