Review of residential care fees

A care recipient can request an ad hoc review when their circumstances have changed.

Regular reviews

Every month we:

• look at changes to a care recipient’s personal or financial circumstances
• look at changes to a care recipient’s care needs
• set the care recipient’s fees for the month
• assess if the care recipient should get any refund
• make adjustments to the government subsidy you’re paid as a result of this change.

Fees are updated in line with regular Consumer Price Index (CPI) changes each year on:

• 20 March
• 1 July
• 20 September.

Review dates

The next residential care fee reviews are on the following days:

• Tuesday, 26 November 2024
• Tuesday, 17 December 2024
• Wednesday 22 January 2025
• Wednesday 19 February 2025
• Tuesday 25 March 2025
• Wednesday 23 April 2025
• Wednesday 21 May 2025
• Wednesday 25 June 2025.

The review will start at 7 pm and end at 8 am AEST the following day. We won’t be able to process care recipient events during this times.

Please check back regularly as these dates and times are subject to change.

After the review

We’ll send a letter to the care recipient, provider, and their nominee if they have one, if either:

• a refund is due
• the new income or means-tested fee or accommodation contribution is increased by 10 cents or more per day or decreased by 1 cent or more per day.

We won’t send letters if the only change is the basic daily fee.

If your care recipient is eligible for a refund, we’ll send the refund to you as part of the normal claim process. It’s your responsibility to pass the refund onto your care recipient.

Ad hoc reviews

A care recipient can request an ad hoc review if:

• their circumstances change
• they want their fees and charges checked outside of the monthly review process.

If a new fee is set after an ad hoc review, the new rate applies from the ad hoc review date.

If the new fee is lower than the previous one, we calculate a refund at the next review. We’ll send a notification letter about the refund to both you and your care recipient.

We’ll pay the refund to you if a refund is payable to a care recipient. This is part of the normal claim process. It’s your responsibility to pass this refund onto your care recipient.