Ongoing home support classification levels assignment

A person’s classification level for the Support at Home program or the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) is worked out following an aged care needs assessment. Read how classification levels for the home support programs are determined. 

Tools supporting an aged care assessor

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommended a new single assessment process based on a common assessment framework followed by all assessors, to ensure assessment outcomes are consistent.  

To deliver on this recommendation, the Australian Government established a new Single Assessment System including the Integrated Assessment Tool.

The Integrated Assessment Tool assists a trained needs assessor to complete an aged care needs assessment. Needs assessments are required to work out a person’s care needs and eligibility for government-funded aged care services.  

The Integrated Assessment Tool provides a common set of questions, completed by the assessor during the assessment. It ensures the needs, health and social characteristics of an older person are recorded in a consistent manner. 

Trained needs assessors play a critical role in achieving high-quality outcomes by using their professional judgement, strong communication, and interpersonal skills to input answers to questions into the Integrated Assessment Tool.   

The Integrated Assessment Tool questions use clinically validated assessment tools. The assessor may complete these validated tools with the older person.

Many of these validated tools were also used to support assessment under the Home Care Package Program. 

For example: 

• The Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living was developed in 1965 and has since been used widely in rehabilitation, aged care and clinical settings to assess functional status and monitor changes over time.
• The General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition is used to identify signs of cognitive impairment or dementia. It was developed by Australian researchers in 2002.

An older person, or their registered supporter, can request an Internal Review of a Decision, if they:

• do not agree with the assessment outcome, or
• would like to seek a review.

Eligibility criteria 

Before a classification level is worked out, the assessor first checks a person’s care needs across 5 areas (4 are measured with a clinically validated tool):

1. Older Americans Resources and Services Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (OARS IADL)
2. Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living (Barthel Index for ADLs)
3. Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illnesses, and Loss of weight (FRAIL Scale)
4. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ4) 
5. Cognition – measured by a confirmed dementia diagnosis, additional documented health conditions related to cognitive concerns, or a clinically validated cognitive tool (the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition or the Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment).

If a person’s scores show that they have no care needs at all in any of these areas, they are not eligible for ongoing home support services. If a person does have care needs, they will continue to the next step of the process and be assigned a classification level.

The scores which indicate a person has no care needs in each of the 5 areas are:

1. OARS IADL: 14
2. Barthel Index for ADLs: 20
3. FRAIL Scale: 0
4. PHQ4: 0
5. Cognition: 0.

How a classification level is assigned for Support at Home and CHSP

During a needs assessment, the assessor will record the older person’s information and responses, to inform the development of a Support Plan. The information recorded in the Integrated Assessment Tool will determine whether a person is eligible for home support services.

Older people access in-home aged care services through the Support at Home program or CHSP. The Support at Home program provides coordinated care and services for people who need more complex care to say at home through a quarterly budget. The amount of funding an older person receives depends on their classification level.  

Support at Home has 8 classifications to fund ongoing services. Each classification:

• has a set level of funding
• includes care management funding

If a person receives Support at Home services, 10% of their quarterly budget will be deducted for care management.  

This table outlines the funding amounts for each classification as at 1 October 2026.

An older person’s classification level is determined through the aged care assessment process and is based on requirements set out in the legislation (section 81-10 of the Aged Care Rules 2025 [the Rules]).

Fair and consistent process for everyone

In order to fairly and consistently determine an ongoing home support classification level, the assessment process includes an algorithmic component.

The algorithm is a fixed, repeatable points scoring system. This means a person’s functional capacity, needs and extenuating circumstances can be compared to other older people who may need help. 

The points scoring system makes sure people with similar needs receive consistent outcomes, no matter:

• where they live in Australia 
• who has done the assessment. 

The scoring system includes 3 categories:

1. How well the older person can manage everyday activities, from showering and dressing to shopping and getting around. This forms the person’s functional independence score.
2. How much of the person’s need is already being met based on the combination of self-ability, existing care, family and other support. This is a person’s needs met score.
3. Other factors that can increase a person’s need for care – like continence, social isolation, frailty, strain on existing carers, mental health and memory issues. These are compounding factors.

A person’s scores across the 3 categories determine their classification level. In general, the lower the score the higher the classification level and funding a person will receive.  

The table below outlines which internationally recognised clinically validated assessment tools are used to calculate a person’s scores for functional independence, needs met and compounding factors.

How scores are calculated across the Integrated Assessment Tool categories

Functional ability

Once a person’s eligibility is confirmed, the next step is to work out their functional ability.

This looks at how well a person can carry out everyday activities: 

• activities of daily living, such as bathing
• instrumental activities of daily living, such as going shopping.

It uses the following parts of the Integrated Assessment Tool:

• Barthel Index for ADLs
• OARS IADL
• 6 additional questions including:
  • uses other communication device
  • uses online services
  • upper body strength
  • does the client drive
  • health literacy difficulties
  • wheelchair mobility.

Together, these produce a combined score out of 48 (the functional independence score). This places a person into one of 5 functional ability levels.

This is the first step in determining a person’s classification, see the functional independence component of classification algorithm decision tree.

Needs met

The next step is to consider how well a person’s needs are being met through a combination of:

• self-ability
• formal care (such as services they are already receiving)
• informal care (such as family). 

People whose needs are not met may receive more government support. 

For each of the activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living, along with the additional questions, the person is asked how much of each need is being met. Each of these 18 questions is scored:

• 2 (needs completely met)
• 1 (needs partially met)
• 0 (needs completely unmet). 

Added together, these give a maximum needs met score of 36.

The 36-point score is grouped into 11 score ranges, each set out in section 81-10 of the Rules. The needs met score narrows down the number of classification levels a participant could be eligible for. See an example of needs met component of classification algorithm decision.

Compounding factors

The last step uses a set of factors from a person’s clinical and social circumstances. These decide whether the person needs more or less support than someone with the same functional ability and needs met scores.

• A person’s compounding factors assign them into one of the two remaining eligible classification levels. The compounding factors listed in section 81-7 of the Rules are:continence 
• social isolation 
• sustainability of carer arrangements (strain on existing carers)
• frailty 
• anxiety and depression 
• cognition (memory and thinking).

See an example of the compounding factors component of the classification algorithm decision tree.

Allocating a classification level

The Rules define how scores across the 3 categories (functional ability, needs met and compounding factors) translate to an ongoing home support classification level allocation. The scores across the 3 categories are applied in a set order: functional independence, then needs met, then compounding factors.

For example: 

Lonny

Lonny is mostly independent and manages day-to-day activities. However, he has some difficulty with walking, climbing stairs, doing housework, and shopping. He also needs help using the internet. These challenges mean Lonny’s functional ability score is assessed as being 41, which indicates a low level of support need.

While most of his needs are met, Lonny does not have anyone to help him with shopping, housework or using the internet. This means his needs are partially met, Lonny’s needs met score is assessed as being 30. 

Lonny’s daughter previously visited him daily to provide help, but she is feeling burnt out. Lonny reports that he is feeling isolated. These factors increase the complexity of Lonny’s situation and are considered compounding factors that affect his overall support needs. 

After considering his functional ability, needs score and compounding factors, Lonny is assessed as eligible for Support at Home classification level 1.

Morris

Morris lives alone and has mild dementia. As a result, Morris finds it hard to handle money, remember to take his medicine, do his shopping and drive. These challenges affect his ability to live independently. Morris’s functional ability score is assessed as being 32, which indicates a low to moderate level of support need.

Morris does not have anyone to remind him to take his daily medication, help prepare meals or take him shopping. Because of this, Morris is assessed as having a needs met score of 27, which means his needs are partially meet.

Morris’s mild dementia also increases the complexity of his situation, he reports feeling isolated. These factors mean Morris is assessed as having significant compounding factors.

Taking into account Morris’s functional ability, needs score and significant compounding factors, he is assessed as eligible for Support at Home classification level 3.

Joyce

Joyce needs a high level of support to continue living safely at home. She has dementia and recently had a stroke. After leaving hospital, she returned to her home and now needs a wheelchair to move around. Joyce can no longer do many activities she used to enjoy, like driving herself to the shops. Joyce is assessed as having a functional independence score of 20, which indicates a very high level of support need.

Joyce’s family lives interstate and cannot provide regular, daily support to help ensure her needs are being met. Her needs met score is assessed as being 15, which means her needs are largely unmet.

Her dementia adds further complexity to her care needs. Combined with her recent stroke, reduced mobility and limited family support, Joyce is assessed as having significant compounding factors. 

When Joyce’s functional ability, needs score and significant compounding factors are considered together, she is assessed as eligible for Support at Home classification level 8.

Download the high-level classification algorithm decision tree and detailed classification algorithm decision tree to see the process in more detail.

Find out more

• Support at Home classification algorithm technical details
• Support at Home classification system
• Aged Care Rules 2025
• Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) Offline Form
• Assessment tools for the Single Assessment System