Cash Reward

A cash reward is one of the ways in which we say thank you to our volunteer peer mentors for sharing their knowledge and experience, attending training days and social events, maintaining contact with first year students and contributing as asked to the overall program.

A one-off honorarium cash payment (approximately $200) will be paid directly into the bank accounts of peer mentors at the end of the program.  Mentors will be notified when the payments have been processed.

Implications for Centrelink

The University has sought clarification from Centrelink about how the payments will be viewed. The Business Support Services Level 2 response is that cash rewards or honorariums are regarded as assessable income BUT are assessed over a 52 week period.  In other words, the peer mentor $200 cash reward represents an assessable weekly income of about $3.90. 

The relevant section of the Social Security Act 1991 is Section 8 (1) entitled Income Test Definitions