The federal parliament recently passed an amendment with changes to vaccination requirements for the purpose of eligibility to Family Tax Benefit A (FTB A) and the FTB A end of year supplement. From the amendment:
From 1 July 2018, families who do not meet the health check requirements or immunisation requirements for a child will, instead of losing their FTB Part A end of year supplement, have approximately $28 per child withheld from their fortnightly rate of FTB Part A. (page 2)
Two benefits, namely, Child Care Subsidy and a small percentage of Family Tax Benefit A are subject to a vaccination requirement. See table and notes below.
| Benefit / Subsidy | Vaccination Requirement |
| Family Tax Benefit A * | Yes * |
| Family Tax Benefit A Supplement ** | No ** |
| Family Tax Benefit B | No |
| Family Tax Benefit B Supplement | No |
| Child Care Subsidy | Yes |
* From 01 July 2018, the parents of those children not meeting the vaccination requirement and 4 year old health check will have their Family Tax Benefit A reduced by approximately $28 per fortnight per child.
** From 01 July 2018, the Family Tax Benefit A Supplement will no longer be subject to a vaccination requirement, but is subject to a means test (currently approximately $80,000 per annum), so not all families of unvaccinated children will be eligible. The Family Tax Benefit A supplement will be paid after the end of the 2018/2019 financial year.
Source: Which benefits are subject to the vaccination requirement?
It should be noted that the means test for eligibility to FTB A Supplement has also changed, so some families on higher incomes will still not be eligible for the supplement, but not because their children are not vaccinated.
What all of this means is that, those families which meet the means test for the FTB A end of year supplement, will get the per child end of year supplement back after the end of the 2018/2019 financial year (this was taken away in 2016), but will have their fortnightly FTB A payments docked by approximately $28 per child instead. For these families there will be no net change in the total received over the year.
With respect to those families which do not meet the means test for the FTB A end of year supplement there will be a net loss of approximately $28 per child per fortnight.
The changes are described in this Government article with the ridiculously long title of Supporting No Jab No Pay — Healthy Start for School — new compliance arrangements – Budget 2017-18
You could also read this article which includes the threshold amounts for different types of families Budget Review 2017-18/FamilyPayments
We do not monitor eligibility criteria for family payments except for vaccination requirements. If you have any queries regarding other eligibility criteria such as income/means tests, you should contact Centrelink or visit the website.
Our Vaccine Laws page has links to detailed information pages about all state and federal laws.
