Personal Care Is Now Fully Funded Under Support at Home
From 1 October 2026, personal care under Support at Home is fully funded by the Australian Government — no co-contribution, regardless of your financial situation. The change was announced by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and it's one of the more significant adjustments to the program since Support at Home began in November 2025. Here's what actually changed, in plain English.
What changed
Support at Home organises services into categories, and each category has its own rules about whether you pay a co-contribution toward the cost. Personal care used to sit under the "independence" category, which meant your contribution scaled with your means-tested assessment — full pensioners paid little to nothing, self-funded retirees paid a higher share. From 1 October 2026, personal care has been reclassified into the "clinical support" category, which is fully government-funded. In practice, that means the co-contribution for personal care is removed entirely, for every participant, no matter their financial circumstances.
What counts as "personal care"
Under this change, personal care generally covers showering, dressing, continence support and toileting assistance, help with personal hygiene and eating, and support with self-administering medication. If a visit from your carer mainly involves these kinds of tasks, it should now fall under the fully funded category rather than attracting a contribution. If showering is the main worry, our practical guide to helping an ageing parent with showering covers equipment, funding and how to raise it.
What isn't changing
This reclassification is specific to personal care. Everyday living and independence supports — things like cleaning, gardening, transport and general social support — keep their existing, means-tested contribution arrangements. So this isn't a change to how Support at Home funding works overall, just a shift of one specific, high-use category of service onto the fully funded side of the ledger.
Do you need to do anything?
No action should be required on your part — this is a change to how services are classified and funded, not something you need to apply for. That said, your provider or care coordinator is the right person to confirm exactly how it applies to your specific budget and service mix, since they're the ones managing your account day to day.
If you already hold a Home Care Package
If you're a grandfathered client — generally, if you were receiving a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024 — you're covered by "no worse off" protections that keep your contributions at or below what you would have paid under the old rules. How this specific change interacts with those protections will depend on your individual circumstances, so we'd rather point you to My Aged Care or your existing provider for a straight answer than guess at a rule that isn't yours.
Where Elvana Care fits in
Elvana Care works with clients through the Support at Home program, including alongside an existing provider if you're still transitioning from a legacy Home Care Package. If you're trying to work out what this change actually means for your household budget, a short conversation is the easiest way to get a straight answer — not a sales pitch, just what applies to your situation.
Want to know what this means for your budget?
See how Support at Home funding works, or Get a free call-back