Aged care financial hardship assistance - assessment 065-05030010

The System for the Payment of Aged Residential Care (SPARC) is the legacy aged care payment system for residential care. SPARC was a view only system from 11 August 2022 and decommissioned in 2023.

To view the legacy SPARC process, see the historical version.

Pre entry hardship assessments are valid for 120 days from the date the assessment is completed.

If the care recipient does not start home or residential care within 120 days of the hardship assessment's completion, the hardship assessment expires and is no longer valid. See Aged care financial hardship assistance - overview.

Post 1 July 2014 fee type hierarchy

Home care

Care recipients must have the fee reduction applied in the following order:

• Basic Daily Fee (BDF)
• Income Tested Care Fee (ITCF)

Residential care

Care recipients assessed as low means must have the fee reduction applied in the following order:

• BDF
• Means Tested Care Fee (MTCF) - if applicable
• Accommodation Contribution (AC):
• a partial hardship reduction can apply to AC

Care recipients assessed as not low means must have the fee reduction applied in the following order:

• BDF
• Means Tested Care Fee (MTCF)
• Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD)/Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP):
• a partial hardship reduction can apply to RAD/DAP

Historical RAD/DAP financial hardship assistance process

• prior to 1 August 2022, RAD/DAP hardship:
• was unable to be coded in SPARC
• payments were made by a monthly manual adjustment
• was maintained manually via a spreadsheet

Current RAD/DAP financial hardship assistance process

• From 1 August 2022, RAD/DAP hardship:
• is coded in Aged Care Staff Portal (ACSP)
• is coded from the start date
• payments are automatic from 1 August 2022 onwards
• is paid as a manual adjustment for any period prior to 1 August 2022
• includes care recipients with existing and new RAD/DAP financial hardship assistance

Pre 1 July 2014 - fee type hierarchy

Home care:

• Care recipients assessed under a pre 1 July 2014 assessment scheme are not eligible for hardship assistance

Residential care:

• Care recipients assessed under a pre 1 July 2014 assessment scheme must have the fee reduction applied in the following order:
• Basic Daily Fee (BDF)
• Income Tested Fee (ITF)
• Accommodation costs are assessed separately

Hardship assistance form and fee type hierarchy

Hardship forms prior to version (SA462.2103) asked the person completing the form to select a fee type to apply hardship against. Where a previous version of the form is received, and the fee type selected differs from the current hierarchy:

• Staff attempt to contact the care recipient to discuss the hardship assessment and the fee hierarchy
• If the contact is unsuccessful, assess hardship using the care recipient's elected fee type

If an application is for a continuation of hardship assistance and the new assessment results in a lower hardship rate than previously granted:

• staff attempt to contact the care recipient to discuss the new assessment, and
• advise the difference in hardship assistance

Duration

Services Australia can grant a hardship period:

• in line with the financial circumstances of the care recipient
• up to 3 years from the date of new grant or date of the completed assessment, whichever is the later
• this is in addition to any eligible backdated periods
• for example, start date is in the past. Hardship is backdated to the start date and the end date is 3 years from the date the assessment is completed

Examples of granting hardship assistance for up to 3 years include, but are not limited to:

• non-homeowner income support payment (ISP) care recipients with consistently low assets or income under the hardship thresholds. Advise care recipients of reassessment options, for example, if expenses increase, hardship can be reassessed. See the Resources page for details on the financial hardship current and historical thresholds
• homeowner ISP care recipients where:
• the home is owned jointly with a third party who is unwilling to sell
• an immediate family member occupies the home
• pre 1 July 2014 care recipients who no longer have the assets they had on date of entry and are therefore unable to afford the accommodation charge/bond

Reviews

Reviews provide an opportunity to check the care recipient's circumstances and confirm ongoing eligibility for hardship assistance. Extending the grant duration, where appropriate, and setting reviews removes the requirement for a care recipient to reclaim every 12 months.

Conduct annual reviews for grants longer than 12 months.

Some examples, care recipient homeowner with:

• a protected person in the home. Annual review will determine if the protected person is still in the home
• an asset that cannot be sold or borrowed against or jointly owned properties. Annual review will determine if joint owner is still unwilling to sell
• a property that is unreasonable to sell as asset. An annual review will determine if the home is still occupied

Note: a review is not set for shorter hardship grant durations (6 or 12 months).

Aged care hardship assessments include a quality assurance process. The aim of the quality assurance process is to make sure of correct and consistent assessment outcomes:

• Hardship processing does not include an activity in Customer First
• The quality assurance process:
• is manual
• aligns with the Quality On line (QOL) quality assurance program. The Resources page contains a link to QOL
• is undertaken by a hardship subject matter expert (SME) nominated by the Smart Centre

The Resources page contains a link to the Hardship Quality Checking procedure.

See the Frequently Asked Questions table on the Resources page for details on the assessment of assets that could not be sold or borrowed against during the restrictions in place in 2020 and 2021.