Background
The Support at Home program commenced on 1 November 2025, replacing the Home Care Packages program.
In late October, the Government released the Transitional Rules which introduced a more flexible approach to finalising support at home service agreements.
Under the Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Rules 2025, providers must follow these revised timeframes:
- An existing Home Care Agreement are considered to be a “service agreement” within the meaning of the new Aged Care Act 2024 (during the transition period only).
- Once Services Australia determines the participant’s contribution rate:
- Providers have 30 days to initiate finalisation or variation of the service agreement.
- Participants have 90 days to enter into the agreement.
The 90 day period is the “transition period” in which the old home care agreement will be considered a Service Agreement under the new Act, following this period, they are not considered compliant with the new Act (unless the provider and participant have varied the agreement to comply with the new Act).
While determinations by Services Australia will have been made on different dates for different participants, the 90-day timeframe allowed by the Transitional Rules is approaching for many participants.
What this means
If a participant has not entered into an agreement (or agreed to a valid variation) at the end of the 90 day period, the provider will not have a compliant agreement in place and will therefore be in breach of the new Act. The Transition Rules allow providers to lawfully cease providing funded aged care services to the participant on the basis that there is not a compliant agreement in place.
While ceasing services is necessary to ensure the provider does not breach the Conditions of Registration, the provider must still do so in accordance with the security of tenure provisions, which requires provides to give 14 days’ written notice. This means that providers will need to provide this notice at least 14 days’ prior to the end of the 90 day period. If during that 14 day period, the provider and participant enter into an agreement, the provider can withdraw its termination notice.
How can we help?
We have prepared a template “reminder” notice to participants that sets out that the provider will cease delivery of services if the agreement is not entered into. This letter encourages participants to enter into a new agreement as soon as possible. This template also includes a template termination notice to use in a situation where a participant does not enter into an agreement by the end of the transition period.
In addition, RKDocsConnect have a Security of Tenure Procedure pack which includes the above as well as a “procedure” document along with a termination notice for all grounds set out in the Aged Care Rules.
Please reach out if you need any assistance to Anita Courtney (acourtney@rk.com.au), Solomon Miller (smiller@rk.com.au), Victor Harcourt (vharcourt@rk.com.au), Johanna Heaven (jheaven@rk.com.au) or a member from Russell Kennedy's Aged Care Team.
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Disclaimer
The information contained in this Alert is intended as general commentary only and should not be regarded as legal advice. Should you require specific advice on the topics discussed, please contact the firm directly.