Employment Separation Certificate

An Employment Separation Certificate contains information about your previous employment.

When we need the certificate

If you or your partner stop work or change from full time to casual work we’ll need an Employment Separation Certificate. This will help us to assess if we need to apply a waiting period.

We’ll need the certificate either:

• within 14 days if you’re getting a payment from us
• if you’re claiming a new payment and you’ve stopped work within the last 12 months of submitting a new claim.

Who needs to complete the certificate

Your previous employer needs to complete the certificate.

You’ll need to ask your previous employer to complete the Employment Separation Certificate form.

How to give us the certificate

There are different ways to submit an Employment Separation Certificate.

You can read more about how to upload your Centrelink documents online.

If you can’t upload your documents online, you’ll need to follow the mailing instructions on the certificate.

You can also give it to us at your local Centrelink Service centre.

What to do if you can’t get a certificate

If you can’t get an Employment Separation Certificate from your previous employer, we can accept any of the following:

• a letter written by your employer on their business letterhead
• a copy of an email from the employer providing the information
• written form or statement from the employer such as payslips showing termination payments.

We need the following details on the letter or email from the employer:

• the date you stopped work
• the leave amount and period paid at termination of employment
• if applicable, any redundancy payment and period
• your final payment amount
• money still owed by the employer to you
• reasons for ending employment, including if you left work voluntarily or due to misconduct.

If the Employment Separation Certificate or other evidence has missing information, it may take us longer to assess it.

If you’re in financial hardship

You can call us on your normal payment line if you’re in:

• crisis
• financial hardship
• vulnerable due to other reasons.