A one off payment if you’re in difficult or extreme circumstances.
Eligibility basics
- are eligible for an income support payment from us
- have severe financial hardship
- have an extreme life change such as leaving a violent relationship, getting out of jail or being a refugee, or
- go through a natural disaster not covered by the Disaster Recovery
Eligibility & payment rates
Who can get it
You can get Crisis Payment in special circumstances if you're eligible for an income support payment.
How much you can get and how often
The amount of Crisis Payment you can get depends on the income support payment you get.
Residence rules
On the day you claim Crisis Payment you must meet the residence rules of your income support payment.
Claiming
Check if you’re eligible before you start your claim.
Then:
- find out what you need before you start your claim
- fill in your claim form
- submit the form and other documents we ask for
- wait for us to assess your claim and tell you the result
Resources
Services
We can help you if you're going through family and domestic violence or extreme circumstances.
Help in your language
We have a range of translated information in your language.
We provide free interpreters and translation of documents needed to access our payments and services.
Call our Multilingual Phone Service to speak with a skilled bilingual service officer about Centrelink payments and services.
Payment and Service Finder
Find, estimate and compare payments and services you may be eligible for. You can also work out what a change in circumstance might mean for the payments and services you currently get from us.
Manage your money
We’ve got advice and tools to help you with budgeting, borrowing and credit, and managing debt.
Read about how to manage your money.