Accommodation supplements for residential aged care services 065-13040010

Residential aged care services may receive accommodation related supplements based on the permanent residential care recipients’ circumstances including the determined resident status for the date they entered into care.

Permanent residential aged care recipients will contribute to the cost of their accommodation if they can afford it. Services Australia, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) assesses the care recipient’s financial circumstances effective for the date they enter care, including Services Australia determinations of means not disclosed (MND).

This is done as part of the aged care means assessment process. Services Australia, or DVA, will complete an assessment by using 1 of the following methods:

• A combined assets and income means assessment for care recipients who entered care on or after 1 July 2014
• An assets assessment for care recipients who entered care between 20 March 2008 and 30 June 2014
• An assets assessment for care recipients who entered care between 1 July 2005 and 19 March 2008
  Note: for care recipients who entered care prior to 1 July 2005, the aged care service completed the assets assessment

Prior to 1 July 2014:

• A care recipient’s means (income and assets) were assessed separately
• A care recipient could choose to complete:
• a Residential Care Income Assessment (RCIA) to determine their ability to contribute towards an Income Tested Fee, or
• a Residential Care Assets Assessment (RCAA) to determine the amount of government funding they could receive for their accommodation costs, or
• a care recipient could complete both the RCIA and RCAA

See Aged care means assessment for more information on these assessment types and who conducted them.

The care recipient’s resident status determines whether the care recipient is entitled to any assistance with accommodation costs.

Residential aged care services may be eligible to receive an accommodation supplement where the care recipient’s resident status is determined to be:

• concessional,
• supported, or
• low means

See Aged care - correction to resident status for more information on care recipients’ resident status.

There is no application process for an aged care service to receive accommodation supplements. Services Australia automatically pays accommodation supplements to aged care services in respect to eligible care recipients’ taking into account the aged care service’s support resident ratio.

The accommodation supplement is not payable for care recipients who occupy an extra service place, regardless of the care recipient’s resident status.

Residential aged care services may receive the following accommodation supplements based on the permanent residential care recipients’ circumstances including when they entered into care:

• Accommodation supplement (from 20 March 2008 onwards)
• Accommodation charge top-up supplement (Post 2008 scheme)
• Higher accommodation supplement (Post 2008 scheme)
• Transitional accommodation supplement (Post 2008 scheme)
• Pensioner supplement (Pre 2008 scheme)
• Concessional resident supplement (Pre 2008 scheme)

Note: a respite accommodation supplement is also payable for each day a respite resident was in care to help cover the respite care recipient’s accommodation costs. This displays on the payment statement under the heading Respite accommodation supplement.

Accommodation supplements are indexed twice a year on 20 March and 20 September.

Current and historical rates are available on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Schedule of subsidies and supplement website. See the Resources page for a link to the Schedule.

Accommodation supplement

The accommodation supplement:

• is paid for an eligible care recipient and can be reduced if:
• the care recipient entered care between 20 March 2008 and 30 June 2014, and had net assets over the threshold amount on the day they entered care
• the care recipient entered care from 1 July 2014 and have either net assets or income over the relevant threshold
• will display on the payment statement under the headings:
• Accommodation supplement for entries between 20 March 2008 and 30 June 2014, or
• Means tested accommodation supplement for entries after 1 July 2014

Accommodation charge top-up supplement

The accommodation charge top-up:

• is paid for care recipients who entered care between 20 March 2008 and 19 March 2020, and at the time:
• were high-care recipients
• were on income support
• had to pay an accommodation charge on entry
• the charge would have been higher if the care recipient was not in receipt of an income support payment
• will display on the payment statement under the heading Accommodation charge top-up supplement

Higher accommodation supplement

The higher accommodation supplement rate is paid to eligible residential aged care services where they are:

• new residential aged care services built on or after 20 April 2012, or
• existing residential aged care services that were significantly refurbished on or after 20 April 2012

The intention of the higher accommodation supplement rate is to encourage residential aged care services to improve the quality of amenities provided.

Residential aged care services not built or significantly refurbished after 20 April 2012 may be eligible for the standard accommodation supplement rate.

View a residential aged care services refurbished status in the Aged Care Staff Portal (ACSP). See the Using the Aged Care Staff Portal to view a residential care service’s Refurbished status (Service in Context) table for the process on how to view this.

Note: the Department of Health and Aged Care automatically sends residential aged care services’ Refurbished status information to Services Australia.

Transitional accommodation supplement

The transitional accommodation supplement:

• is for permanent residential care recipients receiving low-level care, and
• is paid to make up the difference between the accommodation supplement and the higher pensioner supplement that it replaced.
• will display on the payment statement under the heading Transitional accommodation supplement

Residential aged care services are eligible for the transitional accommodation supplement if the care recipient meets all the following criteria:

• they entered permanent residential aged care after 20 March 2008 and before 20 September 2011
• they are eligible to pay an accommodation bond
• the level of the accommodation supplement would be lower than the level of pensioner supplement it replaced

Pensioner supplement

The pensioner supplement:

• is for a care recipient where they are a pre-2008 scheme care recipient and either:
• have a dependent child, or
• are getting an income support payment but have not agreed to pay a large accommodation bond.
• A residential aged care service will not receive payment for care recipients if they:
• do not have a dependent child, and
• entered care before 20 September 2009 and paid, or agreed to pay, a large accommodation bond that was more than 10 times the basic age pension at the time they entered care, or
• entered care on or after 20 September 2009 and paid, or agreed to pay, an accommodation bond that was more than 9 times the basic age pension at the time they entered care
• Note: Accommodation bond amounts are rounded up to the nearest $500 for calculation purposes.
• will display on the payment statement under the heading Pensioner supplement

Note: the large accommodation bond threshold is published by the Department of Health and Aged Care under the heading ‘Pensioner allowable limit for Accommodation bonds’. See the Resources tab for a link to the Schedule of fees and charges for pre 1 July 2014 residents.

Concessional resident supplement

Residential aged care services are eligible to receive the concessional resident supplement for care recipients if:

• they entered permanent residential aged care between 1 October 1997 and 19 March 2008
• at the time they entered care, the service was certified
• they were concessional care recipients based on an assessment of their financial circumstances at the time they entered care

At the time they entered care, concessional care recipients could not be asked to pay an accommodation bond or accommodation charge. The supplement is not available for respite care recipients.

The concessional resident supplement rate depends whether the residential aged care service is new or significantly refurbished on or after 20 April 2012.

Residential aged care services need to meet the supported resident ratio otherwise the accommodation supplements will be reduced by 25 percent.

The following resident statuses count towards the supported resident ratio:

• assisted residents
• concessional residents
• low means care recipients
• supported residents

A permanent residential care recipient are treated as a supported care recipient when they:

• are assessed under the means assessment schemes – pre 2008, post 2008, or post 2014
• have a resident status of either Concessional, Assisted, Supported or Low Means
• are receiving hardship assistance for their accommodation costs

The ratio does not apply to respite care recipients and care recipients in extra service places.

The calculation of the supported resident ratio compares the number of supported care recipients residing in the residential aged care service to the total number of care recipients.

This calculation is used to determine when the maximum rate of accommodation supplement is used and to calculate the amount payable to aged care services, before a care recipient’s contribution amount is taken into account.

From 1 October 2022, the 40% supported resident ratio was simplified so that the 25% reduction is calculated over a calendar month rather than on individual days.

This means, over a calendar month, the 25% reduction will not apply in that month if the residential aged care service had 40% or more supported care recipients on average.

Up to 30 September 2022, aged care services must have had over 40% supported care recipients in care on any day to get the full accommodation supplement amount.

If the aged care service did not meet the 40% supported resident ratio on any day, the maximum rate of accommodation supplement payable was reduced by 25% on each day the service did not meet the ratio.

Aged care services can view a breakdown of the Supported resident ratio via their payment statement. See the Using the Aged Care Staff Portal to view and download payment statements (Service in Context) table for the process on how to view this.

The Resources page contains information on the:

• current and historical accommodation supplement rates published in the schedule of subsidies and supplements on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website
• higher accommodation supplement for aged care in the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website
• Examples of Supported resident ratio calculations