Support at Home

Support at Home is a new, streamlined aged care program that will bring together multiple in‑home care services into one flexible system. Its goal is to make it easier for older Australians to access the right support, at the right time, with less complexity and more choice.
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The program is designed to provide a simpler and fairer way for people to access in‑home care, while giving them greater flexibility in the types of services they can receive. It aims to ensure that funding is better matched to each person’s individual needs and to reduce the administrative burden placed on older people and their families.

Support at Home will begin on 1 November 2025, following a government decision to delay the original July 2025 start date to allow for further consultation and system development.

Eligibility for Support at Home applies to older Australians who need assistance to live safely and independently at home. The program is designed for people aged 65 and over, or 50 and over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Access is determined through an ACAT/ACAS assessment, which identifies the level and type of support a person requires.

Support at Home provides a graduated range of care levels, starting with light‑touch assistance for people with lower needs and increasing through to intensive, high‑complexity support for those who require ongoing help to remain safe and independent at home. At the lower end of the scale, funding supports occasional assistance with everyday tasks, while the middle levels provide more regular personal care, domestic support, and coordinated services for people with moderate needs. At the higher end, the program offers substantial annual funding for people who require complex, frequent, or specialised care, including support that exceeds what was previously available under the highest Home Care Package level.

Annual funding spans from approximately $10,700 per year at the lowest level through to around $78,000 per year at the highest level, ensuring that support is matched to each person’s assessed needs rather than a fixed package category. People who previously held a Home Care Package continue to receive the same level of support they had before the transition, with their former package level used as a guide to align them to the appropriate Support at Home level. No one loses services because of the change; instead, the new system provides greater flexibility in how support can be delivered.

Support at Home also includes two complementary pathways. The Restorative Care Pathway offers short‑term, goal‑focused support for people who may benefit from regaining function or independence. The End‑of‑Life Pathway provides tailored support for people who wish to remain at home with comfort and dignity during the final stage of life. In addition, a dedicated Assistive Technology and Home Modifications stream allows eligible older people to access equipment, aids, and home changes that improve safety, mobility, and independence.

Support at Home offers a wide and clearly defined range of services designed to help older Australians live safely, comfortably and independently at home. The program groups services into three broad categories: clinical supports, independence supports and everyday living supports. Together, these categories cover everything from nursing and allied health to personal care, domestic assistance, transport, social connection, respite, home maintenance, meal support and help with managing daily routines.

Clinical supports include services delivered or supervised by qualified health professionals, such as nursing care, wound management, continence support, medication administration, allied health therapies and other specialised interventions that help maintain or improve a person’s health, mobility or cognitive function. Independence supports focus on helping people manage essential daily activities, including assistance with showering, dressing, mobility, eating, taking medications, and maintaining personal routines. Everyday living supports cover the practical tasks that make it possible to remain at home, such as cleaning, laundry, meal preparation, shopping, gardening, home maintenance, transport to appointments, and support to stay socially connected.

In addition to these core service areas, Support at Home includes access to respite for carers, short‑term restorative care for people who may benefit from regaining function or confidence, and a dedicated stream for assistive technology and home modifications. This allows older people to access equipment, aids and home changes that improve safety, mobility and independence, such as rails, ramps, bathroom modifications, communication devices or mobility equipment.

All services must align with the official Support at Home service list, which sets out what is in scope and out of scope for each service type. Your care partner works with you to identify your needs, goals and preferences, and helps you choose the mix of services that best supports your wellbeing within your approved level of funding.

Applying for Support at Home begins with registering with My Aged Care, which is the national entry point for all government‑funded aged care services. When you contact My Aged Care, you will be asked a series of questions to confirm your eligibility and to understand your situation, including your health, daily routines and the type of help you feel you need. If you are eligible, My Aged Care will refer you for a formal aged care assessment.

Your assessment may be completed in person at your home or remotely by phone or video, depending on your needs, preferences and circumstances. During the assessment, the assessor will discuss your goals, safety, health conditions and the type of support that would help you live independently. After the assessment, you will receive an approval that outlines the Support at Home level or pathway you are eligible for.

Once approved, you will enter the Support at Home Priority System. When funding becomes available, you can choose a provider to help plan and deliver your services. Your provider will work with you to understand your goals, explain the services available and design a support plan that fits your needs and preferences. Services can begin once your funding is assigned and your plan is in place.

The cost of Support at Home depends on your financial circumstances and whether you are a new entrant to the program or a grandfathered client who was already connected to the former Home Care Package system. Support at Home uses a means test to determine your capacity to contribute. The means test places people into contribution bands—full pensioner, part pensioner or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder, or self‑funded retiree—and these bands determine the proportion you contribute toward certain types of services. The Australian Government pays the remainder through the Support at Home subsidy.

Clinical care does not attract a participant contribution, meaning the government covers the full cost of nursing, allied health and other clinical services. Independence supports have contribution percentages that range from five per cent for full pensioners through to fifty per cent for self‑funded retirees, with part pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders contributing on a sliding scale between these points. Everyday living supports have contribution percentages that range from seventeen‑and‑a‑half per cent for full pensioners through to eighty per cent for self‑funded retirees, again with part pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders contributing on a sliding scale between these points. These percentages apply only to new entrants to Support at Home and are set nationally in the Schedule of Contributions for Support at Home Services.

People who were receiving, approved for, or waiting for a Home Care Package on 12 September 2024 are considered grandfathered. When they move to Support at Home, their contributions are calculated under the new contribution model, but the no‑worse‑off principle ensures they do not pay more than they would have under Home Care Package rules. If they were not required to pay fees under their Home Care Package, they will not start paying contributions under Support at Home. New entrants who were not connected to a Home Care Package before 12 September 2024 have their contributions set solely under the Support at Home means‑tested contribution model.

Your provider will work with you to ensure you understand how your contribution is determined, how your funding is applied, and how your services are delivered within your approved Support at Home level.

Yes, you have the right to choose a government-approved provider that best meets your needs and values. You can also switch providers if you’re not satisfied, and your package funding will follow you.

Current reporting shows that wait times under Support at Home remain long and are heavily affected by the backlog carried over from the Home Care Package and CHSP systems. Independent oversight bodies and sector reporting confirm that large numbers of older Australians are still waiting either to be assessed or to receive services.

The Inspector‑General of Aged Care notes that the government intends to maintain an average three‑month wait time, but also states that this is unlikely to be achieved and does not reflect the real experience of people seeking care. Sector reporting shows that, as of late 2025, more than 88,000 people approved for home care were still waiting to receive services, and more than 120,000 were waiting just to be assessed, creating a combined backlog of over 200,000 people needing in‑home support. Additional reporting indicates that many older Australians are receiving only partial allocations, with 93% of packages issued since November providing only sixty per cent of the services people have been assessed as needing.

Taken together, the factual picture is that Support at Home has not yet delivered short wait times. People are still waiting months for assessments and months again for services, and many receive only partial allocations even once approved. The system remains under significant pressure, and the real‑world experience is characterised by delays rather than timely access.

Under Support at Home, you receive a quarterly ongoing care budget rather than an annual package that builds up over time. If you do not spend your full quarterly budget, you can carry over only a limited amount into the next quarter. The rules allow you to roll over up to the greater of one thousand dollars or ten per cent of your quarterly budget, and anything above that limit does not carry forward and effectively expires at the end of the quarter. This small carried‑over amount can be used for unexpected needs, such as a temporary increase in support when a family carer is away.

If you already have unspent funds sitting in your Home Care Package when you move to Support at Home, those funds do not disappear. Your accumulated Home Care Package balance carries over into Support at Home, and there is no specific time limit on using that carried‑over HCP amount. In practice, this means there are two different concepts: a capped rollover of new Support at Home quarterly budgets, and a separate, existing pool of Home Care Package unspent funds that follows you into the new program until it is used.

The Restorative Care Program is a short‑term, goal‑focused service within Support at Home that helps older people regain or maintain their independence after an illness, setback or decline in function. It is delivered for a limited period and is built around a personalised plan led by allied health professionals, focusing on improving specific abilities such as mobility, strength, balance or confidence with daily tasks. The aim is to restore function rather than simply compensate for its loss, so that a person may reduce their long‑term need for support.

Importantly, restorative care is provided in addition to your usual Support at Home funding. It does not replace your ongoing classification level or reduce your quarterly budget. If you are approved for restorative care, you continue receiving your regular services, and the restorative care program is added on top for the duration of the intervention. When the restorative care period ends, you return to your usual supports unless your needs have changed and you require reassessment.

The End of Life Program is a short‑term stream within Support at Home for older people who are in the final phase of life and need more intensive, flexible support to remain at home comfortably. It focuses on comfort, stability and dignity rather than rehabilitation, and is designed to complement clinical palliative care rather than replace it. The program allows services to be adjusted quickly as needs change, recognising that support requirements can increase rapidly at the end of life.

Importantly, the End of Life Program is provided in addition to your usual Support at Home funding. Your ongoing classification level and quarterly budget continue unchanged, and the end‑of‑life supports are added on top for the duration of the program. This means you do not lose any of your regular services, and you do not have to use your standard budget to cover the extra help you need at this time. When the end‑of‑life period ends, your usual Support at Home arrangements continue, and if your needs have changed, you can be reassessed.

Some people approved for Support at Home do not immediately receive their full quarterly budget. This occurs when the national release of funds has not yet caught up to the number of people assessed at each classification level. In these cases, you may begin on a partial allocation even though your full classification level has been set. A partial allocation means you can start receiving services, but the amount of support available to you is temporarily lower than what you were assessed as needing.

There is no fixed time limit on how long a partial allocation can last. You remain on a partial allocation until the national system releases enough funding to activate your full quarterly budget. This may be a short period or it may extend for months, depending entirely on system‑wide funding availability rather than your personal circumstances. Your classification level does not change during this time, and you do not need to be reassessed simply because you are waiting for the remainder of your budget.

The percentage of funding released under a partial allocation is not the same for everyone and is not chosen by your provider. It is set centrally and reflects how much funding is available at that point in time. Sector reporting shows that many people are receiving around sixty per cent of their full budget initially, while others receive a higher proportion, sometimes up to ninety per cent. Very few receive one hundred per cent immediately. Once the national release of funds increases, your full allocation becomes active and your services can expand to match your assessed needs.