Mobility Allowance

A payment for people with disability, illness or injury who cannot use public transport without substantial assistance and who participate in approved activities.

Eligibility

To be eligible for Mobility Allowance, you must:

• be 16 years or older
• meet residence requirements
• be unable to use public transport without substantial assistance because of disability, illness, or injury
• provide a medical report from your doctor confirming you cannot use public transport
• travel to and from home for paid work, voluntary work, study or training, or to look for work

If there is no public transport where you live, you may still qualify for Mobility Allowance. Voluntary work must be for a charitable, welfare or community organisation. Study or training can include secondary school, tertiary studies, trade and vocational courses.

You cannot get Mobility Allowance if you are receiving a funded package of support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme. You may still be eligible for a Health Care Card if your Mobility Allowance was stopped because you started as a participant in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Payment rates for Mobility Allowance

Mobility Allowance payment rates are reviewed annually and updated on 1 January each year. Mobility Allowance payments are not taxed.

Standard rate

You may be eligible for the standard rate of Mobility Allowance if you:

• undertake paid work, self employment, voluntary work, vocational training, independent living or life skills training or any combination of these for at least 32 hours every 4 weeks on a continuing basis
• look for work under an agreement with an Employment Services Provider such as jobactive or Disability Employment Services
• participate in a Disability Management Service program with a Disability Employment Service provider, or
• receive Newstat Allownace, Youth Allowance or Austudy and satisfy the Mutual Obligation Requiements

Higher rate

You may be eligible for the higher rate of Mobility Allowance if you:

• receive diability Support Pension, Paarenting Payment, Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance as a job seeker, and

work for 15 hours or more per week on wages that are at, or above, the relevant minimum wage, or

work for 15 hours or more per week on productivity based wages under the Supported Wage System, or

look for work of 15 hours or more per week under an agreement with an Employment Services Provider such as jobactive or Disability Employment Services

• If your work, self employment, study or training stops or your agreement to look for work with your provider stops, you may be paid Mobility Allowance for another 12 weeks.

Residence Requirements

To be eligible for Mobility Allowance, you need to satisfy residence requirements. You must:

• be an Australian resident
• be physically present in Australia on the day you submit your claim, and
• continue to meet the residence requirements for as long as you get this payment

Newly arrived residents generally have a 104 week waiting period, with some exemptions.

Cars

You can qualify for Mobility Allowance if you have a Goods and Services Tax (GST) exemption on a car.

You cannot qualify for Mobility Allowance if you have a car from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs under their Vehicle Assistance Scheme or Motor Vehicle Compensation Scheme.

Claiming

Check if you are eligible for this payment before you start your claim.

Once you have read about eligibility the next steps are:

• start your claim online
• provide the supporting documentation
• submit your claim

This information has been sourced from the Australian Government Department of human affairs. You can find more information on the source website:https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/mobility-allowance