2019-20 Federal Budget Snapshot

More Choices for a Longer Life

The Federal Budget announced a total of $7 billion increased funding for aged care over 5 years. The allocation has shown a strong Federal Government focus on enhancing quality and safety, building a skilled workforce and supporting older Australians to remain in their homes for longer. The total aged care funding estimate going forward is $24.5 billion in 2022-23.

The Budget included several items previously announced in the December 2018 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) as well as the February 2019 Aged Care Packages. These items include:

• $7.4 million from 2018-19 to 2020-21 for business advisory services to support providers at risk of, or under financial stress to improve operations
• $7.7 million from 2018-19 to 2019-20 to improve compliance monitoring of quality and safety in the HCP program
• $35.4 million over 5 years to increase the supplement for people living with moderate to severe dementia who are receiving HCP. The supplement will increase from 10% to 11.5%.
• $0.4 million over 4 years to increase the supplement for veterans with a mental health condition who are receiving HCP. The supplement will increase from 10% to 11.5%.
• A total investment of $185 million in the Medical Research Future Fund for the Ageing, Aged Care and Dementia Mission over 10 years for research in dementia, falls prevention and assistive technology to support independence. This amount includes $17.5 million in 2019-20 which is a $7.5 million increase from 2018-19.

CHSP & HCP

• $5.9 million for CHSP to be extended for a further two more years until 30 June 2022
• $282.4 million over 5 years for additional home care packages. By 2022-23 packages will be increased to 157,154, an increase of 161% since 2012-13.

Quality and Safety

• $1.5 million in 2019-20 for the serious incident response scheme including consultation, research and advice into how the scheme will operate
• $38.4 million over 5 years to develop a new information sharing system to identify providers that pose a risk to consumers using a risk-based assessment approach
• $5.6 million in 2019-20 to develop a risk-based assessment framework of home care providers around quality of care delivered

Workforce

• $2.6 million in 2019-20 to implement the Aged Care Workforce Strategy and support the work of the Aged Services Industry Council and the Aged Care Workforce Industry Council.

Carers

• $84.3 million funding over four years to provide more services for carers and additional support for young carers. This new funding is in addition to the existing funding for carer services and will increase services for carers under the new Integrated Carer Support Service. The new funding will provide more financial support packages, respite and increased support for young carers. Carers can continue to access support through their usual service providers until the commencement of the Carer Gateway Regional Delivery Partners from September 2019.

Read the 2019-20 Federal Budget Aged Care Papers in full, here: Aged_Care_Papers