Centrelink advice...

Hello,

My husband has just been offered a wonderful job on the Sunshine Coast which is due to start on the 8th Sept. Its a fantastic job and something we have wanted to do for a long time. My dilema is that he finishes work here on the 6th Aug and we move up on the 7th. Long story short, he needs to be up there to do some advertising for the course he will be running and to prepare for it etc. So basically we will be without an income for 4-5 weeks and we are very stressed about it. Along with the move and having to feed our family and pay bills etc, we just arent sure how we are going to manage. He will be getting a very small income from his new boss whilst he does this advertising, but certainly not enough to cover our normal expenses. I guess what I want to know is, if I call centrelink and mention that my husband will be out of work for a month, will they increase my payments during this time to help us out a little bit?? Or do they only take the yearly income in to account?. His overall income for the year will be much more than he is getting now, but its just that month or so that we will really need help with. If anyone knows it would be great for some advice :rolleyes:

In short no. You dont want to change your FTB estimate to reflect only one month. In fact when you do move make sure you do another estimate so you dont end up with an FTB debt as he will be earning more for the year.

The Newstart payment is to assist you to look for work. You have to make an agreement to look for work. Its not there to cover things in the meantime.

Can you talk to the new boss, its seems VERY unfair that he only gets a small income like that, he is still working after all...

GL

Briggsys Girl will prolly come in and give you a bit clearer advice, but she's in live chat atm!

FTB is based on yearly income hun - they can't increase it for a period cos if they do, you'll essentially be over paid.

you might be able to apply for parenting payment partnered for a period of time - but it can take up to three weeks to finalise a claim, so essentially when you'll be starting the new job.

give them a call tomorrow, they'll look at your exact circs and tell you what you're eligible for

I don't think they will do that MB. Especially if his income is going to be higher because it's money you won't be entitled to and will have to pay back by the sounds of it. Of course you could always ask.

What other options do you have hun? Can you skip a month with some bills? Borrow from anywhere? Max out your credit card? Redraw on your home loan?

Thanks girls, I thought that might be the case. We are going to see the bank on Thursday to increase our credit card limit...oh the joys!!.

don't tell them why you need the limit increased! they'll decline it in a heartbeat...