Daughterly Care received this update from the Department of Health on 13 August 2019. It states that lowered deeming rates have been back-dated to 1/7/2019 by the Department of Human Services.
Deeming rates are used to calculate your ‘deemed income’ from your ‘financial assets’ by Centrelink to decide if you are:
- self-funded;
- a part pensioner; or
- a pensioner
for the purposes of the Aged Care Pension eligibility and to calculate what your Income Tested Care Fee is for your Government Subsidised Home Care Package if you are self-funded or a part pensioner.
Who will benefit financially by reading this update?
Self-funded and Part-Pensioner clients with a Government Subsidised Home Care Package could benefit financially from reading this update.
(Pensioners or clients who had a Home Care Package prior to 1/7/2014 known as Continuing Care Clients) do not need to read this update as you don’t pay an Income Tested Care Fee.
With lower deeming rates from 1/7/2019 it is possible that if:
- you were “only just self-funded” you may now have become eligible to be a Part-Pensioner from 1/7/2019, in which case your Income Tested Care Fee for your Home Care Package will reduce from 1/7/2019;
- you were “a part-pensioner” in which case your Income Tested Care Fee WILL have been reduced from 1/7/2019 and Centrelink will advise you and your Approved Provider that we are to charge a lower Income Tested Care Fee for your Home Care Package;
- you were “only just a part-pensioner” in which case you may now have become a Full Pensioner, from 1/7/2019, in which case you will pay NO Income Tested Care Fee from 1/7/2019. Centrelink will advise you and your Approved Provider that we are to cease charging an Income Tested Care Fee for your Home Care Package.
New Assessment Forms for Centrelink
Also on the 13th of August 2019, the Department of Human Services advised in an update that they have released a new DIGITAL Aged Care Calculation of your Cost of Care SA486 digital form that you can complete online.
Here is the link to the page which contains the link to the SA486 DIGITAL form. You have to have PDF Reader to complete this form. The form is dynamic and asks you questions based on what you have answered.
Here is a link to the NEW PAPER VERSION of the Home Care Package Calculation of your Cost of Care Form (SA456) that you can download and complete.
Many Self- Funded Retirees did not complete the Age Care Calculation of your Cost of Care SA 456 form…but perhaps you need to check that you are still 100% Self-Funded
Many of Daughterly Care’s 100% self-funded clients who have a Government Subsidised Home Care Package never completed the SA456 form because they knew they were 100% self-funded and therefore they were going to pay the Maximum Income Tested Care Fee whether they completed the SA456 form or not, so there was no benefit in completing the complex form.
However, the lowering of the deeming rates from 1/7/2019 may mean you have now become a Part-Pensioner if your income was close to the threshold and you won’t know that unless you either:
- ask an accountant or financial planner to calculate your deemed income from your financial assets for you; or
- you complete either the digital or paper form and let Centrelink advise you of your self-funded or part-pensioner status.
Equally, Part Pensioners may have become Pensioners.
It is also possible that people who were “only just Part Pensioners” may have become full Pensioners after the deeming rates were reduced from 1/7/2019.
Assuming Centrelink knows your up to date “Financial Assets”, they don’t need another form from you, they will recalculate your “Deemed Income” from your “Financial Assets” and automatically let you and us know your new lower Income Tested Care Fee that we need to charge for your Government Subsidised Home Care Package.
Fee Estimator
The Government has a Fee Estimator so that you can get an estimate of what Income Tested Care Fee you will need to pay for your Home Care Package. We have updated the Income Tested Care Fee section on this page on our website and included a link to the Government Fee Estimator for Home Care Packages on this page of our website.
Kate Lambert
B.Ec F.Fin
Daughterly Care CEO & Co-Founder
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