By Steve Hadfield, AgedCareActionPlan.au · Last updated: 21 June 2026
If you have been searching online for "home care package fact sheet" and finding completely different answers on every page you open, there is a reason for that. The fact sheet you need depends on which side of one specific date — 12 September 2024 — you are sitting on.
This guide is structured as a working reference document for 2026. It covers both realities: what a Home Care Package was and still means for people protected by the No Worse Off Principle, and what the Support at Home program does for everyone who entered the system after that cutoff. If you do not know yet which one applies to you, the Pillar 6 home care package guide walks through the bridge in more detail; this fact sheet sits beneath it.
A reliable thirty-second test, before you trust any fact sheet you find online: does it use the word Classification or the word Level? Under the old Home Care Package program there were four Levels. Under Support at Home there are eight Classifications. Any fact sheet that talks about "Level 1 to Level 4" without explaining that the system changed is describing a program that closed to new entrants on 1 November 2025.
A second test: does it mention quarterly budgets, or only an annual budget? Under HCP, funding flowed as one annual figure released throughout the year. Under Support at Home, funding is released as four quarterly budgets, with a carryover rule limited to either $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is greater. A fact sheet that does not mention quarterly budgeting is describing the old system.
A third test: does it cite a 2026 figure anywhere — a dollar amount, a percentage, a date? The contribution caps were indexed on 20 March 2026 and will index again on 20 September 2026. A fact sheet without 2026 figures is at minimum six months out of date, and quite possibly more than a year out of date if it still references the 1 July annual subsidy adjustment that ended with the HCP program.
If a fact sheet fails any one of those three tests, treat what it says with extreme caution and verify against the My Aged Care Support at Home costs and contributions page before acting on it.
The phrase "home care package" still gets searched roughly 5,400 times a month in Australia, despite the program of that name closing to new entrants on 1 November 2025. The term has stuck. When people say "home care package" today, they typically mean one of two things:
The funding mechanism, the assessment pathway, the service categories, and the contribution structure are all different between the two. Almost every other word in this fact sheet depends on which version of "home care package" applies to you.
Under the Home Care Package program, the four Levels mapped to broadly increasing levels of approved care need:
Under Support at Home, the eight Classifications expand that range and break the budget into more granular bands. They are not a one-to-one mapping. A participant on the old Level 2 did not automatically convert to Classification 2 — the conversion was done participant-by-participant during the transition period, based on the participant's existing care plan and approved subsidy.
For new entrants from 1 November 2025, the Set B annual subsidy figures are:
| Classification | Quarterly budget | Annual subsidy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,682.75 | $10,731.00 |
| 2 | $4,008.61 | $16,034.45 |
| 3 | $5,491.43 | $21,965.70 |
| 4 | $7,424.10 | $29,696.40 |
| 5 | $9,924.35 | $39,697.40 |
| 6 | $12,028.58 | $48,114.30 |
| 7 | $14,537.04 | $58,148.15 |
| 8 | $19,526.59 | $78,106.35 |
Source: Department of Health, "Funding classifications for Support at Home." Figures effective 1 November 2025, next indexed 1 July 2026.
Transitioned HCP participants keep their pre-existing funding under the No Worse Off Principle, using Set A figures (marginally lower than Set B). For a deeper read on which services are now grouped together under the three new categories — Clinical, Independence, and Everyday Living — and which services are not funded at all, the home care package inclusions and exclusions guide is the companion piece to this one. For the breakdown of what each Classification actually delivers in services, see the classification explainer.
The contribution structure is where the parallel realities become impossible to avoid. Two participants on identical Classifications can pay materially different amounts depending on one date: when they were approved for aged care. The dividing line is 12 September 2024 — approved on or before that date, you are protected by the No Worse Off Principle; approved after, you are on standard Support at Home rules. Both sides on one page below.
You are protected by the No Worse Off Principle. The official policy commitment is that you will not pay more under Support at Home than you would have paid under the Home Care Package rules. In practice this means:
You are assessed under Support at Home with the standard contribution arrangements. The contribution structure is:
The $86,185.23 figure is the legacy Home Care Package lifetime cap, preserved unchanged for grandfathered participants so the No Worse Off Principle has a number behind it. The $137,917.01 figure is the new combined lifetime cap built into the Support at Home program, set higher because it covers contributions across both in-home and residential care. They are indexed at the same dates — 20 March and 20 September each year — but they apply to different cohorts, and almost no other fact sheet draws this distinction out.
Under the old Home Care Package program from 1 January 2023 onwards, providers could charge a care management fee capped at 20% of the package level, plus a package management fee capped at 15% — a combined ceiling of 35% of your annual package value going to provider overhead rather than direct care. (Before 2023, the fees were uncapped and 30–50% deductions were widely documented.)
Under Support at Home, care management is capped at 10% of each quarterly budget, and the separate package management fee no longer exists.
For a participant on Classification 3 (mid-tier, annual subsidy $21,965.70), the change works like this: under the old 35% combined HCP cap, fees could reach $7,688/year. Under the new 10% Support at Home cap, fees reach $2,196/year. That is $5,492 per year returning to direct care delivery for a Classification 3 participant. For higher classifications the dollar saving is proportionally larger — $12,029/year at Classification 6 and $19,527/year at Classification 8.
The home care package management fees guide covers how the 10% cap is calculated and what providers can still legitimately charge for under the new rules.
Three things determine what your Support at Home funding will actually pay for in 2026: the three service categories your services are grouped under, the quarterly budget structure with its strict carryover rule, and the separate AT-HM scheme for assistive technology and home modifications.
Every service that can be funded under Support at Home is grouped into one of three categories:
The service list is standardised across all providers nationally — you cannot be told by Provider A that something is covered and by Provider B that it is not. The list is national policy.
Your annual classification subsidy is released as four quarterly budgets. Unspent funds carry over up to either $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is greater. Anything beyond that carryover threshold is returned to the Commonwealth at quarter-end. This is the single mechanic that most catches participants off-guard — under the old HCP, accumulated unspent funds rolled forward indefinitely. Under Support at Home, they do not.
Assistive technology and home modifications — wheelchairs, ramps, bathroom modifications, monitoring devices — are funded through a separate Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme, not from your main quarterly budget. You apply for AT-HM items through your provider, who submits to the Department on your behalf. The AT-HM budget has its own approval thresholds, its own categories, and its own assessment criteria. A fact sheet that lists "ramps and rails" inside your main package budget is either out of date or written by someone who has not caught up with the new scheme structure.
When you complete a means assessment for Support at Home, Services Australia sends you a fee advice letter. This letter sets out your exact contribution amounts — the document your provider needs to set up your billing.
Most fact sheets do not mention this, but the fee advice letter is only valid for 120 days from the date of your assessment. If services have not commenced within that window — because you are still choosing a provider, because you are waiting on the 56-day activation window, because you simply did not understand the timer was running — the assessment process has to be re-triggered.
This is the single most preventable source of late-fee complaints we see at AgedCareActionPlan.au. If you have a fee advice letter in hand and you have not started services, the clock is running. Don't let it expire. The number to call is My Aged Care on 1800 200 422; for Services Australia aged care line specifically, 1800 227 475.
There is one major upcoming change that participants on Support at Home should be aware of, because it will affect what you pay without you having to do anything.
From 1 October 2026, personal care services will be reclassified from the Independence category to the Clinical category. That single reclassification has a measurable financial consequence: personal care is currently means-tested with participant contributions between 5% and 50%. From 1 October 2026 it will be 0% participant contribution for everyone, regardless of means.
For a participant on Classification 4 or above who uses significant personal care, this is a measurable annual reduction in out-of-pocket cost. You do not need to apply for the change — it happens automatically. But your monthly statement will look different from October onwards, and that change is the cause.
The 1 July 2026 service price caps that were originally part of the Support at Home implementation timeline have been deferred indefinitely as of May 2026. If you read a fact sheet that says "from 1 July 2026, government price caps apply to all services" without an updated note about the deferral, the fact sheet is out of date. For the broader picture, see the Department of Health's Support at Home program page.
Home Care Packages were replaced by the Support at Home program on 1 November 2025. People who were already on an HCP transitioned across on that date and kept their existing arrangements. Those approved on or before 12 September 2024 are specifically protected by the No Worse Off Principle. New entrants from 1 November 2025 are assessed under Support at Home and receive one of eight Classifications, not the old four Levels.
Some pages are, some are not. The current canonical pages are at myagedcare.gov.au/support-at-home-costs-and-contributions and health.gov.au/our-work/support-at-home. Older PDF fact sheets that still circulate in provider websites — many dated 2023 or 2024 — describe the closed HCP program and should not be used to make 2026 decisions.
It depends on whether you mean a transitioned HCP (which keeps its pre-November 2025 funding under Set A figures) or a Support at Home Classification (Set B figures, shown in the table above). New entrants under Set B range from $10,731 per year (Classification 1) to $78,106.35 per year (Classification 8). Set A figures for transitioned recipients are marginally lower.
Both are lifetime contribution caps for non-clinical aged care services, but they apply to different cohorts. $86,185.23 is the cap that continues for participants protected by the No Worse Off Principle — those receiving or approved for an HCP on or before 12 September 2024. $137,917.01 is the cap for everyone else under Support at Home, and it is a combined cap that also covers any non-clinical contributions in residential aged care later. Both figures are current at 20 March 2026 and will index again on 20 September 2026.
No. The transition was automatic. You should have received correspondence from My Aged Care confirming your transitioned arrangement. If you did not, or if you are uncertain about which contribution structure you are on, call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.
If you are still working out which of the two parallel realities applies to you, the answer is in three documents. Find your original My Aged Care approval letter — the date on it determines whether the No Worse Off Principle applies. Find your most recent provider statement — it shows which Set you are funded under and what your current monthly contributions look like. Find your fee advice letter from Services Australia — it confirms your contribution percentages by service category. Those three documents together tell you which of the two fact sheets above applies to you.
If you want a structured walkthrough of how to read those documents and what your specific Classification or transitioned HCP arrangement actually entitles you to, the AgedCareActionPlan Complete System is the resource we built for that exact purpose. It is the work we do every day, codified into a process you can run yourself.
This fact sheet is reviewed at each contribution cap indexation (next: 20 September 2026) and any time the Schedule of Subsidies and Supplements for Support at Home is updated. If you spot a figure on this page that no longer matches a current government source, let us know.
If you want a structured walkthrough of how to read your IAT outcome letter, provider statement, and fee advice letter — and what your specific Classification or transitioned HCP arrangement actually entitles you to — the Complete System is the resource.
Need a complete personalised plan for your situation?
This guide is for information only — not legal, medical, or financial advice. Verified against the Aged Care Act 2024 and Aged Care Rules 2025. Check myagedcare.gov.au for current rates and rules.