Eligible workers across the first seven local government areas in New South Wales to go into lockdown will be able to apply for the Federal Government’s increased COVID-19 Disaster Payments from tomorrow, Thursday July 15, enabling payments to be made from Friday, July 16.
Residents in Bayside, City of Sydney, Canada Bay, Inner West, Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra will be able to apply for the recurring COVID-19 Disaster Payment tomorrow, while the wider Greater Sydney region under lockdown and right across NSW can make an application from Sunday July 18, enabling payments to be made from Monday, July 19.
This means that the increased payment of $600 a week for those who have lost more than 20 hours of work, and $375 a week for those who have lost between eight hours or one day and 20 hours of work, will start to arrive a day earlier than anticipated.
This is welcome news for the many across Sydney going through these challenging times.
Payments will start to be paid the day after application.
Payments will then be reoccurring on the Thursday for Bayside, City of Sydney, Canada Bay, Inner West, Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra, and Sunday/Monday for the remainder of NSW for subsequent weeks.
The simplest way to claim is online at www.my.gov.au.
To claim online, you need a Centrelink Customer Reference Number and a myGov account that is linked to your Centrelink online account. If you don’t have these, the Services Australia website (www.servicesaustralia.gov.au) is the best place to set these up.
If you aren’t able to use online services, you can call Services Australia on 180 22 66 (Monday – Friday between 8am and 5pm) for help with claiming. This weekend, to assist with claims, the phone lines will be open from 9am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday.