EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Residential care subsidy – amount of transitional accommodation supplement) Determination 2009(No. 1)
(ACA Ch. 3 No. 5/2009)
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 44-16(1) of the Act provides that the Residential Care Subsidy Principles 1997 (the Principles) may provide for additional primary supplements.
Subsection 44-16(3) of the Act provides that the Minister may determine in writing the amount of each additional primary supplements or the way in which the amount of the supplement is to be worked out.
Section 21.25E of the Principles provides for the transitional accommodation supplement (TAS) which is a type of additional primary supplement. That section also sets out the circumstances in which TAS is payable.
The purpose of TAS is to smooth the introduction of the new accommodation payment arrangements, which took effect from 20 March 2008. To this end, the Commonwealth will pay aged care providers TAS in respect of certain post-2008 reform residents who enter care (for which the resident is eligible to pay an accommodation bond) between 20 March 2008 and 19 September 2011 inclusive.
This Determination sets the amount of TAS for such residents with effect from 20 September 2008, and the increased maximum amount of TAS with effect from 20 March 2009.
The Determination revokes the previously made Determination.
The key difference between this Determination and the previous Determination is that, with effect from 20 March 2009, the maximum amount of TAS for a day has been increased in accordance with the increase in the pensioner supplement, which in turn is being increased in accordance with the consumer price index published by the Australian Statistician.
This Determination also clarifies the previous Determination, which did not clearly specify an amount of TAS for residents whose entry to a residential care service was in the period from 20 March 2008 to 19 September 2008.
This 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 amendments to the Principles and other instruments made under the Act.
Further consultation was undertaken by the Department on aged care funding arrangements as part of the Review of the Conditional Adjustment Payment and there is ongoing consultation with the aged care industry on 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 supplement will be sent to all approved providers by facsimile and will be available to the public on the Department’s website.