The Australian Government engaged with the aged care sector to ensure they are ready for the new
Aged Care Act, which is set to take effect on 1 July 2025.
The consultation timeline was broken into several stages. The Stage 1 release, which opened on 26 September 2024 and closed on 31 October 2024, focused on gathering feedback about the list of services available to older people under the new laws. The Stage 2 release of draft Rules for Chapter 4 of the Aged Care Bill 2024 deals with the funding of aged care services, including subsidies, individual contributions, means testing, accommodation, and grants. The consultation for this stage is divided into two sub-stages.
The Stage 2a release, which opened on 6 November 2024 and closed on 6 December 2024, covered funding for aged care services under the new Support at Home program, specifically the funding mechanisms for aged care services under this program. This included subsidies, individual contributions and means testing for older people. Stage 2b will cover the remaining funding-related Rules.
Western Sydney Community Forum (WSCF) welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the Stage 2a review, and put forward the following three recommendations:
- Implement mechanisms to reduce the impact of administrative burden to enable provider focus on quality services and supports
- Raise caps, lowering contribution rates and introduce mixed funding models to ensure financial safety and sustainability of both provider and consumer
- Develop additional resources to explain rules, processes and models under the new Act in formats that are easily interpreted and accessible to providers
