Executive Director Daniel Gannon is hopeful the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has heard the deafening unrest from the sector after making representations in a meeting last Thursday.
Friday was the last day for submission about the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s proposal to make residential aged care providers operating independent living units (ILUs) and retirement villages retain 10% of ILU and retirement village refundable amounts as liquid funds from 1 July this year.
In its submission to Liz Hefren-Webb, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, the Retirement Living Council makes four recommendations to the proposed Aged Care Financial and Prudential Standards.
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Obtain Crown Law advice to determine whether the Commonwealth has the jurisdictional authority to regulate State and territory governed retirement villages;
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Remove retirement villages from the liquidity standards to ensure both financial security and investment capacity, leading to critical new age-friendly housing supply for older Australians;
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Allow for operators to prove their liquidity through mechanisms other than the proposed 35:10:10 ratio, and
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Delay the implementation of the proposed Aged Care Financial and Prudential Standards.
“The proposals and an alarmingly short consultation process are industry-defining in that they all but push some operators across two sectors – retirement living and aged care – to the brink,” Daniel said.
“We’ve already heard from multiple operators this week – some privately and others in public – that new housing supply will dry up with these changes, adding years to future developments.
“Every single dollar that’s locked up in compliance is a dollar that can’t be spent on supporting older Australians through the development and improvement of retirement villages and aged care facilities’” said Daniel, who praised Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIV) David Moran on DCM Group’s LinkedIn page, for “sharing the real financial impact publicly helps paint an incredibly worrying picture for those creating these ‘policies’.”
David said his organisation was in a strong cash position and could meet the revised liquidity requirements, but timing the use of debt with prudential cash fully tied up would likely add two to three years to each new development.
Daniel told The SOURCE some ground had been given by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission which should rework its Financial and Prudential Standards guidance for providers.
StewartBrown revealed their submission last Friday as well.
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