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Medicare, Centrelink and Child Support each has a separate process to authorise your own representative.
Centrelink and aged care
You may only want a little or a lot of help to deal with us. You can authorise a person or an organisation to do this. They can ask questions, make updates, act on your behalf and get your payments.
The type of arrangement you choose, should depend on what you need.
You can choose a:
- nominee
- person permitted to enquire
- person permitted to update
- group payment arrangement
- person permitted to enquire for Status Resolution Support Services Payment.
You can always speak with us. Having someone to help you doesn’t stop you from asking us questions, giving us information or accessing your details online.
When you stop needing their help, you must tell us to cancel. Otherwise it will stay in place.
Nominee
You can authorise a person or an organisation to be your correspondence or payment nominee.
You can have one correspondence nominee and one payment nominee, or the same person for both.
Your nominee can’t record a voiceprint on your behalf. This is because a voiceprint is unique to you. However, your nominee can still call us on their regular payment line.
Correspondence nominee
Your correspondence nominee can:
- ask us questions about your Centrelink payments and services, including aged care costs
- tell us about changes to your circumstances
- respond to requests for information
- update income and assets details
- come to appointments with you or on your behalf, if appropriate
- complete and sign forms and statements
- get copies of your letters from Centrelink and about your aged care costs
- claim payments and services for you.
They can also complete online transactions for you including:
- all or part of an online claim, for some payments and concession cards
- rent assistance reviews
- reporting employment income
- requesting and uploading documents such as income statements, payment summaries, Centrelink statements and rent certificates
- requesting a replacement concession card
- viewing and updating income and assets
- viewing, adding or changing deductions.
Correspondence nominees may also be able to change the bank account where your Centrelink payment goes. They’ll be able to do this if you don’t have a payment nominee arrangement with another person.
Your correspondence nominee must:
- tell us about any changes in your circumstances within 14 days, or within 28 days if you’re outside Australia
- act in your best interest
- tell us about any changes that may affect their ability to be your nominee.
You’re at risk of not meeting your obligations if your nominee doesn’t:
- respond to a request
- tell us about your change in circumstance.
Payment nominee
Your payment nominee gets and uses your Centrelink payments on your behalf. Your payment nominee can make or change deductions from your Centrelink payment. They can also ask certain questions about your payment. These questions could be about how much your payment is, why the amount’s changed and when it will be paid.
Your payment nominee must:
- get your Centrelink payments
- use your Centrelink payments only for your benefit
- act in your best interest
- tell us about any changes that may affect their ability to be your nominee
- keep records on how they spend the money.
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.
If you’re in residential aged care, your provider can be your payment nominee or you can set up a group payment arrangement with them. They’ll manage your money and pay your aged care costs. Find out more about what you can do with your Centrelink payments when you go into residential aged care.
Add a nominee arrangement
You can do this online or by completing a printed form.
Do it online
If you and your proposed nominee both have a Centrelink online account linked to myGov, you can sign in now and manage your nominee arrangements online.
If either of you don’t have this set up, create an account now.
Your nominee will need to respond to the nominee request in their Centrelink online account within 14 days. If they don’t, the request will expire. Read our online guide on how to respond to a nominee request.
If your nominee is an organisation, they must respond to the request through Business Hub within 14 days. Read more about Centrelink Organisation Nominee Services.
Fill in a form
You can fill in the Authorising a person or organisation to enquire or act on your behalf form. Your nominee will need to complete their section of the form before you return it to us. There are instructions on the form telling you how to send it to us.
Use the Aged Care Request for a Nominee for Department of Veterans’ Affairs customers form if you:
- get a Department of Veterans’ Affairs payment, and
- are in residential aged care or get a home care package.
Nominees proving their identity
We’ll need proof of your nominee’s identity. They can do this by calling us and proving details of their identity over the phone. At a later date we’ll ask them to go to a service centre to complete their identity requirements.
If your nominee is an organisation, their staff will need to verify their identity details. They’ll do this when they create their Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account to access nominee online services. For more information, go to PRODA.
Give your nominee access to your online account
Your nominee doesn’t need to sign in to your myGov account to manage your nominee arrangements. They can do this directly from their own Centrelink online account through myGov.
Get your nominee to sign in and follow these steps:
- Select MENU, then My details.
- Select Nominee arrangements, then Nominee access to online service registration.
- Follow the steps.
We’ll confirm that your nominee has online access for you and any other customers that they’re nominee for.
If either of you don’t have this set up, create an account now.
Cancel the arrangement
If you have a Centrelink online account linked to myGov, sign in now you can cancel your voluntary nominee arrangement.
Read our online guide on how to cancel an existing nominee arrangement using your online account.
If you don’t have an online account, you can cancel the arrangement by:
- calling us on your regular payment line
- visiting a service centre.
When you cancel your arrangement, we’ll send a letter to you and your nominee.
If your nominee arrangement was authorised by a court, tribunal, guardianship or administration appointed, we can only cancel by either:
- a request by the nominee
- with proof the legal document has been revoked or changed.
If your nominee wants to cancel the arrangement, they can use the Cancel nominee arrangement form.
When your nominee cancels your arrangement, we’ll send a letter to you and your nominee.
Person permitted to enquire
You can get help to better understand your Centrelink payments and services, including aged care costs. You can choose a person or an organisation who can ask us questions about:
- your current rate of Centrelink payment and aged care costs
- why a payment has stopped and what you need to do
- changes to payments and aged care costs.
A person permitted to enquire can’t make updates to your payments and services or act on your behalf.
To authorise a person permitted to enquire (PPE) complete and return the Authorising a person or organisation to enquire or act on your behalf form. You can also call us on your regular payment line to give someone permission to enquire.
The person you’ve authorised will need to prove their identity with us if this is an ongoing arrangement. They can do this by calling us and proving details of their identity over the phone. At a later date we’ll ask them to go to a service centre to complete their identity requirements.
If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, sign in now to give your partner permission to enquire.
You can cancel your arrangement at any time online, or by calling us on your regular payment line.
Person permitted to update
You can get help to better understand the correct payment rate for Centrelink or aged care. You can choose a person or an organisation to ask us questions and make updates to your information.
Your person permitted to update can ask about:
- your current rate of Centrelink payment and aged care costs
- why a payment has stopped and what you need to do
- changes to payments and aged care costs.
They can also tell us about changes to your circumstances. They cannot:
- make decisions for you
- sign forms or statements
- get copies of your letters.
To authorise a person permitted to update, complete and return the Authorising a person or organisation to enquire or act on your behalf form.
The person you’ve authorised will need to prove their identity with us. They can do this by calling us and proving details of their identity over the phone. At a later date we’ll ask them to go to a service centre to complete their identity requirements.
You can cancel your arrangement at any time. To do this, call us on your regular payment line.
Group Payment Scheme
A group payment arrangement allows an institution to get your payments on your behalf. This is a voluntary arrangement and is different to a payment nominee arrangement or Centrepay.
You can ask for your payments to go to an institution such as an aged care facility. You must be getting a pension and the institution must be approved for group payment arrangements.
The institution helps you manage your money, for example, by deducting your aged care fees. They transfer the rest to you or hold it in a trust account for when you need it.
Group payments are all paid on the same Thursday each fortnight.
We don’t charge you or the institution to use a group payment arrangement.
To choose this, fill in the Please send my payment to an institution - Group Payment form. Then give it to the institution to complete their part of the form. You can send it to us using the ‘Returning your form’ information on the form.
Person permitted to enquire for Status Resolution Support Services Payment
You can authorise a person or organisation to ask on your behalf about your Status Resolution Support Services Payment. They’ll need to use the Status Resolution Support Services Payment - authorising a person or organisation to enquire on your behalf form.
Medicare
A person can act on your behalf for Medicare purposes when either:
- they’re your appointed Power of Attorney (POA)
- a court or tribunal has appointed them as your guardian and administrator
- we’ve accepted them as your authorised representative
- they’re your authorised third party.
Power of Attorney or guardian and administration orders
Use a Power of Attorney (POA) or guardianship and administration order, to appoint someone to act on your behalf. The POA or order must show your representative can act on your behalf for financial matters.
You’ll need to provide us the following:
- an original or a certified copy of the POA document or guardianship and administration order
- a written letter of request which includes your Medicare number
- original or a certified copy of your identity document/s
You can mail or email your letter and supporting documents to Medicare Enrolment Services.
Authorised representative
You can nominate yourself to be an authorised representative. You can only do this if the person you want to represent can’t manage their own affairs. It must be due to a medical condition or disability.
To be someone’s authorised representative, you must be all of the following:
- over 18 years old
- their close friend or relative
- not their paid carer from any organisation, institution or community health care service.
To apply, complete an Authorisation to act on a person’s behalf form. We also need copies of all of the following:
- your current photo ID
- a statutory declaration which states how you know them and your care arrangements for them
- evidence you act on their behalf for a similar arrangement
- evidence that the person is unable to manage their own affairs.
Refer to the form for examples of documents you should give us.
You can mail or email your form and supporting documents to Medicare Enrolment Services.
Authorised third party
You can give us permission to release your compensation information to a third party. They can also complete and sign relevant documentation on your behalf. Use the Medicare Compensation Recovery Third party authority form.
An authorised third party also includes legal representatives.
A legal representative is a person who has been legally appointed by law to act on the injured person’s behalf.
You can appoint a legal representative with one of the following:
- a Last Will and Testament confirming the executor or executrix of the estate
- Letters of Administration or Probate where the injured person dies intestate, without a Last Will and Testament in place
- Public Trustee documentation
- a Court order.
Child Support
You can choose a person or organisation to be your child support representative. They will be able to:
- ask us questions
- give us information
- have access to and discuss your child support information.
This person must be 18 or older. They shouldn’t be:
- a child who you paid or get child support for, even if they’ve turned 18
- the other parent in your child support case.
You can choose:
- the date they’ll stop representing you
- the details they can know and discuss
- if they can arrange for you to pay us child support you owe
- if they can update your contact details with us.
They can’t:
- make choices about changing your child support like asking us to change your collection option
- sign documents on your behalf.
How to appoint a Child Support representative
You can either:
- call us on the Child Support enquiry line
- complete the Representative authority form
- write a letter of authorisation signed and dated by you and your representative.
A letter of authorisation should tell us:
- enough information to identify your representative
- the details you want them to discuss with us
- the date they’ll stop representing you.
Then submit it either: