About residential respite care fees
Residential respite fees won’t change much when the new Aged Care Act commences on 1 November 2025.
A resident entering your service for residential respite care may pay the following fees:
- basic daily fee
- booking fee
- fees for optional services.
Schedule of Fees and Charges for Residential and Home Care
You must record most fees in the resident (or service) agreement. Fees for optional services are recorded separately.
You cannot charge accommodation costs for residential respite care. The Australian Government will pay you a respite accommodation supplement to help cover these costs.
Explaining respite fees to residents
You must ensure that residents in your aged care home understand the fees in their agreements and the amounts they are charged.
Understanding fees for residential respite care
Basic daily fee
You can ask every resident to pay the basic daily fee. It helps to cover the costs of daily living, like meals, cleaning, laundry, heating and cooling.
The maximum fee is 85% of the single basic age pension. The fee amount changes with the pension amount every March and September.
Booking fee
You may ask a resident to pay a booking fee to secure a period of respite care in your service. This is the only fee that can be charged before they enter care.
Once they enter the service, you must deduct this fee from their daily fees. The booking fee cannot exceed whichever is lower of:
- one week’s fee for respite care
- 25% of the fee for the proposed period of respite care.
You must refund the full booking fee if the person:
- cancels their booking more than 7 days before the proposed entry date
- enters hospital or dies before their proposed entry date or before the end of the booked period.
Fees for optional services
You can charge additional or extra service fees for residents who begin their respite stay before 1 November 2025.
Note that the respite accommodation supplement is not payable for residents who occupy an extra service place. The rules regarding accommodation supplement ineligibility will continue to apply during 2025 and 2026 while a resident’s extra service agreement remains in place.
You can charge a higher everyday living fee for residents who begin their respite stay on or after 1 November 2025.
Full requirements
Details of residential respite care fees are in:
- Division 52C of the Aged Care Act 1997
- Section 10 of the Fees and Payments Principles 2014 (No. 2).
