[Opening visual of slide with text saying ‘Australian Government with Crest (logo)’, ‘Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’, ‘A new chapter for aged care from 1 November’, ‘health.gov.au/aged-care-act’, ‘21 October 2025’]
[The visuals during this webinar are of each speaker presenting in turn via video, with reference to the content of a PowerPoint presentation being played on screen]
Sonja Stewart:
I just wanted to welcome you all today to the webinar. As a Yuin woman it’s important for me to begin by acknowledging that no matter where you are today you are on the lands of Aboriginal people. And I wanted to pay my deep respects to those that have cared and nurtured this land for over 60,000 years. It always was and it always will be Aboriginal land.
I wanted to start off by going through some housekeeping. There’s a number of people on the line and a number of bits of information we want to get through today so it’s important just to go through some housekeeping before we begin. So there’s going to be a question and answer session at the end of the webinar and I ask that you please submit your questions in the Q&A function. You may need to click on the Q&A icon at the top of your screen to activate the function before you submit any questions. We’re going to attempt to respond to as many questions today as we possibly can and all questions and answers including ones that we might not get to today will be published in the frequently asked questions section of our website. Questions submitted during the registration process have already been considered for today’s session and we hope to address some of them as we’re going along.
We sometimes receive questions that aren’t clear or not directly relevant to the webinar. So as much as possible if you can make those questions clear and directly relate to the content and the new Aged Care Act that would be most appreciated. However if we’re unable to answer a question during the session we will follow up with the relevant area in the Department and respond through that frequently asked questions document. There’s no option today for attendees to turn on their camera or their microphone. Webinar slides are now available on our website if you’d like to look at them there. This session is being recorded because we’re also going to publish this on our website in the coming days.
Today’s webinar is all about helping you manage the transition to the new Aged Care Act and understand the next chapter in this very exciting time for our country and Australia’s aged care future. You’ll hear from myself and other colleagues from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. There are also representatives from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and Services Australia. And we’re also glad to welcome Tom Symondson, the Chief Executive Officer of Ageing Australia. We are going to give brief updates on 1 November and what that’s going to look like and how we’ll be supporting you in the near term.
And today’s session is mostly about you and your questions and we’ve seen dozens of these in the lead up to today and the registration process and we expect more as the webinar goes on this afternoon. And we’re going to have a dedicated hour for questions and answers at the end of the webinar and we hope to get through as many as we possibly can.
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Department of Health, Disability and Ageing update’, ‘Sonja Stewart’, ‘Deputy Secretary, Ageing and Aged Care’]
We’re now ten days away from the onset of the new Act and we’ve made the very most that we could of the additional time that we’ve had. And I wanted to acknowledge all the work that providers and the workforce have been doing to prepare ourselves and yourselves for the 1st of November. Together it has taken us time to get to where we are now however the consultation and design were activities that were a very important part of the process and worth the time that it took. The new Aged Care Act alone addresses in full or in part 58 recommendations of the Royal Commission and creates an aged care system that so very importantly puts the rights of older people at the heart of everything that we do. There’s been a lot around the reform and the new Aged Care Act is the next step.
And I think it’s important to say though that not everything is going to change straight away from the 1st of November. Implementation of the reforms is going to take a staggered approach from the 1st of November and this is going to minimise disruption to how providers operate and also guarantee continuity of care for older people which is such an important focus. In the meantime aged care services including what older people are entitled to and how this is funded will continue as per normal until the new laws start from the 1st of November 2025.
As part of the transition process we’ll be upgrading systems to bring them into line with the transformative new Act. This includes the Government Provider Management System, My Aged Care Service and Support Portal and the Aged Care Provider Portal managed by Services Australia. Details are included on this slide. Alternative processes are in place if you need to complete certain actions over the weekend which we will detail in later slides. We’ll also ask you to complete mandatory reporting before the maintenance.
To make the transition as seamless as possible we will be here listening and supporting you. We have a priority actions list guiding you on what you need to do before and after 1st of November 2025 to implement the Act. This list consolidates information that has been or soon will be released to support transition and readiness. We are establishing a response room to support implementation bringing together critical performance data and deploying a rapid response if anything happens. The ways of contacting us with issues will be shared later. There’s also a business and workforce advisory service which supports providers with their financial viability and capability. I want to encourage all providers and workers to ensure training is embedded in your practice. The Department maintains a list of free training opportunities for aged care workers and there’s also e-learning specific to the Act and Support at Home which is now available online.
There are a list of specialist supports for rural and remote providers and acknowledge anybody on the line today from rural and remote Australia. For Support at Home we will run periodic thin market grants. These will support the availability of aged care services in rural and remote Australia and for people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences. You can subscribe to GrantConnect for the latest updates and I really encourage you to do that. We have a Rural and Remote and First Nations Aged Care Service Development Assistance Panel who can provide professional support to service providers in rural or remote areas or who care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It focuses on capability and support, sector development and infrastructure project management. We will continue working with you so we can improve the standard of aged care and build a high quality, sustainable, world class system that puts older people at the heart of everything that we do.
I’d now like to pass on to Liz Hefren-Webb, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner to give her update. Thanks very much Liz and welcome to the webinar.
Liz Hefren-Webb:
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Australian Government with Crest (logo)’, ‘Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’, ‘Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Update’, ‘Liz Hefren-Webb’, ‘Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner’]
Thank you Sonja. It’s great to be with you today as we move to implementation of the new Aged Care Act. And I want to acknowledge the significant preparations that have been underway across the sector in the lead up to 1st November. It’s been said often and it’s worth repeating that 1st November marks the beginning and we’re walking beside you into this new chapter for aged care. And as we move from sector readiness to sector ready I’ll touch on what to expect on four key areas as we transition to the new Act. Our regulatory approach from day one, provider registration, rights based complaints handling and ongoing support to the sector.
From the 1st of November our functions under the new Act will include safeguarding the rights of older people under the Statement of Rights, engaging and educating the sector for continuous improvement, registering providers, ensuring they meet suitability, capability and capacity requirements, and upholding the rights of older people and resolving their complaints or concerns with real outcomes. Under the new Act some providers will be regulated by us for the first time and existing providers will have some new or changed obligations. From day one you can be assured our regulatory approach will be sensitive to this.
While there will be no grace period as such I want to make clear that we’re here to support providers to work through this transition and beyond. We’ll continue to prioritise collaboration, engagement and education to ensure quality outcomes, promote best practice across the sector and focus on continuous improvement. Our approach to regulation will continue to be proportionate, fair and balanced to risks. In practice this means we’ll pay greatest attention to and expend the greatest effort on those issues presenting risks to high quality and safe care for older people. We will always put the rights, safety and wellbeing of older people at the centre of our decision making and actions. And we will always consider the efforts a provider is making to comply with the requirements of the new Act and the demonstrable steps being taken to rectify issues when they are identified. Our approach is not about catching providers out on administrative issues. It’s about ensuring safe, high quality care.
From 1st November we will make all decisions about provider registration under the new Act. We have a lot of detailed guidance and resources on our website that cover in detail the new registration categories, how to apply for registration renewal and variations, what to expect from audits and our new cost recovery arrangements, who they will apply to and who is exempt. On 1st November existing providers will automatically be deemed as registered providers under the new Act. In November you will receive an email from the Department with your registration information including your registration categories and registration end date. The registration end date will be the anchor point we work backwards from to determine when we will conduct an audit for those registered in categories 4, 5 and 6. We will contact you ahead of time and work with you throughout the audit process. For larger providers this may be up to 18 months before the audit and for smaller providers it may be up to six months before.
All providers in categories 4, 5 and 6 will need to undergo an audit as part of the initial registration or their registration renewal after 1st November. We’ve stopped accepting registration applications on 14th of October so if you submitted an application after that date you will need to reapply after 1st November and we will be in touch with you about this. We’re working hard to finalise as many applications as possible that we received before the 14th of October however applications not finalised will be transitioned to the new Act. This means we’ll make a decision on them under the new Act as an application for registration. We’ll contact you if this applies to you including to seek additional information.
I also want to draw your attention to guidance on our website on associated providers. Under the new Act an associated provider is an organisation or person that delivers services on behalf of a registered provider. I encourage you to read the Regulatory Bulletin issued last week which explains the requirements of registered providers including reporting on their associated providers. We have listened to concerns about the reporting process and the possibility for bulk uploads of data particularly for providers that engage multiple associated provider types and we’ll keep you updated on our work to identify a more streamlined process.
Recently the Minister announced the appointment of Ms Treasure Jennings as the Aged Care Quality and Safety Complaints Commissioner. The appointment of a Complaints Commissioner is a significant development for the Commission under the new Act. Ms Jennings will join the Commission from 1st November. As a rights based regulator under the new Act our approach to complaints handling will uphold and reflect the Statement of Rights. All registered providers will be required to demonstrate they understand the rights of older people under the Statement of rights including having systems and practices to reflect this. This rights based approach requires providers to consider the complaint in the context of the older person’s rights.
For all complaints and all concerns raised with us we will consider the older person’s rights and work with providers to ensure they remedy what’s wrong, restore the older person’s trust and prevent it from happening again. We will use the complaint process as an opportunity to educate and empower older people about their rights and to also educate providers about the Statement of Rights and their obligations. In instances where we see a provider acting in a manner inconsistent with the Statement of Rights we will work with them to remedy that situation, always acting in a manner that is risk based and proportionate to the severity of the issues before us.
An important way we learn about issues and wrongdoing in aged care is when people share information with us. Whistleblower protections are a key part of the new Act and help to make sure we identify and address issues and create a safer and more transparent aged care sector. Anyone can make a disclosure that qualifies them for whistleblower protections under the Act. And when someone makes a qualifying disclosure certain rights and protections are automatically triggered. Our Managing Whistleblower Disclosures Policy is on our website and it explains how we receive, manage and use information shared with us that qualifies for whistleblower protections under the Act.
There’s a lot of detailed guidance available on our website to support providers to know their obligations under the new Act. To assist you since January we have published monthly updates of our sector readiness plan which lists key resources to support your preparation for the new Act. These resources include a provider handbook, guidance, policies, webinar recordings and more. And they include free online education and training resources on our ALIS platform for providers, governing bodies and workers.
From 1st November we will have processes in place to closely monitor our operations and feedback from the sector as we all transition to the new Act. Our Customer Contact Centre will operate over the weekend on 1st and 2nd November and can be contacted by phone on 1800 951 822, via email and through a dedicated online form which will shortly be on our website for providers. And where an issue cannot be immediately resolved it will be escalated to our command centre we are standing up for the transition period. You can be assured we will swiftly respond to regulatory issues or concerns related to the new Act and communicate the outcome. And any systemic issues will be communicated to the sector via our regular channels including the website and electronic and direct mail. We will support and work with you as we transition to the new Act and we will address any issues that may arise to safeguard and protect the delivery of safe, quality, continuous care to older people.
I’ll leave it there and happy to take questions later in this webinar. Thanks Sonja.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks very much Liz. And just a reminder to everyone if you do have a question please write that in the Q&A icon. I’m now going to hand over to Kathy Volkert who is the National Manager of Aged Care Projects at Services Australia. Good afternoon Kathy.
Kathy Volkert:
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Services Australia update’, ‘Kathy Volkert’, ‘National Manager, Aged Care Programs’]
Hi Sonja and thank you very much. I will just talk through with everybody what Services Australia’s role is in supporting the aged care reform that commences from 1 November. So this slide has a bit of a pictorial about the functions and the role that we play. So we play an important role in ensuring that older people are contributing the correct amount towards their care aligned to their circumstances and that providers continue to receive the Government subsidies that they are entitled to. So that’s a key component of what we do to support providers and care recipients.
We also ensure that older people’s means are assessed and contributions set in alignment with the Act and including the transition of over 300,000 current Home Care Package recipients that are transitioning to Support at Home from 1 November. Throughout the transition and beyond we’re continuing to help older people experiencing financial hardship to get support with their aged care costs. We are also ensuring our technology solutions are updated to allow providers to make claims and receive payments under the new Support at Home Program and existing transitional care and residential care programs.
In addition to that we’ve also been working extremely closely with software developers who are going to be supporting providers from go live and we’ve been conducting fortnightly webinars with software developers to respond to questions and provide up to date information. We’ve published over 400 questions and answers to support the sector be prepared for 1 November and have been providing one on one tailored support to software developers as well. As well as that we do also provide telephony, online and face to face support as a part of our agency services. So we support care recipients and providers with online resources through our telephony channels but we also have aged care service officers and financial information service officers that support care recipients and older persons who are preparing to go into care with information they need to help them with some of their decision making. And we have a footprint of over 200 sites that that occurs in across Australia.
If we go to the next slide please.
So this slide just shows a little bit of the implementation timeline for us. So I’ll just work left to right. So from the 1st of October we implemented in the Aged Care Provider Portal to support providers an estimated contribution rate for current care recipients in home care. These have been available since the 1st of October and are visible on the Fees and Charges page of the Portal. We were able to successfully release approximately just over 288,000 estimated contribution rates. That covered 99.2% of current care recipients. So they are currently available to support providers have conversations with care recipients that are transitioning from home care to Support at Home. They were based on the care recipient’s circumstances on the 26th of September.
So you’ll see on here as well we do have a couple of critical things happening over the release window and it is highlighted in orange on the bottom line there. But the Aged Care Provider Portal will undergo a release outage that will occur from 6:00pm on Friday the 31st of October until 12:00pm midday on Saturday the 1st of November. Post that it will enter a read only period up until the 5th of November to enable us to do quality checking and ensure everything’s implemented correctly. During this read only period providers won’t be able to submit their claims or events via the Portal but they will have view access to the Portal. After that read only period, so from the 5th of November providers will once again be able to make residential home care and transitional care claims, report unspent funds for October and also some Support at Home data such as budget information may be visible.
Providers will be able to start submitting new Support at Home invoices from 5th of November when the read only period ends. And that will help providers prepare for their first Support at Home claiming that will happen from 1 December. So that will commence from 1 December for those providers whose October claims including the reporting of unspent funds have been submitted and approved by the 30th of November. So a very critical message is that providers will need to be finalising their home care support claims during the month of November to enable Support at Home claiming to start from the 1st of December. And to help with that you can start lodging invoices to prepare for those claims to be lodged from the 1st of November.
There is no time limit on when Home Care Package claims must be submitted however the final October claim must be completed before you can claim Support at Home.
We’ve also had lots of questions around providers that might be using a CSV or uploading the file in a spreadsheet. So we have lots of information now in the Support at Home e-kit to support those providers that are using those options to attach files and there are some sample files in there to help prepare for 1 November.
So with support obviously from 1 November we will have support to providers and older persons and current care recipients. So we do have a fair bit of information on our website, the Services Australia website about the upcoming changes and you can go onto the Services Australia website and search ‘Providing aged care’ and that will take you to the page that you need to be to find further information. We have two e-kits available. One is titled ‘Estimated Support at Home Contribution Rates’ and that is to provide support to care recipients that are transitioning in preparation for 1 November. And that includes scripted conversation to help with the conversation with the care recipients. And we also have Support at Home CSV sample files to help those providers that are using that option.
We also recommend signing up to the news for aged care providers through the Health Professionals Services Australia website if you’re not already signed up for that website. And that provides more resources. And from 1 November resources will be available on the Health Provider Education website and that will be refreshed with any new or change processes that you need to support you. Providers can continue to contact the Aged Care Provider Line for support and that’s the 1800 number which we have there. And that will provide any help with support with claims and payment enquiries.
Thank you. That’s my update for today. And happy to take questions a bit later on in the session.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks so much Kathy and hopefully there’s some questions coming through for you this afternoon. I would now like to introduce Tom Symondson, the Chief Executive Officer of Ageing Australia. Good afternoon Tom and welcome to the webinar.
Tom Symondson:
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Ageing Australia update’, ‘Tom Symondson’, ‘Chief Executive Officer’]
Thank you very much Sonja and good afternoon to everyone. I’m on Dja Dja Wurrung country in central Victoria so pay my respects to their Elders past and present. So really I just want to cover off on a couple of things. I want to firstly acknowledge the huge effort that everybody on this call is undertaking, has undertaken and how far you have all come to being as ready as we possibly can be on 1st of November for this very important change. I also want to acknowledge the efforts that it has taken to get to this point with a new Act that talks about older people’s rights and puts them at the centre of it. So it’s a really important thing for the community. There will be a lot of attention on it as we all know and I know that you’ve done everything that you possibly can to be as ready as possible for the expectations that people have of you from 1 November onwards. So as well as doing business as usual you’ve been adjusting, you’ve been preparing, and you’ve been responding to those requirements. So well done. We are nearly there.
Now the important thing to remember, and you’ve sort of heard a theme of this from other speakers, is it will not be perfect on the 1st of November. And that’s why we’ve got to be really, really clear that we focus on the most important things and put them right at the top of the list. You heard Liz Hefren-Webb talking about the importance of safety. The focus shouldn’t be on technical compliance. It will be on the safety and wellbeing of older people and ensuring continuity of care and things like that which is critical. And then where things go wrong we can fix them and we can move forward.
Now for us as the peak you will imagine we have a lot of resources, a lot of communication channels that we are providing to our members. And so as well as being able to contact the Department, Services Australia, the Commission through all of the normal channels that you would use we are ramping up our support to our members as well during this next few months, particularly 1 November to Christmas but probably even beyond that.
You can see on the slide that’s up on the screen if you are a member of ours you can contact us by email, membersupport@ageingaustralia.asn.au or by phone, 1300 222 721. That’s what you do if you want to raise a question with our member advisory team. We have a team of experts who are about as well versed in the reforms and the nuances around them as anybody could possibly be. We have people who specialise in residential and in home care, both packages, and Support at Home but also CHSP and the impacts on those programs. You can also go to our pathway to transition which is a public website which has resources available on it, and if you’re a member you can go to our care platform which is also listed there where you can find more information, you can engage with others about what they’re doing. It’s a community of practice. You can find out about what others are concerned about and maybe provide your suggestions and solutions to them.
We have had a very, very significant increase in the number of questions we’re being asked so it may take a little bit longer to get a response to you than you’d be used to and we will be prioritising those most critical questions where something related to the transition needs a quick or immediate response or resolution. So please bear with us if it takes us a little longer than it normally would.
We also have a range of engagement activities you can take part in. We have our chat and connect sessions which are happening fortnightly particularly around home care and CHSP where we can offer guidance, updates on what might have changed and give opportunities for discussion about the kinds of things people are finding, struggling with or things that they’re trying. And we have a whole range of readiness checklists which you can get from the Pathway to Transition website.
Post 1 November – and running up to 1 November we’ve been very heavily involved with the Department, with Services Australia and with the Commission on the transition, raising your issues, making sure where things aren’t working we’ve been working with the people who can fix those things as quickly as we possibly could. We will continue that after 1 November. So what we’re setting up is enhanced response processes. We’re not having anything as grand as a response room because that’s the preserve of the Department and Services Australia because they have so many more moving parts to deal with. But what we are going to be doing is making sure that questions that come into us around transition that are urgent and that we either cannot answer or they’re about something that hasn’t worked or a technology interface that’s not working as it should, we can escalate those things to Government, to either the Department or Services Australia or the Commission, depending on what the issue is.
We will only do that – because of the enormous amount of change that’s happening we will only do that where it is critical, where a system just doesn’t work as you expected it to. We won’t be using that escalation process for asking standard questions. We will do that through the normal process that we do now. But we are going to make sure and we’ve committed to our members, we’ve also committed to the Department and others, that where we are hearing things that they need to hear about we will escalate them very rapidly and then be able to get you hopefully as quickly as possible answers or resolutions to those problems. Because we do not want things to go wrong that could have been fixed that then impact the experience of older people and of providers when they’re not actually intended outcomes. So making sure that we’re raising those things, triaging them, getting the most urgent things dealt with as quickly as humanly possible. And we do have those linkages, and I must thank Sonja and her team and Liz and her team at the Commission and also Services Australia for their openness and willingness to engage with us and to be engaged when we raise those issues that need a rapid answer or resolution. That will help providers hopefully have the confidence to know that when they ask a question we will hopefully be able to get a relatively quick answer to it where it is mission critical.
The things we’ll be focusing on will be making sure that the payments continue, making sure that where we’ve got to get information to older people that we can get that information to older people and we’re not creating more confusion than we have to. This is a change process. There will absolutely be some confusion but we want to minimise it as far as possible. We’ll be focusing on where IT systems either of providers or of Government don’t operate as we think they should or were going to, and then really the rest of it is around risk and making sure that we’re raising issues that might put older people at risk of either not receiving a service or not receiving the service that they would expect.
So that’s our role in this at this point. It’s about making sure that we’re escalating, making sure we’re supporting you, making sure we’re giving you answers to questions that you have about how the reforms work. We still get an awful lot of questions asking us to help interpret the rules, the legislation. We’re also often signposting people to resources that are available on the Department website or in other public websites. And we can continue to do that. So if you have a question, if any member of your team has a question, please just reach out and we’ll do our absolute best to answer it or escalate it as appropriate. So it’s going to be a challenging time. When is it ever not in this sector. But we have done a huge amount of work to be ready and I know that as long as we remember that 1 November is not the end of the journey and it is not about perfection then we will get through this. So thank you very much and I’ll hand back to Sonja.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks so much Tom. And my thanks also to Liz and to Kathy for your participation on today’s webinar. We’re now going to move into our question and answer session. So we’ve got almost an hour to do that. So I wanted to introduce some people from my team who are Greg Pugh who heads up Access and Home Support, as well as Josh Maldon who heads up our Reform Implementation. And also warmly welcome one of Liz’s team members Mel Metz who is the Deputy Commissioner, Sector Capability and Regulatory Strategy from the Commission. And of course we still have I think Kathy here and Tom here.
So I’m going to ask Liz a question first. So Liz there’s a question about:
Q: What is the Commission’s approach to regulating providers in the early days of the new Act?
Liz Hefren-Webb:
Thanks so much Sonja. Well as I said we are intending to take a risk based proportionate approach. We are looking for providers to be making genuine efforts to meet the requirements of the new Act and we’ll base our engagement with you on our assessment about risk of harm. So where we hear of incidents or concerns through any of our channels we’ll follow up with you but our real intent will be to make sure that the safety of older people is protected. And we’ll be talking to you where we think there is a concern that you’re not meeting the standard or you’ve got some issues in terms of complying. We’ll be talking to you about what’s your plan of action to come back towards compliance. And we understand not everything can happen simultaneously sometimes but what we’re looking for is genuine efforts and a constructive approach with us. Thanks Sonja.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks very much. And keeping with the Commission we’ve got a question that I think Mel Metz you’ll be good to answer.
Q: We have eight homes due for accreditation between February and July 2026. The Commission webinars have indicated providers will have certain timeframes to gather required and relevant information. So can you please advise how this will be facilitated under the new registration business rules?
Mel Metz:
Thanks Sonja. I had a good answer to that question but as always happens I can’t find my notes when I need them.
Sonja Stewart:
I reckon go off your head Mel. You’ll be pretty good at that.
Mel Metz:
So the question’s around from the 1st of November how we will manage - - -
Liz Hefren-Webb:
Mel I think I might just jump in. I think it’s important to note under the new system we won’t be reaccrediting individual homes. We’ll be reaccrediting providers. So you shouldn’t think about when are the individual homes in my organisation up for reaccreditation or re-registration. You should think about me as a provider. And so we will be contacting you at the provider level and then we’ll work out a plan to assess or audit all of the locations that you’re operating in. Sorry Mel. I just thought I’d jump in.
Mel Metz:
No. That’s okay. And you’ve given me a bit of time to find the answer Liz but I still can’t find it. So can I come back to that question in a moment Sonja when I find the answer? Because the team has put together something good for me and I want to make sure I give the right information.
Sonja Stewart:
Yep. Okay. Thanks. And I hope I’m not distracting people but I just keep looking at something on my left and someone’s helping me. So if you can just come back to that question for me.
Mel Metz:
I’ve found it now that everyone’s given me a bit of time.
Sonja Stewart:
We are live. You can tell that we’re live right.
Mel Metz:
Yeah. We are live. Definitely. So the registration expiry dates sit with the provider and each service that they operate will be tied to that one date. So what’s going to happen from the 1st of November is that providers will receive notification of their deemed date and their expiry date will be where we work backwards from. So I think it’s important to note that – I’ve seen a few questions where people are a bit worried about when they’re going to find out about audit dates. So providers are going to be sent an invitation from us up to 18 months before their registration expiry. And then we’ll send an invoice out around that renewal audit and then once that payment’s been made the process will be initiated by sending an email that really importantly includes resources that will help prepare for that audit and a request to complete and submit the audit evidence collection tool and provide supporting documentation.
I think what people can expect is that they’ll get a call from the Commission. They will have a single point of contact for audits. And there’s a lot of guidance on our website around that process as well. So thank you for giving me a bit of extra time to find that information so I could give a thorough answer.
Sonja Stewart:
Good. Thank you very much for that. So the next question is around the Department’s and Service Australia’s readiness. So I might ask Josh to start and then Kathy to take it from a Services Australia perspective. So the question is:
Q: Is the Department and Services Australia fully prepared in terms of ICT digital services to do everything providers need it to do come 1 November?
Josh Maldon:
Thanks Sonja. So absolutely. So Josh here from the Department. We do remain on track to deliver the digital capabilities that are required to support implementation of both the new Aged Care Act as well as Support at Home. So for providers what this means is having access to the capabilities that you need to interact with Government to maintain your organisational information, to advertise your services on My Aged Care, as well as receive those service referrals and comply with your regulatory obligations and receive payments.
Just in terms of a bit of a detail, so our builds for July and November in the Department were finalised on time and those capabilities will remain dormant until go live. Data migration between Services Australia and the Department have gone really well. So that does give us confidence in the solution that we’ve developed. And again testing across Departmental systems is on track. And then the only other element I’d want to cross off on is just around the range of readiness activities that we’ve been undertaking with the sector. And again really encourage you all that are playing around in that digital space please check out the provider digital readiness checklist and in addition to that there’s a range of user guides, quick reference guides, fact sheets, videos and frequently asked questions. So I might jump over to Kathy from Services Australia.
Kathy Volkert:
Thanks Josh. And just to add to that one of the things that we have done really well together between Health and Services Australia is we have done dry runs of the data migration just to ensure that – and I think we’re up to dry run four which is then into production. That’s gone really well. So at Services Australia we have significant experience delivering large scale projects for the last five years or so in the aged care sector in particular. We’ll be leveraging those and that experience and learnings to deliver the aged care legislation commencing in November. We have done in-depth testing of the build enhancements required for the new aged care legislation and as per what Josh said we’re on track to complete and release this on the weekend of the 1st of November to meet the required legislative timeframes.
And the key elements for us are providers being able to make their claims and lodge their claims and make those payments, and for us to do the means assessment for care recipients, and also transitioning care recipients from home care to Support at Home. So they are our key focus areas for 1 November and we are absolutely on track for those. Thank you Sonja.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks Kathy. So the next question is for you Greg.
Q: So what are the implications if a provider doesn’t have all of the new Support at Home participant agreements signed by the 1st of November 2025?
Greg Pugh:
Thanks Sonja. I do also just want to echo some of the comments made by folks before me about the collective efforts to get us to 1 November. It’s been a huge piece of work ultimately that is going to continue to improve outcomes for our older people and the sector at large. So just want to also say thanks.
In relation to the implications if a provider doesn’t have all of the new Support at Home participant agreements in place obviously we would want as close to 100 percent compliance with Service Agreements as possible. We do note though in some instances that may not be possible in situations including where an older person may wish to wait for their final means testing assessment outcome before they go ahead and finalise those Service Agreements. So the rules for the Aged Care Consequential and Transitional Provisions Act 2024 will set out some further detail for the transition of Service Agreements. These are expected to be released imminently. But as the Commissioner mentioned earlier the Commission acknowledges significant effort that aged care providers have undertaken to implement the new policies and processes as they themselves get ready to deliver on the new Aged Care Act and so there will be that sort of approach that the Commissioner has outlined before.
And look just to re-emphasise that the most important thing here is that our aged care providers are in a position to be able to continue to deliver high quality and safe care to aged care recipients during that transition period.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks very much Greg. A question for Kathy.
Q: So when will clients and providers be advised of final participant contribution rates?
Kathy Volkert:
Yep. Thanks Sonja. So following the read only period that I talked about earlier, so from the 5th of November – or first of all from 1 November the contribution rates will be set for all care recipients and visible in the Aged Care Provider Portal and also our Staff Portal from the 6th of November and letters will be issued to current care recipients transitioning and they’ll start to be distributed from 6th of November. They’ll be in batches. So we can only do 50,000 letters a day in our batches so they’ll be spread out over a period of days. But the final contribution rates will be set after that read only period in November.
As I mentioned earlier we do have for most current care recipients, not all, the estimated fees already now in the Provider Portal for providers to see. There is a small cohort of care recipients that that information isn’t there for because we did not have the care recipients’ financial information or their means assessment had not been processed by the 26th of September. But a majority of them are visible now in the Aged Care Portal. But the actual letter we distributed from 6th of November.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thanks very much. A question for you now Mel.
Q: Kindly provide some clarification on associated providers for category 6 providers such as external contracted physiotherapy providers or dieticians and even third party catering, cleaning and laundry delivering onsite services.
Mel Metz:
Thanks Sonja. I’m glad that you’ve asked that question. I can see that there’s a lot coming through in the Q&A around associated providers as well. And I think I’ll start responding to that just by referring everyone to the Commission’s Regulatory Bulletin because it’s a really great resource to help understand what associated providers means.
So really in summary the best way to determine whether or not an organisation is an associated provider is by looking at the Aged Care Service List which is in the Aged Care Rules. And if you have an agreement with an external organisation to deliver any of those funded aged care services on that list to older people and you’re paid by the Government for delivery of that service it’s likely that that organisation is an associated provider.
Importantly though we consider that an aged care worker is not an associated provider. So what that means is if an individual meets both the legislative definitions of an aged care worker and an associated provider at the same time we’ll consider them to be an aged care worker and not an associated provider. And that usually comes up in the context of people who might own their own business and actually deliver the care, so sole traders. So there’s no blanket rule here because there are too many different examples and exceptions. But usually these people will meet the definition of an aged care worker and so we won’t consider them associated providers. But absolutely for people who are asking questions about how this all works go and have a look at the Commission’s Regulatory Bulletin.
Sonja Stewart:
Thank you very much. Just a reminder if you want to keep your questions coming in use that icon. So Josh there’s a question for you.
Q: We cannot update the home care pricing in the MAC Portal as it still has the old template. Can you tell us when the Support at Home template will be live for us to transfer our pricing?
Josh Maldon:
Yeah. Sure can. Thanks Sonja. So what we can do there is I’ll refer you to the Provider Transition Guide for Support at Home and the information that’s outlined there is that from the 3rd to the 7th of November what we’ll be asking providers to do is to verify and update their service and pricing information in the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal. So the specific actions that we need you to do is jump into the system, verify and update the services you deliver, and that includes removing services that are not included at the Support at Home Service List as well as updating the pricing, making sure that you’re validating your service delivery area is correct, as well as confirming the outlet names and descriptions. Because Support at Home outlets will be created using the existing home care information as the basis on the majority of the data points. Thanks.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thanks very much. A question for you now Greg.
Q: Will all Home Care Package providers who have been registered under category 4 restorative care management be able to offer restorative care pathways from 1 November 2025?
Greg Pugh:
Yeah. Thanks Sonja. And akin to Mel’s reply I’ve seen a couple of these come through in the chat. So the short answer is yes. So all HCP providers who are registered under category 4 can offer restorative care pathways from the 1st of November. And that means that all providers must be registered to deliver restorative care management and allied health and therapy in order to deliver services under that pathway. So short answer yes.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. A question for Kathy.
Q: Will take up time on Support at Home places be extended for people needing to provide financial hardship information and may not have been able to get the evidence from Services Australia in time?
Kathy Volkert:
Yep. So I’ll respond to that in relation to financial hardship. So hardship claims have been a priority for Services Australia in the lead up to 1 November. The work on hand is down to record low levels so we’re very well prepared for the changes. So hardship assistance is available to care recipients who face financial difficulty paying aged care fees or accommodation costs due to circumstances beyond their control. And that can include things such as delays in selling their home or depletion of funds from ongoing care costs. So it’s paid as a supplement to providers equal to the fee reduction amount and capped at the maximum allowable rate. It’s included in the provider’s monthly funding claim. And we’re prepared for the potential increase in hardship applications following implementation of the Act and taken proactive steps to ensure readiness.
We’ve also implemented streamlined processes for hardship claims over the last few months which reduces the amount of evidence that the care recipient needs to provide. One of the things that’s important is if a care recipient is in the process of obtaining a hardship claim we can’t provide that information directly to the provider because the relationship that we have with the claim is between Services Australia and the care recipient. So I thought I’d add that to the end as well. Hopefully I’ve answered that question.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thanks very much. Next one is for Mel.
Q: In the case of a new application registering under categories 1 to 5 is provisional approval granted prior to the completion of the audit permitting the commencement of services or must service delivery wait until the audit has been finalised? Additionally could you please outline the indicative timelines associated with this process?
Mel Metz:
Thanks Sonja. So I think there’s no provisional approval which is I think an important opening to respond to that question. Where we will undertake audits is for category 4 providers, category 5 providers and category 6 providers. So that’s personal care and support in the home or community including respite, nursing and transition care and residential care including respite. So our audit team will as part of that audit assess conformance with the outcomes against each Standard in the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards and they’ll use an evidence matrix which outlines the evidence requested during an audit. And I think if you’re interested in what that process looks like there’s a couple of good resources that I’d point you to on the Commission’s website, the Audit Evidence Collection Tool and the Care Delivery Evidence Collection Tool.
As far as the timelines go it really depends on the complexity of the services that a provider is planning to deliver as to how long that process might take. But as I mentioned earlier what will happen is someone from the Commission will be in touch and will explain the process in detail. So people will be able to ask questions during that process and get a good feel for what’s required for registration.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thank you. I’ve got a question which I think is for Greg however Tom I was wondering if you might have an input or something that you want to say about this. So I’m using my moderator’s privilege to see if you might want to add something. So Greg I will start with you. So the question is about pricing.
Q: So is there going to be any real support in helping agencies develop pricing for Support at Home? It is a mammoth task when there’s so many variables.
So I just wondered if you would answer and then Tom I just wondered if you had any insights or anything that you would want to share on that one. So I’m going to start with Greg.
Greg Pugh:
Yeah. Thanks Sonja. So for those of you who aren’t aware aged care providers can apply for free, independent and confidential advice through the Business and Workforce Advisory Services Scheme. So what that scheme does if you don’t know, that will help you review your operations, give advice on things like business management, financial strategies and also workforce challenges. So relating that back to the specific question we have been in the process of holding Business Workforce Advisory Service workshops over the last month or so and they will continue to be held going forward.
So they cover a range of topics. We’ve been through ones on managing costs and setting prices, also approaches to business cost out. There have been other sessions on governance, digital uplift, workforce management and developing growth strategies. So that’s probably the primary method of support at the moment. There’s also been a large raft of materials that have been released but I suspect the question is about how do you help put those materials into practice as opposed to just leaving folks to their own devices. So the BWAS is our primary mechanism at the moment but Tom might like to add some more to that.
Tom Symondson:
So really – and it’s useful – use the resources that are available to you through the Government. Because it is something for a lot of providers that has caused a lot of heartache and a lot of headache. But the most important thing I would say apart from you can also contact us – we have a lot of people contacting us to talk through this kind of question – but the most important thing is to try as far as possible to put science around it rather than emotion. We are hearing from a lot of members concerns that because of the change from having the package management, 20% care management and the unit price to just the unit price and 10% care management, that we can’t put the price up by what we need to because people will think we’ve put it up by too much. You actually have to understand how much it costs you to deliver that service. So put as much science around that as you possibly can and make sure that you’re charging the price necessary to deliver the service at the level of quality that is expected and required. But reach out for help if this is something that you’re struggling with because it is difficult and it’s really important that you get it right. Because if you don’t you will regret it possibly forever.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks very much Tom. The next question is for Josh.
Q: We cannot update the home care pricing in the MAC Portal as it still has the old template. Can you tell us when the Support at Home template will be live for us to transfer our pricing?
Josh Maldon:
Thanks for that one. So just recapping on the previous answer again. So that’s something that will be available from the 3rd of November and so we are encouraging providers from that particular point in time up until the 7th of November to make sure that they do update the details in the system there. If you’re looking for further guidance on it it’s in the Provider Transition Guide. Thanks Sonja.
Sonja Stewart:
Liz there were actually two questions – or there’s still lots of questions coming in. But one question was:
Q: If on the 1st of November I’ve got a problem who do I contact?
Liz Hefren-Webb:
So I think I gave the phone number of our Contact Centre when I was talking. So that’s probably a good starting point. As I said it will be manned from 9:00 to 5:00 on 1st and 2nd November. But very happy for you to email the Commission. You can email me if you need to on liz.hefren‑webb@agedcarequality.gov.au. And myself or my team in my office will make sure that your issue is passed on to the right part of the Commission and we will address your issue.
Sonja Stewart:
Thank you. And the second question is really asking I think for more information and to explore your regulatory approach after the 1st of November. And as I am, I’m reading them all verbatim.
Q: If you were moving to a risk based approach and understand providers won’t be perfect from day one could you please clarify how the Commission defines the fine line between risk and non-compliance? For example if a provider identifies and manages a low risk issue proactively would that still be treated as a compliance breach or seen as part of continuous improvement?
Liz Hefren-Webb:
So our approach is really as I said to focus on issues of high risk. In the case of a low risk matter that a provider deals with it would really depend on the case whether or not we would consider potentially that there was an issue around conformance with the Standards. But I want to say that this is not about – our assessment of the Quality Standards is focused on continuous improvement. And if every provider met every single one of the Standards every time we went out it wouldn’t be a valuable exercise. And the point of them is to focus on areas where we think there’s the highest risk, where we think that there’s processes or things you could do that are different, that might work better, that are evidence based. We want to talk to you about that. And so I think as I said we’re not about is it a breach or not. It’s about where are you at on your continuous improvement journey. Just as we as a Commission are constantly as a learning organisation trying to improve, we’re looking for providers to have that constructive spirit of we know we’re not perfect, we know we’re not going to do everything perfectly, but we’re open to feedback and to have a discussion about what we could do to improve, to learn from others about what have they done to improve, what’s the latest evidence. So I think that’s how I would respond to that particular question. Thanks Sonja.
Sonja Stewart:
You’re getting the most little – I didn’t know that this functionality was turned on. So everybody is being polite with their emojis but you’ve got the most emojis. You’re even getting love hearts Liz and you’ve given out your email address so look out.
Liz Hefren-Webb:
I’ve just seen someone said they didn’t take down the phone number. So I’m just going to say that again. 1800 951 822. Thanks Sonja.
Sonja Stewart:
Perfect. You don’t even need me moderating anymore. The next one is for Greg. So Greg.
Q: How should providers manage residents’ requests for ad hoc hire everyday living fee items if we don’t know if we can charge?
Sorry. I’ll start again.
Q: How should providers manage residents’ requests for ad hoc hire everyday living fee items if we don’t know if we can charge? The Department published a document today about verbal agreements. How do we document and manage verbal approvals from the resident to avoid complaints and disagreements with them and their families?
Greg Pugh:
Thanks Sonja. And a good question. Because you’re right. That guidance just came out today I believe. So just to confirm though providers are not required to offer any services in an ad hoc manner. They can if they want but they’re not required to. And the purpose behind those arrangements is to give providers flexibility for settings such as purchasing food and beverages from the café that might be on site for example. So again though there is no obligation for providers to offer services in an ad hoc manner if they would prefer to do so through a standard Service Agreement arrangement.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Tom a question for you.
Q: What are you hearing from your members in terms of pricing and what are they hearing from older people?
Tom Symondson:
Thank you. So I think it does go to this quite substantial change in the way prices are made up because it means that unit prices are changing quite substantially even if the total cost to the package does not. And there has been a lot of focus I think for older people on that and a lot of people having to explain yes but out of the package that used to be made up of three components and now it’s made up of two and one of them is less than it used to be, so of course the unit price is going up because it’s now having to cover the total cost of delivery, whereas you used to put that in your package management fee. So I think that a lot of members are definitely getting – providers are getting pushback around that and having to explain it. And we will have to keep doing that. This is a change. It’s a substantial change and even people who are grandfathered are seeing that change even though it doesn’t change the amount of contribution they have to make.
I think we’re also hearing from a lot of members that they are having to put prices up by amounts that differ in different parts of the country. So if you’re in a rural or regional area the costs are so much higher and yet a lot of the information out of there at the moment is talking about what is the average price likely to be. Well if you’re in a MMM6 it looks very different and then you’re potentially getting pushback because of that. But that’s completely the way it works in rural and regional if there’s longer travel times or all of the things that everybody’s aware of. So I think there is a lot of confusion simply because it’s such a big change. My advice to everybody is keep as far as you can calmly explaining why it has changed and the fact that yes the unit price has gone up but it’s covering more of the total cost than it used to. I know it’s very easy for me to say. I’m not talking to an irate person who’s saying well that’s not okay. But that’s what I would advise people do as far as they can.
Sonja Stewart:
Thanks very much. A question for Kathy.
Q: Noting that existing HCP care recipients that do pay income tested care fees will transition into Support at Home with special discounted contribution arrangements, how will this discounted arrangement be calculated and ensured especially for recipients receiving independence and everyday living supports?
Kathy Volkert:
Thanks Sonja. I’ve got quite a long answer to this so I’ll try and simplify it and maybe might not give all the figures. But the no worse off principle applies to care recipients who were approved for a Home Care Package on or before the 12th of September 2024. And these recipients are grandparented and will transition to Support at Home with special contribution arrangements. So under the no worse off principle these recipients will pay contributions under Support at Home that are the same or lower than what they paid under their Home Care Package even if they are later reassessed into a higher classification.
So the grandparented recipients who paid an income tested care fee under the Home Care Package will have special discounted contribution percentage rates. These rates are set lower than the standard rates for Support at Home for the independence and everyday living categories. Now I do have percentages here but there’s quite a few of them. Maybe I won’t read them all out unless people want me to. But how it all works is if the calculated Support at Home contributions using the special rates would exceed the cap in any fortnight the recipient’s contribution is reduced so they do not pay more than the cap. This ensures no recipient is worse off after transition.
We’ve got system controls so the cap and special rates are built into our Services Australia calculation systems ensuring they are automatically applied and monitored. The contribution rates are also clearly stated in the communication to recipients and providers and are visible in the Aged Care Provider Portal.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thank you very much. Greg the next one’s for you.
Q: How do we claim travel mileage for social support individual during service in Support at Home?
Greg Pugh:
Thanks Sonja. So probably the same sort of response that Tom gave previously. So probably just to remind people under Support at Home the prices you set must be reasonable and transparent. And so you may need to adjust your prices as package management and travel must now be included in the unit price not as a separate charge as it is now, including travel within individual social support prices.
Sonja Stewart:
Thank you. Josh.
Q: Will providers be able to submit a subsequent Home Care Packages claim for October?
Josh Maldon:
Thanks Sonja. So in a nutshell we’ve got some guidance, some specific guidance which has been published on this last week available on our website, so under the heading ‘Finalising Home Care Package Claims and Commencing Claims for Support at Home’. This document includes advice on that issue. So it’s got a timeline and it’s got a checklist for provider actions across October, November and December.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thanks. Over to you Mel.
Q: The Commission released a draft evidence mapping framework in January 2024 which grouped the Quality Standard outcomes into 21 themes. There was some later material suggesting a final version of this framework would be released. Is this still proposed to happen?
Mel Metz:
Thanks Sonja. It sure is proposed to happen. So we’ve kept our support material in draft while the legislation was being finalised and now that’s occurred final versions will be released very shortly on the Commission’s website. I think it’s worth noting that there’s not significant changes post then. It’s just that we’ve kept it in draft and so we’ll be finalising that soon.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thanks. A question for Kathy.
Q: How frequently will client contributions be reviewed? Will it be as often as income tested fees contributions are reviewed under Home Care Packages? Because we’ve been seeing some reviews of contributions occurring under Home Care Packages as frequently as monthly.
Kathy Volkert:
Thanks Sonja. So from the 1st of November the Support at Home contribution rates will actually be updated in real time. So what that means is rates may change as any changes to income, assets or circumstances are received and then updated by Services Australia. So it’s probably more frequent.
Sonja Stewart:
Greg again.
Q: We currently have professional cleaners providing ongoing cleaning services for several clients. Under Support at Home should these services be claimed under everyday living services as home maintenance and will clients be required to contribute a percentage towards cleaning costs? Do we need to roster the cleaner?
Greg Pugh:
Okay. Thanks. So the service list is available online. So we’re happy to drop the link into the chat maybe or we can follow up after this. General house cleaning, that’s provided for under everyday living domestic assistance. There are some key exclusions to be aware of and that includes things like pest control and carpet cleaning. And probably worth mentioning as well that along with other things that are included in the service list outside of clinical older people may need to make a contribution to that service depending on the individual circumstance. So that’s where you can find that information. Thanks.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Over to Mel.
Q: Category 1, 2 and 3 only providers aren’t audited but still need to have all of these things in place. How is this monitored? Also if an audit is required before re-registration does this exclude providers in Categories 1 to 3?
Mel Metz:
Yeah. Thanks Sonja. So the Commission monitors compliance with provider obligations including for Categories 1, 2 and 3. And we do that by analysing all of the data and intelligence that we have, so through complaints and serious incident reports and other information that we receive through reporting. So an audit against the strengthened Quality Standards does not apply to providers in Category 1 to 3 but that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to meet the requirements of the Quality Standards.
Sonja Stewart:
And Greg.
Q: From 1 November will CHSP existing clients have 12 months for providers to have a Service Agreement in place?
Greg Pugh:
Thanks. So this one’s also got quite a detailed answer but I think it’s quite important to be able to make the distinction between existing and new CHSP clients. So as a starting point we have tried to be as pragmatic as possible with this requirement while also meeting our obligations under the Aged Care Act 2024. That Service Agreement will bring together important requirements both of the current CHSP and the new Act as a result. So for existing CHSP clients key elements of Service Agreement requirements should already exist in the CHSP providers’ current arrangements with their clients. That’s set out in CHSP funding arrangements. It’s set out in the CHSP Manual. It’s also in the Quality Standard number two around ongoing assessment as well as through just your general day to day planning with clients.
And so the expectation is that providers will have existing arrangements in place that document the following key elements of their service delivery with their clients. So that includes things like details of the client including their My Aged Care number. Need to have details of the provider including the provider name and contact person details. Agreed services to be delivered along with a start date. We need to make sure that the agreed amount of client contributions for each service type to be delivered is in there, and the details of the service review dates in line with the requirement that a formal review of services must occur every 12 months.
So for existing clients for CHSP providers they will need to before 1 November, ie in the next ten days, review existing arrangements with the clients to ensure that those key elements are in place, ensure that fully compliant Service Agreements are established at the point of formal review of services. And that’s the part that must occur within 12 months. And then ensure that for the new CHSP clients that they’ve got fully compliant Service Agreements in place from 1 November. So the short answer to that is for new clients make sure you’ve got your Service Agreements in place from 1 November. For existing clients you should have what you’ve already got in place plus the additional requirements under the Act and you have to review those Service Agreements within 12 months.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. A question for Josh.
Q: Will there be more guidance material for the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Scheme data collection process in the Health Data Portal?
Josh Maldon:
So to get the guidance on that we’ve obviously got the program which is kicking off from 1 November 2025. And what you’re referring to there is the Assistive Technology and Home Modification Scheme data collection process and that’s the temporary pathway that we’ve got for providers to support their transitioning of participants. And so where people are transitioning and they don’t have a sufficient Home Care Package unspent funds for any assistive technology or home modification or needs providers have to request that funding tier for them directly with the Department. And this is through a data collection process rather than through an individual support plan review.
That data collection piece is beginning from October and so from October we’re encouraging providers to organise those bulk submissions at either an organisation or outlet level, start submitting requests once the Scheme’s open, so now, and then make sure that you confirm care partners are uploading the required evidence to client records in the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal to avoid processing delays. So there is further information including guidance material for this which is available on the Department’s website.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Greg there’s just a follow up question or a confirmation that somebody would like from you. You’re too inactive. Your lights have gone off. So they just want you to confirm that care management fees should be included in the unit cost.
You’re on mute which is the first time it’s happened in this webinar so you win the prize.
Greg Pugh:
I’m just getting a definitive answer for you. Give me two seconds and I’ll come back. I had a triple fail there. I had the lights go off, I was on mute - - -
Sonja Stewart:
No lights and no audio.
Greg Pugh:
Just to confirm for the actual question, so that 10% care management should remain separate.
Sonja Stewart:
And Josh.
Q: Will information be shared between My Aged Care and Services Australia?
Josh Maldon:
Good question. So there’s already connections between those systems and through the interoperability agenda we’re always looking at how we can share information across systems more broadly. So one of the exciting things we recently did as part of the Aged Care and Data Digital Strategy is we managed to land the foundational connection between My Aged Care and My Health Record. So we’re always happy to hear from providers and also older people where they want to see that improved connectivity and how we can free you up to provide better connected care.
Sonja Stewart:
And Tom there’s just some interest if you can go over what support that you’ll be giving providers.
Q: What support does Ageing Australia give providers?
Tom Symondson:
Yeah. Thanks. So as well as asking and answering general questions about anything to do with the reforms and the system as it stands – we get asked a lot of very detailed questions and we can generally answer them – we also have a group of consultants who if you need more complex support can provide that. It’s an hourly rate instead of for free as part of your membership. And they can go through those more complex challenges where it’s not just half an hour’s response that you need, you need something more complicated. And that’s very heavily used as well. The other thing that you can do is we have a lot of opportunities for members to network. We have those chat and connect sessions. Within the states each of the state managers have their own engagement functions where you can come together. For example in Victoria we’ve got a thing every couple of weeks where you can raise all of the issues that have come up and you can get answers to them either from your colleagues or from us or we can take them on notice. So really if you’ve got a question about the reforms you are more than welcome to ask us through whichever channel is most convenient. We may have to redirect you somewhere else. It might be a question for Government in some form but largely we are able to answer those questions or direct you to the appropriate information. And if the answer is more complex and you need someone to work it up we can also do that. You’ll just have to pay for that outside your membership because it’s more complex and we don’t offer it for free.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thank you very much. And Kathy there’s a question referring to other questions.
Q: So there’s been a number of questions in the Q&A asking if Services Australia will be updating the estimated contributions in the portal. Is Services Australia able to advise whether this will happen? If we have a question about the contribution rate what should we do?
Kathy Volkert:
Thanks Sonja. The first part of that is the estimated contribution rate provided in the Aged Care Portal on 1 October was a one time once only estimate. So that is only being provided once and it will be removed on the 31st of October. And it remains visible until then for those care recipients that we were able to do that for. If a provider or a care recipient has a question or concern about the estimate the care recipient or their nominee should be encouraged to contact Services Australia and we can then review the circumstance of the individual and the data that’s been used to calculate their estimate which was a snip from the 26th of September. And then we’ll be able to advise the care recipient accordingly. But the actual rates will be as I mentioned earlier on the provider portal and distributed via letter from the 6th of November. But that was a once off.
Sonja Stewart:
And Josh.
Q: Has the Department published information to help health professionals and GPs on Support at Home?
Josh Maldon:
Thanks Sonja. So look yes we have released a range of resources outlining the role GPs play and we’re also doing some tailored engagement with health peak bodies of part of implementation.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thanks very much. And Tom a question for you.
Q: Are you hearing that providers and older people have a good understanding of the grandfathering arrangements?
Tom Symondson:
Thanks for that question. It’s very variable. And so I think it’s really important to just stay clear on the principles. I’ve certainly heard and I’ve done a number of talk back sessions on radio where older people themselves are ringing up and saying ‘I think I lose my grandfathering if I go up a package level within Support at Home’. No you don’t. ‘I think I am grandfathered when I move from Support at Home into residential care’. No you’re not. Not if it’s after 1 November. Grandfathering is for people who are either in residential care now or for people who are in home care or on the waiting list before mid-September 2024. You don’t keep it when you move into residential care. So there’s definitely a lot of confusion but the message is keep it simple. And if people very passionately tell you you’re wrong, they lose their grandfathering when they go up a level, just reinforce no they don’t. And if they have further questions or they’re worried they can go to the consumer advocacy organisations or they can come to Services Australia and they can ask and get an absolute fact. But grandfathering has confused a lot of people including our members. So keep it basic and if you have questions please ask.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Thanks so much. And Mel there’s a question about:
Q: Where are the new registration forms available?
Mel Metz:
That’s a good question. I would say on our website but I will double check that Sonja. Thanks.
Liz Hefren-Webb:
They should be on our website but you can’t lodge them yet. So please don’t lodge them before 1st November. Thanks.
Sonja Stewart:
Great. Okay. I’m going to just make some concluding comments. And I know this is when everybody signs off already. I was wondering if you could just hold on. I’ll keep them very quick. However I do have a special request for people so if you could just hang on and bear with us. And we are finishing a little bit ahead of time. Not much. I wanted to thank everybody very sincerely for your questions. They were really excellent questions and I think got a lot of benefit and really assisted people in this process. I wanted to also and very importantly thank people who produced this. We’ve had a bit of a laugh at each other’s expense going live. There’s a lot of time and effort that went into thinking about what content was going to be valuable for you. And I particularly wanted to thank our panellists and our speakers.
If there are other questions that we haven’t got to – but I think we got through – and I’m looking to my sidekick who you can’t see – got through all of them. We’re going to be publishing the answers on the health.gov.au and also your aged care update newsletter. And we’ve also got information here for the My Aged Care, the Commission and the Services Australia and hotlines.
The little request that I have for you is that we’re going to just ask you what you thought about today. We gave thought into what we considered would be important for you to hear from us and get the really key people on the line and really leave more time for questions and answers and us talking to you. And we want to really get your feedback as to whether that worked for you and what else we could do differently. So if you don’t mind I think it takes one minute. You can time it. If you could do a short survey for us.
I wanted to say thank you so much. It’s been a huge, huge collaborative effort. So many people working together all for older people and improving outcomes for older people living in Australia. And my thanks to you as we work towards the 1st of November. There’s going to be a recording of this webinar available shortly afterwards. And I really hope that you’re safe and well and look forward to engaging further and for the reforms to take place on the 1st of November 2025. Thank you and have a very good afternoon.
[Closing visual of slide with text saying ‘Australian Government with Crest (logo)’, ‘Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’, ‘A new chapter for aged care from 1 November’, ‘health.gov.au/aged-care-act’, ‘21 October 2025’]
[End of Transcript]