In-Home Aged Care That Keeps You Safe, Independent, and Connected

The Support at Home Program will replace the existing Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Program from 1^st November 2025. The new program aims to improve in-home aged care to help older people live independently at home for longer, and includes improved access to services, products, equipment and home modifications to help older people remain healthy, active and socially connected to their community. 

Support at Home has 8 funding classifications (levels 1-8) for ongoing services, which are aligned to assessed clinical needs, which is an increase on the current 4 Home Care packages (HCP) levels. The services delivered in the 8 classifications are grouped into 3 ongoing service categories:

• Everyday Living
• Independence
• Clinical Services

And 3 Short Term Funded Services:

• Restorative Care Pathway.
• End-of-Life Pathway to boost services for people diagnosed with 3 months or less to live to enable them to remain at home.  
• Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) Scheme funded separately to ongoing participant budgets.  

More detail on these short term services can be found here.

Support at Home is a new government program starting 1^st November 2025 that combines and simplifies the Home Care Packages Program and the Short Term Restorative Care Program. It aims to make services easier to access, fairer, and more focused on helping older Australians remain independent at home. In July 2027, the current CHSP Program will also be brought into the Support at Home Program.

From 1^st November 2025. It will replace the Home Care Package (HCP) and STRCProgram.

The new Support at Home Program requires participants to co-contribute to their independence and everyday living services but not for clinical services. These co-contributions will replace the Income Tested Care Fee (ITCF) payments used in the HCP Program.

From 1^st November 2025, you will transition to the new Support at Home Program. Many of the features will stay the same for you.

• Your care services will continue as per your current Care Plan unless you request a change with your service provider or if your needs change and you are re-assessed. With new pricing, the frequency of these services may need to be adjusted.
• Your funding level will be matched under Support at Home to your current HCP budget but will be allocated into Quarterly Budgets.
• Care management will be 10% of your quarterly budget and allocated to your provider for use in a pooled fund across all their clients for care management activities.
• Package Management fees are no longer part of the new Support at Home System. These costs will be built into the hourly rate. Right at Home never charged these fees so there is no impact to Right at Home clients.
• If you have Supplements under HCP such as the Dementia-Cognitive, Oxygen, Veterans, Hardship and Enteral Feeding Supplements you will retain those under Support at Home.
• If you have the Viability Supplement under HCP, this will cease as it is being replaced by the Thin Markets Grant.
• Your existing Unspent Funds will be retained and rolled over for you to use under Support at Home for extra services or for use on Assistive Technology and Home Modifications. These funds will remain yours for use under the Support at Home system until they are exhausted. In the new system, from 1^st July 2025, 10% or $1000 (whichever is greater) of quarterly unspent funds will be rolled over to the next quarter for use on services or Assistive Technology and Home Modifications. The unspent funds pool will not grow more than 10% or $1000 at the end of each financial year.
• Co-contributions:
  • No clients will co-contribute towards clinical supports under the new system.
  • Income tested care fees (ITCF) will be removed and instead clients will pay co-contributions depending on their grandfathered status, their means and the types of services they are using. For more information on client co-contributions click here.

Our goal is to make the transition as smooth as possible. Right at Home will contact our clients well in advance, explain the changes, and ensure your services continue without interruption. You will automatically transition to the new Support at Home Program and be provided with a budget against certain Support at Home services for your previously assessed needs as an existing HCP participant. Most of the current HCP services are on the Support at Home service list. If you need to change the services you are receiving because they are no longer on the services list (e.g. support for pet care), Right at Home can consider providing these services under a private agreement with you. For services you are not currently assessed for, Right at Home can organise an assessment. With an increase in pricing, there may be a decrease in the frequency of services which can be discussed with your care manager and re-arranged to fit within your new quarterly budget.

If you’re an existing Home Care Package client, your budget will be matched under the new system and allocated quarterly. This will remain the same until you are re-assessed under Support at Home as your needs change.

‘Grandfathering a client’ means allowing an existing client to continue receiving services or benefits under the old terms and conditions, even when new rules are implemented for new clients. This process maintains specified conditions that would otherwise change, and which apply to new clients. *In Support at Home, Grandfathering arrangements are relevant for participant contributions.

Grandfathered recipients in the new Support at Home Program will retain contribution rates and primary supplements that were in place. This means they will be no worse off for these elements under the new model.