Understanding Your Funding
Your care is designed to adapt as your needs evolve. Funding is provided through a new classification system, and you can be re-assessed into a higher level if your needs change.
Ongoing Care Funding
Ongoing funding is offered through one of eight classifications, with the ability to be re-assessed into higher levels as your needs change.
Services are categorised into three types:
- Clinical (eg nursing, allied health)
- Independence (eg support to stay active)
- Everyday Living (eg domestic assistance, transport)
The specific services you are eligible for will be assessed based on your needs and documented in your Support Plan.
Note: Please refer to our Pricing Guide for full details on service lists, exclusions, and customer contribution arrangements.
Short-Term Funding
Short-term funding is also available, if needed, for specific services:
- Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM). Up to $15,000 for mobility aids (eg wheelchairs), safety equipment (eg alarms), or home upgrades (eg ramps, stair lifts).
- Restorative Care Pathway to aid recovery post-injury or hospital stay. $6,011.04 (up to 16 weeks).
- End-of-Life Pathway – for home-based palliative care, covering symptom management and emotional support. $25,035.36 (a 12 week episode, which may be extended up to 16 weeks).
Fully Funded Clinical Care
Includes nursing (eg wound management), physiotherapy, continence support, and nutrition (eg tube feeding).
Customer Contributions
Under the Support at Home program, Services Australia expects that those who can contribute to the cost of their care should do so.
Clinical Care services are not means-tested, and no contribution is required.
Contributions for Independence and Everyday Living services vary depending on your pension status and means.
*Important Note for Home Care Recipients: Individuals on an approved Home Care Package (including those on the National Priority System) will retain their current funding level until they are re-assessed into a new classification.
Navigate Aged Care with Confidence!
Weโre here to help you understand your options and find the support thatโs right for you. Weโll explain everything in plain language and provide resources to empower you to make the best decisions for your needs.
The 8 Classifications and Budgets Explained
Your funding level (1โ8) is based on your assessed needs and determines your budget, not which service categories you can access. A client at any classification level (1โ8) can receive supports across Everyday Living, Independence and Clinical categories, provided the supports are identified and approved in their assessment care plan.
The exception is where certain specialised supports require specific assessment, prescription, or approval processes, such as Assistive Technology and Home Modifications, which have their own separate approval process.
Higher-level participants typically have more complex needs and therefore a larger budget and care plan approvals to purchase supports across all categories.
Note: Package budgets below show the gross subsidy values. A 10% Care Management fee is deducted from these totals by the provider.*
Level 1
$2,752 / Qtr
$11,010 p.a.
Minimal support – occasional help for largely independent individuals. Light housework, meal delivery, welfare check-ins.
Level 2
$4,113/ Qtr
$16,451 p.a.
Light personal care – personal care (showering, dressing), medications, transport to appointments.
Level 3
$5,634 / Qtr
$22,537 p.a.
Moderate support – regular personal care, mobility aid support, meal prep, household cleaning.
Level 4
$7,617 / Qtr
$30,469 p.a.
High frequency support – daily routines, home safety assessments & modifications, bathroom, continence care.
Level 5
$10,182 / Qtr
$40,730 p.a.
Daily support and health monitoring – hoists, transfers, transport to med appointments, in-home safety monitoring.
Level 6
$12,341 / Qtr
$49,365 p.a.
Comprehensive care – routine nursing (wound care, medication), continence management, regular allied health.
Level 7
$14,951 / Qtr
$59,660 p.a.
Intensive daily care – multiple daily visits, assistance with all daily living activities, complex nursing care, dementia support.
Level 8
$20,034 / Qtr
$80,137 p.a.
Highest level of care – 24/7 availability, palliative care, specialised equipment (hoists), nursing interventions.
Management Fee Inclusions
Care management funding is capped at 10% of the participantโs quarterly budget. This allocation isย determinedย by the Australian Government as part of the participantโs funding level and is not set by For Care.ย
For Care claims care management funding in areas based on completed care management activities. Charges are applied only for eligible care management tasks undertaken and are drawn down from the participant’s available care management allocation.ย
Our applicable care management rates for each region are published in our currentย Pricing Scheduleย found on the location pages of the website.ย
10%
Care Management
Dedicated care partner
Care plan
Budget plan
Periodic care plan reviews
Assessment and documentation support
Clinical Support
Access to our in-house clinical team
Package Management
Payment of invoices
Reimbursements
Monthly statements
Workforce Compliance Support
Police checks
Insurance checks
Qualification checks
Care Coordination
Source care and support workers to suit your needs
Roster and book workers
Manage cover if a regular worker is not available
Manage invoices for workers
Incident management
Handle feedback and complaints
Customer Contributions
Different contributions are required for each service category, based on your pension status and means. However, no contribution is required for clinical care services, regardless of your means. ee is determined by Centrelink after you have completed an income and assets test.
Full Pensioner
Pensioner /
CSHC* Holder
Self-Funded Retiree (No CSHC)
Clinical Care
0%
0%
0%
Independence
~5%
5-50%
(income and asset tested)
~50%
Everyday Living
~17.5%
17.5-80%
(income and asset tested)
~80%
Additional Funding
Additional one-off funding is available to relevant people for assistive technologies and at home modifications and short term care pathways such as restorative and palliative care.
Grandfathered Participants
Participants receiving a Home Care Package as of 12 Sept 2024 will pay the same or less than under the Support at Home arrangement.
Full pensioners in this group will pay no contributions under Support at Home.
Transitioned HCP Level 1 $11,272 pa
Transitioned HCP Level 2 $19,822 pa
Transitioned HCP Level 3 $43,149 pa
Transitioned HCP Level 4 $65,416 pa
Lifetime Contribution Caps
A lifetime cap of $130,000 (indexed) applies.
Once reached, the government pays 100% of the costs.
Grandfathered and Transitional Arrangements
Understand how your current aged care status or application carries over into the new Support at Home program.
Grandfathered Arrangements
Grandfathering exists to protect people who were already in, or approved for, the Home Care Packages Program when the aged care system changed to Support at Home.
You are considered a grandfathered participant if, as at 12 September 2024, you:
- were already receiving a Home Care Package, or
- were on the National Priority System (waiting list), or
- had been assessed as eligible for a Home Care Package.
Transitional Arrangements
Transitional participants move into Support at Home under modified transition arrangements.
You are considered a transitional participant if you were assessed for a Home Care Package after 12 September 2024 and before 30 June 2025, or if your assessment occurred before 30 June 2025 but your funding commenced under the Support at Home program.
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