What is CHSP, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme?

Is the Commonwealth Home Support Programme being phased out?

Eventually, yes, but there is no confirmed date. The government's provider transition guide says the Commonwealth Home Support Programme has been extended from 1 July 2025 and will transition to Support at Home "no earlier than 1 July 2027". That is a floor with nothing above it, not a start date, and the department has not published a confirmed date for the transition. CHSP came under the Aged Care Act 2024 on 1 November 2025, which changed how it is regulated. But it did not end the program, and it did not move existing clients onto Support at Home.

What already changed, and what did not

Something real did happen on 1 November 2025, which is where most of the confusion comes from. CHSP came under the Aged Care Act 2024 that day, along with the rest of aged care. That changed how the program is regulated and what a provider has to give you: a Service agreementService agreementThe contract with a provider. It sets out what they will do and what they will charge. More words explained , a Statement of Rights, a care and services plan. It also changed the names used for services, so they line up with the new Act's service list. It did not close the program and it did not move existing clients across.

The same guide sets out what continues in the meantime. Existing clients keep receiving their CHSP services. Community cottage RespiteRespiteCare that gives the person who normally does the caring a break, at home or in a residential home. More words explained and hoarding and squalor assistance stay available under CHSP. Clients can keep accessing equipment and products through CHSP providers, and up to $15,000 in subsidised assistance through CHSP home adjustments. And client contribution arrangements continue, in the guide's words, "until the CHSP transitions to Support at Home".

What nobody has published

What happens to a CHSP client on the day the transition actually lands. Whether there is an automatic conversion, a fresh assessment for everyone, or a grandfathering arrangement like the one that carried Home Care Package recipients across in November 2025. Neither the transition guide nor the program manual says, and we are not going to guess at it. When the department publishes that answer, this page changes. Until then the practical read is that CHSP is not closing this year, and a confirmed date has not been announced.

The department posts reform updates on its CHSP reforms page. We re-check this section every quarter, and the next check is due around October 2026.

Moving from CHSP to Support at Home

You move by being reassessed, not by applying to transfer. The trigger is a change in needs. The transition guide says that if a CHSP client's needs change and they need more complex care, they can be re-assessed to see if they are eligible for Support at Home services. A CHSP provider has its own duty here too, and it is worth knowing about, because it means you can start the conversation with them rather than with a call centre. Providers must regularly review a client's progress against their goals. They should also refer the client back to their most recent assessment organisation for a Support Plan ReviewSupport Plan ReviewA fresh look by an assessor at what someone needs, used when things have changed or something was left out. More words explained or a reassessment when needs change.

What changes when you cross over

• The assessment is longer. A comprehensive assessment replaces the home support one, and it ends in a Notice of Decision naming a classification from 1 to 8.
• The money changes shape. Instead of services arranged one at a time, there is a quarterly budget attached to the classification, held in a home support account by Services Australia.
• What you pay changes basis. CHSP contributions are set by the provider with no formal means testing. Support at Home uses means-tested co-contributionsCo-contributionThe share of each service the person receiving care pays. It is billed separately, and it does not come out of the budget. More words explained worked out by Services Australia, which vary by service category.
• There is a queue on the other side. Under Support at Home, approval and funding release are two separate events, and the wait between them is measured in months.

Do services continue while you wait?

This is the question that matters most and it is the one with the thinnest published answer, so here is exactly what is written down and exactly where it stops. The transition guide says CHSP services continue for clients "until their needs change, and they undergo a new assessment". The program manual then says access to CHSP will be available to Support at Home participants "in urgent need situations ahead of receiving their budget allocation, if required". Its emergency-access rule covers someone who is still waiting for a budget allocation on a short-term basis.

Both of those are about urgent need, or about the period before the new assessment. Neither of them says, in plain terms, that ordinary CHSP services keep running through the months between a Support at Home approval and the budget arriving. That gap is real, it is not something you have misread, and it is the single thing worth confirming in advance rather than discovering later. Ask the CHSP provider and My Aged CareMy Aged CareThe government service you go through to get help at home. It is the phone number and the website where everything starts. More words explained the same question, and ask for the answer in writing.

One thing that shortens the gap on the Support at Home side is interim funding, also called the minimum service offer. It releases 60% of the classification's funding so that services can start before the full budget is allocated. How long is the Support at Home wait? covers what the measured waits actually are and what else can start in the meantime.

Can you have CHSP and Support at Home at the same time?

Yes, in five specific circumstances the program manual sets out, and only those five. Everything else has to come out of the Support at Home budget. The five are worth reading closely rather than skimming. Two of them are the reason families find money they did not think they had: respite is not time limited, and emergency access exists even when the budget is fully committed.

The three rules that go with them

• You pay the CHSP contribution yourself. For any of these five, the regular CHSP client contribution fees apply, and the manual is explicit that they cannot be paid out of the Support at Home funding allocation.
• "Fully allocated" does not mean "spent". For emergency access, a budget counts as fully allocated once all the available funding has been planned for, even if none of it has gone out the door yet. Short term, as a guide, means up to about two months.
• Approval still comes from My Aged Care. Support at Home participants have to be assessed through My Aged Care for approval to access the additional CHSP services. The exception is people who came across from a Home Care Package and were already approved for a CHSP social support group.

Cottage respite, specifically

Cottage respite is the clearest case for reading this section, because it can only be accessed through CHSP and is not available under Support at Home at all. Getting to it needs a referral, either through a Support Plan Review that records why cottage respite is needed, or through one issued by the My Aged Care contact centre on 1800 200 422. The contact centre route is for when it is urgent.

Finding a CHSP provider

Start at My Aged Care, not at a provider's website. CHSP runs through the same front door as the rest of aged care: the assessment comes first, and the provider comes after it (the CHSP program page walks through both). From there, the Find a provider tool lists providers by service type and area, and the contact centre on 1800 200 422 will do the same search by phone for anyone who would rather not do it online.

We do not publish a directory of CHSP providers and would not trust one that was not the department's own. Availability is genuinely local, it changes, and a list that is six months stale sends people to providers who are full. What is more useful is knowing what to ask once you have two or three names. Every question below maps to something the government's own model service agreement requires a CHSP provider to have ready.

• "Do you have capacity for this service in my area right now, and if not, what is the wait?" Capacity is the constraint that decides whether a CHSP service is real or theoretical.
• "Can I see your client contribution policy before I sign anything?" Every provider has to have one, documented and publicly available, and has to make it available before the service agreement is signed and services start.
• "What is the contribution for each service, and is any of it above your advertised price?" The model agreement has a field for charging above the advertised price and for stating the reason, so the question is a fair one to ask directly.
• "What is your financial hardship policy, and where is it published?" Waivers and reductions run through that policy, and nobody can be denied CHSP services because they are unable to pay.
• "Which of my approved services can you deliver yourself, and which would go to another provider?" The agreement has a line for services delivered by an associated provider, so this is answerable before you sign, not after.

Sources for this section: the department's model CHSP service agreement template (October 2025) for the contribution policy, hardship policy, above-advertised-price and associated-provider requirements, and the Support at Home program manual v4.2 for provider capacity and the Find a provider tool. Read 26 July 2026.

Common questions

Who is eligible for CHSP?

People aged 65 and over, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 and over. People aged 50 and over who are homeless, or at risk of it, also qualify. The program manual describes CHSP as suitable for people who can live independently at home but may need small amounts of support. It says CHSP is not designed for people with intensive or complex care needs. Eligibility is confirmed by an assessment arranged through My Aged Care, not by the provider.

How much does CHSP cost?

There is no formal means testing for CHSP client contributions. Each provider sets its own fees in a client contribution policy that has to be documented and publicly available, and shown to you before you sign a service agreement. The amount must be agreed in writing, services cannot be refused because someone is unable to pay, and every provider must have a financial hardship policy covering waivers and reductions. Because the fees are set provider by provider, no single national CHSP price exists.

Is there a waiting list for CHSP?

The department does not publish CHSP wait times the way it now publishes Support at Home wait times, so there is no national figure to quote. What actually decides it is whether a local provider has room to take someone on. That makes the wait local, not national. In the families we have helped, CHSP has often been the fastest help to actually start, but that is our experience and not a published statistic.

Do you lose CHSP when you are assessed for Support at Home?

Not automatically, and not on the day of the assessment. The transition guide says CHSP services continue for clients until their needs change and they undergo a new assessment. Once someone is a Support at Home participant, CHSP is available only in the five circumstances the program manual lists. The CHSP contribution for those services has to be paid separately, rather than out of the Support at Home budget.

Is CHSP the same as Level 1 Support at Home?

No. They are two different programs. Being assessed at the low-need end does not produce a Level 0, because there is no such thing. It produces a CHSP outcome, which sits below Level 1. Nobody publishes a crosswalk between the two, so there is no way to say what a CHSP allocation is worth in Level 1 terms.

If the question underneath all of these is which program someone should actually be in, that is a needs question rather than a paperwork one, and it is decided at assessment. The eight Support at Home levels sets out what the assessment is scoring and what each classification is worth.