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Long-term residential care

Legislation related to long-term residential care has been amended in two Social Security (Long-term Residential Care) Amendment Acts (2004 and 2006).

This section provides information about these amendments and general information about entering long-term residential care.

In this section

  • Residential care questions and answers
    Questions and answers on long-term residential care. Read more
  • Steps to take when considering long-term residential care
    Information on the steps for entering long-term residential care, including needs assessment, financial means assessment and residential-care subsidies and loans. Read more
  • Age-related residential-care services agreement
    The national aged residential contract covers rest-home, dementia and geriatric hospital-level care delivered in a residential-care setting. The contract ensures that there is a national standard of services that are provided to residents in long-term residential care. Read more
  • Income and asset testing
    A financial means assessment looks at the assets and income and any gifting by the person to assess if the person is eligible for Government funding (the residential care subsidy) and/or what the person is liable to pay for the cost of their care. Read more
  • Residential Care Loan Scheme
    People whose assets are over the relevant applicable asset threshold in the Act and who own a home may apply for a residential-care loan to pay for their residential-care costs. Read more
  • Residential Care Subsidy
    Work and Income are responsible for income and asset testing people who apply for a Residential Care Subsidy. Read more
  • Maximum contribution
    The ‘maximum contribution’ is the maximum weekly amount that any resident assessed as requiring care may be required to pay for contracted residential-care services provided in that region. Read more

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Page last updated: 01 October 2010