23Payment of assistance

##### 23 Payment of assistance (1) Subject to this Act, assistance to a sole applicant or to joint applicants shall be paid in accordance with the regulations. (2) Subject to subsection (4), where the amount of the prescribed earnings of a sole applicant or of joint applicants exceeds the lower relevant amount but is less than the higher relevant amount, the amount of any payment of assistance to be made to the applicant or each of the applicants, as the case may be, is the amount ascertained in accordance with the formula:  where: A is the amount that, but for this subsection and subsection (4), would be the amount of the payment; B is the higher relevant amount; C is the amount of the prescribed earnings; and D is the lower relevant amount. (3) Assistance shall not be paid to a sole applicant or to joint applicants if the amount of the prescribed earnings of the applicant or applicants, as the case may be, is equal to, or exceeds, the higher relevant amount. (4) A payment of an amount of assistance shall not be made if the amount is less than $10. (4A) Where: (a) but for this subsection, an amount of assistance would be payable to a sole applicant or to joint applicants (in this subsection referred to as the relevant person or relevant persons, as the case may be); (b) an amount (in this section referred to as a prescribed amount) has been paid by the Commonwealth to the relevant person, or to any of the relevant persons, as the case may be, being an amount of: (i) a grant made under a prescribed Act; or (ii) assistance paid under this Act in relation to a previous application; and (c) the prescribed amount should not have been paid, or otherwise became recoverable by the Commonwealth; the amount of assistance shall be reduced by so much of the previous amount as has not been repaid to or recovered by the Commonwealth or set‑off under a previous application of this subsection. (4B) Notwithstanding anything in a prescribed Act or in this Act, so much of a prescribed amount as has been set‑off under subsection (4A) ceases to be recoverable by the Commonwealth. (5) In this section: > higher relevant amount is the amount ascertained in accordance with the regulations. > lower relevant amount is the amount ascertained in accordance with the regulations.