The COVID-19 Disaster Payment is for employees who are unable to earn an income because of a lockdown, stay at home order or the like.
Employees may be eligible for a payment of $750 if they have lost 20 hours or more of work per week, or a payment of $450 per week if they have lost between 8 and 20 hours per week. Prior to early August, lower rates of payment applied.
Who is eligible for the payment?
The COVID-19 Disaster Payment is available to people who live in, work in, or have visited a Commonwealth-declared COVID-19 hotspot or a location subject to a State or Territory restricted movement order. To be eligible, a person must have had paid employment and cannot attend work as a consequence of a lockdown or restricted movement order.
An eligible person must meet all of the following conditions:
- be over 17 years old
- be an Australian resident or eligible working visa holder
- not be in receipt of an income support payment (e.g. JobSeeker), Parental Leave Pay or Dad and Partner Pay
- not be in receipt of Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment (which is payable to people required to quarantine or look after a person who is required to quarantine), a State or Territory Pandemic Payment, or a State small business payment for the same period.
Individual members of the same household can be eligible. People can be eligible even if they were eligible only on one day of the relevant period.
With eligibility dependent on decisions taken by Federal and State Governments about lockdowns and hotspots, it is important to check what locations were affected during the relevant period.
More information
More information is available on the Services Australia website.