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Does Support at Home Pay for Cleaning? What's Covered, What Isn't, and What It Costs

Published 28 October 2026  |  Last updated 28 October 2026

Cleaning is often one of the first jobs to get harder: bending over the bath, pushing a vacuum from room to room, carrying a full laundry basket. So it's no surprise that "Can Mum's Support at Home funding pay for a cleaner?" is such a common question. In most cases it can. But there are rules about what counts as cleaning, and because it's an "everyday living" service, you'll usually pay part of the cost yourself. Here's how it works.

What cleaning help Support at Home covers

On the official Support at Home service list, cleaning sits under a service type called domestic assistance. It has three parts:

• General house cleaning — essential light cleaning such as vacuuming, mopping and washing dishes, along with everyday jobs like taking out the rubbish.
• Laundry — loading and unloading the washing machine and dryer, folding and ironing.
• Shopping assistance — help getting the shopping done. The cost of the groceries is yours to pay.

My Aged Care's page on domestic assistance gives similar examples, including watering plants.

Meal preparation is closely related, but it's a separate service type called meals. It covers preparing meals in your home and having meals delivered. The cost of the ingredients isn't covered, and neither is meal delivery for other people in the household.

What it doesn't cover

• Professional cleaning services you'd normally pay a specialist for, such as carpet cleaning, pest control and dry cleaning.
• Deep or specialist cleans. General house cleaning is described as essential light cleaning: the regular upkeep that keeps a home safe and liveable. Heavy cleaning for hoarding or squalor isn't part of it. That's a separate specialist service offered through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP).
• Pet care. Walking the dog or cleaning out a litter tray isn't covered. Normal cleaning that happens to pick up pet hair along the way is fine.
• Things you buy. Groceries are yours to pay for. Providers generally expect to use the cleaning products and equipment already in your home. If you don't have suitable supplies, the provider can build that cost into its price rather than leave you without.

First, check it's in your plan

Your Support at Home budget can only be spent on services that are on the service list and documented in your Notice of Decision letter and support plan. Cleaning and laundry can be approved together as part of domestic assistance. If they aren't in your plan and you think you need them, talk to your provider first. If they aren't part of your approval, you may need a new assessment through My Aged Care.

If cleaning is the only help you need, you might be pointed to CHSP instead. My Aged Care describes CHSP as supports that can include one or two basic services, while Support at Home is designed for people with more complex and intensive care needs. Our guide to what happens at a My Aged Care assessment explains what to expect along the way.

What it costs

There are two parts to the cost: the provider's price, and the share of it you contribute.

The price. Support at Home prices aren't capped. Price caps were due to start on 1 July 2026 but have been deferred. Instead, providers' prices have to be reasonable and based on what it actually costs to deliver the service. To help people compare, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing publishes a national summary of what providers charge. For services delivered in November and December 2025, weekday prices per hour were:

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, national summary of Support at Home prices (published May 2026). National figures for weekdays, including participant contributions. Weekend and public holiday services may cost more, and prices in your area may differ.

Service	Median	Middle half of prices
General house cleaning	$110	$100–$117
Laundry	$95	$65–$109
Shopping assistance	$110	$100–$125
Meal preparation	$100	$70–$115

A few protections apply to every Support at Home price. You can't be charged separately for travel or package management, and providers can't charge entry or exit fees. Your service agreement has to list the price of each service, and if your provider charges more than its published price, the agreement has to explain why.

Your contribution. Cleaning, laundry, shopping help and meals are all in the everyday living category, which has the highest contribution rates under Support at Home. Under the schedule of contributions from 1 July 2026:

• Full Age Pension: 17.5% of the price
• Part pension or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card: between 17.5% and 80%, depending on your income and assets
• Self-funded retiree: 80%

So for every $100 of cleaning (an example price only), someone on a full Age Pension contributes $17.50 and $82.50 comes from their Support at Home budget. A self-funded retiree contributes $80.

Lower rates apply under the "no worse off" principle if, on 12 September 2024, you were receiving a Home Care Package, were on the National Priority System, or had been approved for a package: nothing for full pensioners, and no more than 25% for everyone else.

Cleaning is treated differently from personal care. Help with showering, dressing and similar personal care has had no contribution since 1 October 2026, but cleaning still does. Our guide to the three contribution categories explains how it all fits together.

If a price doesn't look right

1. Ask your provider to explain it. Providers have to be able to explain how they set their prices and what each price covers.
2. Compare. Check other providers' prices on My Aged Care's Find a Provider tool, and against the national summary above.
3. Get independent help. If you're still not satisfied, you can contact the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, or call the free Aged Care Advocacy Line on 1800 700 600.

Getting the most out of cleaning visits

• Agree on what matters most. For most people it's the bathroom, the kitchen and the floors — the places where a slip or a build-up of mess causes the most trouble.
• Write it down. A short list on the fridge means anyone who visits knows the routine and nothing gets missed.
• Keep the jobs your parent enjoys. If Dad likes doing his own dishes or Mum prefers to fold her own washing, say so. The aim is to support independence, not to take over.
• Treat it as a check-in, too. A regular visitor often notices small changes — an emptier fridge, mail piling up, signs of a fall — before anyone else does.
• Review it as things change. If needs go up or down, tell your provider so the plan keeps up.

Where Elvana Care fits in

Elvana Care is a family-run home care business based in Canberra. We deliver in-home support as an associated provider, through clients' registered Support at Home providers — so your funding stays with your provider, and we deliver the cleaning, laundry and other services you've agreed on. Wherever possible, it's the same familiar person each visit, across Canberra, Queanbeyan, Karabar and Yass.

If you already have a provider, here's how we work alongside them. Looking after the garden as well? See our guide to what Support at Home covers for gardening.