Eligibility for Carer Allowance

[sopa]

Carer Gateway recently told me I might be eligible for Carer Allowance for the support I give my partner with his bipolar disorder. I’m curious about the supporting paperwork needed to claim Carer Allowance for mental health conditions and was wondering if anyone has recent experiences with the process?

I found a post on here from 2017 that made me think I might need a letter from a specialist or the doctor who made the initial diagnosis, but I’m hoping to hear that a letter from my partner’s treating GP, who coordinates his care, might be enough.

I’ll share more about the process and what I learn as I move through it!

[tyme]

When I went through this, there is a specific carer's allowance form that the doc needs to fill in for him so that you can get a carer's allowance. @sopa 

So he takes it to the doc and they ask a few questions. Once that's filled in, if deemed he needs a carer, then yes, you can file that in with centrelink. https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/carer-allowance

It's about $150 a fortnight.

[joecl]

Hey there! That's great news about the Carer Allowance. I haven't gone through it myself, but I've heard that a letter from your partner's treating GP should be sufficient. It's worth checking with Carer Gateway to be sure. Keep us posted on how it goes!

[PeppyPatti]

Back in the day……

And today I don’t feel it’s as much traumatic to apply.

Please just get the claim form and hand it in as soon as you can because they will pay you from then. It’s probably best applying for both: the carers allowance and there’s another one…… forgot the name but it means you will get a spare $1200 per year gifted to you not $600.00 in the middle of July. But you need the first part of the paper’s  handed in before the end of June. 

Once you have the initial questions answered by you, please hand that in then you can see the GPS and they can fill out the other. 

When you fill it in, answer like he is in the worst situation, answer when he gets impossible to live with. The people who reads the answers do not want to read when he is well. 

Several years ago, my son, who has recovered, was struggling with a malignant brain tumour, I handed in the first part of carers, then got the Doctor to fill in the rest and waited. They usually answer in 6 weeks. And I got a no.

Anyways, my life was very stressful-those days, a few weeks later, he was rushed into the children's’ hospital and I by some weird fluke of something , wondered downstairs to the Social work place to get a free lunch. And Centrelink had arrived at the Social Work rooms. The woman sitting there with someone else, said,

“  oh its’ you, I have been thinking about you ever since you handed in your application for carers. What happened was that your doctor had wrongly filled out the form and if you go and see him RIGHT now, get him to tick the proper box,  Come back before 3 pm. Ill approve it and you will get 6 weeks back pay plus the $12 00.00 you get as a once off for the year. 

So I ran to my car, nightmare to park where I was I zoomed to the Doctors , got an emergency appointment, stammering away I had about an hour to get back to the hospital, zoomed back…..handed it in. 

So I did all this, we women are fabulous, did I write that those days my son used to get so ill,he was on the way out? 

My son, well, we got through. He is an incredible amazing man of 30 years old today.

[sopa]

A bit of a boring update to this – I decided not to go through the process, but found the paperwork if anyone else needs it.

Carer Gateway recommended I ask my partner's doctor to fill out this form, which would be enough supporting evidence for my Carer Allowance application:

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/sa332a

I decided not to apply for Carer Allowance because looking at the form I felt my situation wouldn't be eligible – I don't provide material or everyday help to my partner; it's more emotional, and we don't live together and can go days without seeing each other, so I'd only collect a handful of hours of care-giving per week. I felt extremely tired and vulnerable at the point I was considering Carer Allowance and decided I couldn't face going through the process about being knocked back, which felt like the most likely outcome.