Support at Home levels: all 8 funding levels compared

How your level is decided

Your level is not chosen from a description of what someone can or cannot do. It is worked out from three things the assessor scores, and the law sets the exact combination that produces each level.

Three scored things go into it: the functional independence scoreFunctional independence scoreOne of three scores from your assessment: how much the person receiving care can manage on their own, day to day. More words explained , the needs met scoreNeeds met scoreOne of three scores from your assessment: how much of what the person needs is already being covered, including by family. More words explained , and whether the assessor recorded any compounding factorsCompounding factorsOne of three things scored at your assessment: whether other things, like living alone, are making the situation harder. More words explained .

None of this says what a level means about what someone can do. No government publication defines the 8 levels that way, and this page will not either. The item-level scoring behind each of the three inputs is not published, so a score band cannot honestly be turned into a description of a person.

What makes each level different

Every level below has its own page: what it costs in a typical week at published provider rates, the exact wording of its assessment criteria, and the questions specific to it. Here is the one thing that is genuinely different about each.

• Level 1 The only level where the top independence band appears, and it needs a recorded compounding factor to unlock at all.
• Level 2 Sits in the same independence band as Level 1 and Level 3, so an identical score there can land on three different levels.
• Level 3 The first crossing point in the table: its two routes fall in different independence bands entirely.
• Level 4 The last level where the carryover cap is a flat dollar floor, before the rule switches to a share of the budget.
• Level 5 The second crossing point, and where the independence score stops separating the levels above it.
• Level 6 The first level with both routes inside the lowest independence band, the one every level above it also shares.
• Level 7 Sits on exactly the same two assessment scores as Level 8. Only a recorded compounding factor tells them apart.
• Level 8 The only level with just one way in, and the only one with nowhere higher to be lifted into.

Transitioned from a Home Care Package

The Home Care Packages program closed on 31 October 2025. Anyone assessed as eligible by then kept an equivalent budget under a transitioned classificationTransitioned classificationThe level someone kept when their old Home Care Package moved across to Support at Home, at the same dollar value. More words explained , on its own 4-level scale, separate from the 8 ongoing levels above.

The table below compares the two scales by dollars only. That comparison is honest because both figures are published. What it will not do is map an old level onto a new one as a statement about need: no official crosswalk of that kind exists, and a transitioned budget usually lands between two ongoing levels rather than exactly on one.

The fuller comparison: contribution rates, the transition timeline, and the grandfathered cohort →

Common questions

Who decides the level?

An aged care assessor, at the aged care assessment. They score three things: how much the person receiving care can manage day to day, how much of what they need is already covered, and whether other things are making the situation harder. The law sets the exact combination of those three scores that produces each of the 8 levels. Nobody chooses a level by description, and a provider cannot change it.

Can the level change?

Yes, through a new assessment, not automatically. You, the provider (with consent), or Services Australia can ask for a Support Plan Review, which can end in no change, an updated plan, or a new assessment. Only the new assessment can change the classification. We have not found a published guarantee that a reassessment can only go up. The one place the department rules out a decrease is straight after a restorative care episode.

Is Level 8 the highest?

Yes, it is the top of the 8 ongoing levels. If a Level 8 budget genuinely is not enough, the department publishes a specific list of what to consider next, from reprioritising the care plan to short term supports and Commonwealth Home Support Programme respite. What Level 8 is worth, and the full list →

What if the letter names a level you didn't expect?

Two things usually explain it. If the letter says CHSP, that isn't a mistake: it's the bottom rung of the same ladder, one step below Level 1, not a lower tier of failure. If it says "Home Care Package Level" and a number, that's the closed legacy program's scale, carried across at an equivalent dollar value, not one of these 8 levels. If it genuinely is one of the 8 and it still surprises you, the section above on how a level is decided explains what actually sets it. A Support Plan Review is how to have it looked at again.