Changes to Centrelink & DVA Pensions

As a consequence of the impact the Coronavirus had on the economy over the last few months on jobs, salaries, inflation & interest rates, this is the first time in living memory that the Age Pension & other pensions have not been indexed. That is the Pension entitlement for both Centrelink & DVA did not change. It is fair to say that inflationary pressures have been negative, ie there are many aspects of the economy where prices reduced, for example petrol prices, inflation was negative, but fortunately pensions are not tied to inflation, they are tied to wages. The biggest difficulty for pensioners was the impact that hoarding had at the supermarket (at the peak of the pandemic), that forced some supermarkets to have set times for the elderly & pensioners to shop, to enable to obtain a secure supply of essentials such as toilet paper, pasta & rice etc to those who were the most vulnerable.

The next time the pension is to be indexed is March 2021. The indices for Centrelink and DVA Pensions from March 2020 can be found here.

Changes to Aged Care costs

The aged care fees (in particular the Basic daily Care Fee) are tied to changes in the pension, & seeing that pensions did not change on the 20^th September this year, the aged care fees also did not increase, instead remaining the same until the next indexation due in March 2021.

The indices for Aged Care costs from March 2020 can be found here.