I currently use Annecto for domestic assistance only - 1,5 hours per week.  The DA who has been assigned to me is an excellent cleaner so no complaints there.  BUT in January this year I received notice that the hourly rate would increase from $4.50 per hour to $8.50 per hour.  Wow!!  Nearly double.  Annecto did not implement this rise so I thought nothing more about it.  My invoices kept coming at $4.50 per hour and I kept paying them.  Had a phone call a couple of weeks ago purporting to be my annual revision - although I had not had any previous annual revisions in the more than 2 years with them.  A confirmation letter arrived a week or so later in which it was stated in part, "You have agreed to the $8.50 per hour...."  NO I DID NOT.  The subject was not even mentioned in the annual revision.  So I'm on the phone to Annecto complaining of the increase.  I was told I could plead inability to pay if I wanted to submit my list of income and expenditure and they would review it and they would decide.  I reluctantly submitted my income and expenditure.  God only knows what they will do with that.That was more than 3 weeks ago and I have not heard the outcome.  I did receive a telephone call saying that my plea had been forwarded to accounts and that I could be asked to submit more information.  What more can I give them?  How many times I clean my teeth a day/week or what?  God only knows!  So I cut my domestic assistance back to fortnightly.  I'll be checking out alternative providers.

Best advise is go for a company where you can self-manage or ask a younger friend, relative to manage your package for you. That means you get to choose which carers you want, and when you want. You are in control. Obviously within the government guidelines. It's easy to do. We do it. Then you need to double check the statements carefully - as they are always wrong. I feel for people who let the providers just "do it all for them" as this is where things are overcosted. We needed some little floor raisers going from carpet to slate for a walker. The company put in a quote to our provider that was 70% more than when my partner rang and requested the same thing. This is where it is so wrong, and you can have more control doing it yourself. My partner ordered it, they installed it, and we used less govt money. We are not greedy, and will pick them up time and time again. 

Some companies won't let you self manage. One of the companies you mentioned I wouldn't touch as a lot of what they do is not within guidelines of government. I worked in aged care, and also use the Elder Advocacy Network for any problems you have no matter how small. A lot of providers provide their own lists of what they say the govt will provide and not provide which is often incorrect. A lot of providers won't allow you to self manage. Don't use them. We can use our own gardener, outsource our cleaner ourselves, outsource our food cooked for us, outsource personal carers to so many different companies. Yes, they must have an ABN, be a proper company, have the correct credentials. The downside is we pay up front, and are reimbursed by provider within 7 to 10 days for some things. They need to see a paid tax invoice then reimbursement is simply emailing the providers that. 

Be mindful, be wary, and self manage - and if you can't, then ask someone younger to do it for you. You won't use as much money, you are in control of who you use, which means you choose the time the gardener comes, they don't. Mind you, the fees are reduced if you self manage (admin fees) by about 5% but it is worth it to get good local companies / workers helping you. 

Hi Peter. I use a company called Local Guardians as my service provider and I find them excellent. Their charges are very reasonable and at the moment they also give the option to self manage your package. This last may change depending on the outcome of the current investigations into the aged care system. Currently, I self manage my aged care package and I'm really happy with this. The provider is always there to give advice if needed and I'm so much better off than I was with one of the big providers. I am getting far more benefit from the package now than I have ever had in the past and I think this is how the system was meant to work. It doesn't make sense to allow the private providers to rip over half the funds out of the packages for their administration funds and leave the clients without many of the essential services that enable them to stay in their own homes. It's much better emotionally and physically for clients to remain at home where possible and much more cost effective for the government and hence for the taxpayers who provide the funding. I am very happy with the system the way it is working with my service provider. 

My advice is - learn the rules!  We used Calvary for about 6 years, moving from home assistance under the Commonwealth Home Care Program to a full service Level 4 Package.  Calvary are not the cheapest but in our area they proved to be completely reliable and enabled me to keep my wife out of nursing home care.  You need to weigh up costs of service against reliability of service.  I can't comment on home modifications as I did any that were required.  Management fees for Home Care packages are costly but I found only small differences between providers when comparing like for like services.

This site may be of assistance

https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/home-care-package-costs-and-fees

We used the My Aged Care website, which only allows you to compare 3 providers at any one time. This is pretty useless since the layout is such that you can't see the figures easily and there is a lot of info that we didn't want to know about --endless lists of religions catered for etc. In the end we printed off the info for around 15 providers who operated close to where we live, made up a spreadsheet /table and entered the details of costs , exit fees etc into it,  took the advice of our local politician and interviewed all those we considered best fit our needs. Some on our list were crossed of because we didn't want a religious group involved, others because they had no capacity in our area. In the end it came down to three providers. We interviewed each one, got a sample annual budget from them and based on that we settled on ECH South as our chosen group. We know that we can change groups without penalty if they don't measure up in the long term. but so far we are more than happy with the service and attention to detail.  Hope that helps.

Thanks so much - it's easy to separate an innocent from his / her cash - even though it's meant to make life at home more possible and independent 

without all your work you would have been relieved of a lot of money but regrettably many of us don't have the where for all to do what you did 

armed with your experiences I will be looking very carefully indeed - thanks very much for your time 

kind regards to everyone who has taken time to inform us

peter

I am interested in this as I was interviewed in 2018 -- STILL waiting  -- my Dr rang them AGAIN about 5 months ago to now get me onto level 4 --still awaiting an interview with them for about 5 months now.

My friend in Victoria, waited almost 20 months and her husband got a letter saying she had been approved 2 weeks after she died!

It is also not explained as to how it all works -- seems so many places that you can choose -- but what do they do? Seems they just take most of the money?

Your quite correct and that's why I am asking for help

many people on this site have experienced all this before and I just hope they will guide us a bit

In your case I would call my aged care myself - don't believe they would take that time to even assess you

regards

peter

Don't worry about contact interview- because of COVID they do it over the phone

i am amazed that you have been treated so poorly - why not contact your member of parliament- I am in Victoria and they go out of their way for us

kind regards

peter

We were booked for a face to face but because of COVID it was done over the phone they are expert interviewers and nothing is left to chance