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Introduction
People with disability may receive financial assistance to help with activities of daily life. This section looks at income support payments for people with disability, focusing on those aged 16–64 receiving the Disability Support Pension (DSP). The DSP is the main income support payment available specifically to people with disability.
Disability Support Pension
The Disability Support Pension (DSP) is a means-tested income support payment for people who are aged 16 and over but under Age Pension age (at claim) and who have reduced capacity to work because of their disability.
This includes those who:
- are permanently blind, or
- have a physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition resulting in functional impairment making the person unable to work for 15 hours or more per week for the next 2 years due to their disability or medical condition, and
- are unable, as a result of impairment, to undertake a training activity which would equip them for work within the next 2 years.
DSP recipients are also encouraged to participate in employment where they have the capacity to, and can gain from the benefits of working, including improved wellbeing.
On becoming qualified for the Age Pension, those already on DSP may remain on it but the payment is closed to new entrants.
DSP is administered through Services Australia. It assists recipients to meet the everyday costs of living.
For more information see:
While this topic focuses on DSP, people with disability may also be eligible for other payments, allowances or supplements, such as Mobility Allowance, government concession cards (which discounts selected goods and services), and more general financial support (such as to assist with study, housing or finding work).
Other financial assistance for people with disability
Mobility Allowance
The Mobility Allowance helps with transport costs for people aged 16 and over who have disability, illness or injury, who cannot use public transport without substantial assistance, and who are participating in approved activities (such as studying, training, working, or looking for work).
The allowance is affected by the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Current Mobility Allowance recipients assessed as eligible for the NDIS will receive support for reasonable and necessary transport costs as part of their NDIS package and will no longer receive the Mobility Allowance. People not eligible for the NDIS will continue to receive the Mobility Allowance.
Around 16,800 people received the Mobility Allowance at June 2019—down from 32,800 at June 2018, 45,200 at June 2017 and 60,000 at June 2016 (DSS 2019a).
Supporting carers of people with disability
Financial support for people caring for people with disability is available through the following payments:
- Carer Payment—income support payment for people who, due to caring responsibilities, are unable to support themselves through substantial paid employment
- Carer Allowance—supplementary payment for people who provide daily care and attention at home to a person with disability, a severe medical condition or who is frail and aged
- Carer Supplement—an annual payment for carers in receipt of Carer Allowance and/or Carer Payment, for the period that covers 1 July
- Child Disability Assistance Payment—an annual payment for those receiving Carer Allowance for a child, for the period that covers 1 July.
At June 2019, around:
Centrelink data
Disability Support Pension (DSP) data in this section are sourced from unpublished data provided by DSS based on Services Australia administrative data, unless otherwise specified. Data are point-in-time at the last Friday of each month. Data are available from July 2000.
The size of the DSP population
Around 746,000 people aged 16 and over received Disability Support Pension (DSP) at 28 June 2019 (3.7% of the Australian population in this age group). Of these, the vast majority (90%) were aged 16–64 (668,000 or 4.1% of the Australian population in this age group).
The DSP is one of Australia’s largest income support payments for people of working age. DSP recipients aged 16–64 account for almost 1 in 3 (30%) of all income support payment recipients aged 16–64, the second largest payment type after unemployment benefits for this age group.
This section focuses on DSP recipients aged 16–64, reflecting the eligible age for starting DSP.
Disability Support Pension recipients aged 65 and over
While this section focuses on DSP recipients aged 16–64, a small proportion (10%) are aged 65 and over. This box looks at these recipients.
The number of people aged 65 and over receiving DSP is relatively small (77,700 or 1.9% of the population aged 65 and over).
The number and proportion of those aged 65 and over receiving DSP has increased over the past 15 years—from 0.2% of the population in this age group (or 5,740) in 2004 to 0.5% (or 13,600) in 2009 to 1.1% (or 36,200) in 2014 to 1.9% (or 77,700) in 2019.
The number of men and women aged 65 and over receiving DSP were similar in 2019 (39,200 and 38,400 or 2.1% and 1.8% of the population aged 65 and over respectively).
The vast majority of those aged 65 and over receiving DSP were aged 65–69 (69% or 26,600 of females aged 65 and over receiving DSP, 65% or 25,500 of males).
The proportion of income support recipients receiving DSP declines with age, from 8.3% of income support recipients aged 65–69 to 2.7% aged 70–74.
Changes over time in DSP
Changes over time in Disability Support Pension (DSP) can be seen in overall numbers and as a proportion of:
- the Australian population
- income support recipients.
Numbers of recipients
Overall, the number of DSP recipients aged 16–64 grew by 7.2% over the last 2 decades—from about 623,000 in 2001 to a peak of around 802,000 in 2012 (29% increase). The number then steadily declined to 668,000 in 2019 (17% decrease between 2012 and 2019).
This trend varied by sex. For example:
- female DSP recipients—
- increased by 60% from 232,000 in 2001 to 373,000 in 2012
- then decreased by 17% from 373,000 in 2012 to 310,000 in 2019
- male DSP recipients—
- increased by 11% from 391,000 in 2001 to 433,000 in 2011
- then decreased by 17% from 433,000 in 2011 to 358,000 in 2019
The trend also varied by age. For example:
- DSP recipients aged 16–24—
- increased by 41% from 39,600 in 2001 to 55,900 in 2014
- then decreased by 17% from 55,900 in 2014 to 46,600 in 2019
- DSP recipients aged 25–49—
- increased by 24% from 247,000 in 2001 to 307,000 in 2012
- then decreased by 16% from 307,000 in 2012 to 259,000 in 2019
- DSP recipients aged 50–64—
- increased by 31% from 336,000 in 2001 to 440,000 in 2012
- then decreased by 18% from 440,000 in 2012 to 362,000 in 2019.
Key changes to income support eligibility that affect the DSP
Over the last 20 years, the social security system has undergone significant reforms likely to influence trends in income support payments and recipients.
Key changes likely to influence DSP trends include:
- Eligibility criteria for DSP have tightened over recent years—for example, a change to the eligibility criteria for the DSP of being unable to work 30 hours per week, decreased to 15 hours per week from 2006. A new category for the unemployment payment for Newstart Allowance (now called JobSeeker Payment) was created for those with work capacity of less than 30 hours per week—Newstart Partial Capacity to Work. In 2012, significantly revised impairment tables were introduced.
- Age Pension—the qualifying age for the Age Pension for females increased from age 60 in 1995 at the rate of 6 months every 2 years and reached age 65 in 2013, the same qualifying age as for males. From 1 July 2017, the pension qualifying age for males and females rises again by 6 months every 2 years from age 65, increasing from 66 on 1 July 2019 until it reaches age 67 in 2023.
- Reduction in number of income support payments—various payments now closed to new recipients including Mature Age Allowance and Sickness Allowance ceased in 2008, and wife pensions ceased in 2020 (Age Pensioners and Disability Support Pensioners).
DSP and Newstart Allowance (NSA)
Around 746,000 people received the DSP in June 2019 and around 687,000 received the NSA (DSS, 2019b). Historically, the DSP was one of the fastest growing government social assistance programs. Recent policy changes, including the 2012 compliance and assessment measures, seem to have slowed this growth. These changes were followed by a fall in the number of new DSP applicants who were granted payment from 63% in 2001–02 to 43% from 2011–12 to 2014–15 (PBO, 2018).
In parallel, the proportion of NSA recipients assessed as having a partial capacity to work has steadily increased:
- 26% (or 181,000) in June 2014
- 31% (or 230,000) in June 2016
- 42% (or 289,000) on 28 June 2019 (DSS, 2019b).
Proportion of the Australian population
When accounting for population growth, the proportion of the Australian population aged 16–64 receiving DSP remained relatively stable, increasing slightly from 2001 to 2011 (4.9% to 5.4%) and then decreasing to 4.1% in 2019.
This trend differs between males and females:
- males—the proportion aged 16–64 receiving DSP steadily declined from 6.2% in 2001 to 4.4% in 2019
- females—the proportion aged 16–64 receiving DSP
- increased from 3.7% in 2001 to 5.0% in 2011
- then decreased to 3.8% in 2019 (Figure SUPPORT.1).
These declines are likely largely a result of changes over this period in how eligibility for DSP was assessed. Further, the large increases in female DSP recipients coincides with increases in the qualifying age for the Age Pension, and closure of some payments.