The Commonwealth Government of Australia regulates the fees payable by a Residents in an Aged Care Facility. These fees are regularly indexed by the government and can be obtained on the https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/schedule-of-fees-and-charges-for-residential-and-home-care or by contacting the My Aged Care information portal line: on 1800 200 422.
PERMANENT RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE COSTS FROM 01/11/2025
When entering residential aged care, you may be required to pay one or more of the following fees:
A BASIC DAILY CARE FEE:
All aged care residents receiving ongoing (permanent) or short-term (respite) care are required to pay this fee. The Basic Daily Fee covers daily living expenses, including meals, cleaning, laundry, heating and cooling.
The government sets the rate for this fee, which is calculated at 85% of the single basic age pension. The Basic Daily Fee is subject to indexation in line with changes to the single basic age pension, which the government adjusts twice yearly in March and September.
For short-term respite care, no accommodation cost is applicable, and the Basic Daily Care fee is the only residential cost (not including medication or onsite costs such as phone, hairdressing or shop purchases)
ACCOMMODATION PAYMENT OR CONTRIBUTION:
For residents receiving ongoing care, a payment or contribution towards your accommodation may be required, depending on the outcome of your means assessment. The government’s means assessment determines this.
Finley Regional Care room price is $480,000 or *$106.67 per day (*subject to change with interest changes)
To make sure the correct accommodation costs are applied, any income and assets information should be provided to Services Australia as early as possible before permanent admission. See link below for further information.
Due to legislation changes, Finley Regional Care must wait for the fee advice or fees and charges notification from Services Australia before confirming the resident’s accommodation contribution arrangements and accepting any lump sum RAD or RAC payment. Until that information is received, the Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) or Daily Accommodation Contribution (DAC) will apply from the date of permanent admission. If a lump sum RAD or RAC is paid after the assessment is completed, any required adjustment or refund will be calculated and arranged once the payment has been received.
If your government means assessment indicates you need to pay or contribute to your accommodation, you can do so through a:
- Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) (*subject to indexation)
- Daily Accommodation Contribution (DAC), (*subject to indexation) or a combination of both
- Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD)
- Refundable Accommodation Contribution (RAC), or a combination of both.
To find out more about these changes, please visit My Aged Care.
Finley Regional Care admissions team would be happy to discuss fees and charges further with you and you can make an appointment by calling 03 5883 9600. .
The Hotelling Contribution and Non-Clinical Care Contribution are means-tested fees, which means not every resident will need to pay them. Services Australia assesses these fees based on a resident’s income and assets, so depending on individual financial circumstances, a resident may pay none, part, or all of these amounts.
- The Hotelling Contribution covers part of the cost of meals and daily living services. The amount you pay is determined by your means assessment and is outlined in your fee advice letter from Services Australia. This contribution has a Daily Cap of around $22.15, indexed with inflation – Note: this is a continuous fee and is not lifetime capped.
- The Non-Clinical Care Contribution (NCCC) replaces the previous Means Tested Care Fee and covers some costs for services such as assistance with bathing, mobility and lifestyle activities. The amount you pay is determined by your means assessment and is outlined in your fee advice letter from Services Australia.
- The NCCC
- Has a Daily Cap of approximately $107.32 per day and is indexed with inflation.
- Has a Lifetime Cap and payments stop after four years in permanent care or once the NCCC paid reaches approximately $137,917.01.
- These charges apply only to residents who enter aged care under the new fee arrangements from 1 November 2025.
- Residents who were already receiving aged care support before this date will remain under their existing fee arrangements, which may include a Means Tested Care Fee instead.
- The Hotelling Contribution and Non-Clinical Care Contribution apply under the 1 November 2025 fee arrangements, while the Means Tested Care Fee continues under the 1 July 2014 fee arrangements.
- My Aged Care explains that people entering residential aged care on or after 1 November 2025 may be on either the new or earlier fee arrangements depending on their circumstances, including “no worse off” protections.
METHOD OF FEE COLLECTION
Finley Regional Care collects fees and charges as applicable to each resident on a fortnightly basis in advance. Fees can only be paid by direct debit. A direct debit form is included with the admission pack or can be picked up from administration.
Please note, for residents entering care as Permanent Residents i.e. not Respite Residents the first direct debit for the resident fees will include fees payable up until the date of the first direct debit plus a fortnight in advance and will include any calculated Accommodation Deposit or Contribution amount as stated above.
Residents entering care for Respite Care the first direct debit will include fees payable up until the date of the first direct debit plus a fortnight in advance – no accommodation payment or contribution is charged for respite residents.
* If you are on the new fee structure, a 2% per annum retention (capped at 10%) will be deducted from your paid RAD or RAC over a maximum of 5 years.
