Support at Home

Support at Home is the Australian Government’s program for funding in-home aged care. It replaced the Home Care Packages Program and Short-Term Restorative Care Program on 1 November 2025, and is designed to help older people stay in their own homes for longer. 

Generally, Australian citizens or those holding permanent residency aged 65 and over (50 and over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) who need help with daily living due to ageing, illness, or disability. Eligibility is confirmed through an aged care assessment, not just age alone. 

The first step is always My Aged Care — either online at myagedcare.gov.au or by phone on 1800 200 422. They’ll arrange an assessment to determine what support you’re eligible for. 

An aged care assessment (through the Single Assessment System) looks at your care needs and assigns you a classification level, which determines your funding. 

Funding is allocated across eight classification levels. Funding is released as quarterly budgets rather than one annual amount.

Yes. There are short-term funding pathways available.  Eligibility will be based on assessment outcomes.  Three of these are:

• Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) funding – upfront funding for equipment and home modifications to keep clients safe (noted in Question 12)
• Restorative Care Pathway – Short-term intensive therapy (up to 16 weeks) to help clients recover from illness or a hospital stay
• End-of-Life Pathway: Special grant funding for people who wish to remain at home with a life expectancy of three months or less.

Clinical care (nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, speech pathology, etc.) is fully government-funded regardless of income or assets. Note Personal Care will be included from 1 October 2026.

For everyday living and independence services (like domestic help, transport, or social support), your contribution is based on a means assessment by Services Australia.  To assist, My Aged Care provides a fee estimator on their website.   You can access it by clicking the link below.

Support at Home fee estimator | My Aged Care 

Services span clinical care, personal care, and everyday living support (domestic assistance, meal preparation, transport, social support, and home/garden maintenance), plus separate funding for assistive technology and home modifications.

Support at Home has eight funding levels instead of four, uses quarterly budgets rather than annually, fully funds clinical care for everyone, and moves to a single-provider model rather than mixing multiple agencies.

Yes — you enter a service agreement with a provider of your choice once funding is approved, and you can change providers if your needs or preferences change.

There will likely be a wait time before your services commence.  The wait time will depend on your needs and the services you have requested.  People with more significant needs generally have shorter wait times.

You can ask to have your Care plan reviewed.  You can do this by speaking with your provider or you can speak with My Aged Care.

Yes — the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme is part of the Support at Home program.  It provides separate funding specifically for these needs, on top of your regular quarterly budget. 

Yes. 10% of the quarterly allocation is set aside for care management.

The money carried over from each quarter is capped at 10% of the quarterly budget or $1,000 – whichever is greater. The excess is returned to the Government.

Things like rent, groceries, utilities, services for other household members and items that are listed in the service exclusion list provided by the Government.

Yes. At Curtin Heritage, these services are called Private Services. You can access Private Services while accessing your Support at Home funding.

All providers must publish their schedule of fees. You can find our fee schedule by clicking the link below.