Support at Home vs
Home Care Packages

Eight funding classifications will be available under the Support at Home program.

If you already have a Home Care Package, you will stay on your existing package when Support at Home begins. Your existing package will be called a “Transitioned Home Care Package”.

You will only move to one of the new 8 Support at Home levels if you have a reassessment after 1 November 2025, or if you are approved for aged care for the first time after 1 November 2025.

Services are grouped into three specific support categories:

Clinical Supports
for health-related care, such as nursing.

Independence Supports
for personal care and social participation.

Everyday Living Supports
for daily tasks such as cleaning and meal preparation.

The government will fully fund clinical care for all Support at Home clients, including nursing care, allied health and other therapeutic services.

Client contributions (for eligible clients) will need to be paid for goods and services considered an Independence Support or an Everyday Support.

Two fees

Care Management Fee
Under the Support at Home program,10% of your quarterly budget isautomatically ringfenced by theGovernment and paid directly to theregistered provider (PlanCare) to provideCare Management activities.  

Platform Management Fee
The Platform Management fee replaces the traditional Package Management fee under the new Support at Home program.It covers the essential administrative and compliance functions that registered providers are legally required to perform,even when you self-manage your care.

Under the new scheme Income Tested Fees will be called client contributions. These fees are paid when an invoice is received by PlanCare, before the provider is paid. The contribution rate will differ depending on your pension status, and the type of service you are receiving – either Clinical Support, Independence Support, or Everyday Support.

Existing clients (if grandfathered) who do not currently pay an Income Tested Fee (ITF) will not be required to contribute under Support at Home.

The Single Assessment System Workforce will bring together assessors from RAS, ACAT, and AN-ACC into one organisation.

Under the new arrangement, Needs Assessment Organisations will provide the entire scope of assessments, including clinical and non-clinical. In other words, there will no longer be dedicated organisations for different types of care and the same organisation will provide all the necessary assessment services, making it easier to switch between funding programs.

With the Support at Home changes, annual subsidy amounts will be divided into four quarterly budgets with each covering three months of the year.

If you don’t spend your entire budget within a given quarter, you can rollover the unspent funds of up to a maximum of $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget - whichever is greater - between quarters to meet unplanned needs.

You will have specific funding, separate from your Support at Home funding, which can be used for assistive technology and home modifications.

The new AT-HM scheme will provide separate funding, meaning you will not have to accumulate or ‘save up’ funds to pay for this support.

There will be three funding tiers for Assistive Technology and three tiers for Home Modifications (Low, Medium, and High), and funding will range from $500 to $15,000 depending on your tier.

Under Support at Home, there is a lifetime cap of $15,000 that can be spent from your dedicated Home Modifications funding.

The new Restorative Care Pathway will expand upon existing arrangements under STRC by increasing support from 8 weeks to 12 weeks.

If approved, you will receive a budget of approximately $6,000 for the 12-week episode. You can also receive multiple episodes of Restorative Care, though there must be a 90 day period inbetween episodes.

This new pathway provides access to additional services in the last three months of life for clients who prefer to remain at home. A total of $25,000 will be available per eligible client over those three months, with the option to extend for a further four weeks if necessary.

Under Support at Home, the goal is for wait times to progressively reduce over the next two years.

If wait times for services exceed expectations, new entrants will be assigned an interim allocation of 60% of their Support at Home classification budget while they wait to receive their full funding.

The remaining 40% will be allocated when funding is available.

The existing eight Aged Care Quality Standards will be replaced with a revised set of seven, maintaining a strong emphasis on safety, respect, and high-quality service while reducing complexity.

Your daily subsidy will continue to be accrued in full, even after 28 days.

However, your package will be reallocated to another client when one year has passed since the end of the quarter from when the last service was delivered.