Australians receiving Centrelink payments have been urged to check when their reporting dates coincide with the holiday period.
Centrelink offices will be closed from 25 to 29 December and will briefly reopen for two days the following week before closing again on Wednesday 1 January.
Recipients who would normally have been paid over the Christmas holidays will receive their payments early on December 17.
Those who were due to be paid on New Year’s Day will receive their payments the day before, January 31.
Services Australia added that staff “want to help you plan so you still get paid”.
“You may need to declare your income in advance so we can pay you during these closures,” their website reads.
Further changes have been made to reporting dates for those receiving age and disability support pensions, youth allowance, jobseeker and Austudy.
Normal payments and reporting dates will resume on January 2.
Millions of Australians will receive their Centrelink payments early this year as Services Australia offices close over the holiday period (file image)
To receive Centrelink advance payment, Australians should check if their reporting date has also changed (file image)
Australians can still submit reports while offices are closed over the holiday period, which will be processed when staff return.
Services Australia warned that some smaller sites in rural and regional areas ‘may have extended closures’.
Recipients have also been warned to be tired of scammers imitating Services Australia and offering additional Centrelink payments.
The false information includes “one-time” or “cost of living” payments of varying amounts up to $5,000.
“People share these websites on social media, thinking the information is real,” Services Australia warned.
‘If the website URL does not end in .gov.au, then it is not an official government website. It could be a scam.
Those unsure are urged to search the original Services Australia website.
Others have also reported receiving calls from scammers posing as a Services Australia employee and claiming they owe Centrelink money.
Scammers then often threaten the victim with arrest if they don’t pay them quickly in wire transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrency.