Commonwealth Home Support Programme – update on consultation process and next steps At the start of March, the Department of Social Services released for comment three core documents for the Commonwealth Home Support Programme:  The draft Commonwealth Home Support Programme Manual;  The draft Good Practice Guide for Restorative Care Approaches (incorporating wellness and reablement); and  A consultation paper on fee arrangements for the CHSP. Written submissions on these documents closed on Wednesday 15 April, and the Department would like to thank everyone who provided feedback. The Department would also like to thank everyone who attended the aged care sector briefings held over March and April, which included a session on these documents and the CHSP more generally. What happens next? Draft Commonwealth Home Support Programme Manual and draft Good Practice Guide The Department will now analyse the submissions it has received for these consultation documents, and then in partnership with the National Aged Care Alliance’s (NACA) Commonwealth Home Support Programme Expert Advisory Group and peak bodies such as the Australian Meals on Wheels Association and the Australian Community Transport Association, use this feedback to refine and finalise the Programme Manual and the Good Practice Guide. Finalised documents are intended to be available before the end of the financial year. Commonwealth Home Support Programme - National Fees Policy Consultation Paper The Department will also work closely with NACA and peak bodies such as the Australian Meals on Wheels Association and the Australian Community Transport Association on the further development of future fee arrangements for the CHSP, using the feedback it has received to adjust the positions canvassed in the consultation paper as necessary. All feedback received on the consultation paper will be considered in the context of further development of the fees policy, with the objective of establishing a nationally consistent fees framework that is fair and achieves the aims of creating a sustainable system, expanding service availability, providing a safety net for those of lower means, and asking those who can afford to contribute to the cost of their care to do so. It is anticipated that further advice on future fees arrangements will be available before the end of the financial year, once feedback has been assessed and further work with NACA and peak bodies has occurred. It has also come to the Department’s attention that there are some misconceptions in respect to what was canvassed in the consultation paper on fees, with some believing, for example, that it is intended that the fees canvassed in the paper were proposed to apply to clients in addition to the fees they currently pay. The Department would like to clarify that this is not the case, and that it is intended that the final fees policy will replace the different fee arrangements that currently apply in different regions and across the programmes that are being combined under the CHSP.