Support at Home vs Home Care Packages: what actually changed
- Funding levels
- 4 became 8
- Budget cadence
- Ongoing became quarterly
- Care management cap
- 10%
- Grandfathering cut-off
- 12 September 2024
Home Care Package levels 1 to 4 became Support at Home levels 1 to 8.
A fresh quarterly budget, published for every level, replaced one ongoing budget that built up over time.
One care management fee under Support at Home, replacing two separate legacy fees.
People already in the system by this date keep grandfathered "no worse off" contribution protection.
Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. The four package levels became eight ongoing classifications. Budgets are now set every quarter. Contributions are means tested by service category, not charged as daily fees. Anyone already approved for or receiving a package kept a budget worth the same amount. People already in the system on 12 September 2024 also keep grandfathered contribution protections.
Every figure on this page checked 26 July 2026, next check due 1 July 2027.
Because most families first heard about this change from a letter full of new words. The program got a new name: , plus new budget rules and a new fee model. Nobody rang to explain any of it. If you feel like you missed a memo, there was no memo. This page puts the old system and the new one side by side, so you can see exactly what moved.
Read this aloud
The short version, word for word. Useful if you're the one explaining this to someone else.
Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. The four package levels became eight ongoing classifications. Budgets are now set every quarter. Contributions are means tested by service category, not charged as daily fees. Anyone already approved for or receiving a package kept a budget worth the same amount. People already in the system on 12 September 2024 also keep grandfathered contribution protections.
The steps that matter
- Work out which cohort the person you care for is in. It runs on dates. Assessed on or after 1 November 2025 means one of the eight ongoing levels. Approved before then means a transitioned budget. Already receiving a package, on the queue, or assessed as eligible on or before 12 September 2024 means the contribution rates as well.
- Check the letter and the opt-in status before anything else. The most recent letter states the classification and the budget. Upload a photo of it to the hours calculator and it will read the classification for you. Or call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and ask directly whether the person you care for is opted in to the national priority system. Approved and released are two different events. Nothing is delivered until release.
- Get the money confirmed in writing. Ask which contribution band applies. If the package is grandfathered, ask for the dollar comparison, including every supplement, before you agree to any change. Never agree to a change without knowing the numbers first.
- If something doesn't match, ask about it early. If the letter's figures don't match the tables on this page, ask the provider or My Aged Care to explain the difference in writing. If health or needs have got worse since the assessment, that is grounds to ask for the priority category to be reviewed. How long the wait really is →
What happened to Home Care Packages?
If a was already in place, the headline number mostly carried across. It moved to the new system at an equivalent value. What changed is the machinery around that number. That means how the budget is set, what fees providers can charge, how contributions work, and what happens to money left unspent.
| Home Care Package (before) | Support at Home (now) | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of funding levels | 4 (Home Care Package levels 1-4) | 8 (Support at Home levels 1-8) |
| Budget cadence | One ongoing individualised budget, with unspent funds building up over time | A fresh quarterly budget, published for every level |
| Management fees | Two separate fees: care management capped at 20% and package management at 15% of the package (from 1 January 2023) | Care management only, capped at 10% of the package budget |
| What you pay | A basic daily fee plus an income-tested care fee assessed by Services Australia | A means-tested contribution per service, set by service category: clinical supports are $0 for everyone; independence and everyday living scale with pension status |
| Unspent funds | Built up with no cap and moved with the person | Up to $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget (whichever is greater) carries into the next quarter |
Home Care Package fee caps per the Department of Health's care management charging rules; Home Care Package fees per My Aged Care; quarterly carryover per the Department's individualised budgets guidance; unspent-funds transfer per Managing your Support at Home budget. Verified 26 July 2026.
If there were unspent Home Care Package funds on 31 October 2025, they carried across in full, with no cap. They now sit in a separate budget alongside the new quarterly one. How unspent funds work now →
Where each Home Care Package level sits now
The four legacy levels were not simply renamed into four of the new eight. A transitioned budget keeps its own dollar value. It usually lands between two of the ongoing , not exactly on one. Both tables below use current figures, indexed 1 July 2026.
The 4 legacy Home Care Package levels
1
- Quarterly budget
- $2,818
- Annual budget
- $11,272
- Sits against ongoing levels
- between ongoing Levels 1 and 2 Level 1 in detail →
2
- Quarterly budget
- $4,955
- Annual budget
- $19,822
- Sits against ongoing levels
- between ongoing Levels 2 and 3 Level 2 in detail →
3
- Quarterly budget
- $10,787
- Annual budget
- $43,149
- Sits against ongoing levels
- between ongoing Levels 5 and 6 Level 3 in detail →
4
- Quarterly budget
- $16,354
- Annual budget
- $65,416
- Sits against ongoing levels
- between ongoing Levels 7 and 8 Level 4 in detail →
| HCP level | Quarterly budget | Annual budget | Sits against ongoing levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,818 | $11,272 | between ongoing Levels 1 and 2 Level 1 in detail → |
| 2 | $4,955 | $19,822 | between ongoing Levels 2 and 3 Level 2 in detail → |
| 3 | $10,787 | $43,149 | between ongoing Levels 5 and 6 Level 3 in detail → |
| 4 | $16,354 | $65,416 | between ongoing Levels 7 and 8 Level 4 in detail → |
The 8 ongoing Support at Home levels
1
- Quarterly budget
- $2,753
- Annual budget
- $11,010
- Scale
2
- Quarterly budget
- $4,113
- Annual budget
- $16,451
- Scale
3
- Quarterly budget
- $5,634
- Annual budget
- $22,537
- Scale
4
- Quarterly budget
- $7,617
- Annual budget
- $30,469
- Scale
5
- Quarterly budget
- $10,182
- Annual budget
- $40,730
- Scale
6
- Quarterly budget
- $12,341
- Annual budget
- $49,365
- Scale
7
- Quarterly budget
- $14,915
- Annual budget
- $59,660
- Scale
8
- Quarterly budget
- $20,034
- Annual budget
- $80,137
- Scale
| Level | Quarterly budget | Annual budget | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,753 | $11,010 | |
| 2 | $4,113 | $16,451 | |
| 3 | $5,634 | $22,537 | |
| 4 | $7,617 | $30,469 | |
| 5 | $10,182 | $40,730 | |
| 6 | $12,341 | $49,365 | |
| 7 | $14,915 | $59,660 | |
| 8 | $20,034 | $80,137 |
Budgets sourced from Department of Health, Funding classifications for Support at Home · Support at Home program classifications and budgets (PDF) , verified 2026-07-22. Budgets index every 1 July.
See how many hours each level actually buysWho's affected, and how?
Three sets of rules run side by side, covering both funding levels and . Dates decide which one applies to your family. Nobody had to choose a cohort. It follows from when the assessment and approval happened.
Assessed on or after 1 November 2025
New entrant
Placed directly on one of the 8 ongoing Support at Home levels, with a worth $2,753 to $20,034, and the standard contribution bands.
Approved between 13 September 2024 and 31 October 2025
Transitioned
This is a : a legacy Home Care Package level (1 to 4), carried across at an equivalent quarterly budget, with the standard contribution bands.
Already in the system by 12 September 2024
Grandfathered
Receiving a package, waiting on the national queue, or assessed as eligible on or before that date. Keeps the transitioned budget, plus capped grandfathered contribution rates, instead of the standard means-tested scale.
One more thing for transitioned and grandfathered families. Extra supports that sat on top of an old package may be treated differently under the new classification. The dementia supplement is the one families ask about most. Ask for written confirmation, in dollars, before you agree to anything.
Standard contribution bands
Full pensioner
- Clinical supports
- 0%
- Independence
- 5%
- Everyday living
- 17.5%
Part pensioner or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder
- Clinical supports
- 0%
- Independence
- 5%-50%
- Everyday living
- 17.5%-80%
Self-funded
- Clinical supports
- 0%
- Independence
- 50%
- Everyday living
- 80%
| Band | Clinical supports | Independence | Everyday living |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full pensioner | 0% | 5% | 17.5% |
| Part pensioner or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder | 0% | 5%-50% | 17.5%-80% |
| Self-funded | 0% | 50% | 80% |
Grandfathered "no worse off" bands
Full pensioner (grandfathered, no worse off)
- Clinical supports
- 0%
- Independence
- 0%
- Everyday living
- 0%
Part pensioner or CSHC holder (grandfathered, no worse off)
- Clinical supports
- 0%
- Independence
- 0%-25%
- Everyday living
- 0%-25%
Self-funded (grandfathered, no worse off)
- Clinical supports
- 0%
- Independence
- 25%
- Everyday living
- 25%
| Band | Clinical supports | Independence | Everyday living |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full pensioner (grandfathered, no worse off) | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Part pensioner or CSHC holder (grandfathered, no worse off) | 0% | 0%-25% | 0%-25% |
| Self-funded (grandfathered, no worse off) | 0% | 25% | 25% |
The government's stated principle for this group is that they should pay the same as, or less than, they would have under their old Home Care Package arrangement; we describe the effect here rather than quoting the guarantee's wording. In practice: grandfathered full pensioners pay nothing, grandfathered part pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders pay between 0% and 25% depending on their income assessment, and grandfathered self-funded retirees without a card pay 25%, with a fortnightly cap applied to limit the total amount payable. Rates per the Department of Health's Support at Home program manual (v4.2, section 9.4.1.1). Verified 26 July 2026.
The timeline
Dates decide almost everything in this system. That includes which of the three cohorts above applies to the person you care for. These are the dates that matter.
12 September 2024
Already receiving a package, on the national queue, or assessed as eligible on or before this date: keeps grandfathered "no worse off" contribution protection
31 October 2025
Last day of the Home Care Packages program. Anyone assessed as eligible by this date transitioned at an equivalent budget
1 November 2025
Support at Home begins. Existing packages and unspent funds carry across automatically. There was nothing to apply for
May 2026
Price caps on provider rates are deferred. No caps are in force today. Comparing published rates is the protection that exists
1 July, every year
Classification budgets re-index. Figures on this page verified 2026-07-22
Dates cross-checked against Department of Health and My Aged Care program guidance. Verified 26 July 2026.
Words to have ready
The grandfathering question
Exactly as written.
"Please confirm, in dollars, the current annual value of [name]'s grandfathered arrangement versus the proposed new classification, including all supplements."
The opt-in check
"Can you confirm [name] is opted in to the national priority system, what priority category they are in, and the expected release timeframe?"
You're allowed to ask money questions this bluntly. It's what the system expects of people who know how it works, and now that's you.
Common questions
What is support at home now called?
Support at Home is the current name. It replaced Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care on 1 November 2025. It is now the Australian Government's in-home aged care program. If the person you care for already had a package, it carried across automatically at an equivalent budget. You did not need to reapply.
Once a classification is set, how do you move to a different level?
There's no scheduled review. Moving to a different classification happens by request, at any time, through what the department calls a . A participant can ask through My Aged Care or a Services Australia Aged Care Specialist Officer; a provider can ask on the participant's behalf with consent. Grounds include needs, goals or circumstances changing, needing additional services, or a time-limited service ending. A review can end three ways: no changes, an updated support plan, or a new assessment. Only a new assessment can move the classification itself, so if a different level is the goal, that's the specific outcome to ask for.
Per the Support at Home program manual (v4.2, section 7.6, Support Plan Review, p.67) and the provider transition guide (v4.2, action item 2.49 — reassessment is "Ongoing", not scheduled). Verified 26 July 2026.
What happened to supplements like the dementia supplement?
Most of them carried straight across, unchanged. The oxygen, enteral feeding and veterans' supplements still exist under Support at Home exactly as they did under a Home Care Package. The one that behaves differently is the Dementia and Cognition Supplement, plus its sibling the EACH-D supplement: if someone was already receiving it on 31 October 2025, it kept being paid automatically, even through a change of provider. It does not survive a reassessment, though. Once a person is reassessed into an ongoing Support at Home classification, the department discontinues the supplement, because by then it treats the extra cognitive need as already built into that classification's budget.
Per the Support at Home program manual (v4.2, section 9.3.2, primary supplements table, p.105-106). Verified 26 July 2026.
Level 5 is where this question comes up most - the fuller answer is there →
One human thing
If the new words make you feel like you have fallen behind, you have not. The names changed. Your job did not.
One family we helped was moving a parent from an older, high-level package to the new system. What worried them most was a supplement they had heard would disappear. Instead of arguing about it, they asked for the full comparison in writing: current arrangement versus proposed classification, with every supplement included. The answer arrived before anything was signed, and they made the decision on numbers, not rumours.
Where to go next
- What is the Support at Home program? The whole map: levels, budgets, what a package pays for, and what to check first.
- Support at Home contribution rates The full band-by-band breakdown of what you actually pay, standard and grandfathered.
- Support at Home hours calculator See exactly how many hours a quarterly budget buys at each level.
Working out what any of this actually means for you?
Tell Vera what's happening at home and where things stand with My Aged Care. You'll come away with a plan for the next fortnight, in plain English.
Talk it through with VeraFree. Private. No account needed.