- Aged Care Reform
- Advocacy & Rights
- Policy & Legislation
COTA urges assessors be allowed to override IAT automated aged care decisions
Key points5 points
- The Commonwealth Ombudsman found serious reliability and fairness problems with the Integrated Assessment Tool.
- The government has declined to adopt the Ombudsman's recommendation allowing assessors to override automated decisions.
- COTA wants legislative change enabling assessor overrides, to be considered by the announced independent review.
- COTA calls for assessment complaints to be handled by the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner instead of the department.
- A clearer My Aged Care complaints policy is being developed for introduction by April 2027.
Summary
COTA Australia is pressing the Federal Government to act on the Commonwealth Ombudsman's critical report into the Integrated Assessment Tool, which identified reliability and fairness failings that have left older Australians short of support.
COTA wants experienced assessors empowered to override automated outcomes that don't match a person's care needs, arguing the government's recent changes merely add an escalation route instead. It also wants assessment complaints placed with the independent watchdog rather than the department, and the independent review should weigh legislative changes. A clearer My Aged Care complaints policy is slated for April 2027.