How often are statements issued, and what do they show?
​Will I need to make a contribution, and how are participant contributions calculated?

If I have been assessed to make a contribution, how does this work?

How do I apply for financial hardship arrangements?

​How have unspent funds from the Home Care Package program transferred to Support at Home?

What happens to unspent quarterly budget under Support at Home — is it carried over or returned to the government?

How can I better plan under the new system?

How can I check my current funding balance?
​

Why have hourly rates increased, and how does this relate to the 10% care management cap?

What's included in Care Management fees?

Why do I see Care Management in weeks where I may not have had contact with my care team?

What happens if we exceed our 10% pooled care management fee or don’t use the allowance in the pool?
​

Will: Good evening, everyone. My name is William Garton. I'm the head of care and quality for Five Good Friends. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. With me is Simon Lockyer. Simon is the CEO and one of the founders of Five Good Friends also. Simon, welcome. And I'll hand over straightaway to you to kick things off.

Simon: Thank you very much. Well, and thank you very much for welcoming us into your home, or wherever you might be, this morning, this evening, rather, And thank you for taking time to join the session. I'd like to say at the outset that we know that the transition to Support at Home has brought with it many questions, and at times, understandably, some confusion.

We've been working hard to interpret and share the information with you about the new program as soon as it becomes available to us. The introduction of Support at Home has brought significant change to everyone involved in home care in Australia. This includes us as a provider and also our members, their families, who receive support through the program. I'd like to thank everyone for their patience, for their understanding, and for their continued trust as we navigate this once-in-a-generation change together.

We have been listening really closely to your feedback and to your questions. And ultimately, that really is the purpose of tonight's session.

Will: Thanks, Simon. So for tonight, what we'll do is we think we'll probably run for around about half an hour. We'll be working through the questions that you've submitted. We'll be focusing particularly on funding contributions and budgeting under the Support at Home program. It's been really, really clear to us that these are the areas that have raised the most immediate questions for our members and also their loved ones.

So I'd just like to say again, thank you, everyone, for taking the time to submit a question. If it is important to you, it will be important to other people, and that makes it important to us. Also, for those questions that were specific to individual circumstances, will make sure that you receive a response from a member of the relevant team.

We are also going to be recording this session, and we will make it available to all of our members and their loved ones afterwards. We will also add additional frequently asked questions to our new online knowledge base, so you'll always have ongoing access to updated and current information. If, by chance, your Support at Home question wasn't answered tonight.

We'll make sure to have it covered in the Frequently Asked Questions. So let's get in and let's get started.

Simon - Your statements will continue to be issued monthly in arrears under Support at Home, just as they were under the Home Care Package program. Your monthly statement will provide actual financial information for the previous month and show:

The statement is not a bill. You do not need to pay anything when you receive it. If you have a participant contribution to pay, you will receive a separate invoice.

We also have a 'How to read your Statement Guide' available if you need help understanding it and our team is always here to walk you through it. You can access the guide on our website. We have linked to it in previous emails and will do so again when we send out the recording.

Simon - Whether you need to make a contribution to your S@H services – and what the amount is – is not decided by Five Good Friends. It is assessed by Services Australia based on your income, assets, and circumstances. They write to you directly with this information. Your contribution is expressed as a percentage based on the type of service you are receiving.

Simon - You will be issued an invoice each month for the contribution amount you need to pay.

This means that you will always receive your invoice first, so you can see the amount and understand what it relates to. Similar to an electricity bill.

We have made the payment of contributions as easy for people as possible by setting up a direct debit facility using a trusted Australian direct debit provider called Ezi Debit who meets strict payment security standards.

If you have been assessed by Services Australia to make a contribution and do not have direct debit set up, our team are able to help you with this.

Your Direct Debit will occur after the invoice has been provided, in line with the payment terms outlined in that invoice. Our payment terms are 5-days.

Hopefully, you have received our communication to advise you of technical issues at Services Australia that impacted our ability to generate and provide you with contribution invoices. We extended the due date for the first two invoices under Support at Home to 10 days due to this delay.

We acknowledge that some Members will have received contribution invoices in what would have felt like a short period of time. We will be moving back to a regular monthly cadence for contribution amounts based on Services Australia being able to provide this information.

Simon - If making contributions is causing financial difficulty, you can apply for Financial Hardship Assistance through Services Australia using a form called the SA462.

If approved, the government may pay some or all of your contribution. We can help you understand the process and update your account once Services Australia makes their decision.

Once your application has been submitted, and you have provided us with evidence that it has been successfully received by Services Australia, your contribution payments will be paused until Services Australia completes their assessment. They aim to complete this within 28 days. Any change will be backdated to when the Hardship Application was lodged only, so you may still have contributions to make prior to this.

We will now address questions specific to funding and budgets.

William - Any unspent Home Care Package funds you have were transferred by the government to Support at Home with you.

Under the new program:

Will - Under Support at Home funds are not designed to accumulate over time in the same way as Home Care Package funds previously did. Under the new program, you can carry over a small amount of unspent funds from one quarter to the next. The most you can carry over is the greater of $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget.

Any remaining balance beyond this amount is returned to the government.

Importantly, your previous home care package funds remain available and aren't affected by these quarterly limits.

Will: Last week via email we provided an update to budgets. Under Support at Home, good planning starts with understanding your quarterly budget allocation and how it aligns to your care needs and goals.

This includes:

Because funding is allocated quarterly, it’s important to plan proactively within each funding period. Quarterly allocations are designed to support services during that quarter, rather than building up long-term balances.

Along with your monthly statement, your Support at Home budget is the key tool to help you plan the care and support you want to receive.

Your budget is a planning tool that estimates the cost of your support, based on your care and services for the coming quarter.

It shows you:

It can help you consider if you would like to make any changes and plan how your funding may be used.

Will: The changes in the program have meant that how we used to show a projected balance in the app can no longer work, as the logic behind the program and funding design is very different.

We are working with our software provider, who in turn is working with Services Australia, to introduce this functionality in the coming months.

In the meantime, you can understand your current position by referring to your most recent statement.

Our final set of question cover fees, charges and transparency.

Simon: We acknowledge that the new way Support at Home is funded, and therefore, how pricing works is one of the biggest changes we have all had to manage.

Under Support at Home, the way services and fees are structured has changed.

Previously under Home Care Packages, you paid:

Under Support at Home, this all changed, and a new funding model was introduced, which led to a new pricing structure for all registered providers under the program.

Under Support at Home:

This Service Price is higher because it now includes package management and operational costs that were previously charged separately.

The Five Good Friends model is unique and is designed to ensure that as much of your funding goes to your care as possible. Our schedule of prices is in your Support at Home Service agreement, and the most common prices our Members have paid for services in the first two months of Support at Home are available on our website.

One of the benefits of the FGF model is that you can choose to negotiate a different rate directly with your Helper. It is important to note that if you do, this may affect the overall price you pay and the contribution you are required to make, as contributions are linked to the all-inclusive Service Price.

William - Care Management is the time our team spends planning, coordinating, and reviewing your care. It includes activities such as:

Many of these activities can happen behind the scenes to make sure your care is safe, well-coordinated, and working for you.

You will see a summary of the total of care management hours you have received in your monthly statement. You will also see each care management activity listed for you in your weekly invoice summary.

As we talked about before, this is funded by the care management pool held by Services Australia that you have already contributed to; it does not come out of your funding for your ongoing support.

So importantly, you do not receive a bill for Care Management.

Simon: Care management includes both direct contact with you and important behind-the-scenes activities that happen even when we're not speaking directly.

As Will pointed out, examples of these activities include:

This means that you may see a care management activity in your weekly invoice summary for a week where you may not have spoken to a member of the Five Good Friends team.

Will: The short answer is nothing, but let’s go into it a little.

As we have talked about, the care management pool is held by Services Australia. This is at the provider level. Unused CM funding does not accumulate at the individual Member level for future personal use.

Instead, the pooled funding allows providers to support Members who may need more intensive care management, while still ensuring every Member has access to care coordination and oversight when needed.

Think of Care Management like a shared safety net. It’s there when you need it and shared across Members to make sure everyone gets the right level of support. This means that you can get more care management support when you need it.

We will always provide you with the level of care management support you need.

Simon – This brings us to the end of the questions we have received in relation to funding, contributions, and budgeting under Support at Home. We hope that you have found this helpful.

Once again, we acknowledge that the transition to Support at Home has been bumpy and even confusing. Thank you for your patience, understanding and continued trust in us during this transition. We are continuing to work really hard for you.

If you feel you need further support please contact us on 1300 787 581 – we are happy to help. There are also government funded services available to help you. You can contact the Older Persons Advocacy Network on 1800 700 600.

Thank you so much for joining us and have a lovely evening.