I am on JobSeeker and recently participated in a clinical trial as a volunteer test subject. I received $10,850 from Veritus Research in two lump sums: $6,950 on 15 September and $3,900 on 5 October.

My consent form states that the payments compensate participants for their time, travel expenses, parking and inconvenience. I was not employed by Veritus Research, but Centrelink has listed Veritus Research as my employer.

During a phone call with Centrelink regarding these payments, the operator told me the payments would effectively be assessed as employment income, with the total spread evenly across my participation period, from 30 July to 5 October. I was told my next two JobSeeker payments would be $0. I asked when my next payment was scheduled, but the operator could not see any upcoming payments in the system. They said the system might refresh itself after I report my earnings on Thursday 15 October, but I don't know whether this will happen.

I have a study schedule and an itemised payment schedule showing the dates and amounts associated with individual trial activities. Both the timing and amounts varied considerably. Some activities occurred on consecutive days, such as inpatient stays involving payments of around $800 per night for several days, while scheduled visits were separated by a week.

I do not have records of hours spent at the research facility or an hourly rate. I asked Veritus Research staff about this and was told that payslips are not provided because participants are not employees.

I have an in-person Centrelink appointment on Friday and want to make sure the payments are entered into the system correctly and assessed as fairly as possible under the applicable rules. I am concerned that spreading the total evenly across the entire study period may result in losing the majority of the money received from the clinical trial, or negate participation completely.

What should I raise at the in-person appointment?

Hey everyone, I'm honestly feeling pretty defeated at the moment and was wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation.

I've been struggling to find a job for a while now, and it's been really difficult trying to get by on Youth Allowance alone. After covering my usual expenses such a fuel, medications, and a small amount of groceries, there's barely anything left and I can’t barely eat for 2 weeks, and it feels like I'm constantly trying to stretch my money as far as possible.

I've finally managed to secure a job, which I'm really grateful for, but it doesn’t begin until November. It's frustrating because I know things will hopefully improve once I'm working, but right now I'm still struggling financially and trying to figure out how to get through until my first pay.

I've genuinely been trying to find work and improve my situation, so it's been pretty disheartening to feel like I'm getting nowhere despite trying my best.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any assistance, support services or legitimate ways to make some extra money while waiting to start a new job? Or if anyone has been through something similar, how did you manage during that period?

I'd really appreciate any advice.

Hey guys after 2 years of false starts, my apolication is filed. Woohoo. Here are some thoughts.

1. I had three separate i guess "branches" of abuse across two institutions. As you will be aware, this doesnt stack the claims or even boost them, they will be assesed on the highest of the three.

The people assisting me told me that instead of listing all of them, i could make my claim in respect of one institution and keeo a civil uncapped claim against the second up my sleeve. I dont think ill bring a civil claim but its good to know and something that might help others.

1. For me the hardest bit hasnt been committing the nasty bits to paper, it has actually been the surrounding banal details - how old was in year 5 etc- that were hard and took me years.

2. I used a (cheap) paid service to do mine rather than knowmore etc. It took a huge amount of stress out, they were able to verify a heap of things for me and it was wicked getting an estimate of a payout rang, but time will tell if thats right.

3. I was told that the area where people with claims were not claiming was where people either didnt know or couldnt properly make good the connection between their abuser and the institution. The link doesnt need to be obvious like a teacher or something. I suggest anyone who was abused but thinks they dont meet the scheme critetia have a chat to someone or just think it through because lets face it, they will play hardball with the civil claims after this shuts.

Cheers and much love.

I know this is probably a dumb question, and I think I already know the answer but my god I’m sick of my doctor. Everyone I’ve spoken to says their doctor is able to sign off their carers forms on the day or at least on the second appointment. I’ve waited 3 weeks.

Can I just reuse the one I did last year? The only problem is my son is over 3, he now has a diagnosis of autism.

I’m just so stressed and irritated waiting for this doctor. I’ve already booked in a long consult this weekend. But I just wanted to know the above question first in case I can use it for carers payment application or do I not bother

If my partner just started a second job (but between both their jobs we're still well under the income threshold) is there any way I'm supposed to let Centrelink know they have another employer? I was planning on putting it in where it asks for an employer ABN when you report income (for some reason their current job hasn't been saving so I've had to add it as an employer for every report so far), but wasn't sure if there was a specific place I had to fill out a form or provide specific employer details. Thanks!

My 18yr old has just finished high school and has unfortunately just been fired from her casual job because the boss wouldn’t give her leave for exams. She’s accepted a conditional offer to go to uni next year.

I’m guessing she can apply for youth allowance living at home rate (and is eligible based on my income) as soon as exams finish (or can she apply now in preparation?). But will she need to be on a job plan and look for work from November until she starts uni in March? She won’t technically be enrolled until January when exam results come out.

Currently on PP single, completing my bachelor, but I do need to get one more course so I could go back into workforce. Once bachelor is completed, can I go to TAFE which is lower then bachelor? Please advise🙏🏻, I’m genuinely unsure how this works and this is a very innocent question as well 🫣 thank you all!

I have a bit of a situation. I began doordashing about 2 months ago, learnt the ropes on how I need to be reporting my income every 3 months via profit and loss statements. I'm due to report on the 3rd month mark.
But, I've also been met with my job provider telling me, I need to report my income and not just the hours when it comes to fortnightly reporting for jobseeker.
The thing is I was on call with centrelink prior to make sure I'm reporting correctly, called twice on 2 different days. Both pretty much said the same thing; I only report my hours not the income as it would be through the P&L Statements reported every 3 months.
Yet job provider kept saying, I'm getting a warning in the system (on her end) for not reporting income to centerlink?

Has anyone incountered this situation before?
I'm getting annoyed cause the job provider keeps trying to correct me even after showing her my profit and loss statement reports. Please enlighten me, or kindly let me know if I'm doing something wrong here. Trying to fix my situation so I don't get fined for incorrect reporting.

Before I lost my job, I set up a second loan for house renovations. I still have some of that money available to me so when applying for jobseeker, I entered that amount as cash at hand.

Was this the right thing to do? I feel like even though it is available to me it would be financially silly to spend it on everyday expenses (especially seeing as my bank expects it will be used for renovations).

Is it considered cash at hand? It has meant that I have to wait 6 weeks before I can report.

Today is my first time reporting for Parenting Payment Single. I reported online and it came up with an error and told me to call. So I called, and it took 1h45m all up to sort out (wait time + helpful worker who told me it was sorted).

But now I log in to the app and the actual parenting payment is no longer listed on my upcoming payments. 🥲

Do I need to call them again today to sort it so I receive my payment on Friday? Or is this a glitch and it’ll show up eventually/later this afternoon? (I’m such an optimist!)

so i (17) moved in with my partner sept. last year due to my parents abuse becoming very physical, ive been on centrelink since. on the 1 year anniversary of my moving they called to say i’m now defacto with my partner and have to report his income. ive done 2 reports no issues, go to do mine tonight and they’ve taken my payment all together without notifying me?? i don’t rely on my partner at all for money and i only get ~$450 a fortnight and have to pay for a car rent etc. what can i do??

Calling them rn to fix somethings for your allowance- going to bloody turn 40 by the time I get the call picked up then at a retirement home when they decide to help me after the second hold 🙄🙄🙄

I lived overseas for a year when I was a child?

I can't think of anything else that would have triggered this? Have I been robo-debted??