Another alarm bell for providers that directors need to be aware of.
Introduced in 2017, both the temporary and existing safe harbour provisions provide directors with an exemption from liability for insolvent trading. It can help directors who need time to consider the company’s position before developing a plan to improve the business or pursuing formal insolvency options.
Russell Kennedy Principal, Solomon Miller has warned that aged care operators will need to be in a fully solvent position as soon as the six-month temporary safe harbour regime put in place by the Federal Government to protect directors from being found personally liable for insolvent trading ends on September 25, 2020 – just over three months away.
Speaking during Russell Kennedy’s Friday webinar, the Principal said operators are not going to be able to “throw a magic switch” and be able to revert back to a safe harbour position – so they must either be solvent by that date or have a plan that has been formally resolved on seeking safe harbour by then.
The panel also said providers should be preparing now for the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) to ‘come back hard’ when it returns to regular site visits and assessments.
The Commission will be asking for pandemic response plans so ensure the documentation is in place and staff are aware of it, she advised.
Russell Kennedy Principal, Anita Courtney said operators may want to consider doing a run-through of their response should their organisation experience a COVID-19 outbreak.
Anita also said while the Industry Code for Visiting Residential Aged Care Homes during COVID-19 is represented as a voluntary code, she has already had one client who had received a call from the Quality Commission two days after its implementation following a complaint from a family member to ask why they were not complying with the Code.
The Principal suggested the Commission will be looking closer at providers’ consultation with residents and families on visitation before and after the Code’s implementation – and recommended those that have not surveyed their residents on their satisfaction with visitation do so soon.
Similarly, Anita said home care providers will also be under the microscope with the Commission looking at whether agreements are compliant, how providers are doing fee variations and how packaged funds are being spent.
