Residential Aged Care Facilities

Basic daily fee is currently $51.63 per day

This is the amount that everyone pays for the day-to-day services they will receive at the home.

This fee helps pay for your day-to-day services such as meals, cleaning, facilities management and laundry. Everyone is expected to pay a basic daily fee to cover these services.

The basic daily fee is 85% of the single person rate of the basic age pension. The government sets the price on 20 March and 20 September each year, changing in line with increases to the age pension. Prices are published on the Department of Health website.

You pay your basic daily fee directly to your aged care home, on a fortnightly basis. The fee applies for every day you are a resident, including days when you might be away overnight; for example, on holiday or in hospital.

A contribution towards or full payment for your room that you may have to pay depending on your assessed income and assets.

If you can afford it, you are expected to pay for your room. However, help with some or all of the accommodation costs is available to those that need it. This is determined by an income and assets assessment, but as a general guide:

• if you have income below $27,460 and assets below $49,500, the Australian Government will pay your accommodation costs (Fully supported resident
• if you have income above $69,430 or assets above $169,079, you will need to pay for the full cost of your accommodation, negotiated and agreed to with the aged care home
• if you need to pay for part of your accommodation, the Australian Government will pay the rest.

More information on how the income and assets assessment is used can be found below, or you can read more on “my aged care” Income and assets assessment page.

Aged care homes are required to publish their maximum accommodation costs for their various rooms on this website. You and the home can negotiate and agree to a lower price, but you cannot be charged more than the maximum published price.

The maximum published prices for our 4 aged care facilities is currently:

Melrose Village – $550,000

Kennett Homes – $550,000

Heiden Park Lodge – $450,000

Options available for payment of Accommodation costs are: 

• a lump sum (a refundable accommodation amount)
  • If the government is helping with the costs, this is called a Refundable Accommodation Contribution (RAC).
  • If you are paying the full amount yourself, it’s called a Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD).
• rental-style daily payments (a daily accommodation charge)
  • If the government is helping with the costs, this is called a Daily Accommodation Contribution (DAC).
  • If you are paying the full amount yourself, it’s called a Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP).
• or a combination of both lumpsum, and the rest through smaller non-refundable daily payments.

If you choose to pay an amount as a lump sum, any unused money is refundable when you leave the home.

Drawdown is available for DAP to be taken from the RAD, and the balance refunded when you leave.

Means-tested care fee (the maximum is currently $252.20 per day)

A varying cost for the care services you receive based on an income and assets assessment.

Not everyone will have to pay a means-tested care fee. The exact amount you will pay is determined through an income and assets assessment.

There are annual and lifetime caps on means-tested care fees. The current maximum an aged care home can charge you is:

• $27,754.52 per year, or
• $66,610.90 in a lifetime.

If you are moving from home care into an aged care home, any income-tested care fee you paid while you were receiving care at home will also be counted towards the annual and lifetime cap if you move into an aged care home.

If you are on a means-tested government pension, you do not have to complete the whole Income and Assets Assessment Form. The form will outline the areas that you are to complete.

You can get an idea of what you may have to pay by using the ”my aged care” residential care fee estimator.

Read more about the costs and fees on the “my aged care” aged care homes costs page.