Best Kinship Care Paperwork Guide for Grandparents on a Pension in Tasmania
If you are on an Age Pension, Disability Support Pension or Carer Payment and raising a grandchild in Tasmania, the best kinship care guide is one that does three things: it maps every payment the child and the carer can claim across federal and state systems, it shows how those payments interact so claiming one does not reduce another, and it gives you worksheets to organise the paperwork before you start making calls. Generic foster care binders and US-focused templates do none of these.
The Support for Grandparents and Kinship Carers in Tasmania guide was built for exactly this situation. Here is what makes a guide worth the money when money is tight.
Why Pension-Income Grandparents Need Different Help
Nearly half of all carers in Tasmania live in households within the lowest two income quintiles. The median gross weekly income for Tasmanian carers is $520, compared with $710 for non-carers. When you are already on a pension and a child arrives — food, clothes, school fees, childcare — every unclaimed payment matters.
But the payment landscape for grandparent carers is complicated in ways that specifically affect pensioners:
- ACCS Grandparent removes the activity test. If you are on income support and have 65% or more care, you can access the Additional Child Care Subsidy at the Grandparent rate — up to 100% of the fee when it is at or below the CCS hourly rate cap, or up to 120% of that cap when the fee is above it, for up to 100 hours per fortnight. Many grandparents on pensions do not claim this because they assume the activity test applies to them. It does not.
- FTB and your pension interact. Family Tax Benefit Parts A and B sit on top of your pension, but how they interact with Rent Assistance and the income test depends on your specific situation. Claiming FTB does not reduce your pension, but getting the relationship right matters for Centrelink's calculations.
- State concessions stack with federal payments. Tasmania's Student Assistance Scheme (STAS), the Spectacles Assistance Scheme and the Community Kinship Care Program's brokerage funding all operate independently of Centrelink payments — but you need to know they exist and apply separately.
- Double Orphan Pension is often missed. If you care for a child at least 35% of the time, it may be available when both parents have died, or when one has died and the other is in prison for at least 10 years, in a psychiatric institution or nursing home indefinitely, or their whereabouts are unknown. It is frequently overlooked because carers do not realise the second condition includes these situations.
A guide that does not cover these interactions is not worth buying when you are on a pension, because it is the interactions where the money sits.
What to Look for in a Guide
| Feature | Why It Matters for Pensioners | Generic Binders Have This? | Tasmania Kinship Carer Guide Has This? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Centrelink payment detail | Payments are federal, not state — US guides are irrelevant | No (US-centric) | Yes |
| Informal care evidence assembly | Most pensioner grandparents are in informal arrangements without court orders | Rarely | Yes |
| ACCS Grandparent activity test exemption | This single payment can save thousands in childcare costs | No | Yes |
| Payment interaction tables | Claiming one benefit can affect another; pensioners cannot afford to get this wrong | No | Yes |
| STAS and state school fee relief | Tasmania-specific; reduces out-of-pocket school costs | No | Yes |
| Regional service boundaries | Knowing Baptcare vs Mission Australia coverage avoids wasted phone calls | No | Yes |
| Fillable worksheets and tracking logs | Organised paperwork means fewer trips and shorter phone calls | Basic (US forms) | Yes (Tasmania-specific) |
What to Avoid
US kinship care binders on Etsy ($18–$35 AUD): These use American terminology — "Power of Attorney," "Temporary Guardianship" — and produce documents that Tasmanian schools, doctors and Centrelink cannot accept. A US-notarised power of attorney is legally meaningless in Tasmania.
Foster care management binders: Designed for carers with formal care orders and assigned caseworkers. They include mileage tracking and caseworker visit logs that are irrelevant to informal arrangements. More importantly, they assume you are receiving state foster care allowances — which informal kinship carers in Tasmania are not eligible for.
Commercial form generators ($30–$60 AUD): These produce generic "Temporary Guardianship" letters that look official but are not statutory documents. Tasmanian schools and healthcare providers cannot accept them as evidence of parental responsibility.
General Australian parenting guides: These cover standard parenting topics and assume you are the birth parent. They do not address the non-parent evidence burden, current care-arrangement forms such as FA012 for shared care, or the distinction between formal and informal care.
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The Honest Cost Question
When you are on a pension, every purchase needs to justify itself. Here is the honest calculation:
The guide costs $24. It maps payments that many grandparent carers do not claim — particularly ACCS Grandparent. The subsidy covers up to 100% of the fee when it is at or below the CCS hourly rate cap, or up to 120% of that cap when the fee is above it, for up to 100 hours per fortnight. STAS fee relief and the Spectacles Assistance Scheme save additional out-of-pocket costs.
The risk is low: a free one-page checklist is available to download first (no purchase required) so you can see whether the full guide covers payments you are not already receiving. And the guide comes with a full refund, no time limit — if it does not help, email [email protected] and get the money back.
The calculation is not "can I afford $24?" — it is "will this help me claim payments that total significantly more than $24?" For most grandparents on a pension who are not yet claiming ACCS Grandparent or who have not applied for STAS, the answer is almost certainly yes.
Who This Is For
- Grandparents on an Age Pension, DSP or Carer Payment who have taken in a grandchild and are paying for food, clothes, school and childcare from their pension income
- Pensioner carers who are receiving FTB but have not claimed ACCS Grandparent, Carer Allowance or Double Orphan Pension
- Grandparents in regional Tasmania — Devonport, Burnie, the West Coast, King Island — who cannot easily visit agencies and need to maximise what they get from each phone call
- Adult children purchasing the guide for a parent who is raising a grandchild and may not be claiming everything available
Who This Is NOT For
- Grandparents who are already receiving all available Centrelink payments and state concessions — you may not learn anything new
- Carers in formal DECYP care arrangements with an assigned caseworker coordinating their payments
- Anyone looking for legal advice about custody — Tasmania Legal Aid (1300 366 611) handles that
- Carers outside Tasmania — the state-specific content (DECYP school policies, regional service boundaries, STAS) does not apply to other states
Frequently Asked Questions
Will claiming FTB reduce my Age Pension?
No. Family Tax Benefit sits alongside your pension and does not reduce it. However, FTB is income-tested based on your household income — your pension income is counted. For most pensioner grandparents, this still results in the maximum FTB rate because pension income is below the reduction thresholds.
Do I need to be working to get child care subsidies as a grandparent?
No. If you are a grandparent principal carer with 65% or more care and receiving income support, you are exempt from the activity test for the Additional Child Care Subsidy at the Grandparent rate. It covers up to 100% of the fee when it is at or below the CCS hourly rate cap, or up to 120% of that cap when the fee is above it, for up to 100 hours per fortnight, without requiring you to work, study or volunteer.
Is the free checklist enough, or do I need the full guide?
Download the free checklist first. If it covers payments you already know about and you are already claiming everything, the full guide may not add much. If the checklist mentions payments or processes you have not heard of — particularly ACCS Grandparent, STAS or the Evidence Assembly process — the full guide walks through each one step by step.
Can I get a refund if the guide does not help?
Yes. Email [email protected] for a full refund — no time limit, no questions.
Is this guide updated for 2026 payment rates?
The guide covers the payment framework and claim processes as of October 2026, including the 2025-26 and 2026-27 budget settings. Payment rates change with indexation; the guide explains how to check current rates on the Services Australia website and directs you to the relevant pages.
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