Transfer Carer Payment or Carer Allowance from child to adult

When the child you provide care for turns 16

When a child in your care is about to turn 16, you can apply to change your Carer Payment or Carer Allowance from a child payment to an adult payment. If you don’t apply for the transfer to adult payment, your Carer Payment or Carer Allowance will stop.

The assessment rules for child care receivers and adult care receivers are different. An adult for Carer Payment and or Carer Allowance is a person aged 16 years or older. When a child care receiver turns 16, we’ll check that they meet the rules for an adult care receiver.

When you can apply to transfer

You don’t have to contact us. We’ll write to you when the child is about to turn 16 years, or 18 years for a child with a terminal illness. We’ll tell you what date you must apply by, when we write to you.

After you apply, we’ll assess your transfer under the rules for a person 16 or older getting care. We’ll then send you a letter with the decision.

What happens if you do nothing

If you don’t apply for the transfer by the due date, you’ll stop getting Carer Payment, Carer Allowance or both.

We’ll also stop your Pension Concession Card and Carer Allowance Health Care Card.

How to apply to transfer

When you become eligible to apply, we’ll write to you telling you how to do this. We’ll send it either:

• to your myGov Inbox if you’re registered to get your Centrelink letters online
• by post.

If you want to get your Centrelink letters online, you need to create a myGov account and link Centrelink. If you need help, use the help information on the myGov website.

Start your Child to Adult transfer online

If you get Centrelink letters in your myGov Inbox, we’ll send you a link there. It will take you straight to the Child to Adult Transfer task. This link is secure.

You can also select Child to Adult Transfer in your Centrelink online account from either the:

• Tasks section
• Payments and Claims section.

You can also view our apply to transfer online guide.

Nominees can apply for a transfer by choosing the person they are nominee for from their own Centrelink online account.

Apply to transfer by form

If you can’t apply online, you can download, print and complete these forms:

• Child to adult transfer for Carer Payment and/or Carer Allowance form
• Medical Report for a person 16 years or over form.

If you can’t download and print the forms we can send them to you. Call the Disability, sickness and carers line and ask us to send the forms to you.

Mail the completed forms to the address on the forms or submit them at a service centre.

Documents you’ll need to provide

We’ll tell you what documents you need to give us when you have answered the questions on the Child to Adult transfer.

You’ll always need to provide a new medical report for the person you provide care for.

You may need to provide identity documents for yourself.

Learn how to prove your identity.