Public holiday payment arrangements Christmas and New Year
Services Australia, which includes Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support, will close during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
All service centres and most phone lines will close on:
- Monday 26 December 2022
- Tuesday 27 December 2022
- Wednesday 28 December 2022
- Monday 2 January 2023.
If you have to return a form or report your earnings for a Centrelink payment on one of these days, you will be able to report earlier.
Services Australia will let you know if you have to report your earning earlier.
If you do not need to return a form or report to get a payment, Services Australia may pay you early.
On public holidays, you can get information about your child support payments using the Child Support Info Service and your Child Support online account.
When service centres are closed, you can use your myGov account to access your online accounts, including your Centrelink online account. You can also use the Express Plus mobile apps and phone self service to check your reporting dates, update your details or report your earnings quickly and easily.
You can find out more information about holiday reporting by:
- go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/holidays
- for Centrelink payments and services, you can call 131 202 to speak with someone in your language.
- for help with Medicare, you can call 132 011 and let us know if you need an interpreter. We’ll arrange one for free.
- for help with Child Support, you can call 131 272 and let us know if you need an interpreter. We’ll arrange one for free.
It is also a good time to check that your bank details are up to date with Medicare, to make sure you are getting the benefits you are entitled to. You can do this quickly and easily online using your Medicare online account through myGov or the Express Plus Medicare mobile app.
You can read, listen to or watch information about Service Australia’s payments and services in other languages by going to servicesaustralia.gov.au/yourlanguage
*Calls to ’13’ numbers from your home phone anywhere in Australia are charged at a fixed rate. This might differ from the local call rate and between phone providers.
Calls to ‘1800’ numbers from your home phone are free. Calls from public and mobile phones may be timed and charged at a higher rate.
