Assessments

The assessment score is where many claims are won or lost — here is how it works.

Carer Payment is not granted on a doctor's letter alone, and it is not granted on your say-so alone. Both are combined into a scored assessment. For an adult care receiver, the tool is the Adult Disability Assessment Tool (ADAT). For a child, it is the Disability Care Load Assessment (child) Determination (DCLAD). Understanding the thresholds before you claim lets you and the treating health professional give the assessor the information that actually matters.

The adult assessment (ADAT)

The ADAT has two parts. You, the carer, answer questions about the care you provide and the help the person needs with daily activities such as mobility, communication, hygiene, eating, and behaviour. The treating health professional answers a separate set of questions about the person's condition and functional ability. The two parts are scored together. For standard Carer Payment for an adult, the total must be at least 25, and the health professional's part must be at least 10. Both thresholds must be met: a high total with a low health professional score does not qualify, and neither does the reverse.

The lower ADAT pathway

There is a lower pathway where the care receiver also cares for a dependent child. If the adult scores at least 20 in total, including at least 8 from the health professional's part, and the adult's dependent child is under 6 years of age, or aged 6 to under 16 and attracting Carer Allowance, Carer Payment may be granted on that lower score. The reasoning is that the caring load is heavier when the person being cared for is also responsible for a young child. If this pathway might apply to you, raise it explicitly in the claim, because it is easy for a lower score to be read as a simple refusal when it is in fact a pass under the lower rule.

The child assessment (DCLAD)

For a care receiver under 16, the assessment is different. A treating health professional certifies that, because of a severe disability or severe medical condition, the child will need personal care for six months or more (or the condition is terminal), and the assessment must reach a qualifying rating of “intense”. In scoring terms, that means a health professional score greater than zero and a Care Needs Assessment score of 85 or greater. Short-term care (at least three months but less than six) and episodic care have their own rules, and combined care — two or more children, or a child and an adult, whose combined needs equal those of one severely disabled child — can also qualify.

Terminal illness

Where the care receiver has a terminal illness, the usual six-month and scoring requirements are treated differently, subject to medical certification. If you are caring for someone at end of life, say so clearly in the claim and ask Services Australia which evidence it needs for the terminal-illness pathway, because the standard assessment forms and timeframes do not fit that situation well. Carer support organisations and the Carer Gateway can also help with the practical and emotional load in this period, separately from the payment claim.

How to give the assessment its best chance

Describe a bad day, not a good day, and describe what happens without your help — not what the person can do with prompting, equipment, and your support already in place. Be specific: how long tasks take, how often help is needed at night, what happens if supervision stops, and which tasks cannot be left undone. Ask the treating health professional to be equally specific, and to cover every activity the form asks about rather than writing a general letter. General letters (“needs full-time care”) score badly because the assessor cannot convert them into points; itemised, activity-by-activity evidence scores well. Keep a copy of everything submitted, and if the score comes back below the threshold, ask which part fell short before deciding whether to seek review or to re-claim with stronger evidence.

Sources: Services Australia, Carer Payment pages (including “How much Carer Payment you can get”, last updated 20 September 2026; “Income and assets test for Carer Payment”; “How much Carer Allowance you can get”; “Working while you get Carer Payment”; “Breaks from caring when you get Carer Payment”); Services Australia pension income and assets test pages. Photo credits: see IMAGE_MANIFEST.md in the site build notes; every photograph is a freely licensed Wikimedia Commons image.