Compare Home Care Package providers (now Support at Home): published rates side by side

Published rates side by side

Weekday personal care is the most consistently published rate across these providers. That makes it the cleanest single figure to compare. Sort by any column, and click a provider's name for the full breakdown of what they charge and what it buys.

Considering a self-managedSelf-managedFinding and booking your own support workers, usually through a website, while a provider still holds the money. More words explained or platform arrangement instead of a fully-managed provider? Mable doesn't publish a fixed weekday rate to compare here. See how self-managed pricing compares →

Who is the best home care package provider?

There isn't one. "Best" depends on the person you care for, not on a ranking. What matters is which services they actually need, whether the provider has capacity in their suburb right now, and how many hours a week the rates leave in the budget after fees. A provider with a glowing reputation two suburbs over can have a months-long wait in yours. Start with the table above. Shortlist two or three that service your area, then put the same questions to each of them.

How to choose the best home care provider

Get the fees in writing before any conversation about signing. That means the full price list, hourly rates for the services that will actually be used, the care managementCare managementThe provider organising the care: booking workers, keeping the plan up to date. It is paid for out of the budget. More words explained structure, and any other charges. Compare the same service at the same time band, not two different bookings. Then ask the delivery questions. Do they use regular workers or a rotating roster? What happens on sick days? Can language or cultural needs be written into the agreement? Finally, read the service agreementService agreementThe contract with a provider. It sets out what they will do and what they will charge. More words explained slowly. Check the notice periods on both sides, how and when rates change, and what happens when a worker doesn't show.

Is the cheapest provider always the best choice?

Not always, though a lower hourly rate genuinely buys more hours from the same budget. The headline rate is only the start of the arithmetic. Some providers set minimum visit lengths. The CareSide books every visit at a two-hour minimum. Bolton Clarke and Uniting book personal care at a 60-minute minimum. So short, frequent visits can cost more in practice than the rate suggests. Blue Care charges a higher hourly rate for short visits than for standard ones. Some price lists include GST and some exclude it, which blurs small differences. Self-managed arrangements can also carry a provider service fee on top of the care management allocation. Compare the whole structure against how care is actually used week to week, not just the number at the top of the page.

If the goal is the most hours for the same budget, the biggest lever is usually not which full-service provider you pick but whether you self-manage part of the care.

Warning signs to watch for while you compare

These come up again and again in the families we help. None of them is a scandal on its own. Each one tells you something about how the relationship will go once the paperwork is signed.

• Prices only ever quoted verbally. A provider who won't put their rates in writing has answered your real question.
• "Call us back when the bigger package comes through." That is a provider interested in the funding, not the person.
• Pressure to sign quickly. Nothing about choosing a provider needs to happen today.
• Vagueness about how many hours the package will actually buy each week. That is the whole point of the exercise, and a provider should be able to answer it in dollars and hours.
• Hours delivered drifting quietly below hours billed once care starts. Compare the monthly statement against the hours actually received.

Ground rules to set before the first visit

Whichever provider you choose, set the ground rules before the first visit. Ask for them to be written into the service agreement. The families we work with treat these as essential, not just preferences: one bad first interaction can put an older person off accepting help altogether. We have seen a single pushy visit end with a falls alarm thrown in a corner for good.

• Updates go to the family contact, not directly to the person you care for. Schedule changes, care updates and anything that resembles a sales conversation come to you first.
• Agree a time limit for each visit. Every visit has a length agreed in advance, not an open-ended stay.
• Same-gender practitioners for hands-on personal care, on request.

Words to have ready

You're allowed to compare and ask questions. Nothing is signed until you choose. A good provider will respect the questions rather than resent them.

Common questions

One family we helped put the same three questions to three providers and got three very different answers for exactly the same government package. One quoted only over the phone. One quoted a start date three months out. The third sent a written price list the same day, named the regular workers who would be coming, and their answer to the hours question was several hours a week better than the first. That is the one that got the package, and the whole comparison took two afternoons.