{"id":"F2025L01191","name":"Social Security (Administration) (Penalty Amount) Determination 2025","slug":"social-security-administration-penalty-amount-determination-2025","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":107232,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2025L01191-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Name","content":"#### 1 Name\n\n This determination is the Social Security (Administration) (Penalty Amount) Determination 2025.","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"#### 2 Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this determination specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n```html\n

Commencement information

Column 1

Column 2

Column 3

Provisions

Commencement

Date/Details

1. The whole of this determination

1 October 2025

\n```\n\n> Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this determination as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this determination.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this determination. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this determination.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Authority","content":"#### 3 Authority\n\n This determination is made under subsection 42T(1) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Schedule","content":"#### 4 Schedule\n\n Each determination that is specified in a Schedule to this determination is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this determination has effect according to its terms.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Definitions","content":"#### 5 Definitions\n\n In this determination:\n\n> Act means the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.\n\n> daily penalty rate has the same meaning as in subsection 10(1) of this determination.\n\n> instalment period has the same meaning as in section 43 of the Act.\n\n> no show no pay failure has the same meaning as in subsection 42C(1) of the Act.\n\n> non-attendance failure has the same meaning as in subsection 42SC(1) of the Act.\n\n> non-attendance failure penalty period has the same meaning as in subsection 42T(3B) of the Act.\n\n> penalty-affected rate has the same meaning as in subsection 10(4) of this determination.\n\n> reconnection failure has the same meaning as in subsection 42H(1) of the Act.\n\n> reconnection failure period has the same meaning as in subsection 42H(4) of the Act.\n\n> weekday means a day that is not a Saturday or Sunday.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Transitional arrangements","content":"#### 6 Transitional arrangements\n\n This determination applies in relation to decisions made on or after 1 October 2025 whether a relevant no show no pay failure, non-attendance failure, or reconnection failure occurred before that date or not.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"7","sectionType":"section","heading":"Reconnection penalty amount","content":"#### 7 Reconnection penalty amount\n\n A person’s penalty amount for a reconnection failure is the sum of the daily penalty rates for each weekday that falls in the reconnection failure period.","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"8","sectionType":"section","heading":"No show no pay penalty amount","content":"#### 8 No show no pay penalty amount\n\n A person’s penalty amount for a no show no pay failure on a particular day is the daily penalty rate.","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"9","sectionType":"section","heading":"Non-attendance failure penalty amount","content":"#### 9 Non-attendance failure penalty amount\n\n A person’s penalty amount for a non-attendance failure is the sum of the daily penalty rates for each weekday that falls in the non-attendance failure penalty period.","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"10","sectionType":"section","heading":"Calculating the daily penalty rate","content":"#### 10 Calculating the daily penalty rate\n\n The daily penalty rate for a day in a particular instalment period is the lesser of the amount worked out in accordance with subsection (2) and the amount worked out in accordance with subsection (3).\n\n First method\n\n The first method for working out the daily penalty rate is:\n\n daily penalty rate = 1.4 × PAR / (Dayinst)\n where:\n\n PAR means the person’s penalty-affected rate for the instalment period in which the day occurs.\n Dayinst is the number of days in that instalment period.\n Second method\n\n The second method for working out the daily penalty rate is:\n\n daily penalty rate = PAR / (WDinst)\n where:\n PAR means the person’s penalty-affected rate for the instalment period in which the day occurs.\n WDinst is the number of weekdays in that instalment period.\n\n Penalty-affected rate\n\n A person’s penalty-affected rate for an instalment period is the amount worked out in accordance with the following formula:\n\n PPAinst – (PAinst + PSinst + RAinst + RAAinst + YDSinst)\n where:\n PPAinst is the amount of participation payment payable to the person (or in relation to a non-attendance failure, that would, apart from subsection 42SA(2) of the Act, be payable), for the instalment period in which the day occurs, and includes any supplement or allowance that is part of the rate of that payment for that period.\n PAinst is the amount of pharmaceutical allowance payable to the person for the instalment period.\n PSinst is the amount of pension supplement payable to the person for the instalment period.\n RAinst is the amount of rent assistance payable to the person for the instalment period.\n RAAinst is the amount of remote area allowance payable to the person for the instalment period.\n YDSinst is the amount of youth disability supplement payable to the person for the instalment period.\n\n> Note 1 A person’s rate of participation payment amount may include an amount for supplements such as language, literacy and numeracy supplement and approved program of work supplement.\n\n> Note 2 A person may also receive allowances and supplements, such as mobility allowance, pensioner education supplement, telephone allowance, and utilities allowance, that are not part of the person’s rate of participation payment. These are not included in the calculation of the person’s penalty-affected rate.\n\n> Note 3 More than one calculation method and calculated daily amount may apply to a reconnection failure period that exceeds one instalment period in duration.\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\nSocial Security (Administration) (Penalty Amount) Determination 2015 (No. 1)\n\n1 The whole of the determination\n\nRepeal the determination.","sortOrder":9}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a straightforward remake of the 2015 determination with updated penalty calculation formulas. It maintains the same scope — setting monetary penalties for welfare compliance failures — without expanding into new policy areas or compliance types."},"complexity_factors":["Mathematical formulas with multiple variables requiring cross-referencing to the parent Act","Two alternative calculation methods with a 'lesser of' comparator clause","Seven defined terms in the interpretation section, several of which reference external provisions in the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999","Nested definitional dependencies (e.g., 'daily penalty rate' defined by reference to subsection 10(1), which itself requires calculation)","Complex formula for 'penalty-affected rate' requiring subtraction of five distinct allowance components","Transitional provision applying retrospectively to failures occurring before commencement date","Cross-references to multiple sections of the parent Act (42C, 42H, 42T, 42SA, 42SC)"],"plain_english_summary":"This law sets how much money is deducted from unemployment-style payments (chiefly JobSeeker and Youth Allowance for job seekers) when recipients breach mutual‑obligation rules. It replaces the 2015 penalty rule and covers missed appointments, failures to reconnect with providers, and non‑attendance at compulsory programs.\n\nPenalties use a new formula that strips certain supplements from the base payment, then divides by days or weekdays (whichever gives a lower amount), so deductions are tied to the recipient’s actual payment rate."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"Yes. This instrument repeals the Social Security (Administration) (Penalty Amount) Determination 2015 and replaces it with a new method for calculating penalty amounts for reconnection failures, no‑show‑no‑pay failures and non‑attendance failures. It takes effect for decisions made on or after 1 October 2025 and applies to failures occurring before that date (see Schedule 1; ss6-10)."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple cross-references to the Act for defined concepts (instalment period, failure types): see s5 definitions and ss7-10.","Two alternative arithmetic methods to compute the daily rate and a rule to take the lesser (s10(1)-(3)).","Calculation of penalty-affected rate requires subtracting several specific payments/allowances (PAR formula in s10).","Weekday counting and instalment-period boundaries affect sums over periods (ss7 and 9; s10 uses Dayinst and WDinst).","Transitional application to decisions from 1 Oct 2025 regardless of when the failure occurred (s6).","Repeal of the 2015 determination (Schedule 1) introduces a change in the governing instrument.","Potential need to compute across multiple instalment periods for long reconnection/non-attendance periods (note in s10)."],"plain_english_summary":"This determination repeals the earlier 2015 penalty instrument and prescribes how penalty amounts are calculated for reconnection failures, no‑show‑no‑pay failures and non‑attendance failures under the Social Security (Administration) Act. It applies to decisions made on or after 1 October 2025.\n\nPenalties are expressed as sums of weekday daily rates (or a single daily rate for one‑day failures). The daily rate is the lesser of two formulae that use a person’s ‘penalty‑affected rate’ (their participation payment minus specified supplements and allowances)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/social-security-administration-penalty-amount-determination-2025","history":"/api/acts/social-security-administration-penalty-amount-determination-2025/history","analysis":"/api/acts/social-security-administration-penalty-amount-determination-2025/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/social-security-administration-penalty-amount-determination-2025/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/social-security-administration-penalty-amount-determination-2025/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/social-security-administration-penalty-amount-determination-2025/documents"}}