Support at Home Explained: What Changed on 1 November 2025

The biggest change to Australian aged care since 1997

On 1 November 2025, the Australian Government switched off Home Care Packages and the Short-Term Restorative Care Programme. In their place: a single, unified in-home aged care system called Support at Home, anchored in the new Aged Care Act 2024 and built around a Statement of Rights for older Australians.

For families currently navigating the system — or planning ahead for a parent — this is the most consequential reform in three decades. The old four-level package model has been replaced with eight ongoing classifications, quarterly budgets, hard caps on care management fees, and three new short-term pathways for restorative care, end-of-life care, and assistive technology.

This guide walks through what changed, what it means for your family, and how to make sure you're getting the funding you're entitled to.

What is Support at Home?

Support at Home is the federal government's in-home aged care program for older Australians who want to stay living at home. It funds three categories of services:

• Clinical care — nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, dietetics. Fully government-funded; no contribution required.
• Independence services — personal care, domestic assistance, transport, social support. Income-tested co-contribution starts at 5% and scales up.
• Everyday living — cleaning, gardening, meal preparation, laundry. Income-tested co-contribution starts at 17.5% and scales up.

Funding is allocated quarterly rather than annually. Each quarter, your assessed classification gives you a defined budget, with limited rollover for unspent funds.

The eight ongoing classifications

The biggest structural change is the move from four package levels to eight classifications (Levels 1–8), giving the system more granularity to match real care needs. The approximate annual budgets:

Existing Home Care Package recipients were automatically transitioned to the equivalent classification under the "no worse off" principle — nobody lost funding in the move.

Quarterly budgets and rollover

Budgets are now divided into four quarterly allocations rather than a single annual one. The intent is to prevent the long-standing problem of unspent funds accumulating in inactive packages while other older Australians waited on the priority list.

Unspent funds within a quarter can roll over into the next quarter, but only up to $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is greater. Anything above that returns to the Commonwealth. This forces providers and care managers to actually deliver against the budget each quarter, which is excellent news for participants — it ends the practice of providers parking unused funds for "later".

Care management fees capped at 10%

Under the old Home Care Package system, providers could charge care management and package management fees that often consumed 15–25% of the annual budget before any care was delivered. Support at Home introduces a hard cap: care management fees cannot exceed 10% of the quarterly budget.

For a Level 8 participant, that's a difference of roughly $11,700 per year that now goes to actual care rather than administration. For most families, this is the most immediately tangible improvement.

Three new short-term pathways

Alongside the eight ongoing levels, Support at Home introduces three short-term pathways with separate funding pools:

Restorative Care Pathway

Up to $12,000 over 16 weeks for allied health-led restorative programs after a hospital admission, illness, or significant decline. This includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, and exercise physiology focused on regaining independence.

End-of-Life Pathway

Up to $25,000 over 12 weeks for older Australians with a life-limiting illness who wish to remain at home. This funds intensive personal care, nursing, equipment, and respite for family carers.

Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM)

A separate funding pool of up to $15,000 for equipment and home modifications — wheelchairs, hospital beds, ramps, bathroom modifications, smart home safety devices. Crucially, this is in addition to ongoing classification funding, not deducted from it. In our research, the AT-HM allowance is the single most under-claimed entitlement in the system: most families simply don't know it exists.

What you'll actually pay

Support at Home is an income-tested system. Your contribution depends on your assessable income and assets, with full pensioners paying minimal contributions and self-funded retirees paying more.

The general structure:

• Clinical services: $0 contribution. Fully funded.
• Independence services: minimum 5% co-contribution, scaling up to ~50% for high-income retirees.
• Everyday living services: minimum 17.5% co-contribution, scaling up to ~80% for high-income retirees.

There is also a lifetime cap on contributions — once you have paid a defined cumulative amount across your aged care journey, you stop paying contributions for further services. The cap is designed to protect older Australians from catastrophic out-of-pocket costs late in life.

How to apply

The entry point hasn't changed: every Support at Home journey starts with My Aged Care (call 1800 200 422 or visit myagedcare.gov.au). The process:

1. Register — phone or online registration to create your record.
2. Assessment — the Single Assessment System (which replaced the old ACAT/RAS split) will arrange a face-to-face or telehealth assessment.
3. Classification — you'll be assigned a Level 1–8 classification based on assessed need, with pathway eligibility noted.
4. Provider selection — you choose any registered Support at Home provider. They must publish their full price list on My Aged Care and on their own website, so like-for-like comparison is possible for the first time.
5. Service agreement — sign with your chosen provider; budgets begin from the agreed start date.

If you want to skip directly to "what funding might I get?" before going through the formal assessment, our free Funding Finder gives you a personalised estimate in about three minutes. It's not a substitute for the official assessment, but it tells you what to expect and what to push back on if the assessment looks low.

Provider pricing transparency

One of the under-discussed wins of Support at Home: mandatory price transparency. Every registered provider must publish their full schedule of service prices on My Aged Care and on their own website. Hourly rates, travel charges, after-hours loadings, weekend rates — all of it.

This ends the era of "call us for a quote" and lets families do real comparison shopping. From 1 July 2026, the government will introduce price caps on most services in the Support at Home schedule, further compressing the price spread between providers.

What you should do this quarter

If you're caring for an older family member or planning ahead, here are the practical steps:

1. Check eligibility now — even if care isn't urgent, getting assessed early means you have a classification ready when you need it.
2. Claim AT-HM separately — if your family member has any equipment or home modification needs, this is a separate pool that doesn't touch their ongoing budget. Most families miss it.
3. Audit your current provider's fees — if you were on a Home Care Package before November 2025, check that care management fees have actually dropped to 10% under the new rules. Some providers haven't adjusted automatically.
4. Ask about all three short-term pathways — restorative care after a fall or hospital stay, end-of-life support, AT-HM. They are not automatic; you have to ask.
5. Don't let the quarterly budget lapse — under the old annual model, unused funds rolled forward indefinitely. Now they are mostly returned to the Commonwealth. Use them.

Frequently asked questions

Did I get less funding under Support at Home? No. The "no worse off" principle protected every existing Home Care Package recipient at the equivalent or higher level when the transition happened on 1 November 2025.

Can I keep my current provider? Yes. All HCP-registered providers transitioned to Support at Home registration. Your provider relationship continues unless you choose to change it.

What if my needs increase? You can request a reassessment through My Aged Care at any time. If your needs have genuinely increased, you'll move to a higher classification and a higher quarterly budget.

Does Support at Home replace residential aged care? No. Support at Home is for in-home care only. Residential aged care continues as a separate program and was not abolished — though it also saw substantial reform under the Aged Care Act 2024.

What if I already had an unspent HCP balance? Unspent HCP balances were preserved at transition. They can still be drawn down on services, with rules outlined by your provider and My Aged Care.

Need help navigating this?

The new system is genuinely better — more granular, more transparent, fairer on fees — but it's also more complex than what it replaced. You don't have to figure it out alone.

Start with our free Funding Finder for a personalised estimate of what your family member is likely to qualify for, then browse providers in your suburb who specialise in Support at Home. If you want a human to walk you through the trickier decisions — appeals, complex care needs, multi-state moves — our Expert Concierge sessions are run by former ACAT assessors and registered care coordinators.