6Grant of financial assistance in connection with home care services

6 Grant of financial assistance in connection with home care services

(1) Subject to this Act, where a participating State has, after it has given the notice by virtue of which it is a participating State, expended, in a relevant period, an amount for or in connection with an approved home care service scheme, financial assistance is payable to that State in respect of the expenditure by that State of that amount. (2) Financial assistance is not payable to a participating State under this Act in respect of an amount expended by that State for or in connection with an approved home care service scheme: (a) where that State expended that amount on or after the day on which an agreement substantially in accordance with the form contained in the Schedule to the Home and Community Care Act 1985 was, or is, entered into between the Commonwealth and that State; or (b) if, in circumstances to which paragraph (a) does not apply, that amount is expended by the State on or after the prescribed commencement day and no other amount has been expended by that State for or in connection with that scheme before the prescribed commencement day. (3) The amount of financial assistance payable under this Act to a participating State in respect of an amount expended by that State in a relevant period for or in connection with an approved home care service scheme is: (a) where the State expended an amount for or in connection with the scheme in that State during the base year—an amount equal to the lesser of: (i) one‑half of the amount expended by the participating State for or in connection with the approved home care service scheme in that relevant period; and (ii) the amount that is: (A) where the relevant period is the first relevant period—the product of the adjustment factor and the amount that bears the same proportion to the base amount for that State for or in connection with that scheme as the first relevant period bears to a period of 52 weeks; (B) where the relevant period is the second relevant period—the product of the adjustment factor and the amount that bears the same proportion to the amount calculated in accordance with sub-subparagraph (A) in respect of the expenditure by that State for or in connection with that scheme in the first relevant period as a period of 52 weeks bears to the first relevant period; or (C) where the relevant period is neither the first nor the second relevant period—the product of the adjustment factor and the amount calculated in accordance with whichever of sub-subparagraph (B) or this sub-subparagraph (in a previous application of this subsection) applies in respect of the expenditure by that State for or in connection with that scheme in the immediately preceding relevant period; and (b) where that State first expended an amount for or in connection with that scheme in that State in the period commencing on 1 July 1985 and ending on the day before the prescribed commencement day (in this paragraph referred to as the prescribed period)—an amount equal to the lesser of: (i) one‑half of the amount expended by that State for or in connection with that scheme in the relevant period; and (ii) the amount: (A) where the relevant period is the first relevant period—that bears the same proportion to the amount of financial assistance paid or payable to that State in respect of expenditure by that State for or in connection with that scheme in the prescribed period, as the first relevant period bears to the prescribed period; or (B) where the relevant period is the second or a subsequent relevant period—that bears the same proportion to the amount ascertained in accordance with sub-subparagraph (A) in respect of the expenditure by that State for or in connection with that scheme in the first relevant period as a period of 52 weeks bears to the first relevant period. (4) For the purposes of this section, the base amount, in respect of an amount expended by a participating State for or in connection with an approved home care service scheme in the base year is, subject to subsection (5), an amount equal to the amount of financial assistance paid or payable to that State in respect of the base year under section 6 as that section was in force immediately before the prescribed commencement day in respect of that expenditure by that State in the base year for or in connection with that scheme. (5) Where: (a) the home care service provided under the approved scheme referred to in subsection (4) was provided for a part only of the base year or the level at which the service was provided under the scheme increased significantly during the base year; and (b) the Minister is satisfied that, for either or both of the reasons specified in paragraph (a), the total expenditure by that State for or in connection with that scheme in the base year does not fairly indicate the total amount that the State is likely to expend for or in connection with that scheme in a succeeding financial year; the Minister may, having regard to the matters referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b), determine, in writing, a different amount to be the base amount in respect of the expenditure by that State for or in connection with that scheme. (6) Where the Minister makes a determination under subsection (5), that determined amount shall, for the purposes of the operation of subparagraph (3)(a)(ii), be substituted for the base amount ascertained in accordance with subsection (4). (7) For the purposes of subparagraph (3)(a)(ii), the adjustment factor in respect of a participating State and a relevant period, is a number calculated in accordance with the formula