EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy – Amount of Transitional Accommodation Supplement) Determination 2012 (No. 2)
The Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) provides for the regulation and 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 by legislative instrument in respect of each supplement, the amount of the supplement, 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 pays aged care providers TAS in respect of certain post-2008 reform residents who enter
low-level care (for which the resident is eligible to pay an accommodation bond) between 20 March 2008 and 19 September 2011 inclusive.
The purpose of the Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy – Amount of Transitional Accommodation Supplement) Determination 2012 (No. 2) ‘the Determination’ is to set the increased maximum amount of TAS with effect from 20 September 2012. This Determination also revokes Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy – Amount of Transitional Accommodation Supplement) Determination 2012 (No. 1).
The difference between the Determinations is that 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 indexed using a well established formula based on the Consumer Price Index as a measure of the movements in the non-labour costs of providers.
Consultation
Indexation of the supplement is in accordance with the general policy for indexation of aged care payments 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 disseminated via electronic media to approved providers.
This Determination commences on 20 September 2012.
The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.