Three pressure points revealed as Senate probes Aged Care Rules
Almost 50 submissions to the Senate’s review of the Aged Care Rules have now been published – and three issues keep surfacing.
- Support at Home consumer contributions are too high – and in some cases should not be charged at all.
HammondCare, which provides home care to more than 10,000 clients, wrote consumer contribution rates were not tested prior to being set “creating risk of unaffordability, particularly for older people experiencing financial disadvantage”.
They said that within the first six weeks of Support at Home, customers told them:
- they cannot afford contributions;
- they will forego essential purchases to afford contributions;
- they will need to reduce the amount of services being accessed due to the contributions; and
- they do not want to move from the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) due to the Support at Home contributions.
Australia’s largest home care provider, Australian Unity, wrote personal care, such as showering, should remain free of mandatory co-contributions because it has an “essential role in daily living, early identification of deterioration and wounds, and the prevention of avoidable harm”.
- AN-ACC funding is falling short of rising costs – and that could hit development of new aged care beds.
Australia’s largest residential aged care provider, Opal HealthCare, said their analysis suggests only 66% of the cost increase from 1 October 2025 is funded through last year’s AN-ACC increase.
Limited transparency about the reasons for the funding shortfall has diminished confidence and increased uncertainty about deploying capital to invest in new aged care beds, it added.
Opal has historically been one of Australia’s most significant aged care builders.
- HELF is too complex – and providers are opting out.
Several submissions from residential aged care operators, including HammondCare, Royal Freemasons' Benevolent Institution (RBFI), Lutheran Services and St Andrews Village Ballina, raised issues with Higher Everyday Living Fees (HELF).
Lutheran Services said restricting HELF agreement signing to post-admission increases “stress and complexity during an already challenging period”.
HammondCare said contrary to recommendations, HELF is complex and older people find it difficult to understand. Providers are disincentivised from offering HELF due to its overtly regulated nature and contractual terms that go beyond the usual consumer protections.
St Andrews Village Ballina wrote that HELF has introduced significant complexity for residents, families and providers. They have opted to increase accommodation pricing to cover the costs of everyday living services.
(The Government is conducting a review of HELF, and is currently accepting submissions here.)
The Inquiry
The Aged Care Act 2024 requires the Senate to review some of the Aged Care Rules within three months of 27 October 2025, when they were tabled in the Senate. Submissions to the Inquiry closed on 23 January 2026, but they have only been published on the Senate Inquiry website in recent weeks.
The Senate Inquiry findings will be reported “as soon as practicable”, according to the website.
In January we reported the peak body for aged care providers, Ageing Australia’s submission raised “significant concerns” with the “cumulative administrative burden” of the reforms. Todd Yourell, CEO of regional NSW provider St Andrews Village Ballina, warned aged care homes could close due to the added burden.
You can access the submissions here.
