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You can choose someone to deal with all or part of your contact with us. This can be any of the following:
- a correspondence recipient who gets your CAPS letters from us
- an authorised representative who deals with all your contact with us
- a legal representative who deals with your legal matters
- a payment representative who gets your CAPS payments for you.
If you have a child under 14 in your care, we'll send you their CAPS letter and payments. This applies if you're one of the following:
- parent
- custodial parent
- principal carer.
The custodial parent is a parent who looks after the dependent child all or part of the time.
The principal carer is a person who has primary care of a dependent child under the age of 14 years. A step-parent may qualify as a principal carer if they live as a member of a couple with the parent of the child.
We’ll work with someone other than a custodial parent or principal carer if a court or the child’s parents tell us to.
When you choose a correspondence recipient
This is someone you choose to get your letters from us. They can be a carer, family member or guardian.
They only get your CAPS letters and payment statements from us. They can’t talk to us about your payment or change any of your details.
If you want to choose a correspondence recipient you can either:
- complete the CAPS application form on the Department of Health and Aged Care website and send us the form
- contact the CAPS team if you already get CAPS.
When you choose an authorised representative
This is someone you or a court chooses to deal with us for you.
They can be a:
- Centrelink correspondence nominee
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs trustee
- responsible person who the Department of Health and Aged Care approves to act for you.
If you want to choose a representative you can either:
- complete the CAPS application form on the Department of Health and Aged Care website and send us the form
- contact the CAPS team if you already get CAPS.
You need to give us a certified document to prove this person can get CAPS payments for you. This is where an authorised witness has signed as a true and correct copy of the original document. It can’t be a copy of a certified copy.
Check your form to find out how to submit it and your supporting documents.
When you choose a legal representative
This is someone who has the legal right to act for you. They may:
- have your power of attorney or enduring power of attorney
- be your court appointed guardian
- be a public trustee.
If you want a legal representative to deal with us for you, you can either:
- complete the CAPS application form on the Department of Health and Aged Care website and send us the form
- contact the CAPS team if you already get CAPS.
You need to give us a certified document to prove this person can get CAPS payments for you. This is where an authorised witness has signed as a true and correct copy of the original document. It can’t be a copy of a certified copy.
When you choose a payment representative
This is someone you or a court chooses to get CAPS payments for you. They can be a:
- Centrelink payment nominee
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs trustee
- responsible person who the Department of Health and Aged Care approves to get your payments.
You need to give us a certified document to prove this person can get CAPS payments for you. This is where an authorised witness has signed as a true and correct copy of the original document. It can’t be a copy of a certified copy.
Organisations
You can ask us to make your CAPS payments to an organisation.
If you want us to make your payments to an organisation, you can either:
- complete the CAPS application form on the Department of Health and Aged Care website and get the organisation to fill in their part, then send to us
- contact the CAPS team if you already get CAPS.
When you choose a parent, custodial parent and principal carer
Parents, custodial parents and principal carers must sign and complete the representative section of the CAPS application form if the CAPS applicant is under 18 years of age.