Costs for Residential Aged Care include:

1. Basic Daily Care Fee (pays for living expenses)

The basic daily care fee is paid by all consumers, typically at 85% of the single aged pension. This fee is currently $65.55 per day.

2. Hotelling Supplement Contribution if applicable

This helps aged care homes meet the cost of services such as catering, cleaning and gardening. From 1 November 2025, residents who can afford it will contribute towards some or all of the Hotelling Supplement. The government will continue to pay the rest, including the full Hotelling Supplement for those who are unable to afford to contribute.

3. Non-Clinical Care Contribution (NCCC) if applicable
The government fully fund all clinical care costs in aged care homes.

The Non-Clinical Care Contribution covers things such as bathing, mobility assistance and lifestyle activities. Those who can afford it will make a contribution towards their NCCC based on their means assessment.
A lifetime cap will mean residents will no longer have to pay the NCCC once they reach $130,000 (indexed) in total contributions, or after 4 years — whichever comes first. Additionally, a daily cap of $101.16 (indexed) applies to the NCCC.
The family home is exempt from means testing when there is a protected person (a spouse or dependent adult child) residing in the home.

For further specific information on Means Testing for Aged Care Fees, please contact: Services Australia phone line on 1800 227 475 or visit the My Aged Care website to use the fee estimating tool.

4. Accommodation Payments if applicable (pays for accommodation)

Our Refundable Accommodation Deposit amounts vary from facility to facility and consumers have the choice of paying the accommodation payment as:

• A lump sum refundable deposit (RAD) that is refunded when you leave care, less any retention amounts and any fees that you agree to draw down from it, or

• A Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) that is not refunded when you leave care, or

• Any combination of lump sum and daily payment.

Until you pay a lump sum, you will pay by daily payment. You can pay a lump sum at any time after you enter care.
A lump sum payment is considered an asset for aged care purposes. This means it is counted in your means assessment and may affect your hotelling contribution and non-clinical care contribution.

If you choose a combination payment, you can choose to draw your daily payment from your paid lump sum. Over time, this will increase your daily payment unless you top up the lump sum. Your provider may also agree to draw other fees from the lump sum, like your basic daily fee.

If you first enter permanent residential aged care on or after 1 November 2025, the following accommodation arrangements will apply.

These include:
• Refundable deposit retention – if you pay a lump sum, your provider keeps 2% of your lump sum per year. This amount is not refunded when you leave care. After 5 years in care, no further retention amounts will be deducted. This amount is calculated daily and deducted monthly.

• Daily accommodation payment (DAP) indexing – if you pay by DAP, this amount will increase due to indexation on 20 March and 20 September each year. Indexation does not apply to daily accommodation contributions (DAC) paid by residents eligible for government assistance with their accommodation costs.