CPD and workshops.

Keep your knowledge and skills up to date.

Aged care advice is a rapidly evolving area – so it is important you keep up to date, and continue to learn new tips and improve skills. Aged Care Steps regularly runs aged care training, webinars and workshops to help you learn, refresh skills and grow in your personal development. We simplify the complex and provide a practical approach to share new ideas with you.

Check below for upcoming workshops, or stay connected with updates delivered to your inbox.

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Refresh your accreditation - get ready for 2025.

Need to know how aged care is changing in 2025 and update your knowledge for the new rules and how aged care advice strategies are changing?

Our Aged Care Refresh workshop is designed for advisers who have knowledge on the current rules and need to get up-to-date on what is changing on 1 July 2025. It assumes you have a current working knowledge and competency in aged care advice and provides an update for the new rules and application of strategies.

Developed as an interactive workshop, it gives you the opportunity to take a deep dive into strategies to understand what works, what does no longer applies and how to give advice to clients. It also provides an opportunity to network with your peers and discuss ideas so that you walk away with effective knowledge and business skills.

For advisers who previously completed the Aged Care Steps (ACS) Accredited Aged Care Professional™ program, as well as updating knowledge and skills, this workshop can provide the refresh needed to qualify for the FAAA Aged Care Specialist Designation, or to apply to Deakin University for a one credit point elective subject (conditions apply) if completing the Master of Financial Planning.

If you have not completed the Aged Care Steps Accredited Aged Care Professional™ program, or have not been actively providing advice since completing accreditation (or other training) you may prefer to complete the full accreditation program (ask us about the repeat discount). If you have not completed our accreditation, the refresh workshop does not count towards gaining the Accreditation.

If you wish to formally refresh your accreditation, you will need to pass an online exam (70% pass rate). An assignment will also be required if your original accreditation did not involve an assignment. But if you just want to gain the knowledge and skills update (without a formal refresh), the assessments are optional. CPD hours apply under either option.

This workshop is available as a one-day face-to-face workshop, or as two four-hour live and interactive online sessions - the choice is yours. Click on links below to download registration forms.

Cost: $800 + GST (total $880)

Accreditation refresh program - face-to-face workshops in capital cities

The Refresh Workshop is provided as one-day face-to-face workshops in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Download the registration form for dates and full details.

Accreditation refresh program - monthly online workshops

The Refresh Workshop is provided as a live and interactive online workshop, with workshops running each month. You need to attend one full set, comprising two 4-hour webinars. Download the registration form for dates and full details.

Need information on the full accreditation program ?

Qualify for FAAA Aged Care Specialist™ designation

If you completed the Aged Care Steps (ACS) Accreditation before 1 January 2023*, this workshop (and assessments) is a pathway to qualifying for the FAAA Aged Care Specialist designation. Alternatively, for a full refresh you could choose to re-enrol in the full Accreditation program at a repeat attendee’s discount price – ask us!*

If you completed the original accreditation before 1 January 2023, you need to complete the assessment components - assignment and online exam - to qualify for the FAAA designation or RPL credit with Deakin University. Upon successful completion of the assessments (70% combined pass rate, with 60% minimum in each component) an Accreditation Refresh certificate will be issued. If you are not looking for the designation or RPL credit, the assessment component is optional.

Note: Advisers who have not already completed the full accreditation program (including all assessments) will not qualify for the FAAA designation, RPL status or the Aged Care Steps accreditation by completing just this workshop. The full Aged Care Steps (ACS) Accredited Aged Care Professional™ program must be completed.

“I really enjoyed this webinar. Great to just recap on key issues, important things to remember, common mistakes and things we can do better. Get so busy day to day, it’s great to have these kinds of reminders - thank-you!

Brenda Will,  Bruining Partners

Upcoming lunchtime webinars.

Our monthly lunchtime webinars cover the technical know-how and human elements of giving advice and building your business. CPD hours are allocated, across the range of Code of Ethics categories.

Better yet, subscribers to our Essentials or Active membership packages will enjoy discounted fees or free registrations. They also have the added bonus of access to the recordings anytime, anywhere through the Business Toolkit™ (no CPD hours for recorded versions).

Webinar (the basics): Low-means - who they are & what they pay. 11 March 2025, 11:00am (Sydney daylight savings time)

Identifying a low-means resident is essential to your advice conversation. This sits at Step 2 of our 9-step advice process TM. Reduce client confusion and save your time by only discussing low-means rules with clients who may qualify.

Join Lara Hansen in this webinar to discuss rules post 1 July 2025 for:

  • Quick tips for identifying a low-means resident

  • The calculations behind a low-means assessment

  • The cost of accommodation for a low-means resident – and how much the client pays and how it changes

  • The key facts for lump sums or daily ‘rent ’

  • Understanding when low-means is good and when it is not.

Webinar details:

  • Date: Tuesday 11th March 2025

  • Time: 11.00am-11.45am (Sydney daylight savings time)

  • Registrations close: 5pm on Monday 10th March 2025

  • Price: Free for registered user of Essentials and Active membership packages (plus 2 colleagues in same office). A fee of $100+GST ($110) applies for additional registrations, non-members or Generator-only subscribers.

  • CPD: 1 hour (for registered participants who log-in and attend the live webinar for at least 80% of the duration).

An invoice (if applicable) will be issued when you lodge your registration application. Payment is required before attending the webinar.

Webinar (the strategies): Low-means - strategic planning for the traps. 11 March 2025, 12:00pm (Sydney daylight savings time)

Do low-means residents need advice? This webinar explores the complexity underlying the low-means rules and what traps may lay ahead without careful advice and consideration for future changes.

Join Lara Hansen as she uses a series of case studies to demonstrate that low-means does not mean low advice. These case studies will explore the following post 1 July 2025 scenarios:

  • Couples – if the first person moves into care as low-means how is this impacted if their partner moves into care, moves home or dies?

  • Protected person - a single homeowner may qualify as low-means with a protected person in their home. What changes do you need to look out for?

  • Fee changes - how fees can change, even if the resident’s financial position is stable.

Webinar details:

  • Date: Tuesday 11th March 2025

  • Time: 12.00am-1.00pm (Sydney daylight savings time)

  • Registrations close: 5pm on Monday 10th March 2025

  • Price: Free for registered user of Essentials and Active membership packages (plus 2 colleagues in same office). A fee of $100+GST ($110) applies for additional registrations, non-members or Generator-only subscribers.

  • CPD: 1 hour (for registered participants who log-in and attend the live webinar for at least 80% of the duration).

An invoice (if applicable) will be issued when you lodge your registration application. Payment is required before attending the webinar.

Webinar (the basics): Paying RADs for an aged care room. 8 April 2025, 10:00am (Sydney time)

Aged care residents who are not classified as low-means (ie. market-price payers) need to pay the full agreed cost of a room in aged care. And these rules are changing from 1 July 2025.

In this session, Jacqui Hayes will take us back to the basics around the cost of residential aged care:

  • What the client is paying for

  • How market room prices are set and where to find them

  • Understanding the $750k threshold, and when to challenge a room price

  • Accommodation agreements when a client becomes a permanent resident

  • Converting the RAD/RAC into a daily payment (in full or partial) and the choices a client has

  • How/when RADs are refunded.

Webinar details:

  • Date: Tuesday 8th April 2025

  • Time: 10.00am-10.45am (Sydney time)

  • Registrations close: 5pm on Monday 7th April 2025

  • Price: Free for registered user of Essentials and Active membership packages (plus 2 colleagues in same office). A fee of $100+GST ($110) applies for additional registrations, non-members or Generator-only subscribers.

  • CPD: 1 hour (for registered participants who log-in and attend the live webinar for at least 80% of the duration).

An invoice (if applicable) will be issued when you lodge your registration application. Payment is required before attending the webinar.

Webinar (the strategies): Paying RADs for an aged care room. 8 April 2025, 11:00am (Sydney time)

Aged care residents who are not classified as low-means (ie. market-price payers) need to pay the full agreed cost of a room in aged care. And these rules are changing from 1 July 2025.

In this session, join Jacqui Hayes to take a more strategic look at funding a room in aged care:

  • How safe is my RAD? Provider investment rules and government guarantees

  • RAD or DAP - the benefits of paying a RAD

  • Calculating the retention amount

  • Strategies to access a room that looks unaffordable (for example, DAP from RAD & borrowing)

  • What happens if a child pays the RAD

Webinar details:

  • Date: Tuesday 8th April 2025

  • Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (Sydney time)

  • Registrations close: 5pm on Monday 7th April 2025

  • Price: Free for registered user of Essentials and Active membership packages (plus 2 colleagues in same office). A fee of $100+GST ($110) applies for additional registrations, non-members or Generator-only subscribers.

  • CPD: 1 hour (for registered participants who log-in and attend the live webinar for at least 80% of the duration).

An invoice (if applicable) will be issued when you lodge your registration application. Payment is required before attending the webinar.

FREE Webinar (Recorded): 2025 - The Year Ahead. (On-demand recording - no CPD).

This year we will see a major piece of aged care reform put into place - a new Aged Care Act and a new fee structure for clients.

Finance and funding of aged care will continue to hit the headlines and clients will be keen to know what it is all about. As we head into 2025 get ahead of the curve and find out what to expect. Join Danni Dixon of Aged Care Steps, in this free webinar to learn:

  • How you can provide clients with an aged care advice solution and which model best suits your business

  • The key conversation tips you need for clients in 2025

  • Implications for advice and clients

  • An overview of what to expect and how different the costs will be for clients

  • What sets good aged care advice apart

  • How Aged Care Steps is supporting advisers in 2025.

Webinar details:

  • Date: On-demand recording

  • Price: Free

  • CPD: Not available

FREE Webinar (recorded on demand): The wait is over & the fun begins - a guide to Aged Care fee reforms. (On demand recording - no CPD)

If you have older clients, or clients with older parents, this is a webinar you can’t afford to miss.

The long-awaited reforms to aged care funding and fees (and a Bill to introduce a new Aged Care Act) were tabled in Parliament on 12 September 2024. This follows the Royal Commission and the Aged Care Taskforce’s report, responding to the growing demand for aged care services and the need for increased investment.

The changes are significant, so hear from the experts what is changing and what you need to know. Join Louise Biti in this webinar for a discussion on:

  • Why change is needed

  • Who is going to pay more

  • Phasing out of RADs and retention amounts

  • Increases to ongoing care fees

  • Is means-testing really gone

  • Changes to home care

  • What the changes mean for advice

Webinar details:

  • Date: On demand recording

  • Price: Free

  • CPD: Not available.

FREE Webinar (Recorded): On the couch with ACS - aged care advice tips. (On-demand recording - no CPD).

Without doubt, the demand for aged care advice is higher than it has been and with an ageing population that demand is only going to increase. Advisers need to find a solution that works for their advice business.

But as with any specialist area, aged care advice has its own nuances that can be challenging to fit with your usual advice processes.   

Join Danni Dixon as she sits down with our own aged care experts - Jennifer Langton and Lara Hansen, to discuss:

  • Tips & traps in providing advice to aged care clients

  • How to use our advice generator to evaluate strategies & prepare your advice documents efficiently.

  • How to build out an aged care solution for your clients - whether in-house or outsourcing- to meet this demand

Webinar details:

  • Date: On-demand recording

  • Price: Free

  • CPD: Not available

 

Developing aged care advice document workshops.

The key to good aged care advice is efficiency and accurate modelling, plus a well-structured advice document that tells the story clearly to clients. Learn how to create advice documents – whether looking at home care, retirement villages or residential aged care.

Webinar: What's new in the ACS Advice Generator. On demand.

We are excited to be launching a new version of the Generator.

We have rebuilt the entire back engine to simplify data entry, improve modelling outcomes and add extra functionality, but have kept the look and feel the same to minimise disruption. Join us at this free webinar to see what is new and what it means when giving advice:

• New Current Situation screen inserted in between data entry and strategy screens

• Simpler data entry, particularly with low-means clients

• A simpler and improved ability to model changes over the first 12 months and new cashflow report in appendix.

• Additional downsizing options for the home to cater for needs of a spouse remaining outside care.

• Greater planning options, for clients not ready to move into residential care or to consider the impact of one member of a couple passing away.

• And more.

Webinar details:

  • Date: On-demand recording

  • Time: 60 minutes

  • Price: Free

Learn from the experts.

 

Aged Care Steps are the leaders in aged care advice training – and not just technical specialists, but also experienced in giving aged care advice.

The Aged Care Steps Accredited Aged Care Professional program is a very comprehensive training program on many aspects of aged care that provides you with the skills and knowledge to competently provide advice in this complex area. Louise and her team are also very knowledgeable and supportive in helping you build your skills to be able to provide this type of advice to clients.”

Stuart McKenzie, Lead Financial Pty Ltd