For most of the last decade, residential aged care providers had two ways to earn revenue above the Government’s care and accommodation funding: the Extra Service Fee, for homes with a formally approved higher-standard offering, and the Additional Service Fee, for the optional extras residents could choose to pay for. Both were imperfect, but both were familiar. Boards knew roughly what they contributed to the bottom line, and finance teams knew how to bill them.
The Aged Care Act 2024 removed both. Since 1 November 2025 there has been one instrument for optional, above-standard services: the Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF). Residents already on an Extra or Additional Service arrangement have until 31 October 2026 to be moved onto a HELF agreement or taken off the charge entirely. After that date, a provider that has not made the transition has no lawful basis for charging.
That makes HELF a strategic question for every board, not just an administrative one. With the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) base price rising only 2.55 per cent from 1 October 2026 against a 4.75 per cent award wage increase effective 1 July, HELF is the one material revenue line still within a provider’s control. It is also, as this month has shown, the one most likely to draw regulatory attention if it is done carelessly.
What the last month told us
Three things happened in quick succession. In July the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) announced it was investigating providers’ HELF arrangements, citing examples of bundled services residents could not use and charges for activities delivered by volunteers. On 10 September the Commission disclosed that a major operator had returned more than $190,000 to almost 350 residents after reviewing its HELF charging. The same evening the Minister announced an amendment to the Aged Care Rules 2025 that will make it law, not merely guidance, that a resident cannot be charged a HELF for any service they were receiving at no extra cost before 1 November 2025.
The provider in question, by its own account, introduced HELF in good faith, found itself on the wrong side of updated Departmental guidance, self-corrected and reported to the regulator. The Commissioner’s response was measured but pointed: providers must critically review their charging, identify everyone affected, remediate and notify.
The lesson is not that HELF is dangerous. It is that HELF compliance is a continuous state, not a one-off setup task, and the guidance you set up against in February may not be the guidance you are assessed against in September.
Why providers get caught
In our work with residential homes, HELF problems almost never come from a deliberate decision to overcharge. They come from four gaps.
The first is the baseline gap. The new rule turns on what each resident was receiving free on 31 October 2025. Very few homes captured that per resident at the time. Without it, you cannot prove that a grandfathered resident’s HELF charge is legitimate, and the burden of proof sits with you.
The second is the cohort gap. Every home now houses at least three kinds of resident: those admitted before 1 November 2025 whose pre-existing free services are protected for life; those admitted before 1 November who are still transitioning off an old arrangement; and those admitted since, for whom HELF is fully available. The rules for each are different, and the difference has to be visible to whoever raises a charge or adds a service, not buried in a spreadsheet in the finance office.
The third is the evidence gap. HELF is a fee for services actually delivered at a higher standard than the standard offer. If the premium service was not provided, the charge for that period is not defensible. Most billing systems raise HELF as a flat periodic fee and never ask whether the service occurred.
The fourth is the drift gap. A resident who chose a HELF package for social outings and premium dining in March may, by September, be bed-bound, on a modified diet, or living with advancing dementia. The services they are paying for may no longer be something they can use or meaningfully consent to. The Rules require HELF to be optional and appropriate; continuing to charge a resident whose care needs have changed is exactly the kind of case the Commission is looking for, and exactly the kind of case that families raise as complaints.
What staying compliant looks like
Start with a documented baseline for every resident who was in your care at 31 October 2025, reconstructed from care plans, service logs, and old agreements if you did not capture it at the time, and record the evidence you relied on.
Segment every resident by cohort and make the cohort visible at the point of decision: in the admissions workflow, in the service catalogue, and on the billing screen.
Build a service catalogue that classifies each item as standard offer, higher standard, or additional, with a written rationale. If you cannot explain in one sentence why an item sits outside the standard offer for a particular resident, do not charge for it.
Capture consent properly. A HELF agreement should record a positive election, who signed, what was explained, and when. Bundles, default opt-ins, and withdrawal of services on non-payment are the patterns the regulator has named.
Evidence delivery. Staff should record that a HELF service was actually provided, at the time and place it was provided, so that every charge on a statement can be traced to an occurrence on the floor.
Monitor for change. Link HELF agreements to the clinical record so that a material change in a resident’s care needs triggers a review of whether their HELF services are still appropriate, and a conversation with the family before the next invoice rather than after a complaint.
Self-review before the Commission does. Reconcile every resident with a HELF, Extra, or Additional Service charge against cohort, baseline, delivery evidence, and consent, and be honest about how much of that reconciliation depends on someone remembering rather than a record that already holds the answer. Address what does not reconcile, document the method, and tell the Commission. The operators who did that this year have been treated very differently from those who waited.
For the full ten-question board-level compliance scorecard, download our governance guide.
General commentary, not legal advice. Check the Aged Care Rules 2025 and the Department’s current HELF Guidance Manual before changing charging practices.
Sources: Aged Care Act 2024; Aged Care Rules 2025, Subdivision F; ACQSC media releases and Commissioner statements, July and September 2026; Minister for Aged Care media release, 10 September 2026; StewartBrown Aged Care Financial Performance Survey, FY25 and FY22 (sample-based); IHACPA AN-ACC pricing advice, October 2026; Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review, June 2026.
