Where are we up to?

When the new Aged Care Act was passed in late 2024, the Department of Health and Aged Care indicated that they would release draft Rules (which will replace the current Principles) for consultation in stages. The Rules will contain the detailed requirements for Support at Home, such as the service lists and the requirements for agreements with clients.

Current state of play

The Department’s current timetable for the Rules is here: Aged Care Rules consultation – topics by release | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. We have releases 1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3, and (just released on 14 March 2025) 4a, which can all be found at Consultation on the new Aged Care Act | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. We are waiting for release 4b (and any further releases needed to complete the Rules).

The Government is well behind its own schedule. For example, the timetable originally indicated that the Rules regarding service agreements would be released in early February, then it was changed to early March or early April. The relevant Rules still have not been released – we are hopeful that they will be part of release 4b, currently expected in early April. There are also ‘gaps’ in some of the previous releases – it is not clear if release 4b will include all of the Rules needed to fill those gaps.

There will be a consultation period for release 4b which will run through April and possibly into May. With the Federal election to be held in May, it is unlikely that the final Rules will be available until after the election. Providers will need to base their preparations on the draft Rules and then make any necessary adjustments once the final Rules are published.

What Government resources are available?

To support sector readiness, the Department has released an early release version of the Support at Home Program Manual at Support at Home program manual – A guide for registered providers | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care – however this remains subject to change and will be updated once the Rules are finalised.

The Department has also released a Provider Transition Guide, available at Support at Home Program Provider Transition Guide | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and Claims and Payments Business Rules Guidance at support-at-home-claims-and-payments-business-rules-guidance.pdf. A Support at Home FAQ document is available at Support at Home frequently asked questions – September 2024 (updated in February 2025).

There will be an Aged Care Act Policy Manual, which was slated for release in stages from March – but this does not yet appear to be available.

What should providers be doing to prepare?

Many providers are feeling understandably anxious about preparing for Support at Home given the delay in the release of the remaining Rules and guidance materials.

We have outlined below a number of things that providers can do, or start to do, to prepare for Support at Home.

Support at Home Agreement

Providers will need a new (or updated) agreement with care recipients who commence receiving services on or after 1 July 2025, in particular to reflect the new financial structure of the Support at Home Program and the requirement for payment of individual contributions for non-clinical services.

When will O’Loughlins’ new agreement be ready?

For those providers who wish to use our template agreement, we are currently working on drafting the content of a new agreement based on the rules available so far. This content will feed into a new template Support at Home Service Agreement.

The timing for the completion of the template will depend upon the timing for the next release of Rules, and whether those Rules contain all of the information required to finalise the template agreement. Subject to this, we anticipate having a draft of the template available in April. We will provide an update on timing once the next release of Rules is available.

What about care recipients who are commencing prior to 1 July?

For care recipients who are commencing prior to 1 July, providers may wish to consider including a special condition in their current agreement that notes that there will be changes to financial arrangements from 1 July (and which requires payment of the relevant individual contributions). Providers are welcome to contact us for assistance with this. In addition, providers should consider giving new care recipients information about Support at Home based on the Department’s fact sheets and other resources.

Transitioning existing care recipients to Support at Home

Providers should consider their transition plan for existing care recipients – both those groups who were (1) receiving a Home Care Package (HCP), in the National Priority System, or assessed as eligible for a HCP prior to 12 September 2024 and are therefore ‘grandfathered’, and (2) those who commenced after 12 September 2024 and who will be subject to the new contributions regime.

Will existing care recipients need a new agreement?

While it would be ideal for all care recipients to sign a new agreement, there are practical impediments to this – both from a timing perspective, and because care recipients cannot be required to sign a new agreement (subject to any transitional Rules to the contrary).

Providers may choose to offer existing care recipients the opportunity to sign a new agreement if they wish.

Alternatively (or as a fallback option), we are developing a document to be given to existing care recipients that explains the changes to the system and how the changes will effectively modify their existing agreement.

Consulting on new prices with existing care recipients

Because the price capping element of the Support at Home Program has been delayed until 1 July 2026, the Department has indicated that it expects providers to undertake the existing process of consulting on, and agreeing with care recipients, the changes to prices that will apply from 1 July 2025. We expect that most providers will be carrying out that consultation between April and June.

How should pricing be structured?

Although the current ‘consult and agree’ process remains, providers will need to ensure that their new prices reflect the Support at Home ‘service list’ categories, available at Support at Home service list | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

What do providers need to explain during consultation?

Providers will be setting their new prices based on the new model – that is, with care management set at a fixed 10% of budgets, and no package management charge. Consequently, service prices are likely to increase substantially, and by a much larger percentage than in previous years. It will be important for providers to explain to care recipients the reason for the significant increases.

We are developing a document that can be given to care recipients in advance (and also used during discussions), which explains the changes to the model to help them understand the reason for the larger than usual service price increases.

If the timing and content of the next Rules release permits, we will also aim to have a draft of the new template agreement available for providers to give to existing care recipients during their consultation process if they wish to offer existing care recipients the option of signing a new agreement.

Other things to think about

Given the delay in the release of the remaining Rules and guidance material, it is difficult to give a comprehensive overview of things to do to prepare for 1 July. However, some of the things that providers should be thinking about are set out below.

Service mix

Under Support at Home, there is likely to be a shift in service mix towards clinical services (for which no individual contribution is payable) and away from ‘independence’, and even more so ‘everyday living’ – the latter having the highest level of individual contributions. This may require providers to think about their workforce planning, so that resources match the likely change in service mix.

It is also possible that the contributions regime will cause some care recipients to decline services that they need, such as domestic assistance. While these services are categorised as ‘everyday living’ and therefore not regarded as ‘essential’, it is clear that a lack of those services over time could lead to risks to the health and wellbeing of care recipients – and providers will need to be ready to manage those situations.

Care management issues

The Rules and guidance material available indicates that while 10% of each care recipient’s budget will be set aside for care management, claims for care management will be based on specific care management services provided. The Support at Home FAQ document linked above states that ‘Claims will specify services delivered to individual participants, which will support program assurance’. The Claims and Payments Business Rules Guidance referred to above indicates that ‘Claims would be linked to individual participant IDs for data linkage and data governance’. Providers should therefore consider how they will ‘track’ care management provided to specific care recipients.

The guidance material available so far indicates that ‘self-management’ will continue to be an option – although it appears that providers will not be required to offer self-management. Given the requirements for claiming for care management, and the risks that already exist with self-managed care recipients, providers should consider whether they will offer the option of self-management.

Communication with care recipients

The draft Rules in release 3 (relating to provider obligations) include some very detailed obligations about incident management systems, complaints and feedback systems and whistleblower systems (see Chapter 4, Part 10 of the Rules). These requirements include obligations to communicate regularly, ‘and at least monthly’, about certain matters – such as the fact that complaints and feedback are welcome.

In the case of communicating with care recipients, one of the obvious ways to meet this requirement will be to include a notice on the care recipient’s regular invoice. In setting up their new billing systems, providers may want to consider including the ability to add a notice or statement (and to amend it from time to time) so that they can meet these communication obligations in the most efficient manner possible.

Brokerage arrangements

Providers who engage contractors to provide some of their care and services will need to think about putting in place new agreements with contractors and ensuring that contractor prices match the provider’s new price structure from 1 July (for example, that services are described in a way that corresponds to the Support at Home service list).

Providers should also ensure that their agreements with contractors allow the provider to impose any necessary requirements on the contractor – such as requiring mandatory training to be undertaken.

For providers who engage individuals as contractors, consideration should be given to how those workers are engaged going forward, in light of recent Fair Work Commission decisions. We will be sending out a separate briefing on this issue shortly.

How else can we assist?

We are developing numerous resources relating to Support at Home as discussed above, and we will publish updates as these become available. We are also developing documents and resources relating to other aspects of the new Act, including a new template residential care agreement, and board training resources.

Please get in touch to let us know how else we can assist you to prepare for the commencement of Support at Home or any other aspect of the new Act.