I worked in families at Centrleink for 20 years but still feel you should check the www.centrelink.gov.au homepage. As the wrong info can make life really hard

Full pension just went up but was $530.90 this is affected by income from wages, interest from bank accounts, rental income etc etc NOT child support

Family Tax Benefit part A is paid per child. If you have 100% care and the children are under 13 its around $130pf. Part B is about $80 I think for 5 plus. Rent assistance sometimes is payable also.

Child support affects Family Tax Benefit NOT pension.

with the pension you get a pension card for cheap scripts, half fare bus travel, free rego for a car, help with phone and elect bills etc and in some cases a periodical phone allowance of $22.

At tax time you can receive up to $600 part a  per child and about 330 part b as a lump sum.

I have no income or child support My total pension is 530.90 & families with rent assistance on rent of 185pw is $325pf/

Hope this helps to be sure though their are income guides on the centrleink home page.

good luck 

Just one thing. Whether or not your ex pays child support for your kids, your centrelink PPS payments will be adjusted according to what he is SUPPOSED to pay in Child Support, not what ACTUALLY pays. So if he pays nothing then you still only get paid what your supposed if he was actually paying. I'm sure you would get rent assistance as well. The amount of $$$ you get isn't huge persay, but you make do. I have always been an SP, and sacrificed over $25000 in wages to be with my child. No regrets.

on the centrelink website there is a calculater which gives an estimate of what you will be recieving also if you go to the child support web site there is a calculater to see how much child support you will recieve also. so this should give you an idea of your payments

Hi honey,

It's really scary going solo on your own for the first time . . .

Here is a link that takes you straight to centrelinks payment info . . There is a change that happened this month but all the info you need is here . .  CLICK HERE

Cheers Kellz

It's hard to compare because where I live its on a sliding scale, they take his income and mine and they also go by who has the kids more etc.  I have 50/50 and I did not have to do it that way, but he is a good father to the kids and because of that I don't get a lot but he agreed to pay me 150.00 more then the sliding scale.  I have the kids like 67.3 and he has them 37.7. 

Hope this helps-

Faith

Hello,
I don't seem to get as much money as most people have said they get so far.  I have four children and another on the way, but then I get minimum child support - not even worth bothering about.  I was going to try and re enter the work force part time until I fell pregnant, but it's not an option now.  Besides, I wasn't even sure if it was an option in the first place as my eldest son is autistic with a mental age of three and I really don't like leaving him with anyone.

After reading everyone else's answers, I am wondering whether I am being under paid!!! Especially considering I get about $90 a fortnight for my eldest for Carer's allowance.

Regardless, we still manage.  I am in government housing and don't own a car, but  we live okay.

i get $1400.00 a fortnight that is with child support and I only have one child and I rent and live quite comfortable

Thank you for giving me a rough idea on what it could cost....

I know some one who has a three year old daughter, is a single parent and gets nearly $900 a fortnight. So with 2 kids you would obviously get more $$$. She is not currently working and she is renting a flat by herself so I am guessing what you get would be enough to live off. You might also be eligible for rent assitance, a health care card which helps with costs like public transport, doctors, medicine and I know in w/a you get a discount off your electricity or gas account. My dad managed to raise us 3 girls on his own and he only got family assitance and we always had food in our tummies, clothes on our back, and so forth.  I was also up until this week getting an extra $125 a fortnight on top of what my partner earns so the government I think is doing a little bit to try and help out families.

hun u will be fine, budgeting is the key. parenting payment single sits at around  700 a fortnight for yourself and one child so i assume another 2 50 to 300 for an extra child so that makes about $950 single parenting isnt easy try applying for housing also it takes time but if you get a house its worth the wait. i have loads of friends that dont work and have 2 kiddies and they are doing fine.

I have one child and don't recieve child support. Can't remember the PPS I was recieving, but FTB is $260/fortnight.  I couldn't survive without working unfortunately but maybe if you're getting child support it might make a difference.  I had to share a house but was ripped off big time in doing so which meant to be completely on my own and keep food on the table as well as pay the bills I had to get a job.  I didn't have the internet or even a computer until I had been at work for over a year as I couldn't afford it.  I don't like working and hate that my child attends childcare but there was really no way around it.  It was at the stage where we were not eating very well, well the child was but I was losing weight, we didn't have enough money to put petrol in the car, I don't drink or smoke and was breastfeeding and using cloth nappies, only took incoming STD calls and made very few local calls so there was really no way to reduce any money we were spending.  Also, all our meals were fresh and home made, nothing packaged, and the fruit and veges we used were in-season only ones which meant we weren't spending big on that.  I didn't have any pets, any other expenses like childcare/school or anything and we didn't go to the movies or out for coffee or dinner or anything at any time because we couldn't afford to.  You would get more with 2 children, but the expenses increase with 2 children, and having child support might make a difference.  I'm only working part-time, not 5 days a week, so I don't have to pay full-time childcare fees.  The PPS was around $450/fortnight when I was getting it, but it may have changed since then.  I've been working for over 2 years now.  Hope this all helps and you find out what you need to find out.