Disability Support Pension

Web article

Release Date: 07 Sep 2023

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2023) Disability Support Pension, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 28 April 2024.

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023). Disability Support Pension. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/disability-support-pension

MLA

Disability Support Pension. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 07 September 2023, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/disability-support-pension

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Disability Support Pension [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2023 [cited 2024 Apr. 28]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/disability-support-pension

Harvard

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2023, Disability Support Pension, viewed 28 April 2024, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/disability-support-pension

Australia’s social security system administered by Services Australia aims to support people who cannot, or cannot fully, support themselves, by providing targeted payments and assistance. Where this is a regular payment that helps with the everyday costs of living it is referred to as an income support payment, with the type of payment often reflecting life circumstances at the time of receipt.

This page examines the primary income support payment for people with a reduced capacity to work due to disability – the Disability Support Pension (DSP).

In 2018, there were an estimated 4.0 million people aged 15 and over (or 20% of the population aged 15 and over) in Australia with disability, according to the latest release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (ABS 2019). Of the 427,600 people aged 15–64 with severe or profound disability (who sometimes or always need help with daily activities), 69% of those with an income received a government pension or allowance as their main source of income in 2018 (AIHW 2020).

Government pensions and allowances are just one form of financial support available to people with disability. See Specialised supports for people with disability for further details on other services and assistance available to people with disability. See also Welfare expenditure for information on government expenditure on these payments. Also see glossary for definitions of all terms used on this page.

Unless otherwise stated, income support data on this page are sourced from Department of Social Services payment demographic data (from September 2013 to March 2023) and from previously unpublished data derived from Services Australia administrative data (June 2001 to June 2013).

About Disability Support Pension Expand

Disability Support Pension (DSP) is a means-tested income support payment for people aged 16 and over – but under Age Pension age (at claim) – who have reduced capacity to work because of their disability. This includes people who:

are permanently blind
have a physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition resulting in functional impairment that makes them unable to work for 15 hours or more per week for the next 2 years
are unable, because of impairment, to undertake a training activity that would equip them for work within the next 2 years.

People receiving DSP are encouraged to participate in employment where they have the capacity to gain the benefits of working, such as improved wellbeing. On reaching Age Pension age, people already receiving DSP may continue to receive it.

In 2012, there were changes made to the DSP including revised impairment tables (a set of tables designed to assess the severity of impact of functional impairment as it relates to work performance), an increase of allowable work hours to 30 hours (from 15), and the introduction of participation requirements for participants aged under 35. These requirements included a participation plan with Services Australia (DSS 2022). On 1 April 2023, further revisions were made to these impairment tables (see Federal Register of Legislation 2023 for more information).

As at 20 March 2023, the maximum basic rate for DSP, including Maximum Pension Supplement and Energy Supplement, is $1,064.00 per fortnight for a single person, $802.00 for a couple each and $1,604.00 for a couple combined. DSP is paid at the same rate as Age Pension, and the payment rate is reviewed each year. A further increase to the DSP rate for some customers under 21 was announced in the May 2023 budget to be introduced on 20 September 2023. For people receiving DSP, their payment is reduced incrementally for every dollar of income over $190 per fortnight.

For more information, see Disability Support Pension, DSP – qualification & payability and Disability Support Pension – payment rates.

See glossary for definitions of the terms used in this box.

How many people receive Disability Support Pension?

As at 31 March 2023, 769,300 people received DSP (3.7% of the population aged 16 and over). The majority of people receiving DSP were aged 16–64 (84% or 664,600), representing 3.9% of the population aged 16–64.

In addition to people receiving DSP, there were 345,000 people aged 16 and over receiving other income support payments who, due to an impairment, had a work capacity of fewer than 30 hours per week as at 31 March 2023. These people have reduced mutual obligation requirements as compared to other payments – that is, fewer obligations to be looking for work or engaging in activities that will help them find work in the future. This affects payments such as the JobSeeker and Youth Allowance (other) payments (see Unemployment payments), and Parenting Payment Single.

Trends

Over the last 2 decades the number of people receiving DSP has increased overall – from 625,800 in June 2001 to 765,000 in June 2022 (22% increase over this period). This overall increase is driven by growth in the number of people receiving DSP between June 2001 and 2011 (reaching 818,900 recipients in June 2011), before declining by 6.6% between June 2011 and 2022 (or 53,900 fewer recipients in June 2022 than in June 2011). The proportion of the population aged 16 and over receiving DSP increased from 4.2% to a peak of 4.6% between June 2001 and 2011, and then declined to 3.7% in June 2022 (Figure 1).

When analysing trends over the medium to long-term it is also important to monitor trends in the ‘working age’ population (people aged 16–64), given the growth in the population aged 65 and over in recent decades. Based on available data (from September 2013), the proportion of the working age population receiving DSP declined from 5.2% to 3.9% between June 2014 and June 2022, compared with a corresponding decline from 4.4% to 3.7% of the population aged 16 and over.

These declines in DSP receipt over the last decade may reflect policy changes as described in the box above and discussed further in People with disability in Australia 2022 – income support. They also coincide with an increase in the proportion of Newstart Allowance/JobSeeker Payment recipients assessed as having a partial capacity to work – from 20% to 43% between June 2014 and June 2022 (an increase of 195,000 recipients; see Unemployment payments for further details).

There were large increases in the number of people receiving income support in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (12 months to March 2021; see ‘Chapter 4 The impacts of COVID-19 on employment and income support in Australia’ in Australia’s welfare 2021: data insights for further details). However, COVID-19 did not specifically affect the number of people receiving DSP. The proportion receiving DSP remained relatively stable in the 12 months to March 2021 (around 3.6% of the population aged 16 and over).

For further information on the long-term trends of DSP, see ‘Chapter 3 Income support over the past 20 years’ in Australia’s welfare 2019: data insights.

Figure 1: Trends in people aged 16 years and over receiving Disability Support Pension and other payments, June 2001 to June 2022

Notes

Data are as at June 30 in each year.
Data before 2013 may differ from official sources due to differences in methodology.
Before September 2020, unemployment payments included Newstart Allowance (before March 2020), JobSeeker Payment (from March 2020) and Youth Allowance (other). From September 2020, Sickness and Bereavement Allowance are also included in the JobSeeker counts.
A small number of people receiving income support payments are aged under 16 (70 for Parenting Payment Single, 5 for unemployment payments (Youth Allowance (other)), and 5 for Carer Payment in March 2023). These people are included in the numerator in calculating the proportion of the population aged 16 and over receiving these payments.
Per cent refers to the proportion of the population aged 16 and over receiving different payment types, using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Estimated Resident Population data for June 2001 to June 2022.

Source: AIHW analysis of Department of Social Services Benefit and Payment Recipient Demographics – quarterly data on www.data.gov.au (June 2014– June 2022), and of unpublished data constructed from Services Australia administrative data (June 2001–June 2013).

Age and sex

People receiving DSP were typically in older age groups, with around 1 in 3 (33%) aged 55–64 as at 31 March 2023, or around 8.3% of all people aged 55–64. People aged 55–64 were almost 4 times as likely to receive DSP than people aged 25–34 (2.2% of all people aged 25–34), and 3 times as likely as people aged 35–44 (2.8%; Figure 2).

There were also a number of people aged 65 and over receiving DSP (124,700). The proportion of this age group receiving DSP has increased over recent years (from 1.4% in March 2017 to 2.8% in March 2023) as the qualifying age of Age Pension continues to increase (see Income support for older Australians).

Over the past 2 decades, the number of females receiving DSP increased by 54% (from 232,600 in June 2001 to 357,800 in June 2022) while the rate of increase was slower for males (3.5% increase from 393,200 to 407,100) (Figure 1). However, as at 31 March 2023, males remained slightly more likely to receive DSP than females (4.0% of males aged 16 and over compared with 3.4% of females) and accounted for 53% of all people receiving DSP.

First Nations people

As at 31 March 2023, 59,300 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people (see glossary) recieved DSP – representing 9.0% of First Nations people aged 15 and over. This compares with 3.5% of Other Australians (see glossary) aged 15 and over receiving DSP (see Income and finance of First Nations people for more information).

Note that Indigenous status identification in most data collections is voluntary. This may influence the quality and completeness of the data and subsequent reporting on the number and proportion of First Nations people receiving income support payments, especially among older First Nations people.

Remoteness area

As at 31 March 2023, people aged 16 and over were more likely to be receiving DSP if they were living in Inner regional (5.1%) and Outer regional (5.0%) areas compared with people living in Major cities (3.2%), Remote areas (4.4%) or Very remote areas (4.6%) (Figure 2).

Primary medical condition of recipients

As at 31 March 2023, psychological or psychiatric conditions were the most commonly recorded primary medical conditions for people aged 16 and over receiving DSP (37%), followed by musculo-skeletal and connective tissue conditions (18%) and intellectual and learning conditions (15%) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Number and proportion of people aged 16 years and over receiving Disability Support Pension, by selected characteristics, as at 31 March 2023

Note: Proportions are as at 31 March 2023, using ABS population data (September 2022 for age group and sex and June 2021 for remoteness area). Duration of receipt and medical conditions are reported as a proportion of all DSP recipients.

Source: AIHW analysis of Department of Social Services Benefit and Payment Recipient Demographics – quarterly data on www.data.gov.au (March 2023).

Earning an income while receiving income support

Means-tested arrangements are designed to ensure that income support targets the people most in need, by assessing an individual’s income and assets to determine eligibility for a full or part-rate payment. People receiving income support are required to report income from all sources including work, investments and/or substantial assets.

As at 31 March 2023, for people receiving DSP:

12% received a part-rate payment
7.0% declared earnings from employment in the preceding fortnight, with nearly 3 in 4 (72%) earning at least $250 in the last fortnight.

The proportion of people receiving a part-rate DSP payment declined between March 2016 and March 2023, from 15% to 12%. The number of DSP recipients declaring earnings also fell from 8.0% to 7.0%.

Duration of income support receipt

As at 31 March 2023, 86% of people receiving DSP had received an income support payment for 5 years or more (including 71% for 10 or more years) compared with 41% for people receiving other income support payments (excluding Age Pension).

Many people receiving DSP tend to remain on this payment for long periods – 78% had received DSP for 5 years or more, including 63% for 10 years or more (this does not include time in receipt of other payments).

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on DSP, see:

Services Australia A guide to Australian Government payments
Department of Social Services payment demographic data.

For more information on disability, see People with disability in Australia, 2022.

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