Funding

Claiming for residential aged care funding

Services Australia is responsible for paying subsidies and supplements to registered providers on behalf of each approved resident in permanent and respite care. You must submit a monthly online claim with Services Australia. Your claim will include reporting any refundable deposit balances.

How we pay subsidies and supplements

Services Australia pays  subsidies and supplements on behalf of the Australian Government to registered providers for each eligible permanent and respite resident in their residential care home.

The government funding calculated for each resident is known as the ‘residential care subsidy amount’. The payment you receive is called the ‘residential care subsidy payment’.

To receive subsidy payments, registered providers must submit an online claim to Services Australia every month for each approved residential care home.

Please refer to Services Australia’s website for detailed guidance on making a residential care claim. You can also call their aged care providers enquiry line.

Where to claim

To submit an online claim each month to Services Australia, you must do this in:

You will need to have an individual Provider Digital Access account and the right level of access to make a claim in the Aged Care Provider Portal.

For detailed guidance on using the Aged Care Provider Portal, visit Services Australia’s website.

Step 1: Update change events

You need to notify Services Australia of any changes in circumstances before completing your monthly claim. This includes:

  • number of residents in your care (e.g., entries and exits)
  • any residents taking temporary leave, depending on the type of leave they take and how long their leave is for
  • applying for supplements, including uploading any required documents
  • the refundable deposit balances you are holding for residents.

To avoid errors, check you have correctly entered all event types, reason codes and dates in the Aged Care Provider Portal.

For more details on registering events, visit Services Australia’s website.

Step 2: Complete residents’ details

You must include the details of each permanent care and respite care resident you’re claiming a subsidy for in that month.

You must complete a separate claim for each approved residential care home. To avoid errors, ensure you are claiming against the correct Service ID.

You don’t need to give Services Australia a breakdown of the costs, fees and invoices but must keep a record for compliance checks.

For detailed steps on making a residential care claim, visit Services Australia’s website.

Step 3: Report refundable deposit balances

You must report the refundable deposit balance you hold for each resident as part of the online claim that you submit to Services Australia each month. This information helps keep residents’ means assessments up to date and make sure fees and funding are calculated correctly.

You need to notify Services Australia when:

For residents who have not paid a RAD or RAC, you do not need to report a nil ($0) balance.

You must enter the required information before you submit the claim. If you submit your claim before entering some or all of your residents’ refundable deposit balances, you will not be able to add them later. Report the next month’s balances in your next claim.

You don’t need to report a resident’s refundable deposit balance for claim periods after the resident dies or exits your care. This applies regardless of when you refund their RAD or RAC balance.

Learn how to enter RAD and RAC balances in the Aged Care Provider Portal.

Examples of refundable deposit reporting

  • If your resident pays a RAD on 25 January, report their RAD balance for 31 January when you submit your January claim in early February
  • If you deduct a retention amount from a resident’s partial RAC on 12 February, and the resident tops up their RAC on 22 February, report their RAC balance for 28 February (incorporating both changes) in your February claim
  • If your resident dies on 14 March and you do not refund their RAD balance by 31 March, report the RAD balance for 31 March in your March claim. This is the last claim period for which you need to report this resident’s RAD balance
  • If your resident dies on 3 April and you refund their RAC balance by 30 April, report a $0 RAC balance in your April claim. This is the last claim period for which you need to report this resident’s RAC balance
  • If your resident departs care (for any reason) on the first day of a month, you cannot report this resident’s RAD/RAC balance as part of that month’s claim (as reporting is not open for a resident on day of departure)
  • If your resident departs care on 28 April and the update is being made as part of the May claim, you cannot report this resident’s RAD/RAC balance as it relates to a period prior to the current month’s claim.

When to submit claim

You need to submit your claim ‘as soon as practicable’ after the end of the month and in chronological order.  This means, the earliest you can claim for a given month is the first day of the following month, if you are up to date.

There is no deadline to submit claims. However, Service Australia calculates advance payment on the last day of the month (depending on public holidays). So, you need to claim by the end of the following month to avoid delays to your next advance payment.

For example, Services Australia calculates your July advance payment based on the claim from May. This will be processed on the last day of the June. If your May claim hasn’t been lodged, the July advance payment cannot be paid on 1 July.

Processing subsidy payments

Services Australia processes your monthly claim to calculate subsidy payments in line with the daily rates and method set out in Chapter 7 of the Aged Care Rules 2025.

Calculating daily basic subsidy amount

You get a subsidy amount on behalf of each resident for every day in your care. To calculate, Services Australia will:

Learn more about components of residential aged care funding.

When subsidy payments can vary

Services Australia will check the details in your claim and other information (e.g., means assessments) to adjust your subsidy payment to account for:

Services Australia also applies any changes to rates for subsidies, supplements and fees.

View the current rates in the Schedule of Subsidies and Supplements and Schedule of Fees and Charges for Residential Care.

Getting subsidy payments

Advance payment

You will get advance payment in the first few days of each month.

Services Australia estimates this payment based on your claim from 2 months prior.

If you have not submitted your claim for 2 months prior, the next advance payment will not be paid until Services Australia can process this claim.

Adjustment payment

When they get your claim form, Services Australia checks the advance payment against the form.

You may get a payment at the end of the month to adjust funding.

If needed, Services Australia will either:

  • make an extra payment in the following month
  • reduce the following month’s payment.

Services Australia may deduct other amounts from the payment, such as:

  • amounts to repay capital grants
  • recovery of overpayments.

Starting 1 July 2027, we are transitioning to a payment system based on services delivered. Providers will transition incrementally over 2-years to minimise disruption.

Financial reporting

As a registered provider, you must report residential care income and expenses through the annual Aged Care Financial Report and the Quarterly Financial Report (QFR).

For more information about reporting for residential aged care.

Learn more

Contact

Services Australia aged care providers enquiry line

Call Services Australia for help with aged care claims and payments. This includes supplement claims, approved provider forms and online claiming registrations.
1800 195 206

Aged care subsidies and supplements contact

Email us if you have questions about aged care subsidies or supplements for registered providers.
subsidiesandsupplements@health.gov.au
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