Support at Home explained: levels, budgets and what you pay

What Support at Home is

Support at Home is the Australian Government's program for people who need ongoing help to keep living in their own home. It commenced on 1 November 2025 under the new Aged Care Act 2024, replacing both the Home Care Packages Program and the Short-Term Restorative Care Programme.

The structure is the same idea as before: you are assessed, you are given a funding level, and a provider draws on that funding to deliver services in your care plan. What changed is the number of levels, how the budget is released, and how much you contribute.

The eight funding levels

The old system had four package levels. Support at Home has eight, which means the funding tracks assessed need more closely. Your level is set by your assessment, and the budget is released quarterly rather than as one annual pool.

The gap between the bottom and the top is substantial: roughly seven times.

Unspent funds roll over between quarters within limits.

Three service categories, three contribution rates

What you contribute depends on the type of service, not only on your income.

• Clinical supports. Nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, wound care, medication management. No contribution from anyone. The Government funds these in full.
• Independence services. Social support, transport, respite and therapeutic services such as remedial massage. A means tested share. Personal care (showering, dressing, help taking medication) sits here until 30 September 2026.
• Everyday living services. Cleaning, gardening, meal preparation, shopping assistance. The highest share.

Services Australia works out your rate from an income and assets assessment. Full pensioners contribute the least. Part pensioners and self-funded retirees with a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card pay on a sliding scale, and self-funded retirees without the card pay the most.

Equipment and home modifications

Support at Home includes a separate Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme, funded outside your ongoing quarterly budget. It covers items such as walking frames, shower chairs, ramps and grab rails, with a low, medium or high funding tier set at assessment based on need.

This means an equipment purchase or home change does not have to come out of the quarterly budget for your ongoing services.

Short term pathways

As well as the ongoing levels, Support at Home has 3 short-term pathways: the AT-HM scheme described above, the Restorative Care Pathway and the End-of-Life Pathway.

• Restorative care. Up to 16 weeks of intensive allied health and/or nursing services, aimed at maintaining or regaining function and reducing or preventing further decline.
• End of life pathway. Additional short term funding for people in the last months of life who want to remain at home.

How long you wait

There is a national queue. After assessment you are given an approved level, then wait for funding to be allocated through the Support at Home Priority System. Priority is based on assessed need, not only on how long you have been waiting, so two people approved on the same day can wait very different lengths of time.

While you wait, you can keep any Commonwealth Home Support Program services you already have, some additional CHSP services can be accessed short term if you have an urgent and immediate health or safety need, and non government-funded services, paid for at full cost, may be an option.

If you had a Home Care Package before November 2025

Existing recipients were transferred across automatically. Unspent package funds carried over. People who were receiving, or approved for, a package on or before 12 September 2024 are covered by the no worse off principle, so their contributions are no higher than under their package.

Ask your provider for a written statement showing your current classification level, your quarterly budget, your carried over balance and your contribution rate for each service category. If they cannot produce that quickly, treat it as a warning sign.

Questions worth asking a provider

1. What is my quarterly budget after the 10% set aside for care management, and what care management will you actually provide each month?
2. What is your hourly rate for each service type, and does it change on weekends, public holidays or after hours?
3. Is worker travel built into your hourly prices, and do your published prices on My Aged Care match what you will charge me?
4. Will I see the same workers each week, or whoever is rostered?
5. What happens to unspent funds at the end of a quarter?
6. What notice period applies if I want to change providers? (Providers cannot charge an exit fee.)

Frequently asked