The amount you pay towards the cost of your care can change over time. Your aged care fees can increase, decrease, or stay the same.
Changes to what you pay can happen for many reasons, explained in more detail below.
Changes to financial circumstances
Changes to personal circumstances
Changes to care needs
Regular changes to government set fees
Annual and lifetime caps
How will I find out if my fees have changed?
Changes to financial circumstances
Changes to your financial circumstances can affect what you pay. If your financial situation has changed, you should notify the department that did your assessment. This could be either Services Australia or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA). Doing this will ensure that you are paying the right amount.
Home Care Packages
If your income changes, your income tested care fee can also change.
If you entered care before 1 July 2014 and did not opt in to the post-1 July 2014 fee arrangements, changes to your income may affect your income tested fee. This will be calculated by your provider.
Aged care homes
If your income or assets change, your means-tested care fee and accommodation contribution can change.
If you are on pre-1 July 2014 fee arrangements, changes to your financial circumstances can change your income tested fee. However, they won’t change your accommodation costs.
Read more about costs if you entered care before 1 July 2014.
Changes to personal circumstances
Changes to your personal circumstances can affect what you pay. If your personal circumstances have changed, you should contact the department that did your assessment to ensure you are paying the right amount.
Home Care Packages
If your personal circumstances change (e.g. your marital status), your income tested care fee may also change.
If you entered care before 1 July 2014 and did not opt in to the post-1 July 2014 fee arrangements, changes to your personal circumstances may affect your income tested fee. You should let your provider know if your personal circumstances change so they can adjust your income tested fee if needed.
Aged care homes
If you have a change in your personal circumstances – for instance, a change to your marital status, or a protected person moving out of your home – your means tested care fee and accommodation contribution can change.
If you are on pre-1 July 2014 fee arrangements, changes to your personal circumstances can change your income tested fee. However, they won’t change your accommodation costs.
Read more about costs if you entered care before 1 July 2014.
Who is a ‘protected person’?
For aged care purposes, a protected person is:
- your partner or dependent child
- your carer who is eligible to receive an Australian Government income support payment and who has lived in your home with you for the past two years
- your close relative who is eligible to receive an Australian Government income support payment and who has lived in your home with you for the past five years.
If your family home was occupied by a protected person when you moved into an aged care home, it may not have been counted as an asset for aged care purposes.
Changes to care needs
A change in your care needs can affect what you can be asked to pay.
Home Care Packages
If your care needs change, you may need a higher Home Care Package level. If you do, your fees may increase.
Aged care homes
If your care needs change, and your means assessment shows that you can contribute more, your means-tested care fee may go up.
If you entered care before 1 July 2014, a change to your care needs can change your income tested fee.
Read more about costs if you entered care before 1 July 2014.
Regular changes to government set fees
Your aged care fees can also change due to regular indexation of aged care rates and thresholds, and government subsidies and supplements. Indexation can affect your income assessment for home care or your means assessment for residential aged care.
The basic daily fee is indexed in line with increases to the age pension. If the pension amount increases, your aged care fees can also change.
Aged care homes
Indexation may change your means tested care fee, basic daily fee, and accommodation contribution.
If you entered care before 1 July 2014, it can increase your basic daily fee and your income tested fee. The income tested fee is capped daily. The daily cap for the income tested fee can also change due to indexation.
It does not affect your accommodation costs which were set on your date of entry to care.
Annual and lifetime caps
There are annual and lifetime caps that apply to:
- income tested care fees in home care
- means tested care fees in an aged care home.
Once you reach a cap, you cannot be asked to pay any more of these fees.
Annual and lifetime caps are indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year.
The cap amounts that apply to you are those that are current when you reach them, not those that were current when you entered care.
Home Care Packages
Annual caps for income-tested care fees
Indexation of annual caps can affect the amount of income tested care fees you can be asked to pay in a year. Currently the maximum amount is:
- $17.97 per day or $6,543.66 per year for people with income at or below $62,332.40 (single person income rate), or
- $35.95 per day or $13,087.39 per year for people with income above $62,332.40 (single person income rate).
Lifetime cap for income-tested care fees
Indexation of the lifetime cap can affect the amount of income tested care fee you can be asked to pay in your lifetime. Any income tested care fee you pay while in home care will also be counted towards the annual and lifetime caps if you move into an aged care home.
Currently the maximum amount of income tested care fee and means tested care fee you pay in your lifetime is $78,524.69.
Who do these caps apply to?
Annual and lifetime caps only apply if you entered home care:
- on or after 1 July 2014, or
- before 1 July 2014 but have since opted into the post 1 July 2014 fee arrangements.
Read more about costs if you received a Home Care Package before 1 July 2014.
Aged care homes
Annual cap for means tested care fees
Indexation of the annual cap can affect the amount of means tested care fees you pay in a year. Currently the maximum amount an aged care home can ask you to pay in a year is $32,718.57.
The means tested care fee is calculated daily. It is based on your means assessment and your care costs. You pay this fee for each day you are in care until you reach the annual cap (or lifetime cap). This means the length of time it takes a person to reach the annual cap will vary.
Lifetime cap for means-tested care fees
Indexation of the lifetime cap can affect the amount of means-tested care fees you pay in your lifetime. Any income tested care fee you pay while in home care will count towards the annual and lifetime caps if you move into an aged care home.
Currently the maximum amount of income tested care fee and means tested care fee you may be asked to pay in your lifetime is $78,524.69.
Who do these caps apply to?
Annual and lifetime caps only apply if you entered an aged care home:
- on or after 1 July 2014, or
- before 1 July 2014 but have since opted into the post 1 July 2014 fee arrangements.
Read more about costs if you entered an aged care home before 1 July 2014.
Find the current rates on the Schedule of Fees and Charges for Residential and Home Care.
What if I've already met the caps?
Annual caps
You may have already met the annual cap when it changes. If this happens, you will not need to pay any more income tested care fees or means-tested care fees for that year. You will start paying again on the next anniversary of when you first started receiving aged care.
If you have not yet reached the annual cap, the new indexed annual cap will apply to you.
Lifetime cap
If you have already met the lifetime cap when it changes, you cannot be asked to pay any more income tested care fees or means tested care fees.
However, if you have not yet reached the cap, the new indexed cap will apply to you.
How will I find out if my fees have changed?
If your fees change, Services Australia will let you (and/or your nominee, if you have one) and your service provider know by letter. They will also write to you and your service provider once you have reached the annual and lifetime caps.
Review schedule
Services Australia checks if you are paying the correct fees during their regular reviews of aged care fees. These reviews generally occur once a month.
They will check if your care needs or circumstances (personal and financial) have changed, and will update your fees accordingly. They will also update your fees in line with regular changes to government set fees in March, July and September.
What happens if my fees change?
If your income-tested care fee or means tested care fee changes, Services Australia will send you a letter to let you know. The date your fees changed will be included in the letter. If the only fee that changes for you is the basic daily fee, your provider will let you know.
If the date your fees changed is in the past, you may have overpaid, or underpaid your fees.
- If your fees have gone down, the provider will refund any fees that you have overpaid during this time.
- If your fees have gone up, you will not be asked to pay back the fee increase that you have not paid during this time.
Home Care Package and aged care home costs and fees
For more information on the costs and fees associated with Home Care Packages and aged care homes, visit these pages:
Home Care Package costs and fees
Aged care home costs and fees