A plain-English guide to Australia's home care funding program — no jargon, just what you actually need to know.
Support at Home replaced the old Home Care Packages (HCP) system and Short-Term Restorative Care program on 1 November 2025. If you already had a Home Care Package, your funding transitioned across automatically at an equivalent level — no reassessment was needed unless your care needs had changed.
Instead of four package levels, there are now eight funding classifications. Your classification is determined through an aged care assessment, arranged via My Aged Care, and reflects how much support you're likely to need.
Funding is paid quarterly rather than annually — in July, October, January and April — which gives more visibility over what's available and how it's being spent. You can carry over unspent funds of up to $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget (whichever is greater) into the next quarter.
Contributions depend on the type of service:
From 1 July 2026, government-set price caps apply to every service on the Support at Home list, which should make comparing providers more straightforward than it's been.
You choose a registered Support at Home provider to help organise and manage your care, and you can switch providers at any time with no exit fees. Your provider works with you to build a support plan, and once that's in place, your quarterly budget becomes available and services begin.
For many older Australians, the practical, everyday side of Support at Home is exactly the kind of help that makes the biggest difference — laundry, regular house cleaning, and keeping the home safe and manageable. If domestic assistance is part of your support plan, you're free to choose which provider delivers it.
Need a hand with cleaning, laundry, or finding your way through aged care funding? We're happy to talk it through.
Get In TouchSources: My Aged Care (myagedcare.gov.au), Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Last fact-checked June 2026. This is general information, not financial or aged care planning advice — confirm current details with My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.