What is a Home Care package?

What is a Home Care Package?

A Home Care Package was a coordinated package of aged care services funded by the Australian Government and delivered in your own home. It was designed for older Australians whose needs had grown beyond occasional help, but who did not need to move into residential aged care.

Three things defined it:

• It was assessed, not requested. An aged care assessor visited you, worked out your care needs, and approved you for one of four levels. You could not simply choose the level you wanted.
• It was a budget, not a service list. Within the rules, you and your provider agreed a care plan that reflected your own priorities, whether that was showering support, nursing, transport or help around the house.
• It followed the person, not the provider. If you were unhappy with your provider, you could move and take your package with you.

Home Care Package vs home care: "home care" describes the services themselves, which anyone can buy privately. A Home Care Package was the government funding that paid for them. People often used the two terms interchangeably, which is why so many still search for a "package" today.

What were the four Home Care Package levels?

Each level carried a different annual subsidy, matched to a different intensity of need:

• Level 1, basic care needs, funded at $10,986 a year. Domestic help, social support, meal preparation and transport.
• Level 2, low care needs, funded at $19,319.45 a year. Adds personal care, basic equipment, some nursing and light home and garden maintenance.
• Level 3, intermediate care needs, funded at $42,055.30 a year. Adds medication management, allied health, nursing support and help with changes to memory or behaviour.
• Level 4, high care needs, funded at $63,758 a year. Nursing, allied health, medication management, home modifications and assistive technology.

Roughly 10% of every package was set aside for care management, and providers deducted a package management fee on top. That is why the services people actually received were worth noticeably less than the headline figure.

For a fuller breakdown of what each tier covered and how many hours of support it bought, see our guide to Home Care Package levels 1 to 4.

What did a Home Care Package pay for?

Package funding covered supports that helped you stay living independently at home:

• Personal care: showering, dressing, grooming, toileting and mobility support.
• Nursing and clinical care: wound care, medication management, continence support and chronic disease management.
• Allied health: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, speech pathology and dietetics.
• Domestic assistance: cleaning, laundry, shopping and meal preparation.
• Transport: getting to appointments, shops and social activities.
• Home modifications and assistive technology: grab rails, ramps, shower chairs, walkers and similar equipment.
• Social support and respite: companionship, community access and short breaks for your carer.

It did not cover everyday costs you would have had anyway, such as rent, groceries, utilities, holidays, gambling or entertainment. Our guides to package inclusions and package restrictions set out where the line sat.

What did a Home Care Package cost?

Under the old system you could be asked to pay up to three things:

• The basic daily fee, a set percentage of the single Age Pension that providers could charge every package holder.
• An income-tested care fee, calculated by Services Australia and payable only if your income sat above a threshold. Full pensioners paid nothing.
• Additional service fees, charged by some providers for anything outside your agreed care plan.

This structure no longer applies. Support at Home replaced it with contributions that depend on the type of service rather than a flat daily fee, which for many people works out lower. Our Support at Home contributions guide explains the current rates.

Do Home Care Packages still exist?

Not for new applicants. The Home Care Packages Program closed to new entrants on 1 November 2025 under the new Aged Care Act. If you apply for funded home care today, you are applying for Support at Home.

What that means in practice:

• You cannot be assigned a new Home Care Package. Assessments now approve you for a Support at Home classification.
• Existing package holders transitioned automatically. There was no application, no reassessment and no need to change providers.
• Your level carried across. A Level 3 package holder moved to the equivalent Support at Home classification, keeping a comparable budget.
• The Commonwealth Home Support Programme is unaffected for now. CHSP continues as entry-level support, with grant funding extended to 30 June 2029.
• The name persists in everyday use. Providers, hospital discharge teams and families still say "home care package", so you will keep hearing it for years.

What the "no worse off" principle means for you

This is the protection most people miss, and it is worth understanding properly.

If you were receiving a Home Care Package, or had been approved for one, on 12 September 2024, you are covered by the "no worse off" principle. You will pay the same or lower contributions under Support at Home than you did before, and that protection holds even if a later reassessment moves you into a higher classification.

• Full pensioners covered by the principle pay nothing across all three service categories.
• Part pensioners covered by the principle pay 0% for clinical supports and between 0% and 25% for independence and everyday living services.
• Self-funded retirees covered by the principle pay 0% for clinical supports and 25% for the other two categories, well below the standard rates.
• If you never paid an income-tested fee on your package, you will never pay contributions under Support at Home.
• Your lifetime contribution cap is lower too, at $84,571.66 rather than the standard $135,318.69.
• Unspent package funds transferred with you and are drawn down before your Support at Home budget, including before any assistive technology or home modification funding.

If a provider has told you your costs are going up because of the transition, check this first. For most transitioning package holders, they should not be.

Home Care Packages and Support at Home: what actually changed

• Four levels became eight classifications, funded from $11,010.01 a year at classification 1 up to $80,137.12 a year at classification 8, so funding now maps far more closely to actual need.
• Budgets are quarterly, not annual. Unspent funds roll over one quarter, up to $1,000 or 10% of the budget, whichever is greater.
• Services are grouped into three categories that set what you contribute: clinical supports at 0% for everyone, independence services in the middle, and everyday living services at the highest rate.
• Personal care becomes fully government funded from 1 October 2026, when it moves from independence into clinical supports.
• Equipment and home modifications have their own funding stream. The Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme sits outside your quarterly budget, with tiers up to $15,000.
• Providers cannot charge separate administration or travel fees and must publish their most frequently charged prices on My Aged Care and on their own website.
• One provider handles your funding. Support at Home uses a single provider arrangement rather than splitting services across several.

How to get funded home care today

• Register with My Aged Care. Call 1800 200 422 or apply online at myagedcare.gov.au. You will need your Medicare card.
• Complete an aged care assessment. An aged care assessor, previously known as an ACAT assessor, will visit to work out what support you need and which classification fits. Our assessment guide explains what to expect.
• Submit your income and assets assessment. Form SA456 determines your contribution rate. If you do not submit it, you default to the highest rate even when you would have qualified for less.
• Wait for your funding allocation. Placement is by assessed priority, so urgent needs are served first.
• Act within 56 days of your allocation letter. You must sign a service agreement and start services inside that window. A 28 day extension is available on request, but missing the deadline sends you back to the priority system.
• Choose your provider. This is the part you control. CareAbout compares vetted providers in your area against your needs, budget and preferences, at no cost to you.

Working out which provider suits you is the step most people find hardest, and it is the one that shapes your day to day experience of care. Speak to a CareAbout adviser and we will do the comparison legwork with you.

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