What you pay for Support at Home services, by type of service

Support at Home is the government program that helps older people keep living at home. The government pays most of the cost, and your parent pays a share of the price of each service they use. That share is called a contribution.

How big the share is comes down to two things: the type of service, and your parent's income and assets. This guide explains both, and why a family can end up paying more for cleaning than for nursing.

The three types of service

Every Support at Home service sits in one of three groups.

• Clinical care. Nursing, physiotherapy, podiatry, other allied health and care management. From 1 October 2026, personal care such as help with showering, dressing and toileting is in this group too. There's no contribution for clinical care.
• Independence. Services that help your parent stay active and get around, such as transport and social support. Equipment and home changes are charged at this rate too, for the items themselves. Assessing, fitting, training and repairs for them carry no contribution. These carry a moderate contribution.
• Everyday living. Help around the house, such as cleaning, gardening, meals and shopping. These carry the highest contribution.

The idea is that the government pays in full for health care, while people pay more towards everyday help they might have paid for anyway.

Right now, the end-of-life pathway in Support at Home runs for up to 112 days. That period becomes 168 days from 8 March 2027, under a change already made to the rules.

How your parent's situation sets the share

Services Australia does an income and assets assessment to set your parent's contribution rates. It works much like the Age Pension means test, but the family home isn't counted. Owning a home still decides which asset limits apply. People who get a DVA payment are assessed by DVA.

Your parent's situation	Clinical care	Independence	Everyday living
Full Age Pension	None	5%	17.5%
Part pension, or a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card	None	Between the two rows either side, depending on the assessment	Between the two rows either side, depending on the assessment
Self-funded, without a Seniors Health Card, or chose not to be assessed	None	50%	80%

A few points to know:

• If your parent gets the Age Pension, Services Australia usually has their details already, so there may be no form to fill in.
• If your parent chooses not to be assessed, they pay the highest rates.
• For part pensioners and card holders, the rate slides between the two outer rows. The more income or assets, the closer it gets to the self-funded rate.
• Someone who isn't a pensioner but has income and assets at a similar level can also get the lower rates, if they have the assessment.

Why cleaning can cost more than nursing

The contribution is a share of the provider's price. So two things decide what your parent pays for a service: the share for that group, and the price the provider charges.

Nursing is clinical care, so your parent pays nothing towards it, however much it costs. Cleaning is everyday living, so it carries the highest share. On top of that, the provider sets the hourly price. A higher price for cleaning means a bigger contribution.

That's why comparing providers' published prices for everyday services can make a real difference. Every provider must publish its prices, and My Aged Care's Find a provider tool lets you compare them.

People who had a Home Care Package before

Some people are protected by a "no worse off" rule. It applies if, on 12 September 2024, your parent already had a Home Care Package, had an approval for one, or was on the national priority list waiting for one.

• They pay lower, protected rates, the same as or less than under their old package.
• Full pensioners in this group pay nothing. So do people who were receiving a package with no income-tested care fee on 31 October 2025. Others in the group pay the protected rates.

Services Australia tells your parent and the provider which rates apply.

Contributions stop at a lifetime limit

Contributions don't go on forever. There's a lifetime limit of $140,652.80, and once your parent reaches it, they stop paying contributions. People covered by the "no worse off" rule have a lower limit of $88,934.57.

This limit is shared with the care contribution in an aged care home. What your parent pays at home counts towards it if they move into a home later. Our guide to the care contribution caps explains how.

If the contributions are hard to pay

If paying is genuinely hard, your parent can apply to Services Australia for financial hardship assistance, which can cover some or all of the contributions. Before cutting back services, it's worth checking that each service is in the right group. For example, personal care carries no contribution from 1 October 2026.

My Aged Care also has a Support at Home fee estimator that uses the official rates.

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