The System Governor, the Commissioner and the Complaints Commissioner can charge fees for services under the Act and the Rules. These fees are debts and capable of being recovered.
Examples of the kinds of fees they could charge are:
- The System Governor – through the department – might charge a fee if a provider requests a review of a classification decision. This is because of the high cost of classification assessments.
- The Commissioner might charge a fee for an audit.
- The Complaints Commissioner might charge a provider a fee to pay for the process of trying to solve a dispute.
The System Governor, the Commissioner and the Complaints Commissioner must not charge older people, their families or supporters for services provided while performing their functions under the Act. For example:
- the System Governor cannot charge an older person a fee for applying to access aged care services
- the System Governor cannot charge a person to be registered as a supporter under the Act
- The Commissioner cannot charge an older person or their family for an information session on the Statement of Rights
- the Complaints Commissioner cannot charge an older person for making a complaint
The Rules can specify cases when a person or organisation doesn’t have to pay a fee, as well as circumstances where a fee may be waived.