10.1.9.50 Additional child amount

Payments for children under international social security agreements

Some of Australia’s social security agreements with other countries contain provisions to enable additional payments for dependent children to be paid as part of a person’s pension when they are overseas. This is referred to as the additional child amount.

The additional child amount reflects arrangements in place up to 1993, when additional pension for children and mothers and guardian allowance were paid as part of a person’s pension where relevant.

After 1993, these amounts were absorbed into family payment. When family payment was replaced by FTB the amounts for these components were specified in the SS(IntAgree)Act to preserve the payability of the additional child amount in agreements.

The additional child amount is indexed annually in line with CPI increases on 1 January each year. The rates are available on Social security indexation page on DSS website.

Where applicable under an agreement, the additional child amount is added to the person’s pre-proportionalised pension rate. The person's rate of payment must be greater than zero for the additional child amount to be added.

Some agreements specifically exclude additional child amounts. It is therefore important to check the specific agreement.