Services Australia’s little-known initiative: Providing authorisation to a loved one!
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As we get older, there may come a time when we need assistance to help us manage our day-to-day affairs.
This is perfectly normal, and luckily there are a multitude of services available that can lend a helping hand – especially when it comes to important things like managing your Centrelink payments.
You read that right, folks! Just because you're getting a personal government payment doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself. There may be times when you need someone to make decisions for you, or even receive your payments on your behalf to help you manage your finances.
If that's something you need, the Centrelink website offers an 'authorisation process' that grants your loved one or trusted person to help you with accessing your account.
Anyone you trust, from friends and family members to other organisations, can act as a nominee and help you.
With authorisation, you give someone else's name and address to Centrelink. The government agency will then ask them questions about your vital details.
You can go also give them authority to update your records and permission to inquire to Centrelink on your behalf.
To know more about this scheme, here are the different types of arrangements that Services Australia offers as mentioned on their website:
Correspondence nominee
A correspondence nominee has the authority to decide and take action on your behalf. He or she can enquire, provide updates, and even submit claims for money and services.
Additionally, they will receive a copy of any correspondence that Centrelink sends to you. The correspondence nominee can also access your online transactions by logging into your Centrelink account.
Payment nominee
If it's too difficult for you to manage your bills and pay your monthly expenses, you can appoint a payment nominee to help you.
The payment nominee is required to retain a record of all payments made and how they were used on your behalf. They may enquire about your payments and where they are being transferred such as your bills and other expenses.
However, unlike correspondence nominees, payment nominees have restricted access to your Centrelink online account.
Power of Attorney
With a power of attorney arrangement, Services Australia offers a document for you to set up when you have the capacity to understand what you’re doing. They can permit someone (or a group of people) to manage things for you when you no longer have the capacity to do so.
So if you already have a Power of Attorney, Services Australia recommends you also appoint that person to be your nominee.
Of course, having an arrangement in place doesn't prevent you from speaking or doing business directly with Centrelink. If you want to cancel any of the arrangements you have set up, you can do so by calling Services Australia or by cancelling it online.
To find out more about the authorisation process, we recommend checking out the 'Add a Nominee for Centrelink' section of the Services Australia website here.
As we age, it's important to be prepared for unexpected circumstances. We may not be able to do certain things anymore, so it's important to have someone we trust to take care of things for us.
Giving someone power of attorney is one way to do this. While we still can, we should make sure our affairs are in order and that we have someone we can rely on to help us out when needed.
Are you familiar with this kind of arrangement? How do you find it? Share with us in the comments below!
This is perfectly normal, and luckily there are a multitude of services available that can lend a helping hand – especially when it comes to important things like managing your Centrelink payments.
You read that right, folks! Just because you're getting a personal government payment doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself. There may be times when you need someone to make decisions for you, or even receive your payments on your behalf to help you manage your finances.
If that's something you need, the Centrelink website offers an 'authorisation process' that grants your loved one or trusted person to help you with accessing your account.
Anyone you trust, from friends and family members to other organisations, can act as a nominee and help you.
Centrelink recipients can provide authorisation to their trusted person or organisation to manage their payments and finances. Credit: Julian Smith/AAP.
With authorisation, you give someone else's name and address to Centrelink. The government agency will then ask them questions about your vital details.
You can go also give them authority to update your records and permission to inquire to Centrelink on your behalf.
To know more about this scheme, here are the different types of arrangements that Services Australia offers as mentioned on their website:
Correspondence nominee
A correspondence nominee has the authority to decide and take action on your behalf. He or she can enquire, provide updates, and even submit claims for money and services.
Additionally, they will receive a copy of any correspondence that Centrelink sends to you. The correspondence nominee can also access your online transactions by logging into your Centrelink account.
Centrelink recipients may choose the ‘level’ of authorisation that they can give to a trusted person or organisation depending on their needs. Credit: Getty Images/elderwiseinc.
Payment nominee
If it's too difficult for you to manage your bills and pay your monthly expenses, you can appoint a payment nominee to help you.
The payment nominee is required to retain a record of all payments made and how they were used on your behalf. They may enquire about your payments and where they are being transferred such as your bills and other expenses.
However, unlike correspondence nominees, payment nominees have restricted access to your Centrelink online account.
Power of Attorney
With a power of attorney arrangement, Services Australia offers a document for you to set up when you have the capacity to understand what you’re doing. They can permit someone (or a group of people) to manage things for you when you no longer have the capacity to do so.
So if you already have a Power of Attorney, Services Australia recommends you also appoint that person to be your nominee.
Of course, having an arrangement in place doesn't prevent you from speaking or doing business directly with Centrelink. If you want to cancel any of the arrangements you have set up, you can do so by calling Services Australia or by cancelling it online.
To find out more about the authorisation process, we recommend checking out the 'Add a Nominee for Centrelink' section of the Services Australia website here.
As we age, it's important to be prepared for unexpected circumstances. We may not be able to do certain things anymore, so it's important to have someone we trust to take care of things for us.
Giving someone power of attorney is one way to do this. While we still can, we should make sure our affairs are in order and that we have someone we can rely on to help us out when needed.
Are you familiar with this kind of arrangement? How do you find it? Share with us in the comments below!
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