EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Residential care subsidy – amount of accommodation supplement) Determination 2010 (No. 1)
The Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) provides for the funding of aged care services. Persons who are approved under the Act to provide residential aged care services (approved providers) can be eligible to receive residential care subsidy payments in respect of the care they provide to approved care recipients.
Subsection 44-5A(3) of the Act provides that the accommodation supplement for a particular day is the amount determined by the Minister by legislative instrument or worked out in accordance with a method determined by the Minister by legislative instrument.
The accommodation supplement is payable in respect of supported residents receiving care in eligible services (for example, services that are certified and are not providing care to the resident on an extra service basis).
In summary, supported residents are those who are being provided with residential care through a residential care service, who entered care on or after 20 March 2008 and whose assets are below a certain maximum asset threshold or in respect of whom the Secretary has made a financial hardship determination.
The purpose of the Aged Care (Residential care subsidy – amount of accommodation supplement) Determination 2010 (No. 1) (the Determination) is to set out a method for working out the amount of the accommodation supplement and set the maximum rate of accommodation supplement for a service that either meets or does not meet building requirements, with effect from 20 March 2010. This Determination also revokes Aged Care (Residential care subsidy – amount of accommodation supplement) Determination 2009 (No. 2).
The difference between the Determinations is that the maximum rate of accommodation supplement for a service that does not meet building requirements has been increased in accordance with increases in the consumer price index published by the Australian Statistician.
The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Consultation
The Department of Health and Ageing (the Department) undertook extensive consultation on the policy, which included policy on increases in the rates of supplements, that was implemented through the Aged Care Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Act 2008 and related instruments.
Further consultation was also undertaken as part of the Review of the Conditional Adjustment Payment and is ongoing in relation to funding arrangements.
As the indexation of the supplement uses a well established formula based on the consumer price index, and is in accordance with policy upon which extensive consultation was undertaken, no specific consultation was undertaken with respect to this instrument.
Information about the increase in the amount of the accommodation supplement will be disseminated via print and electronic media to approved providers.