Combining benefits
Carer Payment plus Carer Allowance is the normal combination — two income support payments is not.
Carers often receive more than one kind of help, and the combinations have a logic: supplements stack on top of income support, but two income support payments do not stack on top of each other. This page sets out the combinations that work, the ones that do not, and the ones to check.
Combinations that work
- Carer Payment + Carer Allowance. The standard combination. Qualify separately for each and both are paid: up to $1,400.30 per fortnight for a single carer at the maximum rates from 20 September 2026, plus the Carer Supplement for each payment.
- Carer Payment + Carer Supplement. Automatic. If you hold Carer Payment for a period including 1 July, the $600 supplement is paid each July with no separate claim. Hold both Carer Payment and Carer Allowance over 1 July and you receive up to $1,200 in supplements for the year.
- Carer Payment + concession cards. Carer Payment recipients may be eligible for a Pensioner Concession Card, and Carer Allowance recipients may be eligible for a Health Care Card, each with its own concessions on medicines, health services, and other costs. Check which card follows which payment, because they are not the same card.
- Carer Payment + Rent Assistance. If you pay rent and meet the Rent Assistance rules, it may be paid with your Carer Payment, and receiving Rent Assistance also raises your assets-test cut-off point. Rent Assistance has its own rates and thresholds, so check them separately.
- Carer Payment + NDIS supports for the care receiver. NDIS funding belongs to the participant's plan and funds their supports. It is a separate system from your Carer Payment. If NDIS-funded supports substantially reduce the personal care you provide, however, Services Australia may reconsider whether your role still meets the constant-care threshold — so tell Services Australia about major changes in the caring arrangement.
- Carer Payment + Carer Gateway support. The Carer Gateway is the Australian Government's national service for unpaid carers, offering counselling, coaching, peer support, emergency respite, skills courses, and practical help. It is not a payment, and using it does not affect your Carer Payment. Its phone service is 1800 422 737.
Combinations that do not work
You cannot receive Carer Payment at the same time as another income support payment such as JobSeeker Payment, Parenting Payment, Youth Allowance, or Austudy. If you already receive one of those payments and your Carer Payment claim is granted, the other payment stops. That trade-off is worth calculating before you claim: Carer Payment is usually the higher rate, but it carries the constant-care and care receiver tests, and if the caring role ends, you will need to claim the other payment again. Similarly, you cannot receive two Carer Payments for yourself, even if you care for two people — combined care helps you meet the threshold for one payment, it does not create a second one.
Work, superannuation, and the Age Pension
Paid work up to 100 hours in a four-week period is compatible with Carer Payment, subject to the income test. Superannuation is generally counted in the assets test once you reach Age Pension age, and deemed income from financial assets, including superannuation-based income streams, is counted in the income test. If you reach Age Pension age while receiving Carer Payment, ask Services Australia whether transferring to the Age Pension, with Carer Allowance on top, would leave you better off — the answer depends on your assets, your partner's situation, and the care you still provide, and there is no single right answer for everyone.
Check before you change anything
Before you change work hours, move house, change the caring arrangement, or accept a new support package for the care receiver, run the change past Services Australia's payment rules on this site: does it affect the constant-care test, the 100-hour limit, the respite count, the income test, the assets test, or the care receiver test? Most payment problems carers report are not refusals of new claims but debts created by an unreported change to an existing claim. A five-minute call or online update within 14 days prevents most of them.
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.