Frequently Asked Questions - Help applying for the Aged Pension Sydney

The process for engaging Age Pension Assistance typically begins with an initial consultation to understand your needs and goals along with a basic eligibility check. From there, we develop a proposal outlining our recommended approach and scope of work.

Eligibility for the Age Pension in Australia is based on several factors:

1. Age Requirements: Your qualifying age for the pension varies depending on your birth year. For example in the 2023-2024 financial year, if you were born on or after 1 January 1957, you must be 67 years or older.

2. Residence Requirements: You must be an Australian resident and have lived in Australia for at least 10 years. At least 5 of these years must be in one continuous period.

3. Income Test: Your income can reduce how much Age Pension you receive or disqualify you from getting the age pension. The Age Pension income test is used to assess this.

4. Assets Test: The assets test helps determine if you can get paid Age Pension and affects how much you’ll get.

Please note that if you’re legally blind and you’re not claiming Rent Assistance, you may be able to claim Age Pension without being assessed against the income and assets tests.

One of the most common misconceptions is that you need to be retired to claim the Age Pension. You do not need to be retired to apply for the Age Pension. If you are still working, as long as you meet the eligibility requirements such as the income test and assets test, you may still be eligible for a payment.

The work bonus allows Pensioners to be able to work more without having their Centrelink payments reduced.

The Work Bonus allows pensioners to earn up to $300 a fortnight from work without their pension payments being impacted.

Any unused part of the $300 fortnightly amount is kept in a Work Bonus income bank. This income bank amount can be used to offset future income from work to reduce assessable income under the age pension income test.

So if you have $300 in the income bank and earn $400 from work, your assessable employment income will reduce to $100 only. Or, if you had $500 in the income bank, it would reduce your assessable income to $0 and the additional $100 would stay in the bank and be added to the next fortnight's work bonus.

The work bonus can not be used towards other income types such as income deemed from financial assets or income from investments such as rental income.

Newly eligible pensioners will have a starting balance of $4,000

Any unused Age Pension work bonus amounts will continue to accrue up to a maximum of $11,800.

a) You can complete the application online either by:

    (i.) Centrelink online account via your MyGov app.

    (ii.) Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

    (iii.) If you don’t have a Centrelink online account and myGov account, you’ll need to set them up. You’ll need your Centrelink Reference Number (CRN) to register for an online account. You’ll then need to link your Centrelink online account to myGov. You can use the myGov online help guides

(b) You can also complete the application form manually and send to Centrelink by mail, fax, or by visiting a service centre.

     (i.) You can download the application from the Services Australia website or visit a service      centre.

Or the best way is to reach out to Age Pension Assistance to complete and manage your Age Pension application for you.

Being married while separated and living together does not exclude you from applying for the Age Pension under the single rates. Centrelink will assess your relationship and if it meets their guidelines for separation, you can apply as a single (non-partnered) applicant.