New legislation has passed to validate the historical use of income apportionment. This means payment rates and debts calculated using income apportionment before December 2020 are now valid.
The government has established the Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme (the Resolution Scheme) to recognise income apportionment was not consistent with social security law at the time.
The Resolution Scheme will provide a payment of up to $600 for people with eligible debts impacted by income apportionment between 20 September 2003 and 6 December 2020.
You’ll need to apply to receive a resolution payment. Applications for the Scheme open on 30 January 2026 and close on 29 January 2027.
Read more about the Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme.
Restarting paused debt activities
We paused different activities for debts potentially impacted by income apportionment.
This included:
- debt repayments
- explanations of decision
- formal reviews.
Now legislation has passed validating the past use of income apportionment, we’re restarting this work.
If you have a debt that was paused, there’s nothing you need to do now.
We expect that debt repayments will start in early 2026. We’ll contact you before your debt repayments restart.
While these debts are still paused, they may not appear in the Money you owe service in your Centrelink online account. However, they will appear in your Statement of Debt. We have information to help you get a statement of debt.
If you have asked for a formal review or an explanation of decision, there is no need to call us to check on the progress. We will contact you to discuss your request before making a decision.
If you need to discuss your debt, you can call our Income apportionment line.
We have information to help you repay money you owe.
Contact numbers available on this page.
Income apportionment line
Use this line if we’ve written to you about a debt or review related to income apportionment.
There are other ways you may want to contact us.