If you are trying to arrange care for a parent right now, you have probably run into a wall of terms that nobody has explained: classifications, quarterly budgets, care management, contributions. Here is the whole thing in plain English.

What changed, and when

On 1 November 2025, the Support at Home program replaced both the Home Care Packages program and Short-Term Restorative Care. It operates under the Aged Care Act 2024 and is the main way older Australians receive government-funded support to stay living at home.

Three things changed in ways families actually notice.

1. Four package levels became eight classifications

Under the old system there were four Home Care Package levels. There are now eight ongoing classifications, which means the funding you receive is matched more closely to your assessed needs rather than rounded into one of four buckets.

As at 1 July 2026, the quarterly budgets run from roughly $2,752 at Classification 1 to roughly $20,034 at Classification 8. Those amounts are indexed by the government every July.

There are also three short-term pathways sitting alongside the eight: a Restorative Care Pathway, an End-of-Life Pathway, and a separate Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme that funds equipment and home modifications without touching your ongoing budget.

2. Funding arrives quarterly, not daily

Instead of a daily subsidy that quietly accumulated, your annual funding is split into four equal quarterly budgets, released in July, October, January and April. You know on day one of each quarter exactly what you have to work with.

If you enter part-way through a quarter, your first budget is worked out from your start date.

3. Providers must publish their prices

From 1 July 2026, maximum prices apply to each service on the Support at Home service list, and every provider must publish a price list. Providers can charge under the cap. They cannot charge over it.

This is the single biggest practical improvement for families, because it makes providers genuinely comparable for the first time. Use it.

Do this: before you agree to anything, ask two or three providers for their published unit prices for the specific services you need, on the specific days you need them. Weekend and public holiday rates vary a great deal between providers and are where a budget quietly disappears.

How the money actually works

Take a quarterly budget. Before anything is spent on services, 10% is set aside for care management - the work of setting up your care plan, reviewing it and coordinating supports. The remaining 90% pays for services.

So a Classification 4 participant with a quarterly budget of about $7,617 has roughly $6,855 available for actual services in that quarter.

If you do not spend it all, you can carry over unspent funds up to $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget, whichever is greater. Above that, it is not retained.

You can model all of this against real prices with our pricing calculator, or read our fuller guide to quarterly budgets.

What about contributions?

Some services attract a participant contribution based on your income and assets. The rules differ by service type: clinical supports such as nursing and allied health do not attract a contribution, while independence and everyday living services can.

People who were receiving or approved for a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024 are covered by "no worse off" arrangements - broadly, they will not pay more under Support at Home than they would have under the old system.

Contributions are calculated by Services Australia, not by your provider. Any provider who is vague about this should be pressed for specifics.

If you were already on a Home Care Package

You were moved across automatically and given a classification equivalent to your old package level. Unspent Home Care Package funds held at 31 October 2025 were retained and can still be used - generally after your current quarterly budget is spent. If you change providers, those retained funds move with you.

The first three things to do

  1. Call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 or apply at myagedcare.gov.au. An assessor will visit. You do not need a diagnosis or a GP referral, and a family member can start it for you with your permission.
  2. Prepare for the assessment honestly. Assessors see people on their best behaviour and families who understate the difficulty. Describe the hardest day, not the average one. The assessment sets your classification, and the classification sets your funding.
  3. Compare providers on published prices and on carer consistency. Price you can now check directly, and our guide to price caps explains how. Consistency you have to ask about, and we have written out the eleven questions worth asking.

A note on urgency. If someone is being discharged from hospital and cannot safely go home alone, say so to My Aged Care explicitly. Priority is assessed, and how you describe the situation matters.

Figures current as at 1 July 2026. Funding amounts are indexed each July and program rules can change. Confirm current amounts at myagedcare.gov.au or call 1800 200 422. This article is general information, not financial or clinical advice.