Raising a Niece or Nephew Financial Help Northern Territory

Aunts and Uncles Get Most of the Same Payments

If you're an aunt or uncle who's suddenly raising a niece or nephew in the Northern Territory, the financial picture is better than you might think — and in one specific area, slightly worse than it is for grandparents.

The core Centrelink payments are available to any non-parent carer who has factual care of a child, regardless of the specific family relationship:

Family Tax Benefit Part A — up to $235.48 per fortnight for a child aged 0–12, or $306.46 for ages 13–15 and ages 16–19 if in full-time secondary study. Income-tested, but most carers on low or fixed incomes receive the maximum rate.

Family Tax Benefit Part B — up to $200.34 per fortnight (youngest child under 5) or $139.86 (ages 5–18). Income limits depend on your circumstances; ask Services Australia to confirm the threshold that applies to you.

Parenting Payment Single — $1,087.20 per fortnight for single carers with a child under 14.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance — up to $219.40 per fortnight for carers paying private rent.

Double Orphan Pension — $111.40 per fortnight if both parents are deceased, or one is deceased and the other is imprisoned for ten years or more, in care, or unlocatable. Available to any carer, not just grandparents.

The One Difference: Child Care Subsidy

Here's where the distinction matters. The Additional Child Care Subsidy (Grandparent) — which covers up to 100% of childcare fees within the applicable hourly cap — is restricted to grandparents and great-grandparents. If you're an aunt, uncle, or older sibling, you're not eligible for that specific stream.

You can still access the standard Child Care Subsidy (CCS), which covers a percentage of fees based on your income and activity hours. And if the child is determined to be at risk, you may qualify for ACCS (Child Wellbeing), which also provides higher coverage.

The Three-Day Guarantee (72 hours per fortnight of subsidised care without activity test requirements) applies to all eligible families, including non-grandparent kinship carers.

The FTB Part B Grandparent Exemption

There's one more nuance. Partnered grandparent carers get a legislative exemption that lets them keep receiving FTB Part B until the calendar year the youngest grandchild turns 18, provided children aged 16–18 are in full-time secondary education. Non-grandparent relatives don't get this exemption — for partnered aunts and uncles, FTB Part B follows the standard rules and cuts off when the youngest child turns 13 (unless you're single, in which case the exemption isn't relevant since single carers aren't subject to the age cutoff).

Your First Week

If a niece or nephew has just arrived on your doorstep, here's the immediate priority list:

1. Call the Centrelink Grandparent Adviser Line (1800 245 965) — despite the name, this line serves all non-parent relative carers, not just grandparents. Tell them a child has moved into your care and you need to lodge a change of care claim.
2. Lodge a Mod C form (Change of Care Details) — this starts the process of transferring FTB from the biological parent to you.
3. Enrol the child in school — NT schools accept an enrolment statutory declaration from informal carers without requiring a court order.
4. Add the child to your Medicare card — or request a secondary card in the child's name.
5. Contact the Foster and Kinship Carers Association NT — for support, referrals, and connection to other carers in your area.

FTB claims can generally be backdated to the start of the current financial year, so even if it takes a few weeks to get the paperwork sorted, you may still receive payments for that period.

The NT Kinship Carer Support Guide covers the full claim process for both grandparent and non-grandparent carers, with separate sections highlighting where entitlements differ based on your relationship to the child.

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