Home care package - home care account and Commonwealth (CW) unspent funds 065-21081745

Date

Description

1 July 2014

• Home Care Packages program commences
• Services are paid subsidies monthly in advance
• Services have 2 years to make any changes for current or departed care recipients
• Commonwealth (CW) Unspent funds accrue from 1 July 2015 with the provider
  • Care recipient portion are fees paid by the care recipient
  • CW portion are home care subsidies that are paid to services
  • Transfer portion are funds that have been transferred from a previous service
• When a care recipient departs care:
  • if a care recipient moves to a new service, the losing service transfers CW unspent funds to the new service (transfer portion)
  • if a care recipient does not move to a new home care service, CW unspent funds were returned
  • care recipient portion of CW unspent funds are returned to the care recipient (or their estate)

27 Feb 2017

• Increasing choices in home care
• Home Care packages become portable and care recipient can change services at any time
• When a care recipient departs care:
  • if a care recipient moves to a new service, the losing service transfers CW unspent funds to the new service (transfer portion)
  • if a care recipient does not move to a new home care service, CW unspent funds were returned
  • care recipient portion of CW unspent funds are returned to the care recipient (or their estate)

1 Sep 2021

• Management of unspent home care amounts changes
• Funds held by providers are Commonwealth (CW) Unspent Funds (provider held) – providers could:
  • opt-in to Services Australia managing CW Unspent Funds as a draw-down amount, or
  • not opt-in, manage CW unspent funds and report the balance on each monthly claim
• From 1 September, any unspent amounts will accumulate in the care recipient’s Home Care Account (HCA) which is held by Services Australia
• When a care recipient departs care:
  • Any CW Unspent funds need to be returned within 70 days of departure, and are then transferred to the HCA
  • Transfers of CW Unspent funds between services ends
  • if a care recipient moves to a new service within 70 days, the HCA will transfer to new provider on Day 71
  • if a care recipient does not move to a new service within 70 days, the HCA is set to $0 and repaid to Services Australia
  • care recipient portion of CW unspent funds are returned to the care recipient (or their estate)
• Services have 2 years to make any changes for current care recipients

Services now have 70 days to make any changes from a departed care recipient

1 Nov 2025

Support at Home implementation

If a care recipient transitioned from the Home Care Packages (HCP) Program, they retained their unspent funds for use in Support at Home for:

• accessing assistive technology and home modifications
• extra services, once they spend their entire quarterly budget.

Services can use unspent HCP funds depending on the type: 

• Provider-held participant portion (from collected HCP fees) – services can choose how to manage these funds, such as refunding to the participant. 
• Commonwealth portion (from accrued HCP subsidy) – services must claim unspent funds in the following order: 
  • provider-held portion (CW Unspent funds) 
  • government-held portion (HCA) in an account by Services Australia. 

Services will need to return provider-held unspent funds to the agency if a care recipient changes provider or departs care.