Govt announces delay to introduction of new Support at Home scheme

A new Support at Home program which would replace Home Care Packages, Commonwealth Home Support Program, the Short Term Restorative Care and residential respite programs, was due to be introduced in July next year, but will now begin in mid 2024.

The proposed program was in response to the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety which was highly critical of the home care sector making a number of recommendations to improve the care of older Australians in the community.

The royal commission had recommended an introductory date of mid 2024 but the Coalition had brought that date forward a year.

More than a million older Australians get some form of home support.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said the previous government altered the timeline for the new in-home program, against the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

The Morrison Government had compressed the timeline by a full 12 months and provided insufficient information to manage the enormous changes required, she said.

"In-home care, on which more than one million Australians rely, is not an area in which to make policy on the run."

"We will use the extra time wisely to work with older Australians, their families and carers, workers, advocates and providers to do everything we can to achieve a better in-home aged care system."

Ms Wells said most people want to stay in their homes for as long as possible, so it is imperative that reforms to in-home aged care bring genuine improvements for older Australians in the long and short-term.

An additional 40,000 Home Care Packages will be made available this financial year along with $9.5 billion in funding this financial year going towards in-home care support.

Ms Wells said the Government will also immediately increase funding by $25 million and expand access to goods, equipment and assistive technology to better support older Australians to remain independent in their homes and reduce out of pocket expenditure.

"Rest assured no one will be left behind or lose any services they currently have in place in this new timeline," she said.

Advocacy peak Older Person Advocacy Network welcomed the delay in rolling out the new program as it would allow for greater consultation with the sector.

"We cannot rush the development of this program - it is crucial we get it right," said Manager Policy and Systemic Advocacy Samantha Edmonds.

"We must ensure proper engagement and consultation with older people. Their voices are important in shaping the reform. We know many older people are going prematurely into residential aged care because of the home care system's failure to be flexible and nimble."

Aged and Community Care Providers Association Interim chief executive Paul Sadler, said the date change would free up providers to focus on the current challenges of the Winter Omicron wave.

"ACCPA supports creation of the Support at Home Program. We have been working with the Support at Home Alliance, which includes Commonwealth Home Support provider peak bodies (e.g. Meals on Wheels, Community Transport & Home Modifications), local government representatives and ethnic communities, to develop a model for how the new program could operate.

"Multiple reports, including the Aged Care Royal Commission, have recommended creation of a new single home care program subsuming the existing separate programs.

"We look forward to working with the Federal Government to co-design and pilot a system of in-home care and support for older Australians that replaces existing home care programs with a better, integrated model that is fit for the future."