Disability Support Pension

About the DSP

DSP is an income support payment for people who have a permanent physical, intellectual or mental condition that is likely to continue for more than two years and stops you from working.  

If you want to claim the DSP, you will need to meet the medical and non-medical rules and be assessed by a job capacity assessor and a doctor. 

There is no time limit claim the Disability Support Pension, but when you make a claim, all medical evidence given to Centrelink must relate to your condition at the time of your application and 13 weeks after.

How to claim the DSP

To apply for the DSP you need to complete four forms:

1. Claim for Disability Support Pension form
2. Income and Assets form
3. Consent to disclose medical information form
4.  DSP Medical Evidence Requirements Checklist.

You can get these forms by:

• calling Centrelink and asking for the forms to be sent to you
•  visiting a local Service Centre
• downloading them from the Centrelink forms page on the Services Australia website.

To get all four forms, see Claim for Disability Support Pension form (SA466) on the Services Australia website.

In addition to the forms, you will need to give Centrelink medical evidence to support your claim, for example medical history records or specialist medical reports.

Depending on your personal circumstances, you may also need to complete other forms or documents.

For more information about medical evidence for DSP, see Medical evidence on the Services Australia website.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the DSP you must:

• be at least 16 years old and below pension age
• meet residency requirements
• have a permanent and diagnosed disability or medical condition
• meet the income and assets tests.

You may also need to show that you:

• have done a Program of Support, and
• can't work or retrain to work for at least 15 hours a week in the next two years.

To be eligible, your medical condition needs to be diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised. The medical condition needs to be assessed to see how it affects your ability to work. To assess your condition Centrelink uses impairment tables. You may also be required to attend a Program of Support.

For more information about the eligibility requirements, see Disability Support Pension on the Services Australia website.

Medical evidence 

You need to give Centrelink medical evidence about your health problems, and how they affect you and your ability to work. Your evidence may include medical records, hospital records, specialist reports, scans or rehabilitation reports.

You may also ask your current doctor or other health professional to write a letter or report to Centrelink. Before asking for a letter or report, you should ask your doctor or other health professional if you need to pay for the report and how much it will cost.

The evidence you provide needs to be relevant to your health at the time of application and up to 13 weeks after your application. This means that you can provide new evidence about your health problem after you have submitted your claim for the DSP.

Reasonable treatment

A treatment is considered reasonable if:

• it can be regularly undertaken
• it is reasonably accessible
• it is at a reasonable cost
• it has a low risk and a high rate of success
• a substantial improvement in capacity can be reliably expected.

If Centrelink has rejected your claim for the DSP because your health problem is not fully treated, you should get legal advice about what evidence you need to prove that your health problem is fully treated.

Impairment tables

Centrelink uses the Impairment Tables to assess what you can and can't do. The Impairment Tables contain 15 separate tables relating to different functions, for example, brain function or upper limb function.

Points are awarded based on the impact of your health problem on your functional ability to work.

You will receive five points if the impact is mild, 10 points if the impact is moderate, 20 points if the impact is severe and 30 points if the impact is extreme.

To be eligible for the DSP, Centrelink must award you 20 points or more in one or more of the Impairments Tables.

For more information see Impairment Tables for Disability Support Pension  on the Department of Social Services website.

Program of Support  

A Program of Support is a program funded by the government, which is designed to help you prepare for, find and keep employment.

It includes job activity requirements such as attending appointments with, and programs operated by, employment service providers. Examples of employment service providers include MAX Employment or a disability employment service, such as Job Centre Australia.

Generally, if you are asking Centrelink to consider multiple health problems that will add up to the required 20 points, you need to have participated in a program for at least 18 months in the three years before you claimed the DSP. Periods of time that you have been exempt from the job activity requirements, for example, where you have provided a medical certificate, do not count towards the 18 month period.

You can also show that you have met the program requirement if you were participating in a program at the time you claimed the DSP, but continuing would not help improve your capacity to find, get or stay in work. You should ask your employment service provider to provide evidence of this.

If you are awarded more than 20 points in a single table under the Impairment Tables, you do not need to participate in a program.

Assessment

When you claim DSP, Centrelink will need to assess if you meet both non-medical and medical rules.

Job Capacity Assessment

If you have claimed the DSP you may need to attend an assessment with a job capacity assessor.

A job capacity assessor is a qualified health or allied health professional who is employed by Centrelink. They will contact you to make an appointment. This might be in person, by phone or by video conference.

The assessor will consider your medical evidence and work capacity and produce a report called a Job Capacity Assessment. This report will be provided to the officer who will make a decision about your claim.

If you don't go to the appointment, Centrelink may reject your claim for the DSP until you go.

For more information, see Job Capacity Assessment for Disability Support Pension on the Services Australia website.

Disability Medical Assessment

After you have a job capacity assessment, Centrelink may also ask you to attend a Disability Medical Assessment.

At the assessment, a Government-contracted doctor will assess your medical evidence and help decide if you're medically eligible for the DSP. The Government-contracted doctor may contact your doctor or specialist for more information about your health problem.

If you don't attend your appointment with the Government-contracted doctor, Centrelink may reject your claim for the DSP.

You do not need a lawyer or other advocate to go to the appointment with you, but you can bring a relative, friend or support person.

For more information, see Disability Medical Assessment on the Services Australia website.

What if the claim takes long to be assessed 

Centrelink must assess a very large number of claims for the DSP and this can slow the process down for everyone who has made a claim.

Sometimes your claim could take longer if:

• Centrelink has asked you to provide more evidence to support your claim and they are waiting for you to respond
• Centrelink is trying to contact you, but you have not returned their calls
• there is a long wait for appointments with the job capacity assessor or Government-contracted doctor
• the job capacity assessor or the Government-contracted doctor is trying to get in contact with your doctor, but has not had a response.

Getting financial support while waiting for your claim 

If you are not already on a Centrelink payment when you claim the DSP you may be paid the JobSeeker Payment while Centrelink makes a decision about your claim. This was previously known as the Newstart Allowance.

There are a number of eligibility criteria that you must meet in order to be approved for the JobSeeker Payment, and you may still need to meet the mutual obligation requirements. You will need to consider how you’ll meet these requirements with a permanent disability or medical condition.

If you are already on a Centrelink payment when you make your claim, you may still need to meet the mutual obligation requirements.

For more information, see Income support payments.

The decision

Centrelink will send you a letter to let you know of its decision regarding your DSP claim.

If they confirm you’re eligible , they’ll let you know how much you will recieve and when you’ll get your first payment.

If your claim is rejected, you should contact Centrelink for the explanation. If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome, you can ask Centrelinlk to review its decision.  

For more information see What to do if your DSP claim is rejected.