When a new baby arrives, two payments help with the immediate costs: the Newborn Upfront Payment of $532 (one-off), and the Newborn Supplement of up to $2,127.23 paid in fortnightly instalments across 13 weeks. Together that's up to $2,659.23 for your first child, or $1,596.35 for any subsequent child (Upfront $532 + Supplement $1,064.35). Both come on top of your regular FTB Part A and they're paid automatically when you claim FTB — no separate form.
The catch: you can't get the Newborn Supplement AND Paid Parental Leave for the same child. For most families on a reasonable income, PPL is the bigger payment (currently $948.10/week × 26 weeks). The Newborn Supplement is the path for families who don't meet PPL's work test, who are over PPL's $180,000 income cap, or who want to claim PPL for one twin and the Supplement for the other.
The figures below are the ones our FTB calculator uses, verified against Services Australia for FY 2025-26.
Who can claim Newborn payments
You qualify if all of the following are true:
- You have a newborn child (or a child you've recently adopted or come into your care under permanent caring arrangements).
- You're eligible for and receiving FTB Part A for that child — which means meeting the FTB-A residency test and the income test (most families up to about $200k combined income still get something).
- You haven't claimed PPL for the same child (you can only have one).
- You claim within 52 weeks of the child entering your care.
The trap most parents don't know about: if you're over the FTB-A income cutoff, you get NOTHING from the Newborn payments. That's the strongest reason to verify your ATI (not just your taxable income) — salary sacrifice, fringe benefits, and reportable super all count, and could push you over a threshold you didn't realise existed. Use our ATI calculator to check.
How much you get for 2025-26
| Payment | First child | Subsequent child | When paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newborn Upfront Payment | $532 | $532 | One-off, when FTB claim granted |
| Newborn Supplement | $2,127.23 | $1,064.35 | Spread across ~13 weeks (6–7 fortnights), added to your FTB-A |
| Total | ~$2,659.23 | ~$1,596.35 | First-child Supplement is double subsequent-child Supplement |
"First child" here means the first child under FTB rules — so if this is your first child for FTB purposes, you get the full first-child Supplement. Step-children, foster placements and adopted children can all count as "first" depending on your family's FTB history.
Run the NestWise FTB Calculator → Tell us your situation and we'll show you the Newborn payments alongside your normal FTB-A and FTB-B for the year.
Newborn Supplement vs Paid Parental Leave — how to choose
For most families, PPL is significantly larger than the Newborn Supplement:
| Payment | Total (first child) | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Newborn Upfront + Supplement | ~$2,659.23 | Receiving FTB-A; not claiming PPL for same child |
| Paid Parental Leave | $24,650.60 (26 weeks × $948.10/wk) | Worked 330+ hrs in 10 of 13 months pre-birth; income under $180k cap |
The Newborn Supplement makes sense when:
- You don't qualify for PPL (didn't meet the work test — most common for self-employed or returning-to-workforce parents),
- Your individual income is over PPL's $180k cap, OR
- You have twins and want to claim PPL for one and Newborn Supplement for the other (lets you stretch the combined value across both babies).
Decision shortcut: if you can qualify for PPL, claim PPL — it's usually 9× the value. If you can't qualify for PPL, the Newborn Supplement at least cushions the early-weeks cost. See our PPL guide for the eligibility detail.
How the Supplement is actually paid
This trips people up: the Supplement isn't a lump sum. It's added to your fortnightly FTB Part A payment for the first 13 weeks (about 91 days, usually 6–7 fortnights) after the baby's birth. So if your normal FTB-A is, say, $440/fortnight, you'd see something like:
- First 6 fortnights: $440 + (
$354 Supplement instalment) = **$794/fortnight** - From fortnight 7 onward: back to $440/fortnight (Supplement exhausted)
The Upfront Payment of $532, by contrast, IS a single hit — paid once when your FTB claim is granted.
Multiple births — twins, triplets, quads
If you have twins, you get the Newborn Supplement (and Upfront Payment) for EACH baby. That's the full first-child rate for the first, then the subsequent-child rate for each additional baby in the same delivery.
| Babies | Total Newborn payments | Plus Multiple Birth Allowance? |
|---|---|---|
| Twins | First $2,659.23 + second $1,596.35 = $4,255.58 | No |
| Triplets | First $2,659.23 + two × $1,596.35 = $5,851.93 | $152.88/fn until youngest turns 6 |
| Quadruplets+ | First $2,659.23 + three × $1,596.35 = $7,448.28 | $203.56/fn until youngest turns 6 |
The Multiple Birth Allowance is a separate ongoing payment for triplets+ — it recognises the long-tail cost of raising a multiple-birth family, not just the early weeks.
What you need to claim
The claim happens via the standard "Claim Family Tax Benefit" application in myGov (or paper form FA005). Centrelink works out automatically whether you're eligible for the Newborn payments based on:
- Whether you have a new baby in your care
- Whether you're eligible for FTB-A
- Whether you've claimed PPL for that baby
Documents you'll typically need:
- Proof of birth (the Birth Registration Statement the hospital gives you, or the formal birth certificate once issued).
- Your tax file number (and your partner's, if you have one).
- Income estimates for the year (Centrelink pays you against an estimate; reconciles to actuals at EOFY).
- Bank account details for payment.
Don't delay the FTB claim waiting for the formal birth certificate. The hospital's Birth Registration Statement is enough to start. The 52-week claim window is generous, but FTB-A back-payments only go to the date of claim, so the sooner you claim, the more you get.
When you'll see the money
| Payment | Typical timing |
|---|---|
| Newborn Upfront Payment | Within days of FTB claim being granted (lands as a single payment in your bank) |
| First Supplement instalment | First scheduled FTB-A fortnight after birth, added on top |
| All 13 weeks of Supplement | ~6–7 fortnights from start (so roughly 12–14 weeks) |
| End-of-year FTB-A supplement | After you lodge your tax return (October–November after EOFY) |
If your claim takes a while to be approved, the Newborn payments back-pay to the day the baby entered your care — you don't lose them by claiming late, as long as you claim within 52 weeks.