Claiming by form

Before you start, check if you can get it. You can use our DSP pre-claim guide to help you decide whether to claim DSP. It won’t tell you if you’ll get DSP.

Steps to claim Disability Support Pension

1.  

   1. Get ready to claim

   If you have a terminal illness, print the Claim for Disability Support Pension for a Terminal Illness form. This applies if your life expectancy is less than 2 years. The form includes:

   • a consent to disclose medical information
   • a Verification of terminal illness form.

   If you don’t have a terminal illness print the Claim for Disability Support Pension form. The claim form includes:

   • a medical evidence checklist
   • a consent to disclose medical information.

   Can’t access a printer

   If you don’t have access to a printer you can either:

   • call us on the Disability, sickness and carers line and ask us to post the form to you
   • go to a service centre and ask for the form.

   We’ll check if you need to complete other forms to support your claim.

2.  

   2. Get your documents ready to claim

   You’ll need to get supporting documents ready to help answer some of the questions in the claim. This includes the medical evidence you need for your claim. Use the checklist in the claim form to work out what medical evidence you need.

   You may need to confirm your identity with us before you start your claim.

3.  

   3. Make your claim

   If you have a terminal illness, complete the Claim for Disability Support Pension for a Terminal Illness form.

   If you don’t have current medical evidence your treating health professional can complete the Verification of Terminal Illness section of this form.
   If you don’t have a terminal illness, fill in and sign the Claim for Disability Support Pension form.

   We may need to talk to your treating health professional about your medical evidence. Your claim form has a page to give your consent for your treating health professionals to talk to us. You don’t have to complete this page. If you don’t provide your consent, we may not have enough information to assess your Disability Support Pension claim.

   You can still give your consent after you submit your claim. Just complete the Consent to disclose medical information form.

4.  

   4. Submit your claim

   Submit the completed forms with any supporting documents, medical evidence and other forms we’ve asked for. If you don’t, we may not accept your claim or we may reject it.

   The easiest way is to submit your documents online. If you can’t submit online you can either:

   • go to a service centre
   • post it to us using the details on the form.

   Call us on the Disability, sickness and carers line or visit a service centre if you can’t submit a claim because of either:

   • a crisis
   • any reason outside your control.
5.  

   5. Wait for the result of your claim

   We’ll contact you if either:

   • we need more details
   • you need to attend an assessment.
6.  

   6. Support while we assess your claim

   If you claim DSP, you may be eligible for financial support while we assess your claim. This may be an income support payment such as:

   • JobSeeker Payment
   • Youth Allowance for job seekers.

   If you want one of these payments you may need to claim it separately to DSP. If you claim DSP using the online claim, you can claim JobSeeker Payment as part of your online claim.

   If you already get an income support payment

   If you already get an income support payment, you won’t need to meet mutual obligation requirements while we assess your DSP claim.

   You can also choose to keep meeting your mutual obligation requirements as it can help your participation in a Program of Support.

   Read about how Program of Support helps people with disability to prepare for, find and keep a job.

7.  

   7. Claim outcome

   We’ll send you a letter to let you know your claim outcome.

   If your claim is unsuccessful, we’ll let you know.

   If you don’t agree with our decision call us on the Disability, sickness and carers line. We’ll explain it and make sure it’s correct.

   If you still don’t agree, you can ask us to review our decision.

   If you’re eligible for DSP, we’ll let you know:

   • when you’ll get your first payment
   • how much you’ll get.