Your quarterly budget, and where the 10% goes

The question we get asked most often is not "what services do you offer". It is "how many hours does this actually buy me". Here is how to work that out for yourself.

Your budget arrives four times a year

Under Support at Home, your annual funding is divided into four equal quarterly budgets, released at the start of each quarter - July, October, January and April.

This is better than the old daily-subsidy model for one specific reason: you can plan. On the first day of the quarter you know the number, and you can decide whether to weight support towards a difficult period rather than spreading it evenly out of caution.

Ten per cent comes off the top

Before any service is paid for, 10% of the quarterly budget is set aside for care management. That covers developing your care plan, reviewing it as things change, coordinating between services, and the administration that sits behind all of it.

It is the same percentage for every provider, so it is not something to shop around on. It is also substantially better than what came before: under Home Care Packages, package management and care management were charged separately and often took a far larger share of the package.

How far does 90% go?

That depends entirely on which services, and on which days. This is where most people are surprised.

Weekday standard-hours support is the cheapest hour you will buy. Non-standard weekday hours cost more. Saturday costs more again, Sunday more than that, and public holidays are the most expensive hour in the week.

A care plan built around Saturday visits will run out of budget considerably faster than the same plan delivered on Tuesdays. Sometimes there is no choice - a working family member can only be present on a weekend. But it is worth knowing the cost of that choice rather than discovering it in month three.

Our pricing calculator lets you test this directly: build a plan, switch the days, and watch the number move. The same effect applies whether you are buying personal care or cleaning and gardening.

Carry-over, and why underspending is a warning sign

If you do not use the whole quarterly budget, you can carry over $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is greater. Anything beyond that is not retained.

Some families treat underspending as prudence. It is usually the opposite. Consistent underspend nearly always means one of three things:

• The care plan does not reflect what is actually needed, because nobody asked the right questions.
• Services are being declined because the carer is not the right fit and nobody has said so.
• The person is entitled to a higher classification and has not been reassessed.

All three are fixable. None of them fix themselves.

Assistive technology and home modifications are separate

Equipment and home modifications - shower chairs, rails, ramps, bathroom modifications - are funded through a separate Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme, assessed in low, medium and high tiers. This funding does not come out of your quarterly budget.

This is worth knowing because plenty of families save up their quarterly budget for a piece of equipment they should not be paying for out of it. An occupational therapy assessment is usually the fastest route to getting the right equipment approved, and it matters most for falls prevention.

Questions worth asking your provider

• What is my quarterly budget, and what is left after care management?
• What are your published unit prices for each service I use, on each day type?
• How much am I on track to spend this quarter, and how much will carry over?
• Am I underspending, and if so, why?
• Should I be asking for a reassessment?

A provider who cannot answer the first three from memory or in a couple of minutes is not managing your budget closely enough.

Figures current as at 1 July 2026. Funding amounts are indexed each July. Confirm current amounts at myagedcare.gov.au or call 1800 200 422. General information only, not financial advice.