If you are an older person, read about contributions and use the Support at Home fee estimator on the My Aged Care website.
How we set contributions
Contribution rates will be based on a participant’s income and assets, and vary by the amount and type of services they receive.
Participant contributions are set at a percentage of the cost of the service received for each service type. This cost may be a rate per hour or unit of service. This means:
- a participant will pay the dollar amount set by the percentage
- the government will pay the remainder of the price, as a subsidy to the provider.
The percentage is based on the type of service received. Participants will make:
- no contribution for clinical support services (such as nursing and physiotherapy)
- moderate contributions for independence services (such as personal care and assistive technology)
- the highest contributions for everyday living services (such as domestic assistance and gardening).
Read more about services under Support at Home.
Lifetime cap
There will be a $135,318.69 (current as of 1 November 2025) lifetime cap on contributions to protect those who receive aged care for a long time. This is a combined cap with the non-clinical care contribution for residential aged care.
The lifetime cap is indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year.
Services Australia will notify you and the participant when they reach the lifetime cap.
Financial circumstances
Services Australia conducts an income and asset assessment, similar to the Age Pension means test, to determine a participant's contribution rate.
An assessment of the participant’s income and assets and pension status determines their individual contribution rates, with:
- full pensioners paying the lowest contributions
- part pensioners and those eligible for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card paying contributions based on an assessment of their income and assets
- self-funded retirees not eligible for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card paying the highest contributions.
People who don’t receive any government payments (e.g., Age Pension, other types of income support) may be eligible for lower contribution rates. This depends on their income and assets. To check, they need to provide their financial information to Services Australia. If a person’s income and assets are the same as those of a full pensioner, they’ll pay the lowest contribution rates.
Participants who face genuine financial difficulty in paying their contributions and who meet eligibility criteria can apply for financial hardship assistance with Services Australia. If approved, the government will pay a fee reduction supplement for some or all of the participant’s contributions for the time they are in hardship.
Learn more about the income and assets assessment.
No worse off principle
Older people that were receiving or approved for the Home Care Packages (HCP) Program on or before 12 September 2024 are no worse off under Support at Home.
This means:
- If they were assessed as having to pay an income-tested care fee under their HCP, they will pay the same or less under Support at Home.
- If they were assessed as not having to pay an income-tested care fee, they will never be asked to pay contributions under Support at Home.
The Home Care Package lifetime cap amount of $84,571.66 (current as of 1 November 2025) will also remain the same for Support at Home contributions. The lifetime cap is indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year.
Services Australia will notify you and the participant of the contribution amount payable.
Please note, a participant’s contributions may change over time because of:
- changes to their assessed aged care needs
- changes to their financial circumstances
- indexation of pension rates and thresholds
- reaching their lifetime caps.
Explaining participant contributions
We encourage you to use our fact sheet to help explain Support at Home contributions to your participants.
Participants can use the Support at Home fee estimator on the My Aged Care website to estimate how much they will pay.
See case studies on how participant contributions are worked out for people with different financial circumstances.
Support at Home program – participant contributions
What you need to do
Collecting participant contributions
Participant contributions will be collected by and paid directly to you as their provider.
You are responsible for establishing and managing processes for collecting contributions from your participants.
There is no specified time when you need to collect contributions. It can be flexible, such as weekly, fortnightly or monthly, or at any other time as agreed with the participant. However, you must only collect contributions after delivering a service.
Find more information about collecting participant contributions in Chapter 9 of the Support at Home program manual.
If a participant does not pay contributions
Where a participant does not pay their contributions and does not have financial hardship assistance in place, you must:
- discuss with the participant and/or their registered supporter about alternative payment arrangements and explain possible outcomes if they refuse to pay
- document all conversations with the participant and/or their registered supporter
- notify the participant if you decide to cease services in writing at least 14 days before services end.
You must make every effort to resolve payment issues to comply with continuity of care requirements under the Aged Care Act 2024.
Recording contributions
You must record a person’s contributions in their:
Refunding contributions
You must refund any Support at Home contributions you hold that a participant has overpaid. For example, refunding payments made on an interim contribution rate before the participant had the result of their income and assets assessment.
Find out more
Read:
- Chapter 9 (participant budget and contributions) of the Support at Home program manual
- Support at Home: Claims and Payments Business Rules Guidance
- Support at Home participant contributions - Fact sheet
- Hardship assistance for aged care – Fact sheet.