Stopping or changing extras you no longer use

Many aged care homes offer extras on top of the standard services, such as pay TV, Wi-Fi, a wider menu or wine with dinner. Since 1 November 2025, these are charged through the higher everyday living fee. They're optional, and your parent can stop or change them.

This guide explains how to do that, and what to do if your parent is being charged for something they can't use.

Two kinds of extras agreement

• Ongoing extras, such as Wi-Fi or a term of exercise classes, need a written agreement. It must list each service, its cost, how often it's provided and to what standard.
• One-off extras, such as a coffee at the café, can be agreed on the spot, even verbally, at the time the service is provided.

The rest of this guide is about ongoing extras.

Changing your mind early: the 28-day cooling-off period

During the 28-day cooling-off period after signing an agreement for ongoing extras, your parent can cancel or change it without any cancellation fee. You just need to tell the home. No minimum notice is needed.

Stopping extras later

After the cooling-off period, your parent can still cancel or change an extra if they no longer want it or can't use it.

• Notice: they give the home four weeks' notice. The home can keep charging until the notice period ends. Anything paid in advance for later periods comes back within 14 days.
• Costs the home can't avoid: if the home has a cost it can't get out of, such as a subscription, it can pass that on for up to 90 days. It can only pass on what it has actually spent, it must be able to show that, and the cost must be listed in the agreement. It can't pass these costs on if your parent cancels during the cooling-off period, or because the home can't deliver.
• If the home can't deliver: if the home can no longer provide the service, or not to the agreed standard, your parent can end it straight away with no notice or fee, or agree to drop or change it. Anything paid in advance comes back within 14 days.

Once a price is agreed for your parent, the home can only increase it once a year, by indexation.

The yearly review

The home must review the agreement with your parent at least once a year. The review checks that your parent still wants each service and can still use it. It's a good moment to drop anything that's no longer used. If you hold a power of attorney, you can usually act on this for your parent.

Charged for something your parent can't use

The department's guidance says people shouldn't be asked to pay for a service they can't or won't use. For example, a resident who can no longer watch TV shouldn't keep paying for pay TV.

Bundles of services are allowed, but your parent doesn't have to accept one. A bundle also can't cost more than the services your parent can use would cost if bought separately. Every service in a bundle must be available on its own.

If you think your parent has been charged for things they can't use:

1. Ask the home in writing to cancel those services and explain the charges.
2. Ask for a refund or credit for the period your parent couldn't use them.
3. If it isn't resolved, contact the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. The Commission has been looking into these fees, and at least one large provider has refunded residents.

Residents who were already in care before November 2025

Two extra protections apply to people who were in an aged care home before 1 November 2025.

• Older extras arrangements are ending. "Extra service" and "additional service" fee arrangements made before 1 November 2025 can only continue until 31 October 2026. Homes shouldn't unreasonably refuse a request to leave one before then. Any change needs a new higher everyday living fee agreement, which replaces the old one.
• Services that used to be free stay free. From 1 November 2026, a resident who got a higher-standard service free of charge before 1 November 2025 can't be charged for it while the home still offers it to others. This doesn't apply if they were already paying for it under an extra or additional service arrangement.

Where to get help

• The home should explain every charge on your parent's statement.
• OPAN's free advocates can help you raise it with the home.
• The Commission takes complaints about fees and services.

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