About means assessments
How much a person pays for their residential aged care is based on their income and assets. These are assessed in the aged care means assessment.
A resident’s financial details are reviewed in the assessment to work out:
- the amount of funding the provider gets from the government for the resident
- the amount of fees and contributions the provider can charge the resident.
People who can’t afford to make a higher contribution will only pay the basic daily fee. Those who can afford to will contribute more to their aged care costs.
Services Australia administers the aged care means assessment for most people. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) administers the assessment for DVA clients.
Means status
The means assessment determines whether a resident qualifies for low means status. A resident’s status as low means or not low means determines whether they:
- are eligible for government support with their accommodation costs
- need to pay any means tested fees at entry.
Services Australia sets a resident’s means status based on their income and assets at date of entry to an aged care home. It does not change while they remain in the same home, regardless of how their financial circumstances change after entry.
Changes to financial circumstances while in care can affect the amount of means tested fees and contributions a resident pays, but will not change their means status or type of accommodation costs (payment or contribution).
A means assessment submitted or processed after entry to care can be backdated to date of entry.
Changes under the Aged Care Act 2024
What stayed the same
The types of income and assets that count, and the treatment of the family home, did not change when the new Act started on 1 November 2025.
Means tested fees for residents on the 1 July 2014 fee arrangements did not change. They continue to pay a means tested care fee if their means assessment determines they can, and the same annual and lifetime caps continue to apply.
What changed
For residents on the 1 November 2025 fee arrangements:
- new income and asset limits determine the new means tested fees
- the hotelling supplement is means tested rather than paid in full by the government, and some residents contribute to it with a hotelling contribution
- some residents pay a new non-clinical care contribution with daily and lifetime caps.
Under the new Act, there are new mandatory reporting requirements for all providers and residents to keep residents’ means assessment information current.
Who needs their means assessed
Residents entering permanent care should get their means assessed.
A resident also needs a means assessment to receive financial hardship assistance with their aged care costs.
Residents entering your service for respite care do not need their means assessed unless they wish to apply for financial hardship assistance.
Getting a means assessment
Residents can submit an Aged care calculation of your cost of care form to Services Australia or DVA either before or after entering aged care.
Services Australia and DVA already have the financial details of residents who receive a means tested payment such as the age pension. These residents may not need to complete a form to have their means assessed.
If a person can’t complete a means assessment form due to physical or mental disability, a third party may complete and sign the form on their behalf. The third party must register with Services Australia or DVA as a nominee for that person to act on their behalf.
The authorising a person or organisation form (SS313) lists people who can complete a means assessment and financial hardship form on someone’s behalf.
Income and assets that count
For details about what income and assets are included in the residential aged care means assessment, refer your residents to:
- the My Aged Care website
- Services Australia’s calculation of your cost of care forms.
A refundable accommodation deposit (RAD) or refundable accommodation contribution (RAC) counts as an assessable asset in the aged care means assessment. This means payment of a RAD or RAC can affect a resident’s means tested fees – even if the lump sum is paid by a family member or other individual.
You should advise residents and their families to seek financial advice before they decide how to pay for their aged care fees and accommodation costs.
Residents who pay a RAD or RAC should update their details with Services Australia (or DVA) to ensure their fees and funding are correct.
National Redress Scheme payments exempt from residential care assets test
From 1 January 2025, National Redress Scheme payments are exempt as an asset from the residential aged care means assessment. This applies for new residents and those already in residential care. This exemption continues under the new Aged Care Act.
People who have received a National Redress Scheme payment (and their partners) will no longer be asked to contribute more towards their residential aged care costs because of their redress payment. This ensures survivors are not financially disadvantaged when accessing residential care.
Residents can ask Services Australia (or DVA) to exclude their redress payment from their assets test. The payment will be excluded from the date it was made. This may reduce the resident's means tested fees or accommodation costs.
This exemption applies only to payments made under the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018.
Fee advice letters
Once a means assessment is completed for one of your residents, Services Australia will send you and the resident the outcome in a fee advice letter. Providers are required to charge fees in line with Services Australia’s letters.
A resident who has had their means assessed before they enter your service may already have a fee advice letter. The letter will state whether they need to pay means tested fees and what they need to contribute towards their accommodation costs.
After you submit a resident’s Aged Care Entry Record, Services Australia will send a post-entry fee advice letter outlining the fees and contributions they can pay to your service.
Keeping information up to date
After having their means assessed, residents must keep their income and assets up to date with Services Australia or DVA.
From 1 November 2025, new and continuing residents will be legally required to report changes to their personal and financial circumstances within 28 days. Doing this will help ensure their means assessment is correct, and they are paying the right fees for their circumstances.
Residents can update their details on the Services Australia website.
Fee changes and dates of effect
If there is a change to your resident’s fees or contributions, Services Australia will issue a new fee advice letter to you and the resident.
Decreases to fees are backdated to the date the change in the resident’s circumstances occurred.
If a resident reports a change in circumstances within the 28-day timeframe, any resulting increase to fees takes effect from when Services Australia updates the means assessment. Dates of effect for fee changes are advised in the letters from Services Australia.
Interim fees
You may choose to start collecting fees while waiting for a resident’s means assessment to be completed. These interim fees are set by you, not by the government.
Providers should consider the resident’s fee arrangements and financial circumstances when setting interim fees. You can use the My Aged Care fee estimator or the residential aged care fee scenarios to help you decide appropriate interim fees for the resident.
Once Services Australia completes a resident’s means assessment, you will need to adjust their fees to ensure they have paid the correct amount.
Read more about charging interim accommodation costs.
Interim subsidy
When a resident first enters your care, you will receive an interim subsidy until their:
- means assessment is completed
- Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) class of care funding is determined.
Once this information is known, you will receive the applicable subsidy and supplements minus what the resident is paying in means tested fees. This will be backdated to when they entered your care.
Services Australia will either:
- deduct subsidy amounts already paid from future payments if you owe money
- add subsidy amounts to future payments if they owe you money.
Means not disclosed
A resident can choose not to disclose their financial information for a means assessment. They will have ‘means not disclosed’ status, and you can ask them to pay:
- the maximum applicable means tested fees and contributions
- the agreed accommodation payment amount (which could be the agreed room price).
Services Australia will send you a letter with the maximum means tested fees and contributions a resident with ‘means not disclosed’ status can be asked to pay.
Residents who enter care on or after 1 November 2025 can formally elect to be ‘means not disclosed'. To do so they must submit an Aged care calculation of your cost of care form to Services Australia or DVA, or call the Services Australia Aged Care line.
Residents who don’t respond to Services Australia’s requests to provide financial information will be assigned ‘means not disclosed’ status.
A resident on the pre 1 July 2014 fee arrangements, can have ‘means not disclosed’ status for their income or assets or both.
Backdating assessments once means are disclosed
If a resident elects to have be ‘means not disclosed’, and later decides to complete a means assessment, the assessment won’t be backdated to their date of entry. It will commence from the date the person’s means are assessed.
If a resident has ‘means not disclosed’ status because they did not respond to Services Australia’s request to provide financial information, an assessment can still be backdated for them. If they provide information for Services Australia to determine their means, their assessment may be backdated to the day they entered care or the day they declared their means. You may need to refund any overpaid fees to the resident.
Contact
