When you can start your claim
If you’re eligible, you can start your claim up to 13 weeks before your circumstances will change. It may be for one of the following reasons:
- you're ceasing fulltime studies
- you’ll be working less hours and you meet the Personal income test
- you know you’re going to lose your job.
When you start your claim we’ll need some information. We’ll ask if any of the following circumstances apply to you now:
- you’re no longer studying fulltime
- you’re unemployed or on reduced hours
- you’ll soon be unemployed or on reduced hours
- you’re unable to work or study due to an illness or injury
- your partner recently died.
If you’re claiming early, select you’ll soon be unemployed or on reduced hours.
You can continue your claim and tell us the date you expect your circumstances to change.
What happens after you save your claim
You can save your early claim for Youth Allowance for job seekers. Once saved, you can see your claim in your Centrelink online account.
You’ll need to review the claim details and submit your claim to complete it. We’ll tell you when to do this.
Complete your claim
We’ll send you a notification 14 days before the date you told us your circumstances will change. This is so you can review and submit your details to complete your claim.
Go to your Centrelink online account through myGov to review and submit your claim to complete it. You can edit your details at this time if you need to.
We won’t process your claim until you’ve reviewed and submitted it. We’ll give you a receipt for your claim so you can track its progress. There’s no need to call us.
We’ll assess your claim as quickly as we can. We’ll let you know when we process your claim and what the outcome is.
You won’t get paid until you submit your claim and we assess it. Find out more about when you’ll get your first payment.
Track your claim
Use the claim tracker in your online account to see how your claim is progressing.
If your financial situation changes, you can withdraw your claim at any time.
Learn more about who can get Youth Allowance for job seekers Payment. You can also read about what your commitments are if you get it.