On 12 December 2024, the government announced that for the first year of the Support at Home program, individual providers will continue to set their own prices. The government has recommitted that price caps will commence one year later, on 1 July 2026 and they will introduce additional consumer protections during the transition year.
We need strong consumer protections in place – including price caps – to ensure that older people aren’t paying more than they should for their care and support. Older people and their families deserve to know there are strong protections in place so they’re not paying too much for the care they deserve.
So, it was good to see that government also announced they will introduce additional consumer protections to monitor prices and ensure pricing is fair during the transition year (1 July 2025 to 1 July 2026). Consultations with older people on these measures will occur from January 2025 and we will be in touch with you about this opportunity when it is announced.
All the conversations about protections, must be centred around the needs and rights of older Australians, ensuring they are very clear on where their money is being spent and confident they are getting the quality service older Australians deserve.
These additional protections will build on the already announced protections that include:
- Maintaining the no worse off principle through grandfathering arrangements, so if you were required to pay fees under your HCP as at 12 September 2024, you will pay the same or less under Support at Home
- continuing to ban entry/exit and other hidden fees
- maintaining the $130,000 lifetime cap of co-contributions and
- a strong financial safety net for people who cannot afford to make co-contributions to the cost of their aged care.
You can read the Government’s Consumer Confidence Protections announced HERE.
A pooled approach to care management, based on 10% of ongoing Support at Home classification funding, will still start from 1 July 2025.
In March 2025, Government will share further information on pricing, with older people, families, carers and the sector.
From April 2025, the government has stated it expects providers will begin discussions with home care recipients around service agreements for Support at Home, including pricing.
Participants moving onto Home Support will need to agree to any pricing changes before the new program starts from 1 July 2025.
You can read a factsheet from the government outlining their announcement HERE.
Change, of the magnitude we need to see in aged care, was always going to be difficult. When it comes to protecting the rights of older people, we’ve come a long way in recent times. The new Aged Care Act has provided the strong base we needed to continue to work towards putting an end to the decades of neglect of older people.
COTA will be keeping a very close eye on things over the coming months and will continue to advocate strongly for strong protections for older people, and to make sure pricing is fair.
