Side-by-side
| Home Care Packages (to 31 Oct 2025) | Support at Home (from 1 Nov 2025) | |
|---|---|---|
| Funding levels | Four package levels (about $10,600 to $61,400 a year) | Eight ongoing classifications (about $11,000 to $78,000 a year), plus short-term pathways |
| Budget release | Annual subsidy paid monthly in arrears; provider holds funds | Quarterly budgets; Services Australia pays providers for services delivered |
| Unspent funds | Accumulated without limit (often large balances) | Rollover capped at $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is greater |
| Care management | Package management + care management fees set by provider (capped at 20% combined) | Care management funded at 10% of the budget; package management fee abolished |
| Fees / contributions | Basic daily fee and income-tested care fee | No basic daily fee; contributions by service category (clinical 0%; independence and everyday living means-tested) |
| Services | Provider’s own price list | Defined service list; provider-set prices at commencement; government price caps from 1 July 2026 |
| Assessment | ACAT / RAS | Single Assessment System with an Integrated Assessment Tool |
| Restorative / palliative | Short-Term Restorative Care (8 weeks); palliative via package | Restorative Care Pathway (up to 12 weeks); End-of-Life Pathway (higher budget, up to 12 weeks) |
| Equipment | Funded from the package budget | Separate Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme with tiers (low, medium, high) and prescriber requirements |
| Regulator status | Approved provider under the Aged Care Act 1997 | Registered provider in categories under the Aged Care Act 2024 |
Budgets and unspent funds – the cash-flow change
The single biggest operational change is that money no longer sits with the provider. Under HCP, providers commonly held thousands of dollars of unspent funds per client and invoiced against them. Under Support at Home you claim for delivered services against the participant’s quarterly budget, and unspent amounts roll over only up to the cap. Providers built on holding funds need to rebuild rostering and billing around delivered hours, and participants need clearer quarterly planning – which is where care management earns its 10%.
Illustrative annual budgets: HCP levels vs Support at Home classifications
Approximate figures for comparison; indexed annually.
Contributions: who pays what
Contributions are set per service, not per person. Clinical supports – nursing, allied health, care management – are fully government funded for everyone. Independence supports (personal care, respite, social support, transport, therapy assistance) and everyday living supports (cleaning, gardening, meals, home maintenance) attract a contribution based on the Age Pension means test: full pensioners 5% and 17.5%; part-pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders between those figures and the self-funded rates on a sliding scale; self-funded retirees 50% and 80%. A lifetime cap applies to non-clinical contributions across home and residential care. Anyone who was in the HCP system on 12 September 2024 is protected by the ‘no worse off’ principle and continues to pay no more than they would have under HCP.
The short-term pathways
- Restorative Care Pathway – allied-health-led, goal-based support for up to 12 weeks (extendable in limited cases) to regain function after a setback; replaces Short-Term Restorative Care and is available more widely.
- End-of-Life Pathway – a dedicated higher budget over up to 12 weeks for people with a prognosis of three months or less who want to remain at home; accessed through a prioritised assessment.
- Assistive Technology and Home Modifications – funded outside the ongoing budget in low, medium and high tiers, with prescription requirements for higher-cost items, and an equipment loan scheme in some states.
What providers must change
Provider transition checklist
The items most often still open in early 2026.
- Service agreements rewritten for Support at Home: service list, prices, contributions, quarterly budgets, rollover rules
- Care management delivered and evidenced as a distinct 10% service, with a named care partner
- Rostering and billing rebuilt around delivered services claimed through Services Australia
- Pricing reviewed against the service list and the 1 July 2026 price caps
- Participant contribution calculation and invoicing tested for each means category
- Restorative Care Pathway and End-of-Life Pathway workflows defined (if delivered)
- AT-HM scheme process: prescriptions, tiers, supplier arrangements
- Registration categories confirmed and key personnel notified to the Commission
- SIRS and complaints processes updated to the new Act’s definitions
- Staff briefed on the Statement of Rights and Code of Conduct
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – Support at Home program manual, Support at Home: what’s changing, Participant contributions
- Aged Care Act 2024; Aged Care Rules 2025
- Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission – provider transition guidance
- Home Care Packages Program Operational Manual (final version) for the pre-November-2025 comparison
General information only, not legal, financial or tax advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements with the regulator or a qualified professional.
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