Centrelink and myGov

Centrelink manages a range of government payments and services for retirees, the unemployed, families, carers, parents, people with disabilities, Indigenous Australians, students aged 16-24, apprentices and people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

You may be required to attend a Centrelink office to access some services or in order to receive your income support payments. 

As part of the services you receive, you may need to submit voluntary work verification forms or medical forms. These are submitted to and assessed by Centrelink.

If you’re not sure, talk to our team and we can help you find the right information.

Depending on your situation and income support arrangements, there are a few things that you may have to do to receive income support payments from Centrelink. These are called mutual obligation requirements.

Many people who are unemployed and receiving Centrelink payments will have to do certain things to show they are actively searching for work in order to continue receiving that income support.

Should you fail to undertake an activity that you have agreed upon as part of your mutual obligation requirements, Centrelink may suspend your income support payments.

If you are unsure about your mutual obligation requirements, you can talk to your MAX consultant or Centrelink.

You can keep track of the activity requirements in your Job Plan through an online dashboard on the myGov website, and it is your responsibility to record your attendance at activities.

Australian JobSearch (JobSearch) has been upgraded to a new sign-in system for job seekers using myGov. All job seekers will now need to use myGov to access their JobSearch account.

With a myGov account, you can access all of our online accounts - Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support - as well as other government online services in one place, with just one username and password.

myGov is a simple and secure way to access all government online services: this includes but is not limited to:

• You can manage your own job search and attendance at activities
• You can upload required documents and medical evidence to save you time visiting a Centrelink branch
• Manage Medicare online
• Manage child care benefits and rebates online
• Manage family tax benefits online
• Access ATO services
• Manage and view your NDIS plan.

You can also use myGov to update your details. Doing it once through myGov will ensure your details are updated in all other Government services linked to your account.

• Go to website my.gov.au
• Click the 'Create a myGov account' button on the sign in page
• On the 'Create a myGov account' page, enter your email address then read and accept the terms of use, before clicking 'Next'
• A confirmation code will be sent to your email
• Enter your confirmation code
• Set up your account by providing your mobile phone number and entering and confirming a password
• Choose three secret questions and answers
• The system will generate a username for your account.

Your username identifies your account and will be emailed to you when you create your account. Make sure you keep it in a safe place.

Ensuring that your password is hard to guess gives you the best chance of keeping your details safe. To help in this process, the Government sets some guidelines around setting the password. These include: 

• Your password needs to be at least 7 characters long and have at least one number
• You cannot repeat the same character or have sequential characters (e.g. AAAA or 1234)
• You can use any of the following characters: ! @ # $ % ^ & *.

Make sure you keep your password safe.

If you forget your password select the Forgotten your password link on the myGov sign in page to create a new one.

If you forget your username, click the Forgotten your myGov username link on the myGov website and enter the email address you use for myGov. 

The system will send your myGov username to your email address or mobile phone. If you have chosen to receive your username via SMS and it doesn't arrive, check your email account.

If you forget your password, click on the Forgotten your password link and follow the steps shown. The system will ask you to:

• Enter your username
• Retrieve your confirmation code from either your mobile phone or email
• Enter your confirmation code
• Answer one of your secret questions
• Create and confirm a new password.

On the ‘Sign in’ page type in your username and password and click the ‘Sign in’ button.

You will then be asked to answer one of your secret questions to protect the security of your account.

Member services are Australian Government programs that offer online services through myGov.

These include: Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support, the Personally Controlled eHealth Record System, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and Australian JobSearch.

More member services will become available as the Government continues to improve myGov.

You will get the most benefit from using myGov if you link to all the services you need. For example, if you want to do your Medicare claims online, link to Medicare.

There may be others services that you need such as Centrelink or Child Support, however as a MAX customer, please ensure you link Australian JobSearch.

If you already have a JobSearch job seeker account you will need to complete a short one-time linking process following the upgrade. Once you have linked your myGov account to your JobSearch account you can continue to use the features of JobSearch as normal.

• Go to the Service page and click the link icon next to the member service you want. This will take you to the Getting Started page where you will be asked if you have an existing online account with that member service
• Click the Yes or No radio button and then the ‘next’ button in the bottom right hand corner
• If you have an existing online account you will be asked to enter your usual log in details and may be asked some further questions to make sure we are linking you to the right online account
• If you do not have an existing online account, you will also be asked to enter information to help myGov identify your record so that it can be linked to your myGov account. A video on how to link to a member service is also available on the myGov YouTube channel.

If you requested your confirmation code to be sent to your email address and you did not receive it, check your 'junk' folder.

To ensure future messages from myGov are not sent to your 'junk' folder, mark myGov as a trusted sender. If you requested your confirmation code to be sent to your mobile phone number and you did not receive it, your mobile number may not be registered with myGov.

Check your email inbox as your confirmation code will be sent there if myGov does not have your mobile number.

It is your preferred way to receive a notification from myGov when you have new messages in you Inbox. This is set up when you create an account or sign into your existing account.

You can choose to receive notifications via email or SMS.

You can choose to receive your notifications on the same email address or mobile phone number you provided when you created your account, but it can be different if you choose.

Notification preferences can be updated and changed at any time in the 'Inbox Preferences' tab on the account settings page.

myGov is an online entry point for Australian Government information and services.

Once you have registered for a myGov account you can link it to your other government online accounts - including Centrelink, the Child Support Agency and Medicare Australia.

Using a myGov account means:

• You only have to remember one username and password
• You will be able to access all your online services accounts using one website - my.gov.au.

Recording your attendance is an important part of meeting your mutual obligation requirements. You need to confirm attendance at an activity by the close of business on the day of the activity. 

To confirm your attendance at an appointment in myGov, follow these steps:

1. Login to your myGov account
2. On your dashboard, see “Your tasks to do” – urgent tasks are those you have to complete today (you can only confirm attendance on the day of your activity or appointment)
3. Click Confirm Attendance and you will get a pop up that asks you to confirm attendance or enter a passcode
4. If you are required to enter a passcode, you should have received one from your activity supervisor. Enter this now
5. Click save
6. When you have confirmed your attendance, “Your tasks to do” list will update to show your activities and appointments as Attended
7. If you can’t attend a scheduled requirement, you need to call your provider and tell them before the due date and time.

You can see these instructions in full on the jobsearch website. If you are having difficulty, ask your provider or activity supervisor and they can do it on your behalf.