Insights into Government Finance Statistics, March 2025

March quarter 2025 Government Finance Statistics data - Observations and analysis of Social benefits expenses

Released

3/06/2025

Source

Government Finance Statistics, Australia, March 2025

Unless indicated, all Government Finance Statistics figures presented in this article are current prices, original series estimates for general government.

Social benefits

Social benefits to households in goods and services (social benefits) are non-cash initiatives provided by governments to individuals and households. Social benefits are defined as non-employee expenses for the general government sector.

Social benefits include programs such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Child Care Subsidy (CCS), Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), Aged Care Subsidy and state transport and electricity concessions.

Annual GFS show that social benefits increased 15.5% in 2023-24. This reflects growth in demand for aged and home care, disability, health and childcare services; and increased government assistance in response to cost of living pressures.

Social benefits - Annual Government Finance Statistics
Financial year	Through the year growth (%)	Australia - Social benefits ($b)
2014-15	6.9	65.4
2015-16	7.5	70.3
2016-17	9.6	77.1
2017-18	8.8	83.8
2018-19	11.2	93.2
2019-20	13.3	105.6
2020-21	13.6	119.9
2021-22	10.6	132.7
2022-23	9.1	144.7
2023-24	15.5	167.2

Social benefits - Annual Government Finance Statistics

["Financial year","Through the year growth","Australia - Social benefits"]

[["2014-15","2015-16","2016-17","2017-18","2018-19","2019-20","2020-21","2021-22","2022-23","2023-24"],[[6.9000000000000004],[7.5],[9.5999999999999996],[8.8000000000000007],[11.199999999999999],[13.300000000000001],[13.6],[10.6],[9.0999999999999996],[15.5]],[[65.400000000000006],[70.299999999999997],[77.099999999999994],[83.799999999999997],[93.200000000000003],[105.59999999999999],[119.90000000000001],[132.69999999999999],[144.69999999999999],[167.19999999999999]]]

[]

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March quarter 2025

Australia’s social benefits increased 6.0% ($2.8 billion) in the March quarter 2025, and 10.8% ($4.9 billion) through the year (a). From March quarter 2021 to March quarter 2025, total social benefits rose 58.0% ($18.5 billion). Social benefits as a percentage of total general government expenses have also increased, from 16.2% in March quarter 2021 to 20.1% in March quarter 2025.

Commonwealth social benefits payments is the largest component of social benefits, and accounts for around 90% of all social benefits.

Through the year growth is the percentage change compared to the same time of the previous year.

Social benefits
Quarter	Contribution to total expenses (%)	Commonwealth government contribution ($b)	State government contribution ($b)
Sep-20	11.7	26.9	2.7
Dec-20	13.8	27.5	2.6
Mar-21	16.2	29.2	2.7
Jun-21	13.5	25.0	2.5
Sep-21	14.6	29.6	2.8
Dec-21	15.2	30.3	2.5
Mar-22	17.6	32.9	3.1
Jun-22	13.9	27.5	2.9
Sep-22	16.6	32.0	3.5
Dec-22	16.6	33.1	3.0
Mar-23	18.2	36.3	3.1
Jun-23	14.0	30.0	2.9
Sep-23	17.7	36.9	3.7
Dec-23	17.9	38.5	3.9
Mar-24	19.5	41.6	3.9
Jun-24	15.3	35.3	3.9
Sep-24	18.7	41.5	5.4
Dec-24	18.6	42.5	5.0
Mar-25	20.1	45.5	4.8

Social benefits

["Quarter","Contribution to total expenses","Commonwealth government contribution","State government contribution"]

[["Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24","Jun-24","Sep-24","Dec-24","Mar-25"],[[11.699999999999999],[13.800000000000001],[16.199999999999999],[13.5],[14.6],[15.199999999999999],[17.600000000000001],[13.9],[16.600000000000001],[16.600000000000001],[18.199999999999999],[14],[17.699999999999999],[17.899999999999999],[19.5],[15.300000000000001],[18.699999999999999],[18.600000000000001],[20.100000000000001]],[[26.899999999999999],[27.5],[29.199999999999999],[25],[29.600000000000001],[30.300000000000001],[32.899999999999999],[27.5],[32],[33.100000000000001],[36.299999999999997],[30],[36.899999999999999],[38.5],[41.600000000000001],[35.299999999999997],[41.5],[42.5],[45.5]],[[2.7000000000000002],[2.6000000000000001],[2.7000000000000002],[2.5],[2.7999999999999998],[2.5],[3.1000000000000001],[2.8999999999999999],[3.5],[3],[3.1000000000000001],[2.8999999999999999],[3.7000000000000002],[3.8999999999999999],[3.8999999999999999],[3.8999999999999999],[5.4000000000000004],[5],[4.7999999999999998]]]

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Commonwealth social benefits

Commonwealth social benefits increased 9.5% (up $4.0 billion) through the year to March quarter 2025. Growth in Commonwealth social benefits was driven by aged care, health benefits and other Commonwealth benefits. While disability benefits and childcare increased, growth was lower compared to the same time last year. Commonwealth social benefits include policies such as Aged Care Subsidy, NDIS and Childcare Subsidy.

Aged care benefits increased 15.1% ($1.1 billion) through the year to March quarter 2025. The growth was driven by changes to the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model (a), including, but not limited to, increased award wages for nurses and aged care workers (b).

Health benefits increased 7.4% ($0.9 billion) through the year to March quarter 2025. This was driven by the tripling of the bulk billing incentive from November 2023 which led to a progressive uptake of the incentive throughout 2024. As more healthcare providers adopted the incentive, this contributed to the increase in bulk billing rates, increasing Medical Benefit Schedule payments.

Other Commonwealth benefits increased 10.2% ($0.9 billion) through the year to March quarter 2025 and reflects seasonal price increases to non-government school payments.

Disability benefits increased 7.4% ($0.8 billion) through the year to March quarter 2025 but has slowed from relatively high growth of 19.5% compared to a year ago. The moderation of growth is consistent with NDIS reforms to address the financial sustainability of the scheme (c), introduced in the 2024-25 Budget.

Childcare and family benefits rose 9.7% ($0.3 billion) through the year to March quarter 2025. The Child Care Subsidy payments stabilised after the strong increase last year in response to the increased payments to families introduced in July 2023 which included support for second and subsequent children.

Commonwealth social benefits
Quarter	Health benefits ($b)	Aged care benefits ($b)	Other benefits (a) ($b)	Child care and family benefits ($b)	Disability benefits ($b)
Mar-21	10.6	3.3	7.2	2.2	5.9
Mar-22	11.3	4.6	7.7	2.2	7.1
Mar-23	11.1	5.5	8.4	2.5	8.7
Mar-24	12.0	7.1	8.8	3.2	10.4
Mar-25	12.9	8.2	9.7	3.5	11.2

Commonwealth social benefits

["Quarter","Health benefits","Aged care benefits","Other benefits (a)","Child care and family benefits","Disability benefits"]

[["Mar-21","Mar-22","Mar-23","Mar-24","Mar-25"],[[10.6],[11.300000000000001],[11.1],[12],[12.9]],[[3.2999999999999998],[4.5999999999999996],[5.5],[7.0999999999999996],[8.1999999999999993]],[[7.2000000000000002],[7.7000000000000002],[8.4000000000000004],[8.8000000000000007],[9.6999999999999993]],[[2.2000000000000002],[2.2000000000000002],[2.5],[3.2000000000000002],[3.5]],[[5.9000000000000004],[7.0999999999999996],[8.6999999999999993],[10.4],[11.199999999999999]]]

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Other benefits include, for example: payments to non-government schools and employment services.

Commonwealth social benefits - time series
Quarter	Health benefits ($b)	Aged care benefits ($b)	Other benefits (a) ($b)	Child care and family benefits ($b)	Disability benefits ($b)
Sep-20	12.2	3.4	3.7	2.2	5.3
Dec-20	12.3	3.5	3.9	2.2	5.6
Mar-21	10.6	3.3	7.2	2.2	5.9
Jun-21	12.4	3.6	0.7	2.2	6.1
Sep-21	12.2	4.9	3.9	1.9	6.7
Dec-21	12.4	4.3	4.4	2.4	6.7
Mar-22	11.3	4.6	7.7	2.2	7.1
Jun-22	11.6	5.0	0.6	2.5	7.7
Sep-22	11.9	5.0	4.3	2.7	8.2
Dec-22	11.8	5.3	4.6	2.8	8.5
Mar-23	11.1	5.5	8.4	2.5	8.7
Jun-23	11.5	5.9	0.6	2.8	9.2
Sep-23	12.1	6.7	4.6	3.4	10.0
Dec-23	12.5	7.1	5.0	3.6	10.3
Mar-24	12.0	7.1	8.8	3.2	10.4
Jun-24	12.6	7.7	0.8	3.4	10.8
Sep-24	13.6	7.6	4.9	4.0	11.4
Dec-24	13.6	8.2	5.5	3.9	11.3
Mar-25	12.9	8.2	9.7	3.5	11.2

Commonwealth social benefits - time series

["Quarter","Health benefits","Aged care benefits","Other benefits (a)","Child care and family benefits","Disability benefits"]

[["Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24","Jun-24","Sep-24","Dec-24","Mar-25"],[[12.199999999999999],[12.300000000000001],[10.6],[12.4],[12.199999999999999],[12.4],[11.300000000000001],[11.6],[11.9],[11.800000000000001],[11.1],[11.5],[12.1],[12.5],[12],[12.6],[13.6],[13.6],[12.9]],[[3.3999999999999999],[3.5],[3.2999999999999998],[3.6000000000000001],[4.9000000000000004],[4.2999999999999998],[4.5999999999999996],[5],[5],[5.2999999999999998],[5.5],[5.9000000000000004],[6.7000000000000002],[7.0999999999999996],[7.0999999999999996],[7.7000000000000002],[7.5999999999999996],[8.1999999999999993],[8.1999999999999993]],[[3.7000000000000002],[3.8999999999999999],[7.2000000000000002],[0.69999999999999996],[3.8999999999999999],[4.4000000000000004],[7.7000000000000002],[0.59999999999999998],[4.2999999999999998],[4.5999999999999996],[8.4000000000000004],[0.59999999999999998],[4.5999999999999996],[5],[8.8000000000000007],[0.80000000000000004],[4.9000000000000004],[5.5],[9.6999999999999993]],[[2.2000000000000002],[2.2000000000000002],[2.2000000000000002],[2.2000000000000002],[1.8999999999999999],[2.3999999999999999],[2.2000000000000002],[2.5],[2.7000000000000002],[2.7999999999999998],[2.5],[2.7999999999999998],[3.3999999999999999],[3.6000000000000001],[3.2000000000000002],[3.3999999999999999],[4],[3.8999999999999999],[3.5]],[[5.2999999999999998],[5.5999999999999996],[5.9000000000000004],[6.0999999999999996],[6.7000000000000002],[6.7000000000000002],[7.0999999999999996],[7.7000000000000002],[8.1999999999999993],[8.5],[8.6999999999999993],[9.1999999999999993],[10],[10.300000000000001],[10.4],[10.800000000000001],[11.4],[11.300000000000001],[11.199999999999999]]]

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Other benefits include, for example: payments to non-government schools and employment services.

State social benefits

State social benefits increased 25.0% (up $1.0 billion) through the year in March quarter 2025. Higher levels of social benefits paid by states includes the expansion of Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief which provided all households a $300 rebate through the year from the 1st of July 2024. This was in addition to existing state and territory energy concessions and state energy rebates in Queensland and Western Australia.

Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief will continue at a lower rate in the 2025-26 financial year.

State social benefits
Quarter	Payments to non-government schools ($b)	Electricity, water, transport and other household benefits ($b)
Mar-21	1.0	1.6
Mar-22	1.1	2.0
Mar-23	1.2	1.9
Mar-24	1.2	2.6
Mar-25	1.3	3.5

State social benefits

["Quarter","Payments to non-government schools","Electricity, water, transport and other household benefits"]

[["Mar-21","Mar-22","Mar-23","Mar-24","Mar-25"],[[1],[1.1000000000000001],[1.2],[1.2],[1.3]],[[1.6000000000000001],[2],[1.8999999999999999],[2.6000000000000001],[3.5]]]

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APA

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