Meals on Wheels has been left behind by government funding boost

The boost is in the form of a national $2.60 increase per meal provided, bringing the total paid per meal by providers to $7.50.

Meals on Wheels NSW has railed against the announcement for being unclear about the impact on them, as they have a higher funding level as is and are now concerned about their payments being dropped.

They attribute their higher payments to the higher cost of living in the state, as well as a significantly different operating model focusing on individual care and attention to clients.

The service provides over 4.5 million meals a year across 148 separate services in the state.

Tennille Valensisi, the senior co-ordinator of Meals on Wheels Griffith explained the issue.

"For us, it costs us over $16 to provide a meal to a client. They framed it as a feel-good story but it's not. We've been trying to get them to clarify whether the meal price is going to drop for us," she said.

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Ms Valensisi also said that they were worried about the inclusion of the program in the 2022/23 'payment in arrears' change, transitioning most Commonwealth Home Support Programme to being reimbursed rather than funded upfront.

"The discussions are that we'll be paid in arrears which means we need to front up three months worth of money before it's paid which just isn't possible for us ... there'll be many services that won't be able to operate."

She said that introducing the arrears payment scheme would start the timer before the program would be forced to close.

Meals on Wheels Griffith has approached local members including mayor John Dal Broi, MP Sussan Ley and state MP Helen Dalton but Ms Valensisi said they still need community support behind them.

"What we're asking from our local community is if they can write letters, just the general discussion. It goes a long way. The government can know that people are concerned."

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