Grant payments

The Commission makes a number of grant payments during the year, including Brought Forward and quarterly payments of FA Grants, payment of the Supplementary Local Road Funding and payment of the Special Local Roads Component of the Roads to Recovery Funding.

Financial Assistance Grants: quarterly cash payments

2023-24 quarterly cash payment schedule (PDF, 393 KB)

2022–23 quarterly cash payment schedule (PDF, 336 KB)

The quarterly schedule provides a summary of the quarterly payments made to South Australian Councils (plus Aboriginal Communities and the Outback Communities Authority). Grant payments to councils are paid directly to the Local Government Finance Authority (LGFA) by the Commission for distribution to councils LGFA accounts.

Grant payments to the 5 Aboriginal Communities and the Outback Communities Authority funded by the FA Grants are paid directly to the Communities and Authority by the Commission.

Separate grant amounts are shown for the:

General Purpose Grants (GPG)
Identified Local Road Grants (ILRG)
Special Local Road Grants - Identified Local Road Component (SLRP – ILRG).

Financial Assistance Grant payments are generally paid on the 15th of the month (or the next business day) for each quarterly payment.

The adjustment data provided in the schedule refers to the adjustment made by the Federal Government to account for revisions to the previous year’s estimated grant.

Under the Act, the Federal Treasurer is required to review his estimates of the FA Grants at the end of each year and adjust those estimates to reflect actual changes in population and the Consumer Price Index. The Commission refers to the adjusted grant estimates from the previous year as “Actual Grants” for the previous year.

Brought Forward Payments

Brought Forward Payments are where payments are brought forward from the yearly estimate and paid to states ahead of time.

They do not necessarily reflect the final grant outcomes for the coming financial year as they do not reflect the Commission’s approved recommendations, which are not approved by the Federal Minister until around August each year.

Changes in relativities in the Commission's recommendations from changes in data, changes in methodology, the Commission’s application of constraints to grant changes or Federal Government intervention (e.g. the indexation pause) can result in changes in grant outcomes that change the remainder of the grants payable for the coming year.

The schedules below provide summaries of Brought Forward Payments made to South Australian Councils (plus Aboriginal Communities and the Outback Communities Authority):

There have been two financial years when Brought Forward Payments have not been made.

The Brought Forward Payment of the 2023-24 Financial Assistance Grants were made on the basis of an estimate of four quarters of that year's grants
The Brought Forward Payment of the 2022-23 Financial Assistance Grants were made on the basis of an estimate of three quarters of that year's grants.
The 2014-15 and 2016-17 Financial Assistance Grants were not brought forward.
The first three Brought Forward Payments of the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 Financial Assistance Grants were made on the basis of an estimate of one quarter of those years' grants. Subsequent Brought Forward Payments have been made on the basis of an estimate of two quarters (or 50%) of those years' grants.