Who can get it

Eligibility

You must meet all of the following:

• have experienced family and domestic violence
• be contactable by our social workers to assess your situation
• be eligible for, or getting, an income support payment or ABSTUDY Living Allowance
• be in one of the required living arrangements
• be in Australia when the incident happened and when you submit your claim
• be in severe financial hardship.
• contact us within 7 days of your living arrangements changing.

You cannot get this payment if you have already reached the maximum number of crisis payments payable for an extreme circumstance.

You can read more about who else can help with family and domestic violence.

Living arrangements

You must be in one of these living arrangements to be eligible for this payment.

Left your home

You’ve left your home for your safety due to family and domestic violence and it's unreasonable for you to return.

You must also either have established a new home or intend to establish a new home due to family and domestic violence. The social worker will discuss your plans with you as part of your assessment.

You must contact us or make a claim within 7 days of deciding that you can’t return to your home.

Staying in your home

You were living with the family member responsible for family and domestic violence and you’re staying in your home. The family member must have left the home, or been removed from the home by police.

A family member is a:

• partner or ex-partner
• parent or guardian
• child
• sibling
• grandparent.

A social worker will discuss evidence you need to give us for your claim.

You must contact us or make a claim within 7 days of the person responsible for family and domestic violence being removed from your home.

Removed from your home

You left or were removed from your home by police and you are legally prevented from returning due to family and domestic violence. You may be legally prevented from returning if you’ve been given one of these:

• an Apprehended Violence Order
• a Court Order
• another official document.

You must also have established a new home as a result of the family and domestic violence incident. This includes intending to establish a new home.

You must contact us or make a claim within 7 days of your removal from the home.

Contact us

To get this payment you must contact us within 7 days of your living arrangements changing.

We consider you to have made contact if you do one of these to get a payment or concession card:

• begin a claim using your Centrelink online account
• call us on your regular payment line
• visit a service centre.

After contacting us, you must submit your claim within 14 days.