Hardship criteria

In addition to meeting other qualifying criteria, to pay an Emergency Maintenance Allowance, the client must be suffering hardship.

You can consider that a client is in hardship if the client has:

• no other means of supporting themselves and any dependent family

and

• cash assets of or less than:
  • $4,300.00 if the client is single or
  • $7,464.00 if the client is married, in a civil union or de facto relationship, or is a sole parent

In exceptional circumstances you can disregard some of the client's cash assets.

You also need to look at whether the client has recently given any money away or sold any assets.