If you’re age pension age and get an eligible payment, you can apply to transfer to Age Pension.
When you reach age pension age
If you get an eligible payment, we’ll write to you 13 weeks before you reach age pension age. We’ll tell you what you need to do and what you might be able to get.
Age Pension is usually the best payment if you’re age pension age. However this depends on your circumstances and the payment you get. Any superannuation you have may affect your rate of payment.
We can keep paying you most after this date, but they may not be the best one for you. You may prefer to stay on your current payment, instead of transferring to Age Pension. For this to happen, you need to confirm you want to stay on your current payment.
If you’re not sure which payment is better for you, either:
- find the details of your current payment from the list below and compare it to Age Pension
- call us on the Older Australians line.
Which payments are eligible for transfer
If you get one of these payments, we’ll invite you to apply to transfer up to 13 weeks before you’re age pension age:
- Austudy
- Carer Payment
- Disability Support Pension
- Newstart Allowance
- Parenting Payment
- Partner Allowance
- Sickness Allowance
- Special Benefit
- Widow Allowance
- Widow B Pension
- Wife Pension.
The following payments will stop once you reach age pension age:
Which payments end when you reach age pension age
When you reach age pension age you can’t get Newstart Allowance or Sickness Allowance, you’ll no longer meet eligibility requirements. You should apply to transfer to Age Pension to see if you’re eligible for that payment instead.
We’ll invite you to apply to transfer to Age Pension 13 weeks before you reach age pension age. You’ll need to tell us if you want to transfer to Age Pension and have any superannuation.
What happens if you don’t get an eligible payment
If you don’t get an eligible payment, you need to complete a full Age Pension claim. You can do this online.
Read more about claiming Age Pension.
What is the benefit of applying to transfer
Transferring is simpler and easier than completing a full Age Pension claim form.
We’ll invite you to apply to transfer to Age Pension 13 weeks before you reach age pension age. We’ll send your invitation to your online account, if you have one. If you don’t, we’ll post the form to you, with the information we know already filled in. You’ll need to:
- check the information we have recorded for you is correct
- give us the information we ask for
- submit your application to transfer online, or post the form back to us.
Your current payment will stop when you reach age pension age if you don’t either:
- complete the online transfer
- return the paper form to us.
If your partner gets a payment from us, their payment will also stop.
How to apply to transfer
If you recently returned an Age Pension form to us, you don’t need to complete the online transfer.
Read more about how to transfer to Age Pension online.