The information on this page is provided as a general guide and is subject to change. Final details may be updated as guidelines are reviewed and confirmed.
From 1 July 2025, eligible Curtin students undertaking mandatory placements as part of their degree may be able to access the Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP) – an Australian Government initiative designed to ease the financial burden of placement costs.
Key facts
Who is it for?
Eligible students studying nursing, teaching, midwifery or social work.
When does it start?
The Commonwealth Prac Payment starts from 1 July 2025 and is not retrospective.
How much is it?
Get paid up to $338.60 per week during placements.
What is the Commonwealth Prac Payment?
The CPP is a means-tested payment of up to $338.60 per week* (benchmarked to the single Austudy rate on 1 January each year) available to you during mandatory, unpaid placements in teaching, nursing, midwifery or social work. The payment is designed to support you during your placement, allowing you to gain real-world experience without the added stress of lost income or increased expenses.
*for placements that occur in 2025, the 2025 weekly rate of $331.65 applies, and for placements that occur in 2026, the weekly rate is $338.60.
The maximum number of weeks you can receive the CPP depends on your course and is based on the minimum period of placement required to achieve entry to practice as determined by the Accrediting body. Please see the maximum entitlements listed below:
Course Type
Placement Weeks
Nursing (Bachelor)
20 weeks of placement
Nursing (Masters)
20 weeks of placement
Social Work (Bachelor)
26 weeks of placement
Social Work (Masters)
26 weeks of placement
Education Teaching (Bachelor)
16 weeks of placement
Education Teaching (Masters)
12 weeks of placement
Midwifery (Bachelor)
20 weeks of placement (plus up to an additional 6 weeks for continuity of care)
Midwifery (Masters)
20 weeks of placement (plus up to an additional 6 weeks for continuity of care)
What can it help cover?
The CPP is designed to assist with your placement-related costs, including:
travel and accommodation
materials and uniforms
general living costs.
Who is eligible?
You may be eligible if you are:
a domestic student
enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP)
enrolled in an eligible placement unit
undertaking a mandatory placement as part of your bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing, midwifery, social work or teaching
completing your placement on a full-time basis (minimum of 30 hours per week)
completing a placement that occurs on or after 1 July 2025
In addition, you must:
be receiving an eligible primary Centrelink benefit (see eligible types below) or
meet the government’s ‘need to work’ test, demonstrating that you normally need to work more than 15 hours per week (in a continuous 4-week period during ordinary study periods, prior to applying) to support yourself and
have a gross (pre-tax) income of no more than the relevant threshold (this includes scholarships received from the University that are paid to you) for the relevant four-week evidentiary period*
$1,500 per week placements that occur in 2025 or
$1,536.37 per week for placements that occur in 2026
*The relevant evidentiary period is the last four-weeks of the study period prior to submitting your CPP application or the four-week period prior to you commencing your placement, whichever occurs earlier.
Eligible Centrelink Income Support Types
Centrelink ISP
Age Pension
Austudy
Carer Payment
Disability Support Pension
JobSeeker Payment
Parenting Payment
Special Benefit
Farm Household Allowance
Youth Allowance
Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) payments
Age Pension
Income Support Supplement
Service Pension
Veteran Payment
Education Allowance
ABSTUDY
ABSTUDY Living Allowance
When and how to apply
Applications are now open. Eligible students who are enrolled in a practicum unit will receive an invitation via email to apply.
In order to be considered for the CPP, all applications must be submitted prior to the commencement of each prac placement. Please note you do not need to wait until your placement details have been finalised before submitting an application.
FAQs
To be eligible for the Commonwealth Practicum Payment, students are required to be undertaking a placement on a full-time basis, that is, a minimum of 30 hours per week or be a midwifery student undertaking a continuity of care placement which prevents you from being able to maintain paid work.
If there are any changes to your circumstances that may impact your eligibility, you will need to notify the university as soon as practical to prevent overpayment. You will need to submit a Change in Circumstances application via the Student Management system.If you have been assessed as ineligible for the Commonwealth Practicum Payment, you can request that the decision is reviewed by submitting an Appeal application via the Student Management system. Please note that you will be required to provide supporting documentation.
If you have been assessed as ineligible for the Commonwealth Practicum Payment, you can request that the decision is reviewed by submitting an Appeal application via the Student Management system. Please note that you will be required to provide supporting documentation.
If you withdraw from your course and have received the Commonwealth Practicum Payment and you have not completed your placement, you will be required to return the payment for the equivalent period of placement that was not undertaken. You will be contacted with details on how to return the payment to the University.
Exceptional circumstances are circumstances which are outside of your control (such as a disability) and/or temporary, uncommon, irregular or unusual events (such as a short-term illness) that impacts you or someone you have a significant relationship with, and impacts your ability to meet one or more of the eligibility requirements to receive CPP.
These may include:
– a disability that affects your capacity to meet the eligibility requirements; and
– medical condition or health-related issue;
– an acute personal or family life event
If you believe exceptional circumstances apply to your situation, select the exceptional circumstances option within the CPP application, provide the necessary information and supporting documentation.
Exceptional Circumstances applications will not be accepted in the following circumstances:
– you are not a domestic student
– you are not enrolled in an eligible program or eligible course
– you are allocated a placement that does not meet the eligible placement requirements due to limited availability of full-time placements
– you do not have a Commonwealth Supported Place in your program
– your circumstances are not unusual, uncommon, irregular or beyond your control.
If you believe exceptional circumstances will prevent you from meeting the eligibility criteria for minimum weekly placement hours or the Need to Work and Income criteria, include a brief summary of your circumstances in the CPP application form. You will also need to submit supporting documentation to verify your exceptional circumstances.
Application assessment and outcome
Your application will be assessed against the eligibility criteria and you will be contacted if additional information is required to assess your application.
The Department of Education will consider applications from students with exceptional circumstances if Curtin is satisfied and can demonstrate that the circumstances meet the Department’s requirements.
It can take up to 60 days for an application to be assessed and finalised. Please note that an outcome for exceptional circumstances cannot be determined until your placement details have been finalised and entered into the Sonia system.
To demonstrate the impact of the exceptional circumstances on your ability to meet the eligibility criteria, you will need to attach supporting documentation that substantiates your situation, for the categories that you wish to apply under. The types of evidence could include (but is not limited to):
A Curtin Access Plan (CAP) which covers and details the reasonable adjustments for your placement hours and attendance.
A certificate or letter from a registered health practitioner, that includes:
details of how it affects your ability to engage with work or study
Outlines any adjustments required to work or study
how long the adjustments apply
the estimated time you’ll be unable to meet the CPP eligibility criteria
If you’re providing care to someone you have significant relationship with, provide letters of support provided by that person’s registered health practitioner, treating registered health practitioner, or service.
A death certificate, death, or funeral notice. If obtaining this is difficult or not culturally appropriate, you can provide a letter from a medical or mental health professional about the impact the circumstances had on your health or wellbeing.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, support from the Centre for Aboriginal Studies (CAS) or similar indigenous support service provided by the University.
Family violence support service documents, documents issued by a police service, or documents issued by a court as per the Fair Work Ombudsman’s publication, ‘Notice and evidence for family and domestic violence leave’
CPP is considered assessable income for taxation and social security purposes and may impact the rate at which a person receives a social security payment. Recipients are required to declare the amounts of CPP they receive to:
The Australian Taxation Office as part of annual tax returns (recipients should seek their own taxation advice)
Services Australia, to assess their ongoing rates of social security payment or other allowance, if applicable
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs, if applicable
All students, in receipt of CPP, will be responsible for ensuring they comply with their tax liabilities and reporting obligations with the Australian Tax Office, including seeking thier own taxation advice in respect of the CPP.
At the end of each financial year, you will be notified of the amount of CPP you were paid during that financial year.
The Need to Work Test and Income Test assesses your individual work and income, not your partner’s or your guardian’s. To meet the Need to Work Test and Income Test, you must be able to provide evidence that you:
Need to Work: work, on average, 15 hours or more per week
Income Test: do not earn more than $1,536.37 per week* (pre-tax), including income from the State, Territory or Commonwealth scholarships during the same period
Within a specific four-week evidentiary period:
The last four-weeks of the study period prior to submitting your CPP application or
The four-week period prior to you commencing your placement
Whichever four-week period occurs earlier, will be the evidentiary period that your application will be assessed against.
*The relevant income threshold is, earn no more than:
$1,500 per week placements that occur in 2025 or
$1,536.37 per week for placements that occur in 2026
We aim to pay students as close to the commencement of their placement or as soon as practicable thereafter.
Once your payment has been submitted and approved, it can take up to 10 business days for the funds to clear in your account due to Concur and bank processing times.
Yes, you will need to submit a new application for each eligible placement unit. Each time you enrol in an eligible placement unit, you will receive an email invite with the link to apply.
Please note: If you have been approved for CPP within the last 12 months, you will need to verify that you circumstances have not affected your eligibility for CPP.
For students completing their placements in multiple separate blocks (for the same unit), you will receive separate payments, as each of the individual blocks occur.
Midwifery students are entitled to up to 6 additional weeks over the duration of their course for Continuity of Care Experiences (CCE).
The Faculty of Health Sciences will allocate this additional entitlement. For more information, please reach out to the Fieldwork team through hlth-midclinoff@curtin.edu.au.
The maximum number of weeks of CPP that an eligible student may receive is linked to the minimum period of placement required by the relevant accrediting body to achieve entry-to-practice in the eligible discipline.
If you reach your maximum entitlement before you complete your course, you will no longer be eligible for Commonwealth Practicum Payment.
The CPP is benchmarked to the Austudy rate for a single recipient with no dependents annually on the 1st of January.
The 2025 CPP rate is $331.65 per week.
The 2026 CPP rate is $338.60 per week.
You can apply for the CPP, up to six months after completing an eligible placement. To be eligible, you must have met the eligibility criteria for CPP at the time the placement occurred, and must be substantiated with documentation.
For further details on how to apply, please contact the Curtin Connect.
Further FAQ’s can be found on the Department of Education website.
