Support at Home: 8 Classification Levels and What Each One Funds

Most people arrive at this question holding an approval letter with a number on it, wanting to know two things. How much is that worth, and how much care will it actually buy?

If you are wondering what the classification levels mean for Support at Home, here’s a quick breakdown of what each classification means, and the funding amount.

The 8 Support at Home classification levels

Funding is allocated as a quarterly budget rather than an annual lump sum. The figures below are the approximate quarterly amounts applying from 1 July 2026, with the annual equivalent shown for comparison.

The old Home Care Package classification levels

Alongside the eight ongoing classifications sit four transitioned Home Care Package classifications.

If you were receiving a Home Care Package on or before 31 October 2025, you did not move onto one of the eight.

You kept the funding you already had, under what is now called a transitioned Home Care Package classification. There are four of these, corresponding to the four old package levels.

You move onto one of the eight ongoing classifications if you are reassessed after 1 November 2025, or if you are approved for aged care for the first time after that date. Until then, your existing funding continues.

If you are still working through a package transition, see our guide to Support at Home that covers the transition and what you need to know.

How your classification is decided

An assessor arranged through My Aged Care reviews how you manage day to day. That includes your health, your mobility and safety at home, what you can do independently, and what support you already receive from family or others.

Based on that, they recommend a classification. You do not choose it, and neither does your provider. It is confirmed in your Notice of Decision, which arrives alongside your support plan.

It is worth going into that assessment prepared. Describe a difficult day rather than a good one, be specific about the tasks you struggle with, and mention anything a family member currently does for you that you could not manage alone.

Assessors work from what they are told.

What each classification funds

Classifications 1 to 3: Lower support needs

At these levels people are generally still managing personal care independently. Funding usually goes towards domestic assistance, transport to appointments, social support, and occasional allied health.

A common pattern at Classification 2 might be a fortnightly clean, help with the weekly shop, and transport to medical appointments, with a podiatrist or physiotherapist visiting as needed.

Clinical services are funded outside your contribution, so they stretch further than the dollar figure suggests.

Classifications 4 to 6: Moderate support needs

This is where regular personal care typically enters the picture, often daily.

Funding at these levels commonly covers help with showering and dressing, meal preparation or delivered meals, weekly domestic assistance, continence supplies, a personal alarm, and equipment such as a shower chair or grab rails.

Nursing and allied health sit in the clinical category and are fully funded, so home nursing visits for wound care or medication management do not eat into what you contribute towards everything else.

Classifications 7 to 8: High and complex needs

At the top of the scale, funding supports something close to full-time assistance at home.

That often means personal care two or more times a day, daily meal preparation, regular home maintenance, continence and equipment supplies, complex nursing, and respite so a family carer can keep going.

Classification 8 is the highest ongoing in-home funding available. The goal at this level is to maintain comfort, dignity and quality of life at home for as long as it is safe and clinically appropriate.

Two people on the same classification can receive very different care

Your classification sets your budget. Your support plan, your circumstances and your preferences determine how that budget is used.

Two people on Classification 4 might have almost nothing in common in terms of the services they receive, and both arrangements can be correct.

What your budget actually buys

With a budget, you will need to know what that money actually buys for you. Here is how you can get started with planning your budget.

So if your quarterly budget is $10,000, care management takes up to $1,000, leaving around $9,000. At a provider price of $75 an hour that is roughly 120 hours for the quarter, or a little over 9 hours a week.

At $90 an hour the same budget buys around 100 hours, or under 8 hours a week.

Two people on identical classifications can receive noticeably different amounts of care depending entirely on what their provider charges.

Support at Home providers set their own prices, and they are required to publish their most frequently charged prices so you can compare before you commit.

Remember that clinical services, including nursing and allied health, are fully government funded and do not attract a contribution, so they do not reduce what is available for everything else in the same way.

How the quarterly budget works

Your annual allocation is split into four quarterly budgets rather than released as one sum. The full quarterly amount is available at the start of each quarter.

You can carry unused funding forward, generally up to $1,000 or 10 per cent of your quarterly budget, whichever is greater. Different arrangements apply to people who transitioned across with unspent Home Care Package funds.

The practical effect is that planning matters more than it did under Home Care Packages. You cannot save up quietly across a whole year for one large expense.

Work out with your provider which services you need, how often, and what they cost, at the start of each quarter rather than the end.

Short-term support that sits on top of your classification

Support at Home includes short-term pathways that sit alongside your ongoing classification rather than coming out of it.

• The restorative care pathway provides time-limited intensive support after an illness, injury or hospital stay, coordinated towards clear recovery goals.
• End-of-life support is available where it is needed.
• Assistive technology and home modifications are funded through a separate scheme with its own list and approval process.

If you need extra help after a fall or a hospital admission, ask about these before you start drawing down your ongoing budget.

What you will contribute

Your classification determines the funding. What you pay depends on the category of each service and, for non-clinical services, on your income and assets.

• Clinical care, including nursing and allied health, is fully government funded.
• Independence services attract a contribution scaled by your financial circumstances.
• Everyday living services attract the highest contribution.

From 1 October 2026, approved personal care services move into the clinical support contribution category and become fully government funded.

For anyone currently paying a contribution on daily showering and dressing, that is a meaningful reduction in out-of-pocket costs.

If your funding is not enough

Care needs change, often faster than people expect. If your circumstances have shifted significantly, whether after a fall, an illness or a gradual decline, you can request a reassessment through My Aged Care or your provider.

Two pieces of practical advice. Keep brief notes of what has changed and when, because specific examples are far more persuasive than a general sense that things are harder.

And do not wait until the arrangement is unmanageable before raising it. Reassessment takes time.

Does a higher classification mean better care?

No. A higher classification means more assessed need, not better care and not a better outcome. It is not a grade and it is not a judgement.

The question worth asking is whether your funding and services genuinely match your needs. Someone on Classification 2 with the right few services in place can be perfectly well supported.

Someone on Classification 7 with a poorly matched service mix may not be.

If you self-manage your Support at Home funding, you can link Homage with your registered self-managed provider and use your funding for our aged care and in-home support services, booked from a single hour with no ongoing commitment.

Speak with a Care Advisor about making your budget go further.

Frequently asked questions

References