Before the birth of your baby

Check if you're eligible for payments

Check if you can get payments. You can submit your pre-birth claim up to 3 months before your baby is due.

Parental Leave Pay helps eligible working parents to take time off to care for a newborn or recently adopted child. This is available for up to 18 weeks.

Dad and Partner Pay helps eligible working dads or partners take time off work for up to 2 weeks. This applies when they’re caring for a newborn or recently adopted child.

Family Tax Benefit (FTB) is a 2-part payment to help with the cost of raising children.

FTB may include a one-off lump sum of Newborn Upfront Payment. FTB may also include Newborn Supplement, which is an increase to your FTB for 13 weeks.

If you’re not eligible for Parental Leave Pay, you may still be able to get both Newborn Upfront Payment and Newborn Supplement.

Create an account for self service

If you’re a new Centrelink customer, you’ll need a Customer Reference Number (CRN) before you can claim online.

You can prove your identity online and get a CRN from myGov. From there you can link your CRN to Centrelink and make a claim through your Centrelink online account. You can save time and manage your information through our self service options:

Submit your pre-birth claim for payments

You can submit a claim for some payments as early as 3 months before your baby's due date.

Sign in to your Centrelink online account through myGov to start your claim.

Select Payments and claims on your home page, then Make a claim or view claim status.

Select Get started from the Families category. Select Apply for Family Assistance (including Paid Parental Leave) to claim for:

Family Tax Benefit, which includes Newborn Upfront Payment and Newborn Supplement
Parental Leave Pay
Dad and Partner Pay.

Make sure you include any supporting documents we ask you for at the end of the claim. You can submit your documents online. We can't process your claim until we have all the required documents.

You may be eligible for Parenting Payment if you’re the main carer for your child. Remember, you can only submit a claim for Parenting Payment after the birth of your baby.

Get organised with Medicare

There are some things to think about before the birth of your baby.

You may also want to copy or transfer to another card, such as your partner's card. You can then ask us to copy your child onto that card after their enrolment.

You don’t have to be on the same card as your partner.

Medicare Safety Nets can help to lower your out-of-pocket costs. If you have a partner, think about registering as a Medicare Safety Net family.

To register as a Medicare Safety Net family, either:

download a Medicare Safety Net couples and families registration and amendment form
call the Medicare general enquiries line.

When your baby is born, you can also add them to your Medicare Safety Net family. You can do this when you enrol your baby in Medicare. You do this after the birth of your baby.

Talk to your employer about leave

You should discuss your plans for taking leave with your employer before your baby is born. You should give them written notice at least 10 weeks before you plan to start your leave.

If you plan to get Parental Leave Pay, you should tell your employer. They may need to provide the Parental Leave Pay funds to you.

Read about your rights and how to take leave from work on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Use the Supporting Working Parents website to find out about your rights in the workplace:

while pregnant
during parental leave
on returning to the workplace.

Find out about child care options

If you’ll return to work or study after the birth of your baby, think about your child care options. There may be a waiting list for child care services.

Remember to tell us if you’re returning to work. You can do this using your Centrelink online account through myGov.

We offer help with the cost of child care through Child Care Subsidy and Additional Child Care Subsidy. You can only submit a claim for these after the birth of your baby.

Learn more about other support available

Before your baby is due, read about finding a health service on the healthdirect website. This will help you work out which hospital is closest to you.

Having a baby involves many changes. Read more about pregnancy and birth on the Raising Children Network website to help you know what to expect.

Read more about how to budget for the cost of having a baby on the Moneysmart website.

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