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Care recipients can complete the Aged Care Calculation of your cost of care form. We use this form to collect their financial details. We can then work out how much you’ll get, as an aged care provider, to provide aged care services.
They won’t need to complete a form if they don’t own a home and get either a:
- means tested payment from us such as Age Pension or Disability Support Pension
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) income support payment.
We’ll use their income and assets details to work out the cost of their care. It’s important people make sure their income and assets details are always up to date.
If the care recipient’s Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, they can check the details they’ve provided to us online.
They can also call the Older Australians line or DVA.
How to provide the care recipient’s details for aged care
When the care recipient starts care, you need to enter their details into the online Aged Care Entry Record. This is for means assessment data matching.
What income details we need
Income details used to work out the cost of their aged care may include:
- income from work and net rental income
- income support payments from us or DVA
- value of financial investments
- superannuation, overseas pensions and money from outside the Australian Government
- income from income stream products such as annuities and allocated pensions
- family trust distributions or dividends from private company shares
- gifting over the allowable amounts.
What assets we include
An asset is any property or item of value the client or their partner own, or have an interest in. This includes assets held outside Australia. This could be:
- financial investments
- real estate
- shares
- household contents
- personal effects.
If the care recipient is part of a couple, we consider them to own half of the total combined assets. It doesn’t matter whose name the asset is under.
Their home counts as an asset if both of the following apply:
- they enter residential aged care on or after 1 July 2014
- a protected person isn’t occupying their home.
A protected person can either be a care recipient’s:
- partner
- dependent child
- carer
- close relative.
The carer or close relative must:
- be eligible to get an Australian Government income support payment
- have lived in the person’s home with them for the past 2 years for a carer or 5 years for a close relative.
There’s a cap on the value of the home included in the assessment.
If their home counts as an asset, a professional doesn’t need to value it, we just need an estimate. We verify the estimated value of their home at no cost to them.
We may assess gifts if both of the following apply:
- gifting was in the past 5 years
- the gift’s value is over the allowable amount.
For a single person or a couple, the combined gifting allowable amount is:
- $10,000 in one financial year
- $30,000 in 5 financial years - this can’t include more than $10,000 in any year.
We also use deeming rules to calculate income from financial assets. We include this in the assessed income.
When care recipients don’t provide their financial details
Care recipients don’t have to have their income and assets assessed. This means they’ll pay all of the following:
- the maximum basic daily fee
- the maximum means tested care fee subject to annual and lifetime caps
- accommodation costs.
When there is an incomplete assessment
We’ll call the care recipient or their nominee if their assessment form is incomplete. We’ll write to them if we can’t contact them over the phone.
If the care recipient has started care, but they haven’t completed an assessment form, we’ll send them a reminder letter.
We’ll explain they may get some assistance for the cost of their aged care if they do the assessment. We’ll send you and the care recipient letters with this advice.
If they don’t complete the assessment form, we’ll explain they’ll need to pay both the:
- maximum fees for their care
- agreed accommodation price.
We’ll send you and the care recipient letters with this advice.
How we provide the assessment outcome
We’ll send the care recipient a letter with the outcome of their means assessment. Our letter shows the fees the care recipient needs to pay.
The initial fee advice is valid for 120 days, unless they tell us of a change in their circumstances.
Sometimes the fee advice isn’t what the care recipient expected. This is because sometimes we or DVA hold further details about the care recipient.
How to manage income and assets details
Care recipients must tell us about changes to their income and assets within 14 days. Care recipients who’ve already had a means assessment can update their income and assets details online. If their Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, they can sign in now to do this.
If they don’t have a myGov account, they can read help information on the myGov website to learn how to create one and link Centrelink.
They can also call us on the Older Australians line or visit us if they can’t update their details online.