EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Residential care subsidy – amount of respite supplement)
Determination 2008 (No. 2)
(ACA Ch. 3 No. 25/2008)
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 44-12(3) of the Act provides that the Minister may determine, by legislative instrument, the amount of the respite supplement.
The respite supplement is an additional daily amount that is paid to services for each eligible care recipient being provided with respite care through in the service on that day.
All care recipients who meet the requirements of subsection 44-12(2) of the Act are eligible for the respite supplement.
The Aged Care (Residential care subsidy – amount of respite supplement) Determination 2008 (No. 2) (the Determination) commences on 20 September 2008. The Determination revokes and replaces the Aged Care (Residential care subsidy – amount of respite supplement) Determination 2008 (the previous Determination).
The Determination contains minor differences to the previous Determination in that the amount of the respite supplement to be paid is increased where the respite care is provided by a residential care service from 20 September 2008.
The Determination provides that, on a day:
- for a care recipient with a low level care classification who is receiving residential care through:
a certified residential care service, the amount of respite supplement for the day is $31.35; or
a residential care service that is not certified, the amount of respite supplement for the day is $24.44.
- for a care recipient with a high level care classification:
who is receiving residential care through a certified residential care service, the amount of respite supplement for the day is $43.95; or
who is receiving residential care through a residential care service that is not certified, the amount of respite supplement for the day is $37.02; and
if, for a relevant year, the actual proportion of respite care provided through the residential care service is equal to or greater than 70% of the specified proportion of respite care for the approved provider of the residential care service, the approved provider receives an additional $30.82.
The respite supplement is indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year in line with the indexation arrangements for the accommodation supplement.
This determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Consultation
As the indexation of this supplement uses a well established formula for indexation, no specific consultation with industry was undertaken with respect to this instrument.