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If we grant a claim for financial hardship assistance, we’ll pay you a hardship supplement on behalf of your care recipient. We may partially or fully pay their costs, depending on their individual circumstances. They’ll be responsible for paying any remaining costs.
We can grant financial hardship assistance from the date the care recipient needs help paying their costs. We can sometimes backdate the assistance to the date they either:
- started receiving care
- lodged their claim for financial hardship assistance
- can provide evidence that they meet the criteria for financial hardship assistance.
You’ll start getting the hardship supplement once we’ve processed and approved your claim for the month we granted hardship assistance. For example, if we grant financial hardship assistance in June, with a May start date, the payment will appear as an adjustment on your June payment statement.
What it covers
What the financial hardship assistance for aged care covers depends on your care recipient’s circumstances.
Home Care Packages
If your care recipient began receiving a Home Care Package on or after 1 July 2014, they may get help with some or all of their:
- basic daily fee
- income-tested care fee.
They can’t receive financial hardship assistance for any other fees agreed to for additional care and services.
If your care recipient began getting a Home Care Package before 1 July 2014, they can’t get this financial hardship assistance. They can negotiate lower aged care costs directly with you.
Residential care
If your care recipient permanently entered residential care on or after 1 July 2014, they may get help with some or all of their:
- basic daily fee
- means-tested care fee
- accommodation costs.
If they permanently entered residential care before 1 July 2014, they may get help with some or all of their:
- basic daily fee
- income tested fee
- accommodation costs.
They can’t receive financial hardship assistance for any other fees agreed to for additional care and services.
Residential respite care
They may be eligible for help with their basic daily fee.
How to claim
For you to get this supplement, your care recipients must claim financial hardship assistance. You should encourage them to claim as soon as they experience financial difficulties.
To claim financial hardship assistance, care recipients need to complete the Aged Care Claim for financial hardship assistance form.
They’ll also need to give us documents showing:
- some of their aged care costs
- their essential expenses
- any assets they can’t sell or borrow against, if applicable.
If they don’t give us these documents with their claim, we’ll ask them for further information within 28 days. If they don’t provide the information, we’ll reject the claim.
We assess financial hardship assistance claims within 28 days of getting all the information. We’ll send a letter to you and your care recipient to let you know if we have granted the claim. We’ll also tell you how long we’ll pay it for.
If your care recipient needs ongoing help, it’s important they reclaim before their current financial hardship assistance ends. If they don’t, they may need to pay the costs while we assess their claim.