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Aged care monthly cost calculator

Morayfield Grove Care Community

Work it out

Room, daily fees, the means test and the 2% a year kept from the lump sum, added up into one monthly figure. Built from the rules for people moving in from 1 November 2025.

Rates from the government schedule of 20 September 2026, and the interest rate for room prices agreed to 31 December 2026. Next change 1 January 2027.

The room
From the operator's price list; checked 7 Nov 2026.
$
It fixes the interest rate (8.51% now) for the whole stay.
How much to pay up front

Any part of the room price can be paid as a refundable lump sum (RAD). The rest is charged as a daily payment (DAP).

$
Which rules apply
Their income and assets (optional)

Without these you see a range. With rough figures you get one number.

Used only to do this sum. We do not save these figures, put them in the page address, or send them to analytics.

Optional extras (HELF)

A higher everyday living fee pays for extras such as a wine with dinner or a newspaper. It is never a condition of moving in, and most homes do not publish the price: ask for it in writing.

$

Each month

$3,302 to $7,305

$108.57 to $240.17 a day. The top of the range is the most the means test can add. Add their income and assets for one figure.

Basic daily feeEveryone pays it: meals, cleaning, laundry, power. $2,096.62$68.93 a day
Daily payment on the unpaid room price$170,000 unpaid × 8.51% ÷ 365. The rate is fixed at the one on the day the price is agreed. $1,205.72$39.64 a day
Means-tested contributionsHotelling up to $22.15 and non-clinical care up to $109.45 a day, set by Services Australia from income and assets. $0 to $4,002.83a month

What happens to the $300,000 lump sum

The home keeps back 2% a year of the balance, worked out daily ($16.44 a day at first), for 5 years from when it is paid. It cannot ask you to top it up, and it cannot raise the daily payment because of it.

Lump sum kept back each year
YearKept backLump sum left
1$5,945.00$294,055.00
2$5,827.20$288,227.80
3$5,711.95$282,515.85
4$5,599.25$276,916.60
5$5,488.25$271,428.35

Over 5 years: $28,571.65. After that nothing more is kept back, and $271,428 is refunded when they leave, guaranteed by the Australian Government. This assumes the home deducts it every month and nothing else is taken from the lump sum.

An estimate from the published rules, not advice. Results can differ from a home's bill by a few cents. Services Australia works out the means-tested parts for each person.

How the sum works

The calculator adds up to five daily amounts and turns them into a month (a day × 365 ÷ 12).

The room

Each room has one price. Whatever is not paid as a lump sum is charged every day at the maximum permissible interest rate (MPIR) on the day the price is agreed: unpaid amount × rate ÷ 365. That rate stays fixed for the stay, but the daily payment is adjusted on 20 March and 20 September each year in line with an index the government publishes.

The basic daily fee

The same for everyone, set at 85% of the single basic age pension: $68.93 a day from 20 September 2026.

The means test

Services Australia looks at income and assets and works out a daily "means tested amount". Up to $73.73, it goes towards the room and the government pays the rest. Above that, your parent pays their room price, and the next $22.15 becomes the hotelling contribution. Anything beyond that, up to $109.45 a day, is the non-clinical care contribution, which stops after four years or $140,652.80 in total. The home is counted only up to $219,858, and not at all while a partner or another protected person lives there.

What happens to the lump sum

For people who move in from 1 November 2025, the home keeps 2% a year of the lump sum, worked out each day on what is left, for up to five years. Everything else is refunded when your parent leaves, and the refund is guaranteed by the Australian Government. Read the full explanation in the 2% retention, explained.

Higher everyday living fees

Optional, agreed separately after moving in, with 28 days to change your mind. What a HELF can and cannot include.

Where the figures come from

For your parent's own figures, Services Australia does a formal income and assets assessment. The government's own fee estimator on My Aged Care is another check; it leaves out HELF and does not use a particular room. Free help: My Aged Care 1800 200 422.

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