Accommodation Payments
Basic Daily Fees
Daily Care Fees are paid by all residents in care. These covers living costs such as meals, power and laundry. For some people this is the only fee they are required to pay.
The basic fee is set at 85% of the single person rate of the basic aged pension. This works out at $66.80 a day (changes schedule quarterly 1 January, 20 March, 1 July and
20 September). This figure is the same for singles and members of a couple.
Accommodation Payment
Changes to Accommodation payments effective 31 March 2026
The Federal Government has introduced a number of reforms under its
“Living Long, Living Better” legislations.
What is changing?
From 1 July 2025, there were changes to how new residents will be charged for accommodation. These changes will only affect new residents who enter our facilities after this date.
New residents will have a choice as to how they pay the agreed accommodation price; either as a lump sum refundable deposit (similar to an accommodation bond), a periodic payment or a combination of both.
Depending upon a person’s financial circumstances as confirmed by their assets assessment, the periodical payment can be drawn down from the refundable deposit.
From the 01 January 2026 the MAXIMUM Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD)
for Brother Alberts Home (ID: 110) will be:
Mary, Joseph and Brother Albert:
Single room with private ensuite: RAD - $758,627 or
Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) is $165.44 per day.
Luke, Anne and Gabriel:
Single Room with private ensuite: RAD - $385,000 or DAP - $83.96 per day
Single Room with shared ensuite: RAD - $330,000 or DAP - $71.97 per day
2 bed shared room with shared ensuite: RAD - $275,000 or DAP - $59.97 per day
4 bed shared room with no ensuite: RAD - $209,000 or DAP - $45.58 per day
The differences between high care and low care have been removed; with the same system will apply for all new residents. New residents will have up to 28 days after they enter care to decide how they will pay.
How can you pay for accommodation?
New residents will have the choice to pay for their accommodation either as a refundable deposit (a lump sum, also known as a Refundable Accommodation Deposit or ‘RAD’), an equivalent daily payment (a periodic payment, also known as a Daily Accommodation Payment or ‘DAP’) or a combination of both.
New residents will have up to 28 days from entering care to choose whether to pay the agreed accommodation price by a refundable deposit, daily payment or combination of both. The default payment method is the daily payment, unless or until a refundable deposit is paid.
Daily payment can be paid by the resident or drawn from a refundable deposit the resident has paid to the provider, if the resident has elected to pay a combination of a refundable deposit and a daily payment.
Drawing daily payments from the refundable deposit
Residents can choose to draw down daily payments from their refundable deposit. Residents can also agree to have other amounts drawn down from the deposit.
If any amounts are drawn down, Holy Family Services can increase the daily payment by an amount that compensates for the impact of receiving lower earnings due to the decreasing refundable deposit balance.
How is the equivalent daily payment calculated?
To calculate the equivalent daily payment of a refundable deposit, the refundable deposit is multiplied by the maximum permissible interest rate (MPIR) then divided by 365 days.
For example, a refundable deposit of $758,627 would have an equivalent daily payment of
$165.44 per day.
(Refundable deposit x MPIR)/365 = ($758,627 x 7.96%)/365 = $165.44 per day.
An example of a combination payment for a $758,627 price may be combination of refundable deposit of $300,000 and a daily payment of $100 per day, with the daily payment determined as follows:
(Balance of price x MPIR)/365 = [($758,627 - $300,000) x 7.96%]/365 = $100 per day.
Confused? We don’t blame you! Contact us to discuss and we will take you through the various scenarios.
*Note: The MPIR is currently 7.96% as of 1 January 2026 to 31 March 2026. The rate of interest is updated every three months.
For any further information or to check the current rates you can also visit the My Aged Care website at myagedcare.gov.au.
Non-clinical Care Contribution
This is an additional contribution towards the cost of care that some people may be required to pay. The Department of Human Services (Centrelink) will work out if you are required to pay this fee based on an assessment of your income and assets, and will advise you of the amount.
There is daily, lifetime and 4 years caps that apply to the non-clinical care contribution.
Once these caps are reached, or you have paid them for 4 years, you cannot be asked to pay any more non-clinical care contribution fees.
There is a daily limit on the maximum amount you can be asked to pay in non-clinical care contribution fees. This daily cap is $107.32. The lifetime cap on non-clinical care contribution fees of $137,917.01.
The Department of Human Services (Centrelink) will let you and your provider know when you have reached the annual or lifetime caps. The lifetime cap only applies to non-clinical care contribution fees. You may still need to pay the relevant basic fee and any accommodation costs in residential care.
Your family home will continue to be exempt from any means testing if your spouse or dependent adult child (referred to as a protected person) is living in the home. Your home will be included in the means testing calculation if a protected person does not live there; but its value will be capped at a maximum of $214,884.00.
Any income-tested fees you have paid since 1 July 2014 in a Home Care Package prior to moving into an aged care home will also contribute to your annual lifetime caps.
Hotelling Supplement Contribution
The hotelling supplement contribution applies to residents admitted after 1 November 2025. The hotelling supplement is means tested for residents admitted after 1 November 2025. If the resident’s income and/or assets are above certain thresholds, they will contribute to the hotelling supplement by paying a hotelling supplement contribution.
The hotelling supplement and income and asset thresholds are indexed in March and September each year.
A resident’s hotelling supplement contribution depends on their income and assets, covers some or all of the hotelling supplement, with remainder of the supplement paid by the government or is covered in full by the government if they have income and assets below the thresholds.
The hotelling supplement contribution is capped daily at the maximum hotelling supplement amount. There is no annual or lifetime cap for the hotelling contribution.
It is currently set at $22.15 per day.
Services Australia advises the contribution amount for a resident.
Fees for Optional Additional Services
Additional charges apply for optional services, such as hairdressing or mobile X-ray. Prices vary depending on the level of service.