From AS to HELF: Service List Compliance Is Only the Starting Point

The Transition Window Is Closing

Providers have less than eleven weeks to transition residents with Additional Services and Extra Services (ESS) arrangements before those arrangements cease.

Existing additional and extra service fee agreements can continue only until 31 October 2026. From 1 November 2026, residents who want to continue purchasing eligible enhanced services must have entered into a new Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF) agreement.

This is now an immediate operational priority.

Residents Need a Genuine Conversation

Providers should already be speaking directly with every affected resident—and, where appropriate, their supported decision maker—about:

• why their existing arrangement is ending
• which current services will continue to be available
• which services will be offered through HELF
• what each HELF service includes and costs
• which services can be purchased individually
• what the resident will continue to receive if they choose not to purchase HELF
• the resident’s right to accept, decline or change their purchasing decision.

The Department’s guidance expressly states that providers should have these conversations before existing arrangements cease. Waiting until October to begin communication creates significant operational, compliance and resident-experience risk.

This should not be managed through an agreement in the mail or a general information notice alone.

Residents need a genuine conversation.

They need time to understand why a long-standing fee arrangement is changing, consider whether the new services are relevant to them and ask questions about what will happen if they do not enter into a HELF agreement. Families and supported decision makers may also need help to understand that HELF is optional and separate from the funded care and services every resident must continue to receive.

For many residents, the distinction between Additional Services, Extra Services and HELF will not be intuitive. Without clear, personal communication, the transition may be perceived as:

• the introduction of a new fee
• the removal of existing services
• a reduction in the resident’s standard of care
• pressure to purchase a package
• charging for something previously included.

Those perceptions can quickly become complaints, particularly if staff cannot confidently explain the difference between the standard service and the HELF enhancement.

The transition is therefore more than an administrative conversion. It requires coordinated resident engagement, service design, staff education, agreement preparation and operational readiness.

Every Affected Resident Needs an Individual Transition Plan

Providers should now have a confirmed list of all residents with Additional Services or Extra Services arrangements and an individual transition pathway for each person.

At a minimum, this should identify:

1. the services the resident currently receives
2. the services for which the resident is currently charged
3. any services the resident receives without an additional charge
4. which services form part of the provider’s funded baseline
5. which services may be offered as enhanced or supplementary HELF services
6. whether the resident wants to continue purchasing any of those services
7. when the resident conversation, follow-up and agreement process will occur.

This review is particularly important where service delivery has evolved over time. A resident’s written agreement may not accurately reflect what they now use, value or receive in practice.

Some residents may wish to continue receiving all their current enhanced services. Others may prefer only one or two services. Some may decide that the services no longer hold value for them and decline HELF altogether.

All of these are valid outcomes.

Residents must not be required to purchase services they do not want. Where services are bundled, each service must also be available for individual purchase. Residents transitioning to HELF will also receive the applicable 28-day cooling-off period.

This makes early engagement essential. Providers need enough time for an initial conversation, consideration by the resident, follow-up questions, agreement preparation and informed consent before the existing arrangement ends.

The Consequence of Delay

If an existing arrangement remains in place on 1 November 2026, it ceases.

A provider cannot simply continue charging an Additional Services or Extra Service fee after that date. If a resident wishes to continue purchasing eligible enhanced services, a compliant HELF agreement must be in place.

Delay therefore creates several immediate risks:

• fees may no longer have a valid basis
• enhanced services may continue without an agreement or revenue
• services may be interrupted without the resident understanding why
• residents may feel rushed or pressured into making a decision
• families may dispute whether adequate information and choice were provided
• staff may give inconsistent explanations about what is changing.

The closer the transition gets to 31 October, the more difficult it becomes to provide residents with the time, information and support required for a genuinely informed decision.

The priority now is not simply to complete new agreements.

It is to talk to residents.

Providers need to explain the change clearly, listen to what each resident values and support them to make their own purchasing decision. The quality of these conversations will shape resident confidence in HELF—and may determine whether the transition is experienced as an administrative disruption or as a meaningful exercise in choice.

Thinking about how to implement, transition to or optimise HELF in your organisation?

Pride Aged Living has supported providers across Australia to design, implement and improve HELF programs that enhance resident experience while supporting financial sustainability.

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