Guide for farmers and partners

Farm Household Allowance: what it is, who gets it and how training fits

Farm Household Allowance is a fortnightly payment for farmers and their partners who are in financial hardship, and Services Australia pays it. You can get it for up to four years in a ten-year period, and it comes with a Farm Household Case Officer, a Financial Improvement Agreement and up to $10,000 for approved training and advice through the activities in your agreement (Services Australia). This guide covers eligibility, the income and assets tests, what comes with the payment, claiming, and where training fits.

Farm Household Allowance (FHA) is an income support payment for a farmer or the partner of a farmer who is experiencing financial hardship. Services Australia pays it and handles claims (Services Australia). The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) owns the programme and publishes the programme factsheet and the guidelines that set its rules (DAFF).

Your financial hardship can be for any reason, so the payment is not only for drought. Services Australia also states that there is no cap on the number of farmers who can get FHA (Services Australia).

You must be a farmer or the partner of a farmer, in financial hardship, and 16 years or older (Services Australia). On the day you claim, you must be living in Australia, physically in Australia and an Australian resident; that means an Australian citizen, the holder of a permanent visa, or a protected Special Category Visa holder (Services Australia, DAFF). If you have recently arrived as a resident, you may have to wait 2 or 4 years (Services Australia).

You or your partner must contribute labour and capital to an Australian farm (Services Australia). The farm must also have a significant commercial purpose. Services Australia assesses this on five factors: the purpose of the farm, its prospect of making a profit, how consistent its activities are, the degree to which it is run as a business, and its size, scale and permanency (Services Australia).

From 1 July 2024 there is an additional factor: the farm’s revenue, on average over the previous 3 years, is more than $60,000 a year, or is expected to be generated over a reasonable future period (DAFF, DAFF). DAFF advises people to apply rather than self-assess, because each application is assessed case by case (DAFF).

Under 22, the income limit is the same as the Youth Allowance limit; from 22, it is the JobSeeker Payment limit (DAFF). Your exact cut-off depends on age, partner status, children and farm losses, so check the Services Australia income test page for current figures (Services Australia).

FHA is paid at a flat rate: the amount does not taper as your income rises, and it is either the maximum rate or nil (Services Australia). Farm losses can be used to reduce non-farm income by up to $100,000 per individual or couple each financial year (Services Australia). From 1 July 2024, when employment income is over the limit, the payment can stay at a nil rate, rather than being cancelled, for 12 consecutive fortnights (DAFF).

Under the assets test, the net value of your assets must be less than $5.5 million (Services Australia). Couples are assessed on the same limit, combined, as a single person (DAFF). Your home and the first 2 hectares of land it is on are not counted as assets (Services Australia). Where your assets are above the threshold but you are in severe financial hardship, you may still receive payments in exceptional circumstances, and the asset usually must be on the market (DAFF). Both tests are set out side by side on the income and assets test page (Services Australia).

Services Australia updates the rates on 20 March and 20 September each year, and the current fortnightly figures for your situation are on the rates page (Services Australia).

FHA runs for up to four years, or 1,460 days, at any time in a ten-year period, and you can stop and start within that (Services Australia, DAFF). This ten-year period runs from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2034, and the next runs from 1 July 2034 to 30 June 2044 (Services Australia). Unused years can be saved for when you need them; you do not have to use the four years all at once (Services Australia).

The FHA income support payment, the activity supplement and the FFA supplement are taxable payments (DAFF). If you are eligible for FHA and in severe financial hardship, you can also get a Hardship Advance of up to one week of FHA (Services Australia).

A Farm Household Case Officer (FHCO) will contact you when you start to get Farm Household Allowance (Services Australia). Meetings can be through video chat, in person at a service centre, or over the phone (Services Australia).

One of your requirements to get FHA is the Farm Financial Assessment, an assessment of your farm’s financial position. A qualified or experienced financial assessor completes the assessment with you; the FHCO does not do it. A voucher pays up to $1,500 for the assessment, and if the voucher does not cover the full fee you pay the rest. Usually you have one month from the date of the request to complete it. If you completed your assessment after 1 January 2025, you can view it in myGov under Historical Information (Services Australia).

Each year while you are on FHA you also complete the Farm Financial Update, an update on your farm’s financial position (Services Australia).

FHA also comes with other payments and concessions. Eligible recipients also get a Health Care Card (Services Australia). Services Australia lists allowances such as Pharmaceutical Allowance, Telephone Allowance, Rent Assistance and Remote Area Allowance, and the guidelines add the Energy Supplement (Services Australia, DAFF). If at least one parent or guardian gets FHA, the parental income test will not apply to Youth Allowance or Assistance for Isolated Children (Services Australia). When you stop getting FHA, Services Australia cancels the Health Care Card (Services Australia).

If you get Farm Household Allowance, you need to enter into a Financial Improvement Agreement (FIA) (Services Australia). Its goal is financial self-reliance, achieved through a combination of increasing income from the farm, increasing other income, or preparing to exit farming (Services Australia).

The agreement includes an activity test: you need to do at least one compulsory activity, such as approved training or study (Services Australia). You must enter into the agreement within 28 days, or your payments may stop (Services Australia). Your FHCO must review the FIA with you at least once every 12 weeks (DAFF).

The activity supplement helps pay for activities in your Financial Improvement Agreement. It is up to $10,000 per person, to develop skills, access training or pay for advice that increases financial self-reliance (DAFF).

Speak to your FHCO before you do the activity (Services Australia). An activity should relate to training or study that helps you manage your farm, or to professional advice (Services Australia). Your FHCO may also approve activities that help you move into another career, as well as counselling services and travel and accommodation costs for an activity (Services Australia).

Under the guidelines, an activity must be undertaken for the purposes of the activity test, be specified in an FIA in force, be done as specified in the FIA, and fall in a prescribed class (DAFF). The guidelines give two examples: fees for eligible training courses, and workshops, conferences and training that assist a transition to an alternative career. The guidelines also state that activities supporting a partner who works off-farm and wishes to gain new skills are appropriate (DAFF).

You can receive the supplement directly or have it paid to a service provider for the activity. If the activity costs more than the cap, you fund the remaining portion from your own means. According to the guidelines, the supplement helps the individual achieve financial self-reliance, so it is not for capital purchases or normal farm costs (DAFF).

A diploma from a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) may be approved as an FIA activity, particularly as training to help you move into another career, if your FHCO agrees it fits your agreement. Services Australia states that your FHCO may approve activities that help you move into another career (Services Australia). Among the activities the guidelines give, an activity supplement could fund fees for eligible training courses and training for a transition to an alternative career (DAFF).

DAFF publishes Training Providers and the $10,000 Activity Supplement for training providers. Training delivered by both Registered Training Organisations and non-RTOs can be assessed (DAFF). DAFF states that it does not have a panel of preferred or pre-approved providers, and DAFF gives examples of approvals for a diverse range of training activities, workshops and conferences that can help generate on-farm or off-farm income (DAFF). No official source names any particular course, and no official source promises that a full tuition fee will be covered.

Across the whole programme, the cap applies to the person (DAFF). The supplement is available once only, it does not reset, and it is shared with every other activity in your FIA, such as professional advice, counselling, or travel and accommodation (Services Australia). It is taxable, and the claim must be made within 2 months of the invoice (DAFF).

Speak to your FHCO before you enrol, so the activity can be agreed and written into your FIA first (Services Australia).

TalentMed Pty Ltd, RTO 22151, delivers nationally recognised healthcare training online, which suits study alongside a farm business. Two diplomas and a single unit fit working remotely from a farm:

• The 11288NAT Diploma of Healthcare Documentation trains you to produce, check and safeguard the health information the care system runs on. It is a 12-month, self-paced diploma delivered 100% online with daily intakes, and graduates work in roles including medical records and health information, documentation services, and independent contracting.
• The HLT50321 Diploma of Clinical Coding is a 12-month, self-paced diploma delivered 100% online with daily intakes.
• BSBMED301 Interpret and Apply Medical Terminology Appropriately is a single unit that can be a starting point before a diploma.

TalentMed does not promise any employment outcome from any course, and a diploma is not a pathway to a guaranteed job. TalentMed has no approval, endorsement or partnership arrangement with Services Australia or DAFF, and enrolling in a course does not depend on, and does not guarantee, any FHA approval; the FHCO’s decision comes first. For a broader look at funded healthcare training for women in rural Australia, see funded healthcare training for rural women, and the healthcare careers hub sets out where each qualification leads. To ask about any of these courses, contact TalentMed.

Claiming works in steps, and Services Australia sets out each one (Services Australia):

1. Check that you meet the eligibility rules: a farmer or the partner of a farmer, in financial hardship, aged 16 or over, with a farm that has a significant commercial purpose.
2. Gather your documents, including your latest business and personal tax returns for you and your partner if you have one, profit and loss statements, a depreciation schedule and a balance sheet (Services Australia).
3. Claim online: the easiest way is through a Centrelink online account linked to myGov (Services Australia). There is an online combined partner claim option if you meet the criteria (Services Australia). You can also claim on paper: use the Claim for Farm Household Allowance form (SU694), including the Income and Assets form and supporting documents (Services Australia).
4. Submit the claim within 13 weeks from when you started it, or it expires (Services Australia).
5. Expect an outcome within 35 days of submitting your claim (Services Australia). In most cases, the first FHA payment arrives around 2 weeks after your claim is approved (Services Australia).
6. A Farm Household Case Officer will contact you when your payment starts (Services Australia). Next, arrange the Farm Financial Assessment with a financial assessor, and enter into your Financial Improvement Agreement within 28 days (Services Australia, Services Australia).

DAFF notes that processing timeframes vary with the complexity of the farm business, and that most claims are finalised within a month or two (DAFF).

For help with Farm Household Allowance, call the Farmer Assistance Hotline on 132 316, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm (Services Australia). Claims are made online or on the SU694 form.

The Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS) also offers free help: its national information line, 1300 771 741, connects you with your nearest RFCS office (DAFF). DAFF’s own general enquiries line is 1800 900 090, which is a departmental number rather than the counselling service (DAFF).

The current programme period began on 1 July 2024 (Services Australia), and several rules changed with it:

• Your entitlement of up to four years of FHA restarted from 1 July 2024, in the new ten-year period running to 30 June 2034 (Services Australia).
• A revenue factor was added to the significant commercial purpose test: the farm’s revenue, on average over the previous 3 years, is more than $60,000 a year, or is expected to be generated over a reasonable future period (DAFF). The Office of Impact Analysis (OIA), part of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, published the analysis behind the change.
• Services Australia needs the Farm Financial Update once a year while you are getting FHA (Services Australia); the Office of Impact Analysis published the analysis behind the annual collection of financial information.
• The nil rate period for employment income was extended from 6 to 12 consecutive fortnights (DAFF).
• Farm Financial Assessments completed after 1 January 2025 can be viewed in myGov under Historical Information (Services Australia).
• The guidelines in force are version 1.3, updated April 2026 (DAFF).

• Services Australia: Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Who can get Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: How much Farm Household Allowance you can get
• Services Australia: Activity supplement for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Financial Improvement Agreement for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: How Farm Household Case Officers can help
• Services Australia: Farm Financial Assessment for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Farm Financial Update
• Services Australia: Assets test for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Income test for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Income and assets test for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Residence rules for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Time limits for Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: How to claim Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Claim for Farm Household Allowance form (SU694)
• Services Australia: When you’ll get your first Farm Household Allowance payment
• Services Australia: Other support if you’re getting Farm Household Allowance
• Services Australia: Helping you transition off FHA
• Services Australia: Income test for JobSeeker Payment
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry: Farm Household Allowance
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry: Farm Household Allowance and financial assessment guidelines
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (PDF): Farm Household Allowance program factsheet
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (PDF): Training Providers and the $10,000 Activity Supplement
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (PDF): Farm Household Allowance: Assets test explained
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (PDF): Farm Household Allowance: Income test explained
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (PDF): Farm Household Allowance guidelines (from 1 July 2024)
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry: Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS)
• Office of Impact Analysis (PM&C): Farm Household Allowance: Eligibility Changes