Support at Home Program 2026: What You Need to Know

Australia’s aged care system has undergone its most significant transformation in decades, and if you have an older parent, a partner, or a client who relies on home care, the Support at Home Program is something you need to understand now—not later.

This is not a minor administrative update. The Support at Home Program replaced the Home Care Packages Program and the Short-Term Restorative Care Programme on 1 November 2025, when the new Aged Care Act 2024 also commenced. For the hundreds of thousands of Australians currently navigating aged care at home, this change affects funding levels, service delivery, eligibility, and the way allied health professionals like the mobile therapists on our network are engaged.

The families who contact us through Home Visit Network are often in reactive mode. A fall happens, a diagnosis lands, or a carer reaches exhaustion point, and suddenly everyone is scrambling. This post is written for people who want to get ahead of that moment, because with Support at Home, timing genuinely matters.

What Is the Support at Home Program?

The Support at Home Program is the Australian Government’s new in-home aged care system. It consolidates existing home care and short-term support programmes into a single, more flexible funding model, designed to help older Australians remain living independently at home for longer, with access to a range of services including nursing, allied health, personal care, domestic assistance, and social support.

The programme is underpinned by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which delivered its final report in 2021 and identified systemic failures in how in-home aged care was funded and delivered across the country ^[1]. The government’s response included a commitment to redesign the home care system from the ground up, and the new Aged Care Act 2024 is the legislative expression of that commitment.

Support at Home launched on 1 November 2025, replacing Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care. If you or someone you care for was already on a Home Care Package at that date, you have already transitioned—your funding carried across and your services continued without interruption. If you are new to the system, you are entering under the new programme from day one.

One important note for people currently receiving Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) services: CHSP is separate and is not transitioning to Support at Home until no earlier than 1 July 2027 ^[2]. If you receive entry-level supports like meals, transport, or domestic assistance through CHSP, those arrangements continue unchanged for now.

How Much Funding Is Available?

One of the most important changes under Support at Home is the shift to an individualised budget model with eight funding classifications, replacing the previous four-level Home Care Package tiers. These confirmed annual funding levels have been in effect since 1 November 2025 and are indexed each July ^[3]:

• Classification 1: $10,698 per year ($2,674 per quarter)
• Classification 2: $15,982 per year ($3,995 per quarter)
• Classification 3: $21,920 per year ($5,480 per quarter)
• Classification 4: $29,545 per year ($7,386 per quarter)
• Classification 5: $39,535 per year ($9,884 per quarter)
• Classification 6: $47,957 per year ($11,989 per quarter)
• Classification 7: $58,122 per year ($14,531 per quarter)
• Classification 8: $78,106 per year ($19,527 per quarter)

Budgets are issued quarterly rather than annually, giving families more visibility over what is available and how it is being spent. Note that 10% of each quarterly budget is automatically deducted to fund care management activities, so the usable amount for direct services is 90% of the figures above. Unspent funds can roll over, but only up to $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is higher.

If there is a delay in full funding being allocated after assessment, participants may receive interim funding at 60% of their classification level while they wait for full allocation to commence ^[3].

The higher classifications are specifically intended to support people with complex care needs, including those with neurological conditions, advanced dementia, or significant physical disability. The previous Level 4 Home Care Package sat at around $63,440 per year—Classification 8 at $78,106 represents a meaningful increase in capacity for those with the highest needs.

There is also a separate Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) Pathway within the programme, with a dedicated budget for equipment, aids, and home modifications that sits independently of the core services budget ^[4]. This is significant for the occupational therapists and physiotherapists on our network who regularly prescribe equipment and recommend modifications as part of a home visit assessment.

Two short-term pathways also exist:

• Restorative Care Pathway: approximately $6,000 for up to 16 weeks, which can be increased to $12,000 through a Support Plan Review where clinically warranted. This pathway can be accessed more than once, but no more than twice in a year and not in consecutive periods ^[5].
• End-of-Life Pathway: approximately $25,000 over 12 weeks for older Australians who wish to remain at home in their final months of life ^[3].

What You Pay—and What the Government Covers

One of the most significant changes in Support at Home is how participant contributions work. Under the old Home Care Package system, income-tested fees applied broadly. Under Support at Home, services are divided into three categories with very different funding arrangements ^[6]:

Clinical care (including nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, continence support, and nutritional management) is fully funded by the government for all participants. You pay nothing out of pocket for clinically approved allied health services, regardless of your income or assets. For many self-funded retirees who previously faced significant fees under the old system, this is a material improvement.

Independence services (including personal care, respite, transport, and social support) attract moderate, means-tested contributions based on income and assets.

Everyday living services (including domestic assistance, gardening, meal preparation, and home maintenance) attract the highest contribution rates, as they are not directly tied to clinical or medical need.

Contributions are calculated as a percentage of the service price, determined through a Services Australia income and assets assessment similar to the Age Pension means test. Full pensioners pay the lowest rates; self-funded retirees without a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card pay the highest.

There is a lifetime cap on total contributions of approximately $135,318 (indexed twice yearly), which is a combined cap covering both home care and residential aged care contributions. Once you reach this cap, you pay nothing further for non-clinical services.

If you were already on a Home Care Package before 12 September 2024, you are protected by “no worse off” arrangements. This means you will not pay more in contributions under Support at Home than you did under your previous package, even if you are reassessed into a higher classification ^[6]. Full pensioners who paid no fees previously continue to pay no fees.

Getting Into the System: Why Timing Still Matters

The Support at Home program is now live—but being eligible does not mean being funded. The priority system still applies, and the practical reality for many families is that the gap between recognising a need and services actually starting can be months.

That gap is dangerous. It is during that gap that preventable falls happen, that carers burn out, and that families are forced into emergency residential placements that could have been avoided.

The therapists on our network report seeing this pattern regularly—someone calls asking for a home visit for their 82-year-old parent, and when we ask whether they have a Support at Home classification in place, the answer is often “we didn’t know they needed one yet.” By the time assessment is complete and services begin, the person’s needs have often escalated beyond what could have been managed with earlier intervention.

Starting early gives you options. Waiting gives you a crisis.

What the Assessment Process Looks Like

From October 2024, the Single Assessment System replaced the previous split between ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Teams) and RAS (Regional Assessment Services), creating one streamlined pathway for Support at Home, CHSP, and residential aged care ^[7]. The process is now simpler, but you still need to initiate it.

Step one: Contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 or register online at myagedcare.gov.au. You can do this yourself, or with the help of a GP, a social worker, or a hospital discharge planner.

Step two: A screening conversation will determine whether a face-to-face assessment is needed. In almost all cases where ongoing home support is likely, a full assessment will be arranged.

Step three: An assessor visits the person at home and evaluates their care needs, goals, and living situation. This is where allied health input is particularly valuable. An occupational therapy report or a physiotherapy assessment provided ahead of or alongside the aged care assessment can substantially strengthen the picture of need and support a higher classification outcome.

Step four: A Support at Home classification is assigned, and the person enters the priority system for funding. This is the stage where wait time begins, and interim funding at 60% of the full classification may apply while full allocation is confirmed.

Step five: Once full funding is assigned, the person selects a registered Support at Home provider to manage their services.

Families who use our platform tell us that having allied health documentation ready before the formal aged care assessment can make a real difference to both the classification outcome and the speed of the process. A home visit from an occupational therapist, for example, can produce a functional assessment that clearly articulates what supports are needed and why—giving assessors a richer picture than self-report alone.

How Allied Health Fits Into Support at Home

Under Support at Home, clinical care—including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, podiatry, dietetics, and nursing—is a fully government-funded category. Participants pay nothing out of pocket for these services when they are clinically approved as part of a care plan.

For mobile practitioners, this represents both an opportunity and a responsibility. The people who most need allied health intervention at home are often those who cannot access clinic-based services due to mobility, transport, or health complexity. The Support at Home model is built around the premise that services should come to the person, not the other way around.

Home Visit Network was built on exactly that premise. Our founder, a mobile therapist, saw firsthand how difficult it was for housebound patients to access the care they needed, and how equally fragmented the system was for practitioners trying to serve those patients. That experience shaped a platform designed to make matching straightforward on both sides.

As Support at Home continues to bed in, demand for mobile allied health professionals is increasing. Families and providers who have already built relationships with trusted mobile practitioners are better placed than those starting from scratch when funding is active and care plans need to be filled.

Price Caps Coming 1 July 2026

One important upcoming change worth understanding: until 30 June 2026, Support at Home providers can set their own prices within government guidelines. From 1 July 2026, government-set price caps will apply to every service in the Support at Home service list. Providers can continue to set their own prices, but cannot exceed the cap ^[8].

This matters for families planning their care budgets now. A service that costs $85 per hour with one provider today may cost a different amount after price caps apply. When choosing a provider or comparing quotes, ask about pricing now and whether they anticipate changes from July 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get Into the System Now

Support at Home represents a genuine improvement in how Australia funds and delivers in-home aged care. Eight funding classifications, fully funded clinical care, a separate assistive technology budget, short-term restorative and end-of-life pathways, and a clearer contributions model—these are meaningful steps forward for older Australians with complex needs and their families.

But the programme cannot help you if you are not in the system. The assessment process takes time. The priority queue takes time. Building a care team takes time. And the people who are going to need these services most are often the people least able to absorb delays when their health changes quickly.

If you are reading this as a family member trying to plan ahead for an ageing parent, a GP thinking about which patients need to be referred now, or a carer already stretched thin—do not wait for a crisis to trigger action. Contact My Aged Care, get an assessment underway, and start connecting with mobile health professionals who can provide support in the home.

That is what the system is designed for. And that is exactly what Home Visit Network exists to help with.

References

1. Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, Final Report: Care, Dignity and Respect, Commonwealth of Australia, 2021.
2. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Commonwealth Home Support Programme reforms. health.gov.au
3. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Funding classifications for Support at Home. Effective 1 November 2025. health.gov.au
4. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Pathway, Support at Home.
5. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Restorative Care Pathway, Support at Home.
6. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Support at Home participant contributions. myagedcare.gov.au
7. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Single Assessment System, Support at Home, commenced October 2024.
8. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Support at Home pricing arrangements, price caps from 1 July 2026.