Disability is a life-altering condition that a portion of the Australian population must endure throughout their lives. Unfortunately for those with worse cases of disability, some extreme cases may leave them unable to render work. How will they pay for their daily living expenses when they cannot secure income stability? This is where the government steps in and implements financial assistance for disabled individuals to rely on.
NDIS Plans
One of the most prominent agencies in Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme is a statutory program that aims to support persons with disability. The services offered to its participants range from career skills development to financial assistance and financing a particular client project.
Among the prospecting programs of the agency, the most notable one is the NDIS Plan. In this program, the enrolled individual—an NDIS participant—can propose a goal with a result and outline the rationale and the means to achieve it. If the proposal is continuous sustenance in the disabled participant’s everyday living, the plan will first undergo a thorough assessment before its approval.
Supporting Pension
Disability is an obvious hindrance to employment, and there are times when the disability can disable the individual from working. For this rationale, the individual may opt to qualify for their supporting pensions.
Like NDIS, a Disability Support Pension has layered criteria applied to the applying individual to check and see if they qualify for the program. For instance, an individual barred from working should meet the General and Manifest medical rules’ eligibility rules. Financial assistance will also vary depending on whether the individual is younger or older than 21 years old or if they are a child’s parent.
Pre-Employment Support
Another financial sustenance that disabled individuals can avail of is pre-employment support. From its definition, pre-employment supports are financial assistance that job hunters can benefit from as they are currently and actively looking for a job.
Work applicants can claim and receive support under the eligibility criteria that the individual has no work due to unemployment, redundancy, sickness, and injury. After that, these people must comply with their mutual obligations, which are the set of activities and tasks that the claimant should fulfill. Beneficiaries of this financial support should also report to a site for further delegation of tasks or some additional information.
Child Stipend
If a household has a child with a distinct and evident disability, they are eligible to apply for a child stipend under the government’s social programs.
Child disability assistance payment has simple rubrics for any household and carer who opt to qualify. Firstly, a child must be below 16 years old and have a qualifying disability. In addition, the carer, who shall receive the child’s stipend, should also be earning from her carer allowance. After meeting the criteria for the stipend, carers will receive an annual pay amounting to $1000.
Youth Allowance
A young adult aging below 21 will receive even more financial assistance through youth allowances like Youth disability supplement. Programs like this give the receiver extra funding separate from its disability support pensions. However, youth allowance is optional, and the supposed beneficiary can skip its application from the program altogether.