Cost recovery

We have cost recovery arrangements (fees we charge providers) for assessing applications to:

become a registered provider
renew your registration
vary your registration

We also charge for any audits needed for these the applications.

You can find out more information about the fees we charge on Registration fees.

Cost recovery is where government agencies charge fees to recover some or all of the efficient costs to do specific activities. This can include providing goods, services or regulation, or a combination of these.

You can find more information about how government agencies should design, use and review charging in the Australian Government’s Cost Recovery Policy and Charging Framework.

Our cost recovery arrangements aim to be fair and robust.

Some providers are eligible to pay a reduced fee or no fee at all. These are called fee reductions or fee waivers.

They help providers to:

start up and run their business in thin markets (where there aren’t many services operating)
keep running their business even if they have financial viability risk (financial challenges).

They also support more First Nations providers to join the aged care sector.

You can find out more information about fees and fee waivers or reductions on Registration fees.

Cost Recovery Implementation Statement

Our Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS) has information on how we charge for provider registration, registration renewal and provider requests to vary to registration. It also includes details of fee waivers.

Download the Cost Recovery Implementation Statement 2025-26.

Each financial year we review our fees and apply indexation (change them to keep up with inflation). We will publish a new CRIS to let you know what the updated fees are.

A staged approach under the new Aged Care Act

In the 2024–25 Budget, the government agreed to a 2-stage approach for cost recovery under the new Aged Care Act 2024 (new Aged Care Act).

Stage 1 is the cost recovery arrangements for the first 2 years after the new Act starts on 1 November. This stage focuses on regulatory activities similar to what providers are used to paying fees for.

Stage 2 will start 2 years after the new Aged Care Act starts. We’ll consult on the Stage 2 details closer to this time.