aged care reform

Fully Funded Personal Care 2026: What Changes Under Support at Home

By Home Visit Network

3 September 2026

15 min read

Personal care becomes fully government funded under Support at Home from 1 October 2026, a change that is generating genuine relief among older Australians and their families. The shift removes co-contributions from services like showering, dressing and continence support, which have historically come with a participant cost share.^[1] But a detail in the announcement matters enormously for anyone planning ahead: personal care moves into the clinical supports category, which carries zero co-contribution, yet it will still be drawn from the same overall Support at Home budget.^[2] This is not new money. It is a reclassification.

Understanding what that distinction means in practice, and how it sits alongside the broader wave of aged care reform, is the purpose of this article.

Important notice: The 1 October 2026 commencement date was the confirmed scheduled date at the time of writing. Verify current status with My Aged Care (1800 200 422) or your Support at Home provider before making care decisions based on this article, as implementation timelines in aged care reform have shifted before.

What Support at Home Already Funds Without Co-Contribution

To understand the October change, it helps to understand what the current rules already cover. Under Support at Home, which replaced the former Home Care Package system on 1 November 2025, clinical care services already attract zero participant co-contribution. Nursing visits, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, podiatry and dietetics are fully government funded for eligible participants, regardless of income or assets.^[3]

This is a significant departure from the old system, where many participants used package funds to pay for allied health at a subsidised rate that still came from their overall budget. Under Support at Home, clinical care sits outside the co-contribution framework entirely.

What has not been in that category, until October 2026, is personal care: assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming, non-clinical continence management and related daily activities. These have been classified as independence services, which attract a means-tested co-contribution.

The October change moves personal care into the clinical supports category, aligning it with nursing and allied health in terms of participant cost share.^[1] The government’s stated reasoning is that personal care is an essential service supporting health, dignity and wellbeing, not an optional extra, and the change followed sector and community concern that co-payments were leading some older people to reduce or skip essential care.^[4]

What This Change Actually Means for Participants

The practical effect is that out-of-pocket spend on personal care drops to zero. For people currently contributing to the cost of daily showering assistance or help getting dressed, this is real financial relief, particularly for those receiving frequent visits.

Two conditions apply. You need to be approved for the personal care service type in your support plan, and you need available Support at Home funding.^[2] Encouragingly, if personal care is already approved in your plan, the change applies automatically. You do not need a new aged care assessment, and the change should simply appear in statements and invoices after 1 October.^[5]

However, the care hours themselves do not increase. A participant with a given quarterly Support at Home budget will still have the same total budget. What changes is that personal care hours drawn from that budget no longer attract a co-contribution. The hours are not supplemented by additional government funding to replace the co-contribution revenue.

This distinction matters for families expecting that “fully funded personal care” means more hours of care. It does not, at least not automatically. It means those hours cost the participant nothing out of pocket, while the provider is paid the full rate.

For participants who were previously skimping on personal care visits because of cost, the change may lead them to use their entitlement more fully. Given that this was precisely the problem the reform was designed to solve, that is a genuine positive outcome.^[4] But participants already using their full allocation will see the administrative change without a practical increase in care.

The Budget Interaction: Where Families Often Get Confused

The confusion stems from the phrase “fully funded,” which reasonably implies the government is picking up a cost. In one sense it is: the co-contribution participants previously paid will now be covered by the government rate paid directly to providers. But the overall care envelope for each participant does not expand. The Department of Health states plainly that personal care services will continue to be funded from a participant’s available Support at Home budget.^[2]

Support at Home budgets are set by classification level and assessed need, determined through the Single Assessment System using the Integrated Assessment Tool, which replaced the former ACAT process in December 2024. Participants sit in one of eight classification levels, and that level determines the quarterly budget available.

Personal care hours sat within that budget before October 2026 and will continue to sit within it after. The reclassification affects who pays for those hours at the margin, not how many hours are available.

Families should also be aware of the lifetime non-clinical contribution cap: $135,318.69 for new entrants, or $84,571.66 for no-worse-off transitioners. Transport, everyday living and remaining independence services count toward that cap. Clinical care does not, and from October, personal care will not either. For participants with significant daily assistance needs who also receive transport and everyday living services, the cap dynamics can be consequential over time.

Two further boundaries worth knowing. This change applies to Support at Home participants only, not to the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.^[6] And in residential aged care, showering, dressing and continence management remain classified as non-clinical care, so the reclassification does not flow through to residential fees.^[4]

The Restorative Care Pathway: An Often-Missed Bridge

One of the most underused mechanisms for older Australians returning home from hospital or recovering from acute illness is the Restorative Care Pathway, which replaced the former Short-Term Restorative Care program under the Aged Care Act 2024. This pathway provides up to 16 weeks of goal-directed therapy, with funding of approximately $6,000, rising to around $12,000 for eligible participants with greater need.^[3]

Critically, the Restorative Care Pathway sits outside the ongoing Support at Home budget. It is a separate, time-limited intervention designed to build or rebuild capacity, with the explicit goal of reducing ongoing care dependency. Clinical care within this pathway carries zero co-contribution.

For a person who has experienced a stroke, a fall, or a period of hospitalisation, the Restorative Care Pathway can deliver intensive allied health support, including physiotherapy and occupational therapy, at the point when functional gains are most achievable. The same principle applies after an illness that has eroded personal care capacity: a focused restorative program may reduce how much ongoing personal care a person ultimately needs. Given that personal care hours still come out of the ongoing budget, anything that genuinely reduces the need for them stretches that budget further.

Families and care coordinators aware of this pathway are in a much stronger position than those who default immediately to ongoing Support at Home without exploring whether a restorative period first would produce better outcomes.

The Transition Care Program: Getting the First 12 Weeks Right

For participants discharged from hospital, the Transition Care Program remains an important early bridge. Restructured under the Aged Care Act 2024 from 1 November 2025, the program provides up to 12 weeks of support, with home-based care typically starting within 48 hours of discharge.^[3]

This is the window where personal care, nursing and allied health can be delivered in a coordinated way while longer-term Support at Home arrangements are confirmed. With personal care fully funded from October, participants entering the Transition Care Program after that date and then moving to Support at Home should experience a relatively seamless continuation of personal care without a new co-contribution appearing.

That said, hospital-to-home transitions in Australia remain uneven. Families regularly report arriving home without a clear understanding of who is coordinating their care, which services will start and when, and what their ongoing budget will look like. The Transition Care Program is designed to fill this gap, but referral pathways, provider availability and discharge planning quality vary significantly between hospitals.

What Allied Health Funding Looks Like Alongside Personal Care

With personal care moving to clinical supports, it is worth mapping how allied health already fits into the picture.

Under Support at Home, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, podiatry and dietetics are clinical care, fully government funded with no participant co-contribution.^[3] This applies from the first visit, with no income or asset test affecting whether the participant pays.

Outside Support at Home, older Australians can also access allied health through a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan (GPCCMP). This replaced the former GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangement on 1 July 2025. The GPCCMP uses a standard referral letter rather than a structured form, is valid for 18 months, and allows up to five Medicare-rebated allied health sessions per year, with a rebate of approximately $61.80 per session.

GPCCMP sessions and Support at Home clinical care are distinct entitlements. A participant can in principle receive their five GPCCMP-rebated physiotherapy sessions and also receive physiotherapy through their Support at Home clinical care allocation, though care coordinators and treating teams should communicate to avoid duplication and ensure the highest-value sessions are delivered at the right point in recovery.

For telehealth, the November 2025 Medicare rule applies: a rebated telehealth consultation requires either an in-person GP visit within the previous 12 months or MyMedicare enrolment. Families arranging telehealth reviews should confirm their GP relationship meets this requirement before expecting Medicare to cover the session.

Provider Transparency and Pricing

One area where families should remain attentive after October is provider pricing. While the co-contribution is removed, providers still set their service rates, and those rates determine how many hours a budget actually buys.

The Support at Home price cap framework, intended to set maximum prices providers could charge for each service category, was deferred in May 2026 with no confirmed start date at the time of writing. Price caps are not currently in force, and you may still see commentary online incorrectly stating they began on 1 July 2026.

The protections that do apply are meaningful: providers cannot charge separate entry, exit or administration fees; the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has the power to order refunds for overcharging; and providers must publish their prices. Ask for a current price schedule before committing to a provider and compare rates where you have a choice in your area.

Quality Standards and Clinical Governance

From 1 November 2025, the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards came into effect. Under Standard 5 (Clinical Care), providers are legally required to have systematic processes to identify, assess, manage and review pain.^[7] This matters directly for personal care: assistance with bathing, repositioning and dressing frequently intersects with pain, and providers now have a legal obligation, not merely a best-practice expectation, to have clinical frameworks in place.

There is a logic to the reclassification here. Recognising personal care as clinical support rather than an independence service reflects that these tasks are performed on people with genuine clinical needs, and that the workers doing them are often the first to notice a change in condition.

For families choosing a Support at Home provider, asking how personal care workers communicate changes in a client’s condition or comfort to nursing or allied health staff is a reasonable and important question. The standard requires systematic processes, not ad hoc arrangements.

What This Means for Mobile Allied Health Professionals

For mobile physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and other clinicians visiting people at home, the October change has indirect significance. As personal care becomes fully funded, some participants who previously rationed care hours may become more actively engaged in maximising their overall Support at Home allocation. That could mean greater interest in clinical care services, including allied health, from participants who previously spent cautiously.

Mobile practitioners who work alongside personal care workers in people’s homes are already familiar with the intersection between functional capacity and daily care assistance. An occupational therapist helping someone regain independence in dressing is working toward reducing the personal care hours that person needs over time, which matters more, not less, now that those hours still draw on a finite budget. Families and care coordinators can find qualified mobile practitioners by conducting a postcode search on the Home Visit Network platform.

The therapists on our network report that one of the most common frustrations for families is not knowing which services they are entitled to, how they interact, and who is responsible for coordinating them. The October change will require clear communication from providers to avoid participants believing they have suddenly received more care than they actually have.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does fully funded personal care mean I will get more hours of care?

No. From 1 October 2026, personal care moves to the clinical supports category and carries zero participant co-contribution. However, it continues to be funded from your available Support at Home budget. The hours available depend on your assessed classification level, not the co-contribution status of individual services.

Do I need a new assessment to get the change?

No. If personal care is already approved in your support plan and you have available Support at Home funding, the change applies automatically from 1 October 2026. You should see it reflected in your statements and invoices after that date.

Will personal care be free even if I have significant assets?

Yes, subject to the change taking effect as scheduled. Clinical supports under Support at Home are not means-tested. Once personal care is reclassified, it will be fully government funded regardless of income or assets.

Does this apply if I am on the Commonwealth Home Support Programme?

No. This change applies to Support at Home participants only. It also does not change how showering, dressing and continence management are classified in residential aged care, where they remain non-clinical care.

Who do I contact to find out my current classification and budget?

Contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422. They can confirm your current Support at Home classification and connect you with a provider or assessor if your needs have changed.

What about carer support? Is that included in these changes?

Carer support services are distinct from Support at Home clinical and personal care. If you are supporting someone who receives home-based care, contact Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 for practical and emotional support, including respite options.

Can I still access allied health through my GP alongside my Support at Home services?

Yes. A GP Chronic Condition Management Plan (GPCCMP) allows up to five Medicare-rebated allied health sessions per year. These are separate from the allied health available through your Support at Home clinical care allocation. Speak with your GP about whether a GPCCMP is appropriate.

My mother’s provider charges more than another provider. Does that affect how many personal care hours she gets after October?

Yes, in practice. While the co-contribution is removed, her quarterly budget still buys a number of hours determined by the provider’s rate. With price caps deferred, providers set their own rates. Compare published prices and ask about value for money.

References

About the Author

The Home Visit Network Team connects Australians with qualified mobile healthcare professionals who provide services in the comfort of your home.