How to access Support at Home
The process for an older person to access Support at Home services has 10 steps.
1. Register with My Aged Care
An older person must first apply for an assessment with My Aged Care. They may also be referred to My Aged Care by a medical professional or hospital. The older person will then be referred to an assessment organisation.
2. Triage and assessment
The assessment organisation triages the older person to decide eligibility and priority. An assessor will meet them to complete an aged care needs assessment. The assessor notes the older person’s strengths, areas of difficulty and ageing related care needs.
3. Support plan
If eligible for Support at Home ongoing and/or short-term funding, the assessor and older person will develop a support plan together. This includes the older person’s goals and services they are approved for under the Support at Home service list.
4. Decision and prioritisation
The older person receives their Notice of Decision (titled ‘Outcome of your application for funded aged care services’) with a copy of their support plan.
If approved for ongoing funding, assistive technology and/or home modifications, and actively seeking services, they will need to wait to be allocated funding by entering:
If approved for the Restorative Care Pathway or End-of-Life Pathway, they will be allocated funding immediately.
5. Funding allocation
When government funding becomes available, the participant will choose a Support at Home provider to deliver their approved services.
All providers must ensure the My Aged Care website has information about their services and prices.
Services Australia will manage a participant's funding on their behalf.
6. Enter a service agreement
If the provider agrees to provide services, the provider and the participant must enter into a service agreement within 56 days of being allocated funding. Participants can request a 28-day extension through My Aged Care.
This agreement must be entered into before, or on the day, services begin.
The participant also completes an income and assets assessment with Services Australia. This determines their participant contribution.
7. Notify Services Australia
The provider notifies Services Australia within 28 days of the participant starting to receive services.
8. Care plan and individualised budget
The provider and participant develop a care plan and an individualised budget together. These must align with the Notice of Decision and support plan.
Instead of a care plan, a goal plan is used in the Restorative Care Pathway.
9. Care management
A staff member called a ‘care partner’ must provide care management activities, even if a participant chooses to self-manage. This includes regular discussions to review the participant’s mix of services to meet changing needs and goals.
A restorative care partner delivers care management in the Restorative Care Pathway.
10. Review
The participant or provider can request a Support Plan Review if they want changes to the support plan, including approval for additional services. This request goes to an assessment organisation.
Ongoing and short-term funding
The participant’s Notice of Decision will include approval for one or a combination of the following:
- a classification for ongoing funding – there are 8 classifications that provide increasing levels of funding for ongoing care and services
- approval for a short-term funding:
- Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme – funding for 12 months (in most instances)
- Restorative Care Pathway – funding for up to 16 weeks
- End-of-Life Pathway – funding for 12 weeks.
Learn more about funding for Support at Home.
Participants who transitioned from the Home Care Packages (HCP) Program received a funding level that’s equivalent to their previous HCP package level.
Support at Home Priority System
The Support at Home Priority System allocates ongoing funding when it becomes available, based on a person’s date of approval and priority category.
An older person’s aged care assessment will determine their priority category:
- urgent
- high
- medium
- standard.
They will only enter the Support at Home Priority System if they:
- have an approval for Support at Home
- are actively seeking care.
An older person may receive interim funding for a period of time in certain circumstances.
Once approved, short-term funding is available immediately for the Restorative Care Pathway and End-of-Life Pathway.
Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Priority Systems
The AT-HM scheme has its own priority systems to allocate funding, including:
- Assistive Technology Priority System
- Home Modifications Priority System.
An older person will only enter one or both priority system if they:
- have approvals for assistive technology and/or home modifications funding
- are actively seeking AT-HM.
Participants will be allocated AT-HM scheme funding when it becomes available, based on their date of approval and assessed priority category (1-4).
AT-HM funding will be available immediately for the Restorative Care Pathway or End-of-Life Pathway.
Who provides services
Registered providers work with participants to plan, organise and deliver Support at Home services. They may also engage third-party organisations to provide services, assistive technology and home modifications.
Providers set their own prices for services, which should be reasonable, transparent and reflect the full cost of delivering services.
Learn more about:
- what to do before you can provide Support at Home services
- responsibilities as a Support at Home provider
- delivering Support at Home services.
From 1 July 2026, Australian Government price caps will apply.
How budgets work
A participant’s budget for Support at Home services includes:
- government funding – ongoing and/or short-term funding and any supplements they are eligible for
- any participant contributions.
Providers must develop an individualised budget with each participant.
Budgets for ongoing services are allocated quarterly. Participants can carry over unspent funds up to $1,000 or 10% (whichever is greater) to the next quarter.
The budget of a participant who transitioned from the HCP Program may also include unspent HCP funds, which have no carryover limit.
How participant contributions work
Participants must contribute to the cost of everyday living and independence services. However, the government pays for the full cost of clinical support services.
A participant’s contribution level will depend on an assessment of their income and assets by Services Australia.
A participant may be eligible to apply for financial hardship assistance if they can’t contribute, for reasons beyond their control.
Learn more about participant contributions.
Under the contributions ‘no worse off principle’, older people who were approved for HCP on or before 12 September 2024 will contribute the same or less under Support at Home than they otherwise would have under the HCP Program.
How we pay providers
Providers must deliver a service before making a claim to Services Australia.
Services Australia will:
- work out and subtract any participant contributions that are due
- pay the balance out of the participant’s funding account.
Providers then invoice participants directly for any:
- participant contributions
- extra services the participant has agreed to pay for.
Providers must give participants a monthly statement outlining their services delivered, contributions paid and remaining quarterly budget.
Learn more about provider payment arrangements.
Exiting participants
A participant exits a provider’s service if:
- they change providers
- they exit the program, such as moving into permanent residential aged care
- the provider chooses to cease or transfer services in certain circumstances.
Find out more
Read:
- Chapter 5 (Support at Home program overview) and Chapter 6 (assessment and access to Support at Home services) of the Support at Home program manual
- Booklet for older people, families and carers
- Support at Home priority system and funding allocation fact sheet for participants
- Guide to ongoing Support at Home services booklet – My Aged Care
- Researching Support at Home providers fact sheet – My Aged Care