Financial hardship assistance

Financial hardship assistance, also known as a fee reduction supplement, can help you with paying your contributions if you are experiencing genuine financial hardship and cannot pay your contributions. 

Financial hardship assistance can help you with different types of fees and charges. It depends on your fee arrangements.

• If you are on the 1 November 2025 fee arrangements, you may be eligible for help with your basic daily fee, hotelling contribution, non-clinical care contribution, and/or accommodation costs.
• If you are on the 1 July 2014 fee arrangements, you may be eligible for help with your basic daily fee, means tested care fee, and/or accommodation costs.
• If you entered an aged care home for permanent care before 1 July 2014 and are on pre-1 July 2014 fee arrangements, you may be eligible for help with your basic daily fee, income tested fee, and/or accommodation costs.

You can’t receive financial hardship assistance for extra and additional service fees, or for the higher everyday living fee.

You may be eligible for help with your basic daily fee.

An asset may be considered ‘unrealisable’ if you cannot sell it or borrow against it.

This may include:

• a house that you own that has been on the market for six months or more
• jointly owned property
• gifting – where the decision to gift was made by a Power of Attorney or when the person was incapacitated
• frozen assets.

It does not include:

• properties that you own and rent out
• private trusts and private companies
• lump sums you have paid for accommodation in an aged care home.

You may be able to apply for an asset to be assessed as unrealisable when you apply for financial hardship assistance. If an asset is considered unrealisable, it will not count towards your hardship asset threshold.

More information on unrealisable assets is available on the financial hardship application form.

Essential expenses are what you must pay to meet your normal day-to-day living costs. They vary depending on your circumstances.

If you apply for financial hardship assistance, Services Australia will check to see how much income you have access to after you have paid your essential expenses.

Essential expenses are different for Support at Home and aged care homes.

Support at Home

If you have access to less than 15% of the basic age pension amount (or $161.96 per fortnight) after you have paid your essential expenses, you may be eligible for a full fee reduction supplement. 

If you have access to more than 15% of the basic age pension amount (or $161.96 per fortnight) after you have paid your essential expenses, you may be eligible for a partial fee reduction supplement to lower your contributions, depending on your circumstances and the level of Support at Home you are on.

Essential expenses include things like:

• food costs
• costs relating to the home, including:
  • rent or mortgage repayments
  • home maintenance, including repair and replacement costs
  • home insurance
  • rates
  • water, sewerage, gas and electricity costs
  • telephone and internet costs
• medical expenses, including expenses incurred under a health professional’s direction
• dental care
• prescription glasses (one pair per year) or contact lenses
• artificial limbs, eyes or hearing aids for amounts that are not already covered by other government schemes or programs
• wheelchair and mobility aids
• ambulance cover
• transport related costs, including public transport costs, and vehicle registration, repairs and insurance
• private health insurance
• regular funeral plan payments.

They do not include amounts spent by a person authorised to act on your behalf, on things that do not directly benefit you.

Contributions for Support at Home are not listed above as an essential expense as the amount someone contributes can vary each fortnight. However, the average expected contributions are used in calculating hardship applications. If you have evidence that your contributions are higher than expected, you can ask Services Australia to consider your contributions as part of your application.

Aged care home

If you have access to more than 15% of the basic age pension amount (or $161.96 per fortnight) after you have paid your essential expenses, you may not be eligible for financial hardship assistance.

Essential expenses include things like:

• resident fees
• rent or mortgage repayments for the principal home where your partner or a dependent child lives
• private health insurance
• ambulance cover
• medical expenses, including expenses incurred under a health professional’s direction
• dental care
• transport costs to go to medical appointments
• prescription glasses (one pair per year) or contact lenses
• artificial limbs, eyes or hearing aids for amounts that are not already covered by other government schemes or programs
• wheelchair and mobility aids
• regular funeral plan payments.

They do not include:

• amounts paid for extra service fees
• amounts paid for additional service fees
• amounts paid for higher everyday living fees
• amounts spent by a person authorised to act on your behalf, on things that do not directly benefit you.