The TILA Allowance of $1,500 is available to all young people aged at least 15 and less than 26 years who are preparing to, or have exited, State or Territory based Care and/or informal Care not more than 24 months ago such as: Juvenile Justice; Out of Home Care - including homelessness services, crisis and medium-term supported accommodation, Specialist Homelessness Services (formerly SAAP); or Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship care arrangements.

TILA funds are available to assist a maximum of 2,500 young people each financial year. For further information please view the TILA Guidelines.

Eligibility Criteria

Requirements

To be eligible for the Allowance, the young person must:

• Be a permanent Australian resident; and
• Be aged at least 15 and less than 26 years old; and
• Be approaching (within 6 weeks of applying) or experiencing an exit from Care or if having already exited Care has done so no more than 24 months prior; and
• Be subject to one or more Risk Factors for an Unsuccessful Exit from Care; and
• Not have received TILA assistance before; and
• Have been in, or currently be in, Care

For further information please view the TILA Guidelines.

Formal and Informal Care

To be eligible for the TILA allowance the young person must be leaving or has left Formal or Informal Care not more than 24 months ago.

To be considered to have been in or to currently be in formal care a young person must:

• Be the subject of a care and protection order that places them in the care and custody of someone who is not their parent; or
• Have been the subject of a care and protection order that placed them in the care and custody of someone who was not their parent and their order has ceased/expired because of their age.

To be considered to have been in, or to currently be in, informal care a young person must:

• Have "Independent Status" for a current Centrelink payment or have done so previously; and
• Currently be in, or formerly have been in, Informal Out-of-Home care (e.g. homelessness service, crisis or medium-term supported accommodation service or juvenile justice); and/or
• Currently be in, or formerly have been in Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Kinship Care.

Centrelink Payments and Independent Status

In order for a young person to be eligible they must currently be in receipt of or have been in receipt of one of the four following payments at the independent rate:

• Youth Allowance
• Disability Support Pension
• Abstudy
• Special Benefit

The Independent Status, determined by Centrelink, must be for one of the following reasons:

• Homelessness - Unreasonable to Live at Home (UTLAH)
• Independent - In supported state care
• Independent - In unsupported state care
• Independent - Orphan
• Independent - Refugee without parents in Australia
• Independent - Parents unable to provide a home

A payment status that is not listed above, is insufficient to prove eligibility for the TILA allowance. Please note the independent status must exist at time the young person was in receipt of one of the four eligible payments above.

For further information please view the TILA Guidelines.

Leaving Care (i.e. Transitioning)

To be eligible for the TILA allowance, the young person must be making a transition from Care into independent accommodation. The two eligibile scenarios are that the young person:

• Will transition into their independent accommodation within 6 weeks of applying, or
• Has already transitioned, and has done so, not more than 24 months ago.

For further information please view the TILA Guidelines.