NSW Residents Association secures five-year funding boost for education and advocacy

The NSW Retirement Village Residents Association (RVRA) will use its latest NSW Fair Trading grant to strengthen its education and advocacy work.

Government funding supports the RVRA’s work providing advocacy, information and education to retirement village residents.

“We applied for a grant to cover one year but were told to apply for funding over the next five years. The grant is considerably more than we envisaged,” RVRA President Roger Pallant said.

“We see it as a pat on the back for the work we have been doing.”

The additional funding will enable the RVRA to broaden its engagement with residents, village managers and operators.

“With the money, we will be employing an education program co-ordinator three days a week. Ideally, we want someone who knows the retirement living sector,” Roger said.

The RVRA recently released the results of a national survey of retirement village residents.

The findings showed 30% of respondents waited seven months or more for assessment by My Aged Care, while 24% waited seven months or more for approval following assessment. A further 28% waited three months or more to receive services from a provider.