In a world where the cost of living seems to be perpetually on the rise, it's a relief to hear that the Australian government is trying to ease everyone's financial burden.

For seniors who rely on social security payments, there's some good news on the horizon amidst the rising costs.

Centrelink, the government's main social welfare program, announced an upcoming increase in payments to help recipients keep up with inflation.

This adjustment was a part of the biannual indexation process happening every March and September.

These adjustments provide a much-needed financial boost for Australians' Centrelink benefits, including the Age Pension and JobSeeker.

Australians under Centrelink payments should see this payment increase soon. Image Credit: Freepik/Kraken Images

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth emphasised the importance of this indexation.

'Indexation is a critical part of our social security safety net,' Minister Rishworth shared in a statement.

'For pensioners and other payment recipients receiving this financial boost, this will help ease some pressure.'

So, what does this mean for you or your loved ones who may be receiving these payments?

More than 850,000 Australians on JobSeeker should see a modest increase in their payment while searching for employment.

Starting Thursday, 20 March, a single person will see their fortnightly payments rise by $3.10.

Meanwhile, couples will receive an additional $2.80 each.

This increase could bring the total fortnightly payments to $781.10 for singles and $715.10 for couples, amounting to an annual increase of $80.60 and $72.80, respectively.

Over 2.64 million recipients under Age Pension should see a more significant bump in their payments soon.

Recipients on the maximum single rate should expect an extra $4.60 per fortnight, while couples will get an additional $3.50 each.

Consequently, fortnightly payments should increase to $1,149 for single beneficiaries and $866.10 for couples.

This same $4.60 increase should also apply to individuals on the Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment.

Other Centrelink payments should also see small bumps on their payments.

ABSTUDY recipients should expect a rise of between $2.80 to $3.30 per fortnight, while those on Parenting Payment will see an increase of between $2.80 to $4.30.

Rent Assistance payments should also go up slightly, with an increase of between $0.50 to $1.12.

Minister Rishworth highlighted the government's commitment to strengthening the social security system over the past three years, ensuring it provides support 'at whatever age or stage they're at in life'.

In addition to the payment increases, JobSeeker recipients should also receive news regarding compliance.

Starting this month, job seekers who just registered with Workforce Australia or Disability Employment Services should not face compliance action if they fail to meet a requirement for the first time.

While these changes may not represent a windfall, every little bit could help when it comes to managing household budgets.

Managing finances could be a challenge, especially for seniors on a fixed income.

To enjoy these benefits and more, make sure to update your Centrelink information as soon as possible.

Key Takeaways

• Centrelink payments in Australia, such as JobSeeker and the Age Pension, should increase soon due to indexation.
• Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth highlighted that the increase was a critical part of the social security system as it provides financial relief to pensioners and recipients.
• Starting Thursday, 20 March, singleJobSeeker recipients should receive an extra $3.10 fortnightly, while Age Pensioners will see more significant increases.
• Other payments such as the Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, ABSTUDY, Parenting Payment, and Rent Assistance are also due to rise. Fewer JobSeeker recipients will face cut-offs due to new changes in compliance measures.

How will these changes impact your budget? Do you have any tips for stretching your Centrelink payments further? Sharing your experiences can help others make the most of their benefits. We would love to hear from you in the comments below!

 

[IAN3005]

It won't pay for even a loaf of bread a fortnight !

Why do pensioners need to update their information to get this ? It's automatic, this might confuse some people

A load of BS if ever I heard... my intelligence has been insulted.....

 

[Anthony Ellul]

Under the Libs we will all be put on their odious INDUE Card. ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide will be put on it. Dutton and others this year have reinterated this, but the Libs and msm are VERY quiet about it.
Be careful who you vote for AND their preferences!

Ok stay with the pitiful.

 

[Beany]

With the amount of things given by this government and people are still complaining, not everything is or should be blamed on the government regardless of who is in, remembering that the Liberal government sold a lot of what was once owned by the government so there isn't a lot they can do to control what owners of the electricity, gas water, phones, supermarkets, private owners who rent out their property want you to pay for their services. There has been a massive increase in everything since Covid and the reason Labor has been able to give people assistants in electricity, the boosts of money people received not including the indexing twice a year is because Liberals horded the money. If you really want Liberals back in then remember Dutton likes what Trump is doing. Look at the mess he is causing. I personally do not want that for me or the hard working people of Australia.

 

[Anthony Ellul]

Just imagine of the Libs get in..they have stated the INDUE Card will be implemented for ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide! Including Pensioners.
Msm and the Libs are VERY quiet about it, but Dutton and others this year have reinterated this.
NO thankyou very much!

Please stay with your pitiful party. You are so partisan that you cannot see how paltry and insulting it is especially when the CPI adjustment is delayed. You were never going to vote any other way no matter how bad the current government performed and boy have they been terrible with rampaging inflation and therefore additional costs wasting on 36,000 increase in public servants. These jobs were created because the Ministers of this government don’t know what to do so they need more help.

 

[Ingot]

Danielle F. wrote:
"In a world where the cost of living seems to be perpetually on the rise, it's a relief to hear that the Australian government is trying to ease everyone's financial burden."

Relief?
Trying to ease?

Yet $2.4 Billion to partly buy a steel company???

Danielle - instead of writing propaganda for the Labor Party, with your lies that the govt is "trying" to ease anything ... why not help organise Pensioners and Seniors into a Lobby group that confronts governments and actually DOES something positive for ourselves?

You could write a story about how the Australian Pensioners League has been taken over by Political sycophants and does n-o-t-h-i-n-g for people who have given their all to the country and now rely on welfare to survive.

I will never become a financial member of this site while it publishes such rubbish stories, somehow encouraging vulnerable people to become outraged, but then offers nothing of any use to change these outrageous conditions imposed on us by successive out of touch politicians.

How many of us have written a letter [e-v-e-r] to a politician or their local member?

Why not publish helpful articles, showing how to write to a politician and how to locate their office, phone numbers etc.
Writing emails to politicians is useless - they take no notice.
But they still do respond to letters.

SDC is just a stirring organisation.
I do not come here for the help, or the discounts - only wealthy people can take advantage of discounted items they do not usually buy or need.

SDC needs a rocket under it - wake up Danielle F. and begin to actually show you have a conscience and compassion for the people you are earning a living from.
This latest rubbish from you is laughable ... so pathetic.

 

[HelenFB]

This Government should be ousted. If we have to vote to get them in, then we should be able to vote them out if they don’t live up to their promises.

All of Albo’s election promises were like music to our ears. But not one of them has been made possible after 3 years. Also, he said they would be a clear & transparent government……

I’m sorry for sounding like a whinger, but I just don’t like any of the Sleazy Labor Party at all. They will be last on my election vote.

Every time I hear Albo’s voice my blood curdles with all his “ahh” “err”. He does not have confidence speaking & there is no strength in his voice. He’s nothing but a hypocrite. He blames everybody & anything else for anything that goes wrong. Not once has he, or his little clowns, ever admitted they got things wrong. I’ve had enough of this circus & clowns act & can’t wait to see him gone!!

 

[FRANart]

That will keep the wolf from the door for sure!

 

[Still Ebby]

Just imagine of the Libs get in..they have stated the INDUE Card will be implemented for ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide! Including Pensioners.
Msm and the Libs are VERY quiet about it, but Dutton and others this year have reinterated this.
NO thankyou very much!

My sons has just read out to me from his mobile how this Indian guy has just bought millions of dollars worth of houses then renting them off and buying more and he is not the only foreigner doing this you hear it all the time
Albo let them in and they will eventually take over everything.
They are everywhere . A few would have been ok but this is ridiculous .
lf you want that idiot in again your crazy but l suppose the damage is already done.

 

[Susie999]

The Government should be embarrassed and ashamed to offer pensioners an increase to assist them in the cost of living, by giving them a whole $4.10. What a joke !! Voting for greens next election !!!!

A vote for the Greens wll be the same as voting for Labor all over again.

 

[Anthony Ellul]

With the amount of things given by this government and people are still complaining, not everything is or should be blamed on the government regardless of who is in, remembering that the Liberal government sold a lot of what was once owned by the government so there isn't a lot they can do to control what owners of the electricity, gas water, phones, supermarkets, private owners who rent out their property want you to pay for their services. There has been a massive increase in everything since Covid and the reason Labor has been able to give people assistants in electricity, the boosts of money people received not including the indexing twice a year is because Liberals horded the money. If you really want Liberals back in then remember Dutton likes what Trump is doing. Look at the mess he is causing. I personally do not want that for me or the hard working people of Australia.

So The Libs hoarded the money, heh. Well where is it now? I can tell you. It was wasted on 36,000 more public servants to support your incompetent rabble that are governing us and also making sure that they hand out “ jobs for the boys”. Please vote ALP because you prefer the Government to do everything for you. Remember too that most of your ALP Ministers never worked in private enterprise to know how hard it is to make ends meet. They have moved up through the Union hierarchy as reps or advisors.

 

[StarTrekker]

Our groceries went up by $100 per fortnight. How is $7 going to help. The rent will go up, Contents insurance up $40 per annum.
I am hearing a lot about other rises but all fake news, just like the Government and websites like this.

 

[Rain72]

Under the Libs we will all be put on their odious INDUE Card. ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide will be put on it. Dutton and others this year have reinterated this, but the Libs and msm are VERY quiet about it.
Be careful who you vote for AND their preferences!

That is simply not true. Who is responsible for spreading these vicious lies? Mr Dutton has been very clear that the card will not be applied to aged pensioners, nor to the disabled, except in isolated cases where it is clear the pension recipient is incapable of managing their affairs responsibly and their misuse of funds is causing serious harm to themselves, spouse or dependents. In those circumstances, the card is a good thing.

 

[Rain72]

So The Libs hoarded the money, heh. Well where is it now? I can tell you. It was wasted on 36,000 more public servants to support your incompetent rabble that are governing us and also making sure that they hand out “ jobs for the boys”. Please vote ALP because you prefer the Government to do everything for you. Remember too that most of your ALP Ministers never worked in private enterprise to know how hard it is to make ends meet. They have moved up through the Union hierarchy as reps or advisors.

I love what Trump is doing. He is restoring common sense and productivity - undoing the hideous damage the lefties have done.
What is the ALP doing for us? Throwing money about like drunken sailors. Taking from taxpayers to give huge electricity subsidies to the wealthy. Handing out massive amounts to NDIS recipients who neither need it nor use it responsibly. Yet NOT increasing pensions adequately to people who paid tax all their lives and now can't afford basics because prices have skyrocketed so much under Labor's watch. Oh, and let's not forget the months and money spent frantically trying to divide the nation on race, when they COULD and SHOULD have been addressing cost of living issues.

 

[Rain72]

Under the Libs we will all be put on their odious INDUE Card. ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide will be put on it. Dutton and others this year have reinterated this, but the Libs and msm are VERY quiet about it.
Be careful who you vote for AND their preferences!

Please stop spreading LIES. Nobody in the Libs has EVER even hinted at applying the INDUE card to aged pensioners. In fact, they have been adamant in declaring they have no such intention. This is just another ALP LIE to blacken the names of their opposition.

 

[Anthony Ellul]

Under the Libs we will all be put on their odious INDUE Card. ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide will be put on it. Dutton and others this year have reinterated this, but the Libs and msm are VERY quiet about it.
Be careful who you vote for AND their preferences!

Tabby you are very active in support of the ALP incompetents but you are not addressing the overwhelming disgust that the SDC members have rightly highlighted with this automatic but paltry adjustment. They can suddenly find 3 billion to give the Marxist government in Victoria for their Big Build fiasco as well as money for other doubtful causes but not for pensioners or even the unemployed. We all should know that you are a paid ALP stooge employed to try to bolster their election chances but the increase is indeed pitiful and everyone can see it.

 

[Rain72]

Just imagine of the Libs get in..they have stated the INDUE Card will be implemented for ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide! Including Pensioners.
Msm and the Libs are VERY quiet about it, but Dutton and others this year have reinterated this.
NO thankyou very much!

Lies Lies Lies. And you keep repeating them. I guess, like the ALP politicians, you think if you say it often enough the public will swallow these untruths. Most of us are more intelligent. We check the FACTS. And this is a blatant and very destructive LIE.

 

[rooboy33]

when I think of the years I worked all that overtime paying all that extra tax and for the gov to sh*^# in my face missed out on superannuation and all what an insult

Just imagine of the Libs get in..they have stated the INDUE Card will be implemented for ALL Centrelink recipients Australia wide! Including Pensioners.
Msm and the Libs are VERY quiet about it, but Dutton and others this year have reinterated this.
NO thankyou very much!

Dutton might do an abbot and dive in the pension fund would not put that past him

 

[Ingot]

With the amount of things given by this government and people are still complaining, not everything is or should be blamed on the government regardless of who is in, remembering that the Liberal government sold a lot of what was once owned by the government so there isn't a lot they can do to control what owners of the electricity, gas water, phones, supermarkets, private owners who rent out their property want you to pay for their services. There has been a massive increase in everything since Covid and the reason Labor has been able to give people assistants in electricity, the boosts of money people received not including the indexing twice a year is because Liberals horded the money. If you really want Liberals back in then remember Dutton likes what Trump is doing. Look at the mess he is causing. I personally do not want that for me or the hard working people of Australia.

Crawl back under your rock, Beany.
Most of us are smart enough to see you are a sycophant for Labor.

They can do a lot.
They just Nationalised Whyalla Steel with a lazy $2.4 BILLION pulled out of the skid-marks on Albo's undies.

Labor is a lazy, out-of-touch yesterday's party that was organised under a Coolibah tree beside a Billabong in the 1890s. They are now hacks for the over-paid Union Bosses, and have NO compassion for those who vote for them.
Liberals the same - not recognisable from any root or branch of Menzies' conservatives.
And more in touch with their Real Estate portfolios and Shares than the needs of constituents.

New energy is needed.
Independent Reps.
Freedom parties like Libertarians and One Nation and Family First.
The balance of power needs to change. We need more hung parliaments to get things done well.
Stop the subsidies for the overseas mining companies.
Ditch renewables before we are slaves to it - ask South Australians - [the State with the most renewable energy] - if their renewable electricity is cheaper. It's the most expensive in the Nation.
Almost all renewable windmills etc are contracted to OVERSEAS builders for $Billions.
Thanks Labor.
We have the means to do it ourselves, but Labor lacks leaders with guts - Albanese could not even confront the Chinese when 4 times their jets dropped flares in front of our craft, and threatened our military and Navy aircraft on legitimate flights. (2022, 2023, 2024,2025)

He said "it was raised at the appropriate level" but refused to say if he had raised it with his meeting with Xi Jinping (because he didn't have the cajones to shirt-front him).

The Chinese Navy sails down Australia's East Coast ... and we didn't even send a boat or a plane out to have a look - all we saw were stock photos.
Meanwhile domestic flights were diverted for safety reasons (between Auckland and Australia) when the Chinese conducted live firing exercises near flight paths.
What's that about?
Why not do their live firing in their own back yards?
Richard Marles is a boy doing a man's job ... badly!
He should have been all over the Chinese ... instead ... crickets!
No testosterone.

LNP would have been the same.
We need people with Integrity and Guts to lead us in the interests of the people ... the Nation.
Labor has shown in just one term ... they aren't across the issues, and they are not cutting it.

So you see now why pensioners are disappointed and angry?
They keep voting for governments that enrich those elected, but on those who loyally support them. We get insulted with a loaf of bread or half a coffee a fortnight, but people will continue to vote the same duopoly back into power.
Insane country Australia.

Labor knows they do not need the pensioner vote.
Nor do the LNP need us.
They just bring in migrant voters and fund them from taxpayers money, and put them in Taxpayer's houses.
Job done.

 

[rooboy33]

Tabby you are very active in support of the ALP incompetents but you are not addressing the overwhelming disgust that the SDC members have rightly highlighted with this automatic but paltry adjustment. They can suddenly find 3 billion to give the Marxist government in Victoria for their Big Build fiasco as well as money for other doubtful causes but not for pensioners or even the unemployed. We all should know that you are a paid ALP stooge employed to try to bolster their election chances but the increase is indeed pitiful and everyone can see it.

we all know where to put that card Dutton let me sharpen the edges first

 

[elaine41]

What an insult. Now I can buy an extra loaf of bread a fortnight so might get to have a sandwich for lunch every 2nd day to keep within my level of income.

I would love to be able to have home & contents insurance but the last renewal I received had increased so much I rang the company to enquire why. The answer: because we have to cover you in case of flood & TSUNAMI!!! I live west of the ranges so if a tsunami hit my home they would not even pay out because everyone on the coast would be dead. So I just have to hope that nothing happens to my home.