Aged care questions, answered plainly

Everything begins with My Aged Care, the Australian Government gateway. You call 1800 200 422 or apply at myagedcare.gov.au, and an assessor visits to work out what support you need. That assessment decides your funding classification.

You do not need a provider to start this, and you do not need to know what services you want. If you would rather not do it alone, call us and we will talk you through what the assessor will ask and what to have ready.

No. Aged care assessment is based on how you are managing day to day, not on a specific diagnosis. A GP can refer you, but you can also refer yourself, and a family member can start the process on your behalf with your permission.

The assessment and funding allocation are handled by the government, and waiting times vary depending on your assessed priority. Once funding is available and you have chosen us, we move quickly: we respond to a referral within one business day, and the limiting factor is usually matching the right carer rather than paperwork.

We would rather take an extra few days to match someone properly than send whoever is free on Monday.

Support at Home is the Australian Government program for in-home aged care. It replaced Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care on 1 November 2025 under the Aged Care Act 2024.

The main practical differences: there are now eight funding classifications instead of four package levels, funding is released as four quarterly budgets rather than a daily subsidy, and providers must publish their prices.

Our full guide, Support at Home, explained for families, walks through the classifications, the quarterly budgets and the first three things to do.

Your assessment places you in one of eight ongoing classifications. As at 1 July 2026 the quarterly budgets run from about $2,752 at Classification 1 to about $20,034 at Classification 8. Funding amounts are indexed by the government every July.

Our pricing calculator has every classification loaded, so you can see exactly what your own budget covers.

Before services are paid for, 10% of each quarterly budget is set aside for care management. That covers setting up your care plan, reviewing it, and coordinating your supports. The remaining 90% pays for the actual services.

Under the old Home Care Package system, package and care management fees were charged separately and frequently consumed a much larger share. The 10% figure is a meaningful improvement, and it is the same for every provider.

You can carry over unspent funds into the next quarter, up to $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget, whichever is greater. Anything above that is not carried over.

Consistently underspending is worth paying attention to. It usually means the care plan is not capturing everything you actually need, and it can be a reason to ask for a reassessment.

If you were receiving a Home Care Package, you were automatically moved across and given a classification equivalent to your previous package level. Unspent Home Care Package funds held at 31 October 2025 were retained and can still be used.

Generally your new quarterly budget is used first, and retained funds are drawn on after that. If you change providers, retained funds move with you.

It depends on your income and assets, on which services you use, and on when you entered the aged care system. Clinical supports such as nursing and allied health do not attract a participant contribution. Independence and everyday living services can, depending on your circumstances.

People who were receiving or approved for a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024 are covered by 'no worse off' arrangements. Services Australia works out your contribution - not us - and we will show you exactly how it applies to your plan before anything starts.

From 1 July 2026 the government set maximum prices for each service on the Support at Home service list. Providers can charge less than the cap, but not more, and every provider must publish a price list so families can compare.

Our prices are on this website and built into our pricing calculator. Compare us against anyone.

That is what we work towards, and it is the thing we consider most important. We match a carer to you deliberately - on language, gender preference, cultural fit and availability - and then protect that pairing.

We will not pretend it is absolute. People get sick and take leave. What we commit to is telling you in advance when your regular carer is unavailable, and briefing whoever covers, rather than sending a stranger unannounced.

Yes, Arabic-speaking carers are available. If your household speaks a different language, tell us and we will be straight with you about whether we can match it consistently - a carer who speaks your language once is not the same as a carer who speaks it every week.

Yes. Gender-matched personal care is available on request and we treat it as a requirement rather than a preference. For many families it is the difference between accepting personal care and refusing it altogether.

We support older people of all faiths and none, including Muslim and Christian families. In practice this means specifics: prayer times and how a carer should behave during them, whether shoes come off at the door, modesty during personal care, halal shopping and food preparation, what changes during Ramadan or Lent, and getting someone to the mosque or church.

These go into the brief a carer receives before the first visit.

No. We deliver support in the home and out in the community. Accompanied activities, transport, group social support and community access are all about getting someone out of the house, and for many people that is the part of the plan that matters most.

Tell us and we will change them. No justification required, and no awkwardness - a mismatch is a matching failure on our side, not a complaint about you.

You can also raise concerns directly with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission at any time. That right exists regardless of what any provider tells you.

Yes. You can change providers under Support at Home, and any retained Home Care Package funds move with you. Notice periods depend on your current agreement, so check what you signed.

We will tell you honestly whether changing is worth it for your situation. Sometimes the answer is to fix the plan you have rather than move.

We deliver aged care across Sydney. Our strongest coverage - deepest carer pool, shortest travel times, most language coverage - is South West Sydney and the St George area, including Bankstown, Yagoona, Revesby, Punchbowl, Bass Hill, Georges Hall, Condell Park, Beverly Hills, Kingsgrove, Bexley, Arncliffe, Tempe, Campsie and Lakemba.

If we cannot staff your suburb consistently, we will say so rather than take the referral.

Amanah is owned and run by two practising clinicians: Moustafa Raad, a podiatrist, and Abbas El-Khansa, a psychologist. It is not owned by an investor group or operated as a franchise. Meet the directors.