Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment is a lump sum payment to help you during the time you can’t work and earn income because you have to:
- self-isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19
- you’re caring for someone who has to self-isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19.
You have to self-isolate or quarantine for one of the following reasons:
- you have coronavirus (COVID-19), for isolation periods starting before 10 January 2022, you must have been directly informed you have COVID-19 by a health official
- you’re informed by a health official that you’re a close contact with a person who has COVID-19
- you care for a child, 16 years or under, who has COVID-19
- you’re informed by a health official that a child you care for who is 16 years or under, is a close contact with a person who has COVID-19
- you’re caring for someone who has COVID-19
- you’re caring for someone with disability or a severe medical condition who must self-isolate or quarantine because they’re a close contact of a person with COVID-19.
From Monday 10 January 2022, we’ll accept both Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) results. You’ll need to have either:
- advice of a positive test from a testing clinic or health professional
- evidence you’ve registered a positive result from a home-administered RAT with your state health authority.
If you need ongoing financial help, check to see what other payments you may be eligible to get by using our Payment and Service Finder.
Read more about who can get it.