How to claim the Sick Pay Guarantee

Claiming sick and carer's pay

You can make a claim for sick and carer's pay through Service Victoria.

You can claim:

• as many times as you need to, up to 38 hours a year
• a minimum of three hours and a maximum of 12 hours per day
• all 38 hours in one application if you need to, but you must claim within 60 days of being absent from work.

You can't change your claim after you have submitted it.

You need to tell the relevant person or business when you will be absent from work, as you normally would. You don’t need to tell anyone that you’re claiming the Sick Pay Guarantee.

How to make a claim

You must sign up before you can claim sick and carer’s pay.

To make a claim:

1. Go to the Service Victoria claims page.
2. Log in to your Service Victoria account.
3. Provide the details for your claim:
   • Date or dates you were absent from work
   • Number of hours you were absent from work
   • For claims of 15 hours or more you will need to provide evidence such as a medical certificate.
4. Submit your claim.

If approved, payment goes into your bank account within five business days.

You can view the status of your claim through your Service Victoria account or on the mobile app.

Updating your job and personal details

To change your main work address, employer or occupation, log in to your Service Victoria account and update your details in your profile. You can change your:

• work address
• employer details
• job.

If you start a new job, you'll need to update your proof of work. Please note that updating your details may change your eligibility.

Why you can claim

Reasons you can claim

You can claim the Sick Pay Guarantee when you’re rostered on to work but can’t attend because you’re ill or injured, or you need to take time off to care for or support immediate family or household members, as defined in the National Employment Standards. This includes:

• spouse or former spouse
• de facto partner or former de facto partner
• child
• parent
• grandparent
• grandchild
• sibling, or
• child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of your spouse or de facto partner (or former spouse or de facto partner).

This definition includes step-relations (for example, step-parents and step-children) as well as adoptive relations. A household member is any person who lives with you.

You can claim the Sick Pay Guarantee to take your children to get vaccinated, provided you meet the eligibility criteria and your employer does not offer paid vaccination leave.

You can’t claim if you have access to paid personal or annual leave entitlements. If you’ve exhausted your paid leave entitlements, you can’t then access the Sick Pay Guarantee to cover any absences from work.

Sick Pay Guarantee and COVID-19 support payments

If you have COVID-19 and miss work you can claim through Sick Pay Guarantee if you are:

• Eligible for the Sick Pay Guarantee
• Unable to work your rostered shifts due to COVID-19
• Able to provide evidence to support your claim.

You can’t claim both the Sick Pay Guarantee and COVID-19 support payments for the same period. If you work in a high-risk setting and you meet the eligibility criteria you should claim the High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment first.

The Sick Pay Guarantee is available only if you missed work. A positive RAT or PCR test is not sufficient proof of evidence to support your claim. You will need to provide a medical certificate or statutory declaration.

Find out what evidence you need to support your claim.

Find out about financial support available to people and businesses affected by COVID-19.

Claimable hours and when you can claim

You can claim up to 38 hours a year of sick and carer’s pay.

You can keep track of your claimable hours in the Sick Pay Guarantee dashboard. You'll see your claimable hours decrease as your claims are submitted and paid.

When your balance is below three hours you must claim all remaining hours in one claim.

Anniversary date

Your anniversary date is one year after the date you signed up to the Sick Pay Guarantee. For example, if you’re eligible for Sick Pay Guarantee payments and signed up on 20 March 2022, your anniversary date is 20 March 2023.

On your anniversary date, your claimable hours balance resets to 38 hours. Your first year’s unclaimed hours do not carry over.

• If you submit a claim before your anniversary date, we will deduct the claim hours from your first year’s balance.
• If you submit a claim after on or after your anniversary date, we will deduct the claim hours from your second year’s balance, even if the date you missed work was before your anniversary date.

To find your anniversary date and claimable hours balance, log in to your Service Victoria account.

When you can submit a claim

You have 60 days after you were absent from work to make a claim for sick or carer’s pay.

You can’t claim for absences taken before the date you registered for the Sick Pay Guarantee. For example, if you signed up on 15 May 2022, the first date you can claim for is 15 May 2022.

After you have submitted a claim, you don’t have to wait to submit another claim. You can submit a claim whenever you need to, up to 38 hours per year.

You can claim consecutive days of sick and carer's pay (for example, Tuesday and Wednesday). To claim 15 hours or more over consecutive days you will need to provide a medical certificate, absence from work certificate, carer's certificate or statutory declaration.

Claims for future dates

You can only make a claim for a date in the future if it relates to a claim you are making today. For example, if you submitted a claim on Wednesday and you have supporting documents to be absent for a number of days, you can claim for them at the same time.

Working for more than one employer

Many casual and contract workers have multiple jobs and work for more than one employer.

If you’re rostered to work for two different employers on the same day and you get sick, you can claim for the number of hours you were supposed to work for the whole day, regardless of whether your second job is eligible or not.

Payments

How much you will get paid

Payments are made at the national minimum wage ($20.33 per hour for absences before 1 July 2022, increasing to $21.38 per hour for absences after 1 July 2022), regardless of whether you claim for a weekday, weekend or public holiday.

How you will get paid

After you make a claim, it will be processed within five business days.

Payments are deposited directly into your nominated bank account. You may need to allow extra time for your bank to process the payment.

Payments are not paid to your employer.

You will not have to pay the money back. This is a payment from the Victorian Government to enable you take time off if you are sick or need to care for loved ones. The Sick Pay Guarantee is fully funded by the Victorian Government at no cost to you or your employer.

Reviews and audits

Your claim may be audited by the Victorian Government or its representatives. You may need to give more evidence if asked. For more information see the Program Guidelines.

Sick Pay Guarantee and tax

Sick Pay Guarantee payments are taxable if these payments form part of your income.

You are encouraged to seek tax advice as it relates to your individual circumstances.

Sick Pay Guarantee and Centrelink payments

You should seek advice from Centrelink on whether claiming the Sick Pay Guarantee will impact your income support payment.

Statutory declarations

Statutory declaration for proof of work

You can use a statutory declaration to state where you work if you do not have any of the proof of work documents. An authorised person must witness your statutory declaration.

You will need to include the following details:

• your job title
• a declaration that you are self-employed or casually employed
• your recent average hours worked
• your ABN, or the ABN of your employer.

Sick Pay Guarantee - Statutory declaration template - Proof of work

docx 45.87 KB | Updated: 11 March 2022

You can find statutory declaration forms and information about authorised witnesses on the Department of Justice and Community Safety website.

Statutory declaration for proof of absence

To get a payment, we may ask you to show evidence to support your claim, such as a roster or an offer to work.

For claims of 15 hours or more, you must provide a medical certificate, absence from work certificate or carer's certificate. If you don’t have one of these documents you can use a statutory declaration. An authorised person must witness your statutory declaration.

The statutory declaration must contain a statement confirming you are missing work because:

• you are sick or injured, or
• you are caring for an immediate family or household member.

Sick Pay Guarantee - Statutory declaration template - Proof of absence

docx 48.28 KB | Updated: 11 March 2022

You can find statutory declaration forms and information about authorised witnesses on the Department of Justice and Community Safety website.

How we use your personal information

The way we use your information is set out in the Program Guidelines, and includes sharing your information with the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions to assess your eligibility and claims for the Sick Pay Guarantee.

How to get help

Contact us

To get help with making a claim, you can:

• contact us
• call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask for the Victorian Sick Pay Guarantee hotline
• read the information in languages other than English.

Legal support

If you need legal support because of your participation in the Sick Pay Guarantee – for example, if you believe your employer is giving you less work because you have taken sick days – you can call the Sick Pay Guarantee hotline on 1800 979 641.

We will ask you a few questions. If appropriate, we will refer you to a suitable support program.

Note that external community legal centres run this service. We'll connect you with your nearest participating centre.