Aged Care means assessment – Rental income from principal home 065-09030010

Once the Admission date and Pre-entry date are entered on the RCA Circumstances (RCIRC) screen, the system will determine the Assessment Scheme that the care recipient is affected by.

• POST2016 - care recipient entered aged care after 1 January 2016, net rental income from their former principal home is included in their Aged Care means assessment
• POST2014 - care recipient entered aged care, or commenced pre-entry leave, on or after 1 July 2014, net rental income from their former principal home is not included in their means assessment
• POST2008 - care recipient entered aged care, or pre-entry leave, on or after 20 March 2008, net rental income from their former principal home is not included in their means assessment
• PRE2008 - care recipient entered aged care, or commenced pre-entry leave, before 20 March 2008, net rental income from their former principal home is not included in their means assessment

Care recipient(s) who entered permanent residential care prior to 1 January 2016 and meet the following conditions:

• are renting their former principal home, and
• paying their accommodation costs by either periodic payment or a combination of periodic and lump sum payment

will have all of the rental income from their former principal home excluded from the Aged Care means assessment. This includes if they:

• take social or hospital leave before 1 January 2016 and re-enter care after 1 January 2016, or
• start pre-entry leave before 1 January 2016 and enter care after 1 January 2016

They will still be considered to be a homeowner for social security purposes depending on the date of vacation of the former principal home. See also: Vacation of principal home due to illness.

The former principal home may be rented out at any time and the care recipient is still eligible to have their rental income exempt from the Aged Care means assessment, providing the above criteria are met.

From 1 January 2016, new entrants into permanent residential care will have all of the rental income from their former principal home included in their Aged Care means assessment.

A new assessment scheme code of POST2016 Assessment Scheme will apply for residential care recipient(s) only.

POST2016 will be automatically determined and set by the means assessment where a recipient’s date of admission is on or after 1 January 2016, unless a saving provision applies.

The POST2016 Assessment scheme will display in the Assessment Scheme: field.

From 1 January 2016, care recipient(s) with a POST2016 Assessment Scheme will commence having net rental income from their/their partner’s former principal home included in their assessable income. Rental income for these care recipient(s) will be assessed for Aged Care means assessment regardless of whether the real estate item is recorded as EXA, EXP, EX5 or EXE exempt on the Real Estate/Business Identifying (REBI) screen.

No changes will be made to the process or procedures for recording a property as exempt, since these exemption codes and associated assessments must remain correctly recorded for Income Support Payment (ISP) purposes.

EXE asset exemptions will remain unchanged for both ISP and Aged Care means assessment.

After 1 January 2016 if a care recipient is formally discharged from Aged Care means assessment for more than 28 days, rental income from their former principal home will be included in their means assessment if they re-enter care.

Care recipient(s) receiving a Home Care package are not subject to the new post 1 January 2016 business rules. Since these care recipient(s) receive care in their own homes they do not have a ‘former principal home’ that can have rental income exempt from the income assessment.

All care recipient(s) receiving home care are currently assessed under a POST2014 Assessment Scheme and will remain so after 1 January 2016.

Situations may arise where a care recipient(s) transitions between care types.

Where a care recipient departs residential care to commence home care from 1 January 2016, they will be assessed as POST2014.

Where a care recipient departs home care and enters permanent residential care from 1 January 2016, they will be assessed as POST2016 from their permanent residential care date of admission.

Residential care recipient(s) will be subject to a saving provision that will allow them to remain assessed under a PRE2008, POST2008 or POST2014 Assessment Scheme in some circumstances.

Where a care recipient departs from permanent residential care, and within 28 days (inclusive) re-enters permanent residential care, they will retain their existing assessment scheme under grandfathering provisions. That is, they will not be automatically set to a POST2016 Assessment Scheme.