In-depth aged care guides
The longer guides: what aged care costs and how the means test works, how to judge and tour a home, and the legal documents and rights that matter when a parent moves into care.
Which guide should I read first?
If a move into an aged care home is likely, start with what aged care costs and how to choose a home, then take the tour checklist to every home you visit. If nobody has requested the free government assessment yet, do that first: see the aged care assessment, explained.
Costs
Room prices, daily fees, the means test, the Age Pension and the family home, with current figures.
- Aged care costs in 2026, with worked examples The room, the basic daily fee and the means-tested contributions, worked through for three typical situations.
- Every aged care fee and cap in one table A quick reference to the current government fees, caps and thresholds, each with its date and source.
- The aged care means test, step by step How Services Australia counts income and assets, how the family home is treated, and which forms to use.
- RAD or DAP: paying for the room The lump sum, the daily payment and the mix: how each works, what is refunded, and the questions to take to an adviser.
- What aged care costs, in plain English The room, the basic daily fee and the means-tested contributions, with current figures.
Choosing a home
Star ratings, staffing, tours and dementia care: how to judge an aged care home for yourself.
- What is the best aged care in Australia? There is no single best home. What the government star ratings show nationally, how to judge a home, and the highest-rated homes in our data.
- How to choose an aged care home, step by step From the assessment to signing the agreement: what to check at each step, and the red flags that should slow you down.
- Aged care tour checklist (printable) What to look for and what to ask on every tour, grouped and printable, including the questions star ratings and care minutes raise.
- Aged care star ratings explained The four sub-ratings, how the overall rating is worked out, what changed in 2025 and 2026, and what a rating cannot tell you.
Rights and decisions
Rights in care, complaints, restraint, and who decides when a person cannot.
- Enduring power of attorney, state by state What an enduring power of attorney can and cannot do, how each state names it, and why to sort it out early.
- Advance care directives in Australia How to write down care wishes so they are followed, what each state calls the document, and where to keep it.
- How to make an aged care complaint Raising it with the home, free advocacy, and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, step by step.
Care at home
Support at Home, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, and how to tell when home stops working.
- Home care or an aged care home? How Support at Home and residential care compare on care, cost and safety, and the signs that home is no longer working.