Beth Jackson knows exactly how long she took care of her elderly mother.

“Thirteen years, three months and 24 days.”

She put her career as a psychologist on hold to move in with her mother who has dementia.

“When I got here, things were so messy and mom was in such a state that I just couldn’t leave because we all deserve to be taken care of,” she said .

Those years of around-the-clock care took their toll.

“There were days when she tried to burn me with a hot spoon or throw boiling water on me,” she said.

Ms. Jackson struggled to get regular help.

“We hear that we can stay at home, receive care and benefit from supports, but the reality is very different, there are not enough workers,” she said.

When Beth’s mother’s health deteriorated more than a year ago, moving to an elderly care home became the only option.

“There is grief over Mum’s loss of capacity and the need for her to go into a home when I knew that wasn’t what she wanted.

“I guess I had been a caregiver for so long and it basically disappeared overnight.”

After the Government ended the Carer’s Payment and Allowance, Ms Jackson, who is in her 60s, received Jobseeker’s Allowance.

“The reality was I couldn’t afford to feed myself,” she said.

No longer able to work, Ms Jackson had to fight for a disability pension, which made her life somewhat easier.

But she did not benefit from 13 years of professional salary, retirement pension and vacation time.

“People tell you what a great job you do and what a local hero you are,” she said.

Call for superannuation to be added to payment

Carers Australia chief executive Annabel Reid is calling on the federal government to provide superannuation on the carer’s payment, as is the case for paid parental leave.

“To ensure that (caregivers) can have choices about how they retire, because they have given up many years of working for someone else,” she said.

Ms Reid said it was very common for carers to suffer financially.

“On average, a carer… will lose almost $400,000 in income over their lifetime due to their responsibilities and retire with around $175,000 less in super,” she said.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the Carer Payment was indexed twice a year to reflect the rising cost of living, and the Federal Government had invested more than $1 billion in the integrated program Caregiver Support, a program that supports caregivers.

The costs of moving into a retirement home

When most people move into senior living, they reach a point where they can no longer live independently.

For those, like Ms Jackson’s mother, on an old age pension, residential aged care providers take 85 per cent of the old age pension to pay for their care.

This works out to about $63 per day. It doesn’t cover things like clothing, haircuts, and medications.

Partial retirees and self-funded retirees pay additional daily fees on the basis of a means test, calculated according to income and assets.

Then, for some, there is the Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD), which is a lump sum charged by the aged care provider to cover the cost of the room.

You can also choose to pay a Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP), which is the accommodation deposit plus interest, but paid as a daily rental cost rather than a lump sum.

Changes in aged care are coming

The new federal law on elderly care is expected to come into force in the middle of next year.

Although some details are still being decided, the maximum amount of RAD that can be charged will be increased from $550,000 to $750,000, and this amount will be indexed over time.

It will no longer be fully refundable when a resident leaves the facility or dies, with aged care providers able to keep 10% of this deposit for the first five years a person is in care.

“The reason for this type of system or new regulation is that today these facilities are losing money and really need some boost to operate,” said Colin Zhang, professor of analytics in Commerce at Macquarie University.

He said for some Australians it would be more expensive to move into aged care.

Dr Zhang said families wondering whether to sell the family home or rent it out to pay a lump sum to the aged care provider should seek financial advice.

“There are tons of different calculators you can find online called elder care cost calculators, but even with those calculators, people can really get confused,” he said.

A Department of Health and Aged Care spokesperson said the government would continue to be the main funder of aged care and the changes were aimed at improving the sustainability of the sector.

“The amount an individual pays will continue to be determined based on their individual means,” the spokesperson said.

“You have to have very good friends”

Ms. Jackson has not stopped caring for her mother, even though the 99-year-old lives in a nursing home.

“There are days I walk in and she’s quite nice and cheerful and talkative, but other days she’s staring into space and it’s hard to engage with her,” she said.

She says she often has to advocate for her mother to make sure she gets the quality care she needs.

“We need to increase the care capacity (of elderly care staff) by training them better and paying them more in order to attract higher levels of professionalism.”

Ms Jackson would like to see the Government take ownership of residential aged care again “so that we have a system that everyone knows what it is, what the expectations are and so that it can be monitored”.

She said with changes in how families will need to prepare sooner and seek financial advice before committing a loved one to a nursing home.

And what tip to give to caregivers?