FOI 25-0348 LD – Senate Estimates Brief – Future Fit

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 27 Feb 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

This Senate Estimates brief documents the Department of Health and Aged Care's Future Fit project, established in 2021 to address viability concerns within Australia's Meals on Wheels (MoW) network under the new in-home aged care program. The project examined inconsistencies across independent MoW organisations—which operate with varying meal production, delivery models, pricing, and volunteer reliance—to develop a sustainable funding model recognizing the social value of MoW services. Future Fit aimed to understand operational differences across the MoW network, quantify volunteer/staff engagement costs, implement technology efficiencies, and expand meal supplier relationships. The brief identifies implementation challenges including misaligned stakeholder interests, viability concerns raised by MoW providers, complaints about service decline at pilot sites (Whitehorse and Ballarat), alleged fraudulent activity, and conduct issues with service providers. It references 33 Meals on Wheels providers