My partner gets the Age Pension: can I get JobSeeker Payment too?

If your partner is on the Age Pension and you are younger than Age Pension age, you can still claim JobSeeker Payment in your own right, but you will be assessed as a couple. Your partner's income counts, your combined assets can cancel your payment outright, and the rate you receive is the lower partnered rate. This article walks through how those rules work, using the rates that took effect on 20 September 2026.

Who is eligible in the first place?

Services Australia says you need to meet all of these to get JobSeeker Payment: you are aged between 22 and Age Pension age, you meet the residence rules, and you pass the income and assets tests. You must also be either unemployed and looking for work, or sick or injured and unable to do your usual work or study (for the sick or injured route you need a medical certificate).

Having a partner on the Age Pension does not disqualify you, and it does not qualify you either. You still need to be genuinely looking for work (or be temporarily unable to work), and you take on the payment's commitments. Our article on JobSeeker for older Australians covers that side of the payment.

What you will be paid

From 20 September 2026, the maximum JobSeeker Payment is $755.10 per fortnight if you are partnered, compared with $824.90 for a single person with no children. Each member of an Age Pension couple receives up to $933.00 per fortnight from the same date.

So a couple made up of one Age Pensioner and one JobSeeker recipient receives up to $933.00 + $755.10 = $1,688.10 per fortnight in base payments, compared with $1,866.00 for two Age Pensioners. That is $177.90 a fortnight less. These are base rates only, before any supplements, and assume neither the income test nor the assets test reduces the payment.

How your partner's income and your income are assessed

This is the part that surprises people. Services Australia's income test page splits the rules by whether your partner gets a pension payment:

If your partner gets a pension payment (as an Age Pension recipient does), Services Australia adds your income and your partner's income together and halves it. Your half is assessed under the JobSeeker income test, and your partner's half is assessed under the income test for pension payments.

The JobSeeker income test works like this, applied to your half of the combined income per fortnight:

• Up to $150: no reduction.
• $150 to $256: your payment reduces by 50 cents for each dollar between $150 and $256.
• Over $256: your payment reduces by 60 cents for each dollar over $256.

If your partner does not get a pension payment, for example because they are over Age Pension age but their assets or income mean the pension pays nothing, or they have not claimed, Services Australia assesses your income and theirs separately, and your partner's income reduces your payment once it passes a partner threshold. That is a very different result, so it matters which group you are in.

The point at which your JobSeeker payment reaches zero if your partner gets a pension is a combined fortnightly income of $2,878.68 (this can be higher if you also receive Pharmaceutical Allowance or Rent Assistance).

A worked example

Sue, 62, is looking for work and has a partner, Jack, 68, who receives the Age Pension. This fortnight Sue earns $400 from casual work, and Jack has $600 of assessable income (deemed income from savings and other income). Assumptions: they own their home, assets are well under the limits below, and only these two sources of income apply.

• Combined income: $400 + $600 = $1,000. Half: $500.
• Reduction on Sue's JobSeeker: 50 cents × ($256 − $150) = $53.00, plus 60 cents × ($500 − $256) = $146.40. Total reduction: $199.40.
• Sue's payment: $755.10 − $199.40 = $555.70 for the fortnight, before supplements.

Jack's half of the combined income, $500, is assessed under the pension income test, so his pension is affected too. Services Australia's Age Pension income test page notes that different rates apply for partners getting a payment other than a pension, so if your partner is on JobSeeker rather than the Age Pension, check the exact result for the pensioner with Services Australia's payment finder rather than relying on the standard couple table.

The assets test is a cliff for JobSeeker

The Age Pension assets test tapers your payment gradually. The JobSeeker assets test does not: Services Australia says your payment will cancel when your assets are more than these amounts.

Note the last row: even when only one of you is claiming JobSeeker, the test uses your combined assets. Services Australia includes the type and value of any assets you or your partner own; the only real estate it does not count is your principal home.

That produces a sharp edge. Take Jack and Sue again, still homeowners, but now with $520,000 in combined assessable assets. Their combined assets are above $499,000, so Sue's JobSeeker Payment is cancelled, however little income she has. Jack's Age Pension, on the other hand, is not cancelled at that level: it reduces gradually under the Age Pension assets-test taper. (Our article on how much you can have and still get the Age Pension sets out the taper and the current cut-off points.)

If your combined assets are close to the $499,000 line, the value of the JobSeeker claim can turn on a single asset being valued differently, so it is worth knowing where you stand before you claim.

Keep more of your payment: working credits

Services Australia says you can build working credits when your fortnightly income is less than $48, and these can be used in fortnights when your income is higher, so you may still receive some payment. If you have working credits, they are applied before the maximum-income cut-off is assessed.

Practical checklist

• Work out which group your partner is in. Do they actually receive a pension payment? That decides whether your income is halved with theirs or assessed separately.
• Add up combined assessable assets first. If they exceed $499,000 (homeowners) or $766,000 (non-homeowners), JobSeeker will not be paid, and you can save yourself the claim.
• Report income for both of you. Services Australia uses your and your partner's fortnightly income, and unreported income can produce an overpayment debt.
• Understand the timing. JobSeeker is for people from 22 to Age Pension age. Once you reach Age Pension age, the Age Pension is the payment to look at; see our article on couples and the Age Pension, and on the younger spouse super shelter if you have a large age gap.
• Use the payment finder. Services Australia's Centrelink payment finder can check whether you can get JobSeeker and estimate your rate.

Sources

• Services Australia — Who can get JobSeeker Payment
• Services Australia — How much JobSeeker Payment you can get
• Services Australia — Income test for JobSeeker Payment
• Services Australia — Income and assets tests for JobSeeker Payment
• Services Australia — Income test for Age Pension