Evidence-led guidance · Mornington Peninsula
Aged-care fee and accommodation rules: which dates apply?
Why care-fee protections, RAD retention, DAP indexation and optional HELF charges require different date checks.
Published by Tom Le Cerf · Sources retain their individual dates.
Two arrangements that can differ for the same resident
Australian residential aged care uses fee arrangements (which contributions and means-test rules apply) and separate accommodation arrangements (payment options, refundable-deposit retention and daily accommodation payment indexation). A person can retain 1 July 2014 care-fee arrangements while being subject to the 1 November 2025 accommodation rules. Do not treat a single entry date, a calculator or an advertised room price as proof of both.
Ask Services Australia and the provider to confirm both arrangements in writing and compare the fee advice letter, current accommodation agreement and itemised quotation.
Department: fee and accommodation arrangements (official source)
Existing residents and transfers around 1 November 2025
People who entered permanent residential care before 1 November 2025 can retain earlier fee and accommodation arrangements. A transfer to another home does not by itself mean every older accommodation protection disappears. Opting into newer arrangements and returning after a break of more than 28 consecutive days (excluding approved leave) can change the accommodation outcome, so the individual history matters.
The 12 September 2024 Home Care Package protection (the no worse off principle) may keep the earlier care-fee arrangements for someone who first enters residential care after 1 November 2025, but it does not necessarily exempt that person from new accommodation arrangements. An opt-in may be irreversible—obtain independent advice before agreeing.
New accommodation rules from 1 November 2025
For an eligible person on the 1 November 2025 accommodation arrangements paying a refundable accommodation deposit or contribution, 2% a year is retained from the daily refundable balance for up to five years. It is not a flat 10% of the original payment calculated for everyone, and it should not be assumed to apply to every resident.
Daily accommodation payments (DAPs) for the applicable new arrangements are indexed on 20 March and 20 September; daily accommodation contributions (DACs) are not indexed under that rule. Residents on older accommodation arrangements may have different treatment.
Department: RAD/RAC retention (official source) · Department: DAP indexation (official source)
HELF protections effective 1 November 2026
The Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF) is for agreed optional extras or a higher standard of services; it cannot be used to charge extra for essential services the home must already provide. From 1 November 2026, an existing resident who was in care before 1 November 2025 must not newly be charged HELF for a service they were receiving at no extra cost immediately before that 2025 date, while that service continues to be offered.
Earlier extra-service and additional-service fee agreements were only allowed to continue through 31 October 2026. A new HELF agreement and itemised service list are different from the old agreement; ask which services can be declined and whether any previously included service is being charged twice.
My Aged Care: HELF protections (official source) · Department: optional services and transition (official source)
Read the written room agreement before entry
For new entrants on or after 1 November 2025, the room price and accommodation agreement must be settled before entering care, and the resident no longer has the former fixed 28-day deadline to choose an accommodation payment method. An accommodation lump sum is not necessarily the only payment option. Actual means assessment, agreement and resident preferences determine costs.
Request the specific room category, bathroom arrangements, full RAD or RAC, any DAP or DAC, optional extras, the applicable arrangement dates and a written worked estimate showing potential deductions. The prices shown elsewhere on this website are source-dated published reference amounts, not personalised current offers.
Department: accommodation agreement timing (official source) · Organise your written quote
Questions to establish your own cohort
- When did permanent care first begin, and was there a transfer, opt-in, or break in care?
- Was the person receiving or approved for a Home Care Package on 12 September 2024?
- What fee arrangements and accommodation arrangements does the provider say apply, separately?
- Does the refundable-deposit retention or DAP indexation rule apply to this agreement?
- Which HELF services are optional, previously included, and described in the signed service list?
This page is a date-specific reading guide, not an eligibility determination or advice about how to finance aged care. Ask the provider and Services Australia for a written answer and obtain specialised financial advice when needed.