Informal Kinship Care Payments in Australia

Informal kinship care — raising a relative's child through a family arrangement rather than through the courts or child protection — is the most common form of kinship care in Australia. It's also the form that gets the least attention from government support services, because informal carers often don't know what they're entitled to.

The good news: nearly every federal Centrelink payment available to formal foster carers is also available to informal kinship carers who meet its eligibility rules. The bad news: nobody will tell you this unless you ask.

What "Informal" Means in Practice

Informal kinship care is any arrangement where a child lives with a relative or family friend without a court order and without a state child protection department placing the child. The most common triggers:

• A parent enters rehabilitation or is hospitalised
• A parent is incarcerated
• A parent dies
• Family crisis (domestic violence, mental health, homelessness) makes the parental home unsafe
• A parent asks a relative to take the child temporarily, and temporary becomes permanent

In these situations, there's no caseworker, no court hearing, and no formal paperwork. The child simply arrives, and the grandparent or relative starts providing care. From Centrelink's perspective, this is a legitimate care arrangement — it doesn't need government involvement to be recognised.

The Federal Payments You Can Claim

Family Tax Benefit Part A — paid per child if you provide 35% or more care. Maximum $235.48 per fortnight for a child aged 0–12. No court order required; evidence of actual care is sufficient.

Family Tax Benefit Part B — paid per family. Grandparents and great-grandparents may qualify until the end of the calendar year the child turns 18, if the child remains in full-time secondary education (standard parents generally lose it when their youngest child turns 13). Maximum $200.34 per fortnight for a youngest child aged 0–4.

Child Care Subsidy (CCS) — subsidises approved child care costs based on your income. The 3-Day Guarantee ensures all CCS-eligible families get at least 72 subsidised hours per fortnight. Grandparents on qualifying income support who provide 65% or more care and make day-to-day decisions for the child may qualify for ACCS Grandparent, which covers up to 100% of eligible fees within the hourly rate cap.

Double Orphan Pension — $81.60 per fortnight, no income or assets test, for a carer providing at least 35% care when both parents are deceased or one is deceased and the other is imprisoned for 10+ years, in indefinite institutional care, or their whereabouts are unknown. You must also have lodged an FTB claim, even if FTB is not payable because of income. Often missed because carers don't realise the child qualifies.

Foster Child Health Care Card — despite the name, available to non-parent carers who meet the actual-care threshold, regardless of formal foster status. No income test, no assets test. Provides concessional PBS prescriptions and access to the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.

Carer Allowance — $162.60 per fortnight if the child has a disability requiring substantial daily care. Plus $1,600 in annual supplements. No assets test.

Parenting Payment — available if you're the principal carer of a child under 14 (single) or under 6 (partnered) and not already on Age Pension or DSP. Most grandparents on Age Pension should stay on their pension rather than switching.

What Informal Carers Don't Get

The one significant difference between informal and formal (statutory) kinship care: informal carers generally don't receive state or territory carer allowances. These are payments from the state child protection department, generally paid to carers who have a formal placement through the department. Rates vary by jurisdiction, the child's age, and assessed needs.

State carer allowances are non-taxable and exempt from Centrelink income testing, so formal kinship carers can stack them on top of federal payments. Informal carers generally can't access them unless the arrangement is formalised through the state system.

This doesn't affect your federal Centrelink entitlements. FTB, CCS, Double Orphan Pension, and all other federal payments are available to informal carers on the same terms as formal carers.

The Exemption That Saves You Money

Non-parent carers — including informal kinship carers — are exempt from the Maintenance Action Test. That means you don't have to apply for child support from the biological parents in order to receive FTB Part A at the maximum rate. Biological parents and step-parents are required to take "reasonable maintenance action" or face FTB reductions; non-parent carers are not.

You can choose to apply for child support from both biological parents if you want to, but maintenance income above the Maintenance Income Free Area can reduce FTB Part A by 50 cents per dollar above the base rate. For most informal carers, not pursuing child support and receiving full FTB is the better financial outcome.

Where to Start

Lodge your FTB claim first — it establishes a care assessment relevant to other claims. Apply for the Foster Child Health Care Card at the same time; it has no income or assets test. You can also start a Medicare card transfer, while using receipts in your name to claim Medicare rebates before the transfer completes.

Our Centrelink Payments for Grandparents guide maps the full claim sequence for informal kinship carers, from FTB through to Double Orphan Pension, with evidence checklists for every step.

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