We assess your need for a temporary incapacity exemption based on your medical certificate. Giving us a medical certificate doesn’t always mean we’ll give you an exemption.
This may be where:
- there’s not enough information from the doctor, medical practitioner or specialist to make a decision
- your inability to study isn’t temporary and not likely to be resolved within 2 years.
You may also need to give us a letter from your education provider. This is to confirm both of these:
- your enrolment status
- your ability to catch up on your course.
If we need more information including this letter, we may contact you.
If we give you an exemption
We may give you an exemption if your medical certificate tells us both of the following:
- your sickness or injury is temporary
- you’re unable to study or train for a certain time.
If we give you an exemption, we’ll tell you how long the exemption is for.
Maximum exemption period
Generally, the maximum exemption period is up to 52 weeks. We’ll give you an initial exemption of up to 13 weeks from the start date on the medical certificate. We may give you further exemptions of up to 13 weeks without a new medical certificate until either:
- your original medical certificate ends
- you reach the maximum 52 weeks from the start date of your first exemption.
If we don’t give you an exemption
We may not give you an exemption if any of the following apply:
- you don’t meet the activity test as you’re not a full time student
- your Commonwealth Registration Number is suspended or cancelled if you’re an Australian Apprentice
- your sickness or injury isn’t temporary.
If this happens, we’ll discuss what options are available for you. This may include both of the following:
- your eligibility for another payment such as Youth Allowance for job seekers or JobSeeker Payment
- exemption from mutual obligation requirements because of your sickness or injury.
Use the Payment Finder to see what other payments you may get.