Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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SOCIAL SECURITY (FAMILY ACTUAL MEANS TEST) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1999 (NO. 1) 1999 NO. 340

Statutory Rules 1999 No. 340

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Family and Community Services

Social Security (Family Actual Means Test) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1)

The Social Security (Family Actual Means Test) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1) achieve two purposes. First, they extend the circumstances in which certain income earned through employment can be excluded for the purposes of the youth allowance Family Actual Means Test (FAMT). In effect, along with income from currently allowable types of employment, the Regulations provide for income earned from employment in a family business or farm to be excluded, up to the existing level.

The FAMT works out the effect (if any) of the actual means of a person's family on the person's rate of youth allowance payment. The FAMT currently provides that up to $6000 a year of spending and savings derived from a sibling's 'independent employment' can be excluded from the actual means test. The definition of 'independent employment' effectively means that earnings from employment in the family business or farm are not included in this concession. The Regulations remove the requirement that the sibling be in 'independent employment', thus extending the allowable types of employment to include employment in a family business or farm.

The Regulations also remove the complex formula that must currently be applied in calculating the concession available for families where a sibling is an isolated boarder or a secondary student boarder. Where a person is such a boarder, the concession allows for an amount to be not included in the operation of the FAMT. The Regulations replace the existing complex formula with a fixed amount of allowable spending, namely, $5,274.

The Regulations would commence on 1 January 2000.

The Minute recommends that the Regulations be made in the form proposed.

Authority: Section 1364 of the Social Security Act 1991