Social Security (Administration) (Delayed Lodgement of Claims for Pension Bonus) Guidelines 2007

Administered by Department of Social Services

Legislation au F2007L04983 Not in force Legislative Instrument

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EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Social Security (Administration) (Delayed Lodgement of Claims for Pension Bonus) Guidelines 2007

 

Summary

 

Under subsection 17(6) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (the Act), the Secretary is given the power to make guidelines setting out special circumstances for the purposes of subsection 17(5).  The effect of these guidelines is to indicate (without doing so exclusively) special circumstances that may be sufficient for the Secretary to determine that a person’s claim for pension bonus that is lodged after that person’s claim for age pension is taken to have been made at the same time as the age pension claim.

 

Subsection 17(1) of the Act requires that a pension bonus claim is lodged together with a claim for age pension or in accordance with an invitation to claim under section 17(3).  The intention of these guidelines is to specify circumstances where a registered member of the pension bonus scheme makes a claim for pension bonus, not at the time of lodging their age pension claim, but within two years of their age pension claim due to a failure, either by the Secretary or by the person, to meet the requirements for claims in subsection 17(1) of the Act.  However, these circumstances are not intended to fall within the ambit of “special circumstances” if the person knowingly gives the Secretary incorrect information and this is the reason why the Secretary does not invite the person to make a claim under subsection 17(3) of the Act.

 

These guidelines are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

 

Background

 

The Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Legislation Amendment (Further 2007 Budget Measures) Act 2007 added into the Act subsections 17(5) and (6) to enable greater flexibility with regard to claims for pension bonus.  Prior to the addition of those subsections section 17 of the Act, a claim for pension bonus by a person must either be attached to a proper claim made by the person and lodged together with it or, if the person’s claim for age pension is made on a form which does not require the person to indicate their membership of the pension bonus scheme and the Secretary is aware of their membership, made in accordance with an invitation that the Secretary is required to offer to the person under subsection 17(3) of the Act.

 

The changes made by the new subsections 17(5) and 17(6) give the Secretary the discretion, if satisfied that special circumstances exist in relation to the lodgement of a person’s claim for pension bonus, to deem that the person claimed pension bonus at the same time as his or her claim for age pension.  New subsection 17(6) enables the Secretary to make guidelines indicative of “special circumstances” for this purpose.


Explanation of Provisions

 

Section 1 states the name of the instrument.

 

Section 2 states that the instrument commences on 1 January 2008.  This means that the instrument will have effect on and from that date.

 

Section 3 contains the interpretation of the term Act as it is used in the instrument.  It means the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.

 

Section 4 contains the guidelines for when special circumstances apply in relation to the lodgement of a person’s claim for pension bonus by persons who are registered members of the pension bonus scheme immediately before lodging a claim for age pension.  There are two circumstances that are specified.

 

The first circumstance is intended to apply where the person lodges a claim for pension bonus within two years of their age pension claim and the Secretary should have invited, but did not invite, the person to make the claim for pension bonus according to subsection 17(3) of the Act because the person’s age pension claim was made in accordance with a form that did not require the claimant to disclose whether the person was a registered member of the pension bonus scheme or the corresponding scheme under Part IIIAB of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986.  However, this circumstance is not a “special circumstance” for the purposes of paragraph 17(5)(c) of the Act if the invitation was not offered to the person because the person knowingly gave the Secretary incorrect information that led the Secretary to conclude that the making of the invitation would be inappropriate.

 

The second circumstance is intended to apply where the person lodges a claim for pension bonus within two years of their age pension claim and the person’s age pension claim was made in accordance with a form that did require the claimant to disclose whether the person was a registered member of the pension bonus scheme or the corresponding scheme under Part IIIAB of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 and the claimant did not disclose that they were a member and the Secretary did not seek disclosure of that information before granting the claim for age pension.

 

Consultation

 

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs was consulted during the preparation of this instrument.  This was done to ensure a co-ordinated and consistent approach to the treatment of claims for pension bonus under both the social security law and the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986.

 

This instrument is beneficial to persons who are members of the pension bonus scheme because it increases the range of situations in which claims for pension bonus can be lodged.  Public consultation was therefore seen as unnecessary.

 

Regulatory Impact Analysis

 

This instrument does not require a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) and/or a Business Cost Calculator Figure.  This instrument is not regulatory in nature, will not impact on business activity and will have no, or minimal, compliance costs or competition impact.  It is not expected that any compliance costs will be incurred by business as a result of the effect of this instrument.

 

Overview

The Social Security (Administration) (Delayed Lodgement of Claims for Pension Bonus) Guidelines 2007 were introduced to address a gap in the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (the Act). Enacted by the Parliament, the Act was amended by the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Legislation Amendment (Further 2007 Budget Measures) Act 2007 to enable greater flexibility with regard to claims for pension bonus. Specifically, the guidelines were created to outline circumstances under which a claim for pension bonus, made after the initial age pension claim but within two years, may be considered as having been lodged concurrently with the age pension claim. This was intended to provide relief to claimants who, due to administrative errors or other reasons, did not meet the strict lodging requirements stipulated in the Act. The policy objective of these guidelines is to offer flexibility in certain cases while ensuring that claimants who knowingly provide incorrect information do not benefit from such leniency. By specifying conditions under which delayed claims may still be honoured, the guidelines aim to balance administrative fairness with the integrity of the claims process. This legislative instrument was made under the authority of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, and it commenced on 1 January 2008.

Scope and Application

The Social Security (Administration) (Delayed Lodgement of Claims for Pension Bonus) Guidelines 2007 provide special circumstances under which a person’s claim for a pension bonus can be deemed to have been made at the same time as their claim for an age pension. This applies to registered members of the pension bonus scheme who did not lodge their claim for pension bonus at the same time as their age pension claim but within two years of it. The guidelines serve to outline scenarios where such delayed claims might be accepted, notably when the Secretary did not invite the claim for pension bonus due to oversight or when the form used for the age pension claim did not require disclosure of pension bonus scheme membership. However, these circumstances do not apply if the delay was due to the claimant knowingly providing incorrect information. The guidelines are applicable across Australia and are part of the legislative framework under the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, which they further elaborate through subordinate instruments. There are no exclusions or exemptions specified in these guidelines; they are intended to provide flexibility in processing claims under the Act.

Key Provisions

The Social Security (Administration) (Delayed Lodgement of Claims for Pension Bonus) Guidelines 2007 (the Guidelines) were made under subsection 17(6) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (the Act). They outline special circumstances under which a claim for pension bonus may be treated as having been lodged at the same time as a claim for age pension, despite being lodged later. Specifically, section 4 of the Guidelines indicates two scenarios where this may occur. The first is where a person lodges a claim for pension bonus within two years of their age pension claim, and the Secretary should have invited the person to make the pension bonus claim but did not, due to the age pension claim form not requiring disclosure of pension bonus scheme membership. The second scenario is where the age pension claim form did require disclosure of membership, but the person did not disclose it, and the Secretary did not seek this information before granting the age pension claim. However, these scenarios do not apply if the Secretary did not invite the pension bonus claim because the person knowingly provided incorrect information. The Act imposes several obligations on parties involved in pension claims. Section 17(1) of the Act requires that a pension bonus claim be lodged together with an age pension claim or in accordance with an invitation to claim. The Secretary must consider the special circumstances outlined in the Guidelines when determining whether to treat a delayed claim as timely. Persons making claims are required to disclose their membership in the pension bonus scheme when applicable. Additionally, the Secretary has an obligation to offer an invitation to claim pension bonus if they are aware of the person's membership but the form used for the age pension claim did not require disclosure. Breaches of the requirements set out in the Act may lead to various consequences. While the Guidelines themselves do not create new offences, failure to comply with the Act's provisions could result in the pension bonus claim being denied. There are no specific penalties outlined for non-compliance with the Guidelines, but general penalties under the Act may apply for providing false or misleading information, which could include fines and imprisonment. The maximum penalties for offences under the Social Security Act can vary but may include substantial fines and/or imprisonment terms depending on the severity of the offence.

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Social Security Law
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Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 August 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.