Centrelink payments & age pension rising – how’s your hip pocket affected?
On March 20, Services Australia will raise the rates on several key Centrelink payments.
05 Mar 2026
On March 20, Services Australia will raise the rates on several key Centrelink payments.
Twice a year, in March and September, the Federal Government performs indexation on its social services, adjusting payments to help ensure that Australians relying on these services are not left worse off by inflation. On March 20, Services Australia will raise the rates on several key Centrelink payments.
At the same time, deeming rates are also set to rise, which could also affect how millions of Australians receive their pensions and other benefits. Here’s what you need to know.
Which Centrelink payments are increasing on March 20?
According to the Department of Social Services, people receiving the full single rate of Age Pension, Disability Support Pension or Carer Payment will likely see a $22.20 boost to their fortnightly payment from 20 March 2026.
People receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance, JobSeeker, ABSTUDY (aged 22 and over), and Parenting Payment will also see an increase to their payment.
This should see boosted fortnightly payments to more than 5 million recipients, including over 2.5 million Age Pensioners.
What are deeming rates?
Deeming rates are a crucial part of how the age pension is calculated in Australia. Your pension is based on an assessment of your actual income and your assets, and each year, your assets are ‘deemed’ to have earned a certain amount of income, regardless of how much they actually earned.
Deeming rates apply to assets like savings accounts and term deposits, managed investments, loans and debentures, and listed shares and securities. Services Australia says that this approach helps keep pension payments steady, and also provides an incentive to invest, as any interest you earn above the deeming rate doesn’t count as income.
How much are deeming rates going up and what does this mean?
Deeming rates were frozen in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have only gone up once since then, in September 2025, but they are set to go up again this month. Currently, the first $64,200 of your financial assets will have a deemed rate of 0.75% applied. Any assets above this are deemed to earn 2.75% interest.
From March 20, 2026, the first $64,200 of your financial assets will have a deemed rate of 1.25% applied. Any assets above this will be deemed to earn 3.25% interest.
This rise in deeming rates could potentially mean you receive less in your age pension and/or other benefits, depending on what assets you hold. While the increase to pensions and other Centrelink payments could help offset this, it may be worth contacting Centrelink and/or a financial adviser to get a better idea of how these changes could affect your income and lifestyle from March 20 onwards.
This article was reviewed by our Deputy Finance Editor Alasdair Duncan before it was updated, as part of our fact-checking process.
