Support at Home: what the new aged care system means for your parents, and eventually for you

For most families, aged care becomes a topic suddenly. A parent has a fall, a hospital stay runs longer than expected, or the house and garden quietly become too much. At that point, families find themselves learning a complex system in a hurry, often while juggling work and their own commitments.

That system has changed significantly. Since 1 November 2025, the Government's main program for helping older Australians stay in their own homes has been Support at Home, which replaced Home Care Packages, and a further change took effect on 1 October 2026. Whether you are supporting a parent now or simply thinking ahead, a few features of the program are worth knowing before you need them.

How the program works

The starting point is an assessment through My Aged Care, either online or by phone on 1800 200 422. If your parent is eligible, they are assigned one of eight funding levels based on their needs, ranging from roughly $11,000 to $80,000 a year. That budget pays an approved provider for services such as nursing, personal care, cleaning, gardening, transport and meals.

There are also short-term options, including help to regain independence after an illness or fall, funding for equipment and home modifications such as rails and ramps, and a dedicated pathway for people who wish to spend their final months at home.

Why it pays to start early

Being approved for care and receiving care are two different things. Once approved, people join a national queue and wait for their funding to be released. Urgent cases are prioritised, but the first official wait times report found that people who started ongoing services in the program's early months had waited close to a year.

This changes the timing of the decision. Waiting until a crisis usually means a long gap with no funded support, filled by family or paid for privately. Starting the assessment when help first begins to look likely, rather than when it becomes essential, gives your parent a far better chance of having support in place when it is needed.

What your parent will pay

The Government funds the budget, but most participants contribute towards the services they use. How much depends on the type of service and your parent's financial position.

Clinical care, such as nursing and physiotherapy, is free for everyone. For other services, the gap between a pensioner and a self-funded retiree is wide. For everyday help such as cleaning, gardening and meals, a full pensioner contributes 17.5% of the cost, while a self-funded retiree without a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card contributes 80%. Part pensioners and health card holders fall somewhere in between.

Services Australia works this out through a means assessment of income and assets. If your parent receives the Age Pension, much of the information is already on file. If they are self-funded, they will need to provide it, and anyone who does not complete the assessment is charged the highest rates. Contributions stop once a lifetime limit, currently a little over $140,000, is reached. People who already had a Home Care Package, or were waiting for one, on 12 September 2024 remain on more generous arrangements.

What changed this month

From 1 October 2026, personal care, which covers help with showering, dressing, eating and taking medication, no longer attracts any contribution. For a self-funded parent, this removes a 50% charge on one of the most commonly used services. The cost still comes out of their Support at Home budget, so it does not increase the amount of care available, but it does reduce what your parent pays from their own pocket.

What has not happened is just as relevant. The Government had planned to cap the prices providers can charge, but deferred those caps indefinitely in May. Providers continue to set their own prices, and these vary. Because contributions are a percentage of the price, a provider charging a higher hourly rate costs your parent more and uses up their budget faster. It is worth comparing providers before signing an agreement, and the Government now publishes a regular summary of provider prices that helps with this.

Paperwork worth having in place

Two arrangements make it far easier to help a parent through the process. An Enduring Power of Attorney allows a trusted person to manage financial matters if your parent is unable to. Under the new Aged Care Act, your parent can also nominate a family member as a registered supporter with My Aged Care, so that person can help them deal with assessors and providers. Both are much simpler to arrange while your parent is well.

What it means for your own plans

Most people in their late fifties and early sixties first meet this system through a parent, but the same rules will most likely apply to them in time.

For a self-funded couple, the cost of care at home in later life can be substantial. As a simple illustration, $10,000 a year of help with cleaning, gardening and meals would cost a self-funded retiree $8,000 of their own money, compared with $1,750 for a full pensioner. Over several years, that difference becomes a meaningful retirement expense, and the way assets are structured today can influence which side of that line you fall on later.

Building a realistic allowance for care into a retirement plan turns aged care from an unknown that arrives without warning into a cost that has already been accounted for.

If a parent is beginning to need support, or you would like to understand how future care costs fit within your own retirement plan, please get in touch to discuss.

References

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Support at Home program: classifications and budgets, effective 1 July 2026.

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Schedule of contributions for Support at Home services, September 2026.

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Support at Home program: participant contributions, fact sheet, December 2025.

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Support at Home personal care contribution change, from 1 October 2026.

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Aged Care Act 2024 Wait Times Report, May 2026.

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, New consumer protections for Support at Home services, May 2026.

ABC News, Refunds but no price caps for ripped-off older Australians, 19 May 2026.

Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, A new registered supporter role for aged care, June 2025.

My Aged Care, Support at Home costs and contributions.