Someone to act for you

Having someone to help you doesn’t stop you from asking us questions, giving us information or accessing your details online.

Your Centrelink representative can’t record a voiceprint for you. This is because a voiceprint is unique to you.

Who you choose to act for you, and what they can do to help you with Centrelink or aged care depends on what you need help with.

When you stop needing their help, you must tell us to cancel the arrangement. If you don’t, they will still have access to your information.

Help with Centrelink

You can ask a person or organisation to help you with all your Centrelink business. We call them a nominee.

There are 2 types of nominees, a correspondence nominee and a payment nominee. You can choose either or both.

Correspondence nominee

A correspondence nominee can:

• ask us about your Centrelink payments and services, including aged care costs
• respond to requests for information
• update your income and assets details
• come to appointments with you
• complete and sign forms and statements on your behalf
• get copies of your letters from Centrelink and about your aged care costs
• claim payments and services for you.

A correspondence nominee must:

• act in your best interest
• tell us about any changes in your circumstances within 14 days, or within 28 days if you're outside Australia
• tell us about any changes that may affect their ability to act for you.

If you or your nominee don't do the following, you're at risk of not meeting your obligations:

• respond to a request
• tell us about changes in your circumstances
• arrange for you to be at an appointment for a JobSeeker Payment or Youth Allowance for job seekers claim that they have submitted on your behalf.

You can tell us about changes, even if you have a correspondence nominee.

Payment nominee

A payment nominee helps you manage your Centrelink payments. Your payments will go into your nominee's bank account.

A payment nominee can:

• use your Centrelink payments on your behalf
• make or change deductions from your Centrelink payments
• ask us about your Centrelink payments.

A payment nominee must:

• act in your best interest
• use your Centrelink payments only for your benefit
• tell us about any changes that may affect their ability to represent you
• keep records on how they spend your money
• give us these records if we ask for them.

We can review spending records at any time. Your nominee is legally required to give us this information if we ask for it. If they don't, they may get a fine.

Power of Attorney

You can use a Power of Attorney (POA) or guardianship and administration order to appoint someone to act for you. The POA or order must show they can act on your behalf for financial matters.

Someone to only ask questions for you

You can authorise a person or organisation to only ask questions for you. We call them a person permitted to enquire.

A person permitted to enquire can ask us about:

• your Centrelink payment amount and aged care costs
• why a payment has stopped and what you need to do
• changes to your payments and aged care costs.

A person permitted to enquire can't:

• make updates to your payments and services
• act or make decisions for you
• sign forms or statements
• get copies of your letters.

Someone to help with updates

You can authorise a person or organisation to ask questions and make some updates to your Centrelink payments and services. We call them a person permitted to update.

A person permitted to update can:

• ask about your Centrelink payment amount and aged care costs
• ask why a payment has stopped and what you need to do
• ask about changes to payments and aged care costs
• tell us about changes to your circumstances
• give us information to update your payments and services.

A person permitted to update can't:

• make decisions for you
• sign forms or statements
• get copies of your letters.

An organisation to manage your money

You can ask for your payments to go straight to an organisation for them to manage. We call this a group payment arrangement. Both must apply:

• you get a pension
• the organisation is approved for group payment arrangements.

Under a group payment arrangement, an organisation can help you manage your money. They can deduct any fees, then transfer the rest to you or hold it in a trust account for when you need it.

We don't charge you or the organisation to use a group payment arrangement.

Help with Status Resolution Support Services payment

You can authorise a person or organisation to ask about your Status Resolution Support Services payment on your behalf.

We need your approval before we can give them your information.

Find out more about Status Resolution Support Services payment.