EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors
Aged Care (Places Available for Allocation to Individuals 2025-2026) Amendment (Assistive Technology and Home Modifications) Determination 2026
Purpose
The Aged Care (Places Available for Allocation to Individuals 2025-2026) Amendment (Assistive Technology and Home Modifications) Determination 2026 (the Amending Determination) amends the Aged Care (Places Available for Allocation to Individuals 2025-2026) Determination 2025 (the Principal Determination).
The purpose of the Amending Determination is to update the methodology for calculating the number of places available for allocation to individuals for the service groups Assistive Technology and Home Modifications .
The amendments replace section 15 and section 19 of the Principal Determination and introduce an anticipated tier value approach which will ensure places are spread more evenly and equitably between the service groups over time. In particular, the amendments introduce a methodology that calculates a number of places available for each service group based on a weighted average place cost.
The Amending Determination will ensure that the number of places available to be allocated to each service group (which draw from the one combined special appropriation) are more evenly and equitably distributed between the service groups over time. It will also ensure that there are a number of Assistive Technology and Home Modification places available for the System Governor to allocate to individuals each month for the remainder of the financial year. This will ensure greater sustainability of the Assistive Technology and Home Modification schemes over the course of the remaining financial year. The Principal Determination will also be remade for the new financial year commencing 1 July 2026 as required by subsection 91(1) of the Act.
Background
The structure of Chapter 2 of the Aged Care Act 2024 (the Act) gives effect to Government’s Places to People policy, which takes a person-centered approach to the availability of aged care. It is premised on individuals being approved for access to one or more funded aged care services and then being allocated places for the different types of services as they become available. Individuals use the place to access funded aged care services through a provider of their choice.
Subsection 91(1) of the Act requires that the Minister must determine a method each financial year for working out the number of places available for allocation to individuals for each service group. The Principal Determination, which came into effect on 31 October 2025, set the 2025–2026 methodology across the service groups Home Support, Residential Care, Assistive Technology and Home Modification.
Due to higher-than-expected demand for Assistive Technology and Home Modification places since the commencement of the Act, it has become apparent that the current methodology as set out in the Principal Determination requires amendment to ensure a more equitable and uniform release of places for the remainder of the financial year.
Additionally, once a total combined number of places for the service groups Assistive Technology and Home Modification has been determined from the remaining budget, the methodology as currently set out in the Principal Determination does not adequately distribute the number of available places between the service groups to reflect the differences in demand. Amendment is required improve the distribution of these places. The new methodology calculates an average weighted place cost by looking at the number of Assistive Technology and Home Modification places allocated to date and the average tier value of those places, as well as the relative demand for those places. This is then applied to the total number of places available, to determine how many of those places should be allocated to Assistive Technology and how many to Home Modification.
Authority
Thes instrument is made under made subsection 91(1) of the Act (as amended by the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025).
This Instrument also relies on subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 which provides that where an Act confers a power to make, grant or issue any instrument of a legislative or administrative character (including rules, regulations or by-laws), the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to repeal, rescind, revoke, amend, or vary any such instrument.
Consultation
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has consulted with the Department of Financein preparing this instrument.
Commencement
The Amending Determination commences on the day after it is registered.
General
This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (Legislation Act). Section 42 (disallowance) of the Legislation Act does not apply to the making of this instrument (see subsection 91(5) of the Act).
The exemption from disallowance is justified on the basis that the determination is a tool to manage Government spending and administration resources in accordance with decisions made through the annual Budget process. Ensuring that the determination is exempt from disallowance minimises the risk of uncertainty that would arise if the determination was disallowed and the Minister could not set out the method for working out the number of available places, leaving the System Governor unable to allocate places to individuals to facilitate access to funded aged care services on an even and equitable basis.
Details of this Amending Determination are set out in Attachment A
ATTACHMENT A
Details of the Aged Care (Places Available for Allocation to Individuals 2025-2026) Amendment (Assistive Technology and Home Modifications) Determination 2026
Section 1 – Name
This section provides that the name of this instrument is the Aged Care (Places Available for Allocation to Individuals 2025-2026) Amendment (Assistive Technology and Home Modifications) Determination 2026.
Section 2 – Commencement
This section sets out the date the instrument commences. The Determination commences on the day after the instrument is registered.
Section 3 – Authority
This section provides that the authority for making this Amending Determination is subsection 91(1) of the Act.
Section 4 – Schedules
Section 4 provides that each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to the instrument has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – Amendments
Aged Care (Places Available for Allocation to Individuals 2025-2026) Determination 2025.
Item 1 – Section 15
Item 1 repeals section 15 of the Principal Determination and substitutes it with a new section 15. New section 15 provides for the method for working out the number of places available to be allocated to individuals for the financial year for the service group assistive technology. This takes place as a two-step process. First an anticipated tier value is calculated according to subsection (2). Then that value is used to work out the number of places available for the service group under subsection (1) by:
- subtracting the amount calculated under subsection (a) from the special appropriation for the service groups home modifications and assistive technology (paragraph b); and
- dividing the number at paragraph (b) (step 2) by the remaining number of months in the financial year, including the current month (paragraph c). For example, if it is March, the remaining number of months in the financial year is four.
The next step (paragraph d) is to calculate the demand for assistive technology by:
- sum the number of individuals allocated a place during this financial year to service group assistive technology with the number of individuals allocated a place to service group home modifications;
- divide the number of individuals allocated a place during this financial year to service group assistive technology by number the number at (i)
Paragraph (e) is the fifth step and provides to calculate the demand for home modifications by subtracting the number worked out by the demand for assistive technology from 1.
Paragraph (f) is the sixth step and provides to multiply the demand for assistive technology by the average Assistive Technology place cost.
Paragraph (g) is the seventh step and provides to multiply the demand for home modification by the average Home Modification place cost.
Paragraph (h) is the eighth step and adds the numbers worked out by at paragraphs (f) and (g) to calculate a weighted average place cost.
Paragraph (i) is the ninth step and divides the number worked out at paragraph 15(1)(c) by the number worked out at paragraph 15(1)(h).
Paragraph (j) is the tenth step and multiples the number at paragraph 15(1)(i) by the demand for assistive technology.
Subsection (2) provides for how to calculate the anticipated tier value referred to in paragraph (1)(a) (step 1). The anticipated tier value is the sum of the calculation for each of the fifteen rows in the anticipated tier value table below. The calculation for each row of the table is worked out by multiplying the relevant percentage tier amount in column 2 of the table by the number of individuals in column 3 of the table.
Anticipated tier value table | ||
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
Row | Percentage tier amount | Number of individuals |
1 | 100% of the tier amount for the classification level assistance dogs | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type ongoing for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act this financial year, and at that time had the classification level assistance dogs take effect. |
2 | 100% of the tier amount for the classification level AT low | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act this financial year, and at that time had the classification level AT low take effect. |
3 | 25% of the tier amount for the classification level AT medium | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 90 days, and at that time had the classification level AT medium take effect. |
4 | 50% of the tier amount for the classification level AT medium | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 180 days but more than 90 days ago, and at that time had the classification level AT medium take effect. |
5 | 100% of the tier amount for the classification level AT medium | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act more than 180 days ago, and at that time had the classification level AT medium take effect. |
6 | 25% of the tier amount for the classification level AT high | Number of individuals d who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 90 days, and at that time had the classification level AT high take effect. |
7 | 50% of the tier amount for the classification level AT high | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 270 days but more than 90 days ago, and at that time had the classification level AT high take effect. |
8 | 100% of the tier amount for the classification level AT high | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group assistive technology take effect under section 92A of the Act more than 270 days ago, and at that time had the classification level AT high take effect. |
9 | 100% of the tier amount for the classification level HM low | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group home modifications take effect under section 92A of the Act this financial year, and at that time had the classification level HM low take effect. |
10 | 25% of the tier amount for the classification level HM medium | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group home modifications take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 90 days, and at that time had the classification level HM medium take effect. |
11 | 50% of the tier amount for the classification level HM medium | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group home modifications take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 180 days but more than 90 days ago, and at that time had the classification level HM medium take effect. |
12 | 100% of the tier amount for the classification level HM medium | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group home modifications take effect under section 92A of the Act more than 180 days ago, and at that time had the classification level HM medium take effect. |
13 | 25% of the tier amount for the classification level HM high | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group home modifications take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 90 days, and at that time had the classification level HM high take effect. |
14 | 50% of the tier amount for the classification level HM high | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group home modifications take effect under section 92A of the Act within the last 270 days but more than 90 days ago, and at that time had the classification level HM high take effect. |
15 | 100% of the tier amount for the classification level HM high | Number of individuals who had a place for the classification type short-term for the service group home modifications take effect under section 92A of the Act more than 270 days ago, and at that time had the classification level HM high take effect. |
The Amending Determination provides an example that if there were 100 individuals who had been allocated a classification level AT Medium and taken up the place within the last 90 days, the calculation for row 3 in the table above would be 0.25 × tier amount for AT Medium × 100. Item 2 – Section 19
Item 2 repeals section 19 of the Principal Determination and substitutes it with a new section 19 below.
New section 19 provides for the method for working out the number of places available to be allocated to individuals for the financial year for the service group home modifications. For the purposes of paragraph 91(1)(a) of the Act, the method for working out the number of places available to be allocated to individuals at a time in the financial year for the service group home modifications is to multiply the number worked out at paragraph 15(1)(i) by the demand for home modifications.
Item 3 – Section 20
Item 3 repeals and replaces section 20 of the Principal Determination. This item is a technical amendment to update the cross reference to new section 19 as amended by Item 2 of this Instrument, and reflect that there is no ongoing home modification classification type.
Sam Rae
Minister for Aged Care and Seniors