The Guides to Social Policy Law is a collection of publications designed to assist decision makers administering social policy law. The information contained in this publication is intended only as a guide to relevant legislation/policy. The information is accurate as at the date listed at the bottom of the page, but may be subject to change. To discuss individual circumstances please contact Services Australia.

2.3.2 Current formula values

Context

This section contains values used in CSPs (1.1.C.150) for the relevant years.

For historical values see topic 2.3.3.

The current COTC (1.1.C.210) Table is provided at 2.3.1.20.

Act reference

CSA Act section 5, section 5A, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

CSRC Act section 4, section 37

On this page

Basic values used in child support assessments (1.1.C.70)

CSP starting inFormula valuesRates
Annualised MTAWE figure (1.1.A.80)Self-support amount (1/3 MTAWE) (1.1.S.20)Default income (2/3 MTAWE) (1.1.D.20)Pension PP (single) maximum basic amount (1.1.P.60)FAR (1.1.F.10) of child support (2.3.5)MAR (1.1.M.20) of child support (2.3.4)
2025$89,523$29,841$59,682$26,195$1,768$534
2024$85,389$28,463$56,926$25,225$1,720$519
2023$82,524$27,508$55,016$23,800$1,632$493

AWE used for ATI indexation factor

Information about how the ATI indexation factor is calculated is provided at 1.1.A.130.

Year (November)AWE
2024$1,512.30
2023$1,431.10
2022$1,376.60

Child support inflation factor (1.1.C.130)

Calendar yearChild support inflation factor (%)
20255.6
20243.9
20233.0

CPI values

Court orders and court registered agreements or child support agreements often contain clauses providing for an annual adjustment of the amount payable in accordance with changes in the CPI.

If a court order or court registered agreement provides for a review of the amount payable on a specified date, the arrival of that date is an affecting event (CSRC Act section 4(1)).

An order or child support agreement with a CPI clause will generally state the date on which the comparison is to be made and the particular figures to be used (for example, the weighted average of CPI figures in all capital cities or a specific capital city). Where an order simply refers to CPI, but not a specific measure of it, the Registrar will use the weighted average of CPI in all capital cities from the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The ABS publishes these figures.

For historical CPI values please see 2.3.3.

CPI figures

The relevant CPI figures for the most recent year are provided below (ABS Consumer Price Index, December Quarter 2024).

PeriodSydneyMelbourneBrisbaneAdelaidePerthHobartDarwinCanberraWeighted
average
Mar 2025140.9140.7142.9141.2138.6140.0134.6138.6140.7
Dec 2024139.7139.5140.2140.5137.9138.9133.7137.3139.4
Sep 2024139.8139.3139.4140.6137.0136.8133.8137.2139.1
Jun 2024139.1138.4140.6139.9137.6138.3133.6136.8138.8
Mar 2024137.7137.5139.2138.1134.8138.1132.4135.6137.4

Where a court order or agreement includes a clause providing for an annual adjustment of the amount payable in accordance with changes in CPI, the ABS data will be used to calculate the new amount payable. The table above should be used for any adjustments that are required to use September 2012 CPI indexation figures onwards.

The formula used to apply the CPI inflation factor and calculate the new amount payable is:

  • Latest quarter index ÷ Earliest quarter index × previous entitlement

Example: A court order provides for the periodic amount (1.1.P.80) of $100 per week to be inflated by the March Sydney CPI, to take effect from 1 July each year.

March 2024 quarter CPI for Sydney - 137.7
March 2025 quarter CPI for Sydney - 140.9

  • 40.9 ÷ 137.7 × $100 = $102.32

The new periodic amount payable under the court order will be $102.32 per week starting from 1 January 2025.

CPI re-reference

In September 2012, the ABS re-referenced the CPI figures, setting the index base to 100.0 for the reference period 2011-12. The ABS also published conversion factors to allow the figures using the new index reference period to be converted to figures that are consistent with figures published before the re-referencing.

The conversion factors are:

SydneyMelbourneBrisbaneAdelaidePerthHobartDarwinCanberraWeighted average
0.55840.56490.54090.54470.55720.56140.56540.55500.5567

Last reviewed: