Support at Home Contributions Explained: What You’ll Pay in 2026

The Support at Home program began on 1 November 2025, replacing Home Care Packages. If you or a loved one is being assessed for care this year, the most common question is a simple one: what will it actually cost?

This guide explains how contributions work, sets out the current rates by pension status, and covers the changes coming through 2026. For a broader overview of the program, see our guide to Support at Home.

What are Support at Home contributions?

Under Support at Home, every service has a price. The government pays most of that price as a subsidy directly to your provider, and you pay the rest.

Your share is your contribution. It is worked out as a percentage of the service price, based on a means assessment of your income and assets.

One important change from the old system is that Support at Home is service-based. You are charged only for the services you actually receive, so if a visit is cancelled with appropriate notice, there is no contribution for that day.

The three service categories, and what you pay for each

How much you contribute depends on the category a service falls into. There are three.

Clinical care: always 0%

Clinical care includes nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and other allied health support.

These services are fully funded by the government for every participant, with no contribution and no means test. If home nursing or allied health is approved in your support plan, you pay nothing for it.

Independence services: a moderate contribution

Independence services help you stay safe and capable at home. They include personal care such as help with showering and dressing, plus products and equipment under the assistive technology and home modifications (AT-HM) scheme.

These attract a moderate contribution. Note that from 1 October 2026, personal care becomes fully government-funded, which is covered further below.

Everyday living services: the highest contribution

Everyday living services are the practical, day-to-day supports: domestic assistance, cleaning, gardening, meal preparation, transport and social support and companionship.

Because they are conveniences rather than clinical or essential independence supports, they attract the highest contribution rates.

How much will you pay? Contribution rates by pension status in 2026

Your pension status sets your contribution rate. Full pensioners pay the least, and self-funded retirees who do not hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) pay the most.

The table below shows the standard rates that apply to people who started Support at Home on or after 1 November 2025.

Rates for part pensioners and CSHC holders sit on a sliding scale, worked out from your income and assets.

Source: Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

If you are a full pensioner

You pay 0% for clinical care, 5% for independence services and 17.5% for everyday living services.

In plain terms, on a $100 everyday living service you would pay $17.50 and the government would pay the rest.

If you are a part pensioner or CSHC holder

Your contribution falls between the full-pensioner and self-funded rates, based on your assessed income and assets.

Holding a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card keeps your rates lower than a self-funded retiree without one, which protects people on modest retirement incomes.

If you are a self-funded retiree

If you do not hold a CSHC, you pay the top rates: 50% for independence services and 80% for everyday living services.

Clinical care is still fully funded at 0%, the same as for everyone else.

How your contribution rate is decided

Source: Unsplash

Services Australia works out your rate through an income and assets assessment, similar to the Age Pension means test. Means testing does not decide whether you are eligible for Support at Home. It only decides how much you contribute.

One thing worth knowing: if you choose not to provide your income and assets details, you are recorded as means not disclosed, and your contributions are set at the maximum rate. Completing the assessment is usually well worth it.

If you moved from a Home Care Package: the “no worse off” principle

If you were receiving, or had been assessed as eligible for, a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024, the “no worse off” principle protects you.

You will pay the same as, or less than, you were assessed to pay under your package, even if you are reassessed into a higher classification.

If you paid no fees before, you will never be asked to pay contributions under Support at Home.

Reduced rates for people covered by this protection are shown below.

Source: Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

There is one gap to be aware of. People assessed as eligible for a Home Care Package between 12 September 2024 and 31 October 2025 are treated as transitional participants. The no-worse-off principle does not apply to them, so they pay the standard rates in the first table, the same as new entrants.

SAH lifetime contribution cap

Support at Home includes a lifetime cap on your total non-clinical contributions. Once you reach it, the government covers the full cost of your non-clinical services from that point on.

This is a combined cap across home care and residential aged care, not a separate one for each. Contributions you paid under a Home Care Package or Support at Home carry across if you later move into an aged care home, so they count towards the same limit. In residential care, the contribution also stops after four years of payments, whichever comes first.

As at July 2026, the cap for people on the new arrangements is around $137,917, while people covered by the no-worse-off principle keep the lower Home Care Package cap of around $86,185. Both are indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year, so always check the current figure on the My Aged Care website rather than relying on a fixed number.

What is changing in 2026

Price caps from 1 July 2026

In the first stage of Support at Home, providers set their own prices within government guidelines.

From 1 July 2026, government price caps apply to services on the price list, setting a maximum a provider can charge.

Since your contribution is a percentage of the service price, a lower price means a lower dollar contribution, so it still pays to compare provider price lists.

Free personal care from 1 October 2026

From 1 October 2026, the government will fully fund personal care, including help with showering, dressing and toileting, for participants approved for the personal care service type in their support plan.

This moves a common independence service to a 0% contribution, which will reduce out-of-pocket costs for many people.

A quick worked example

Say a home cleaning visit, an everyday living service, is priced at $100. A full pensioner would contribute $17.50 and the government would pay $82.50.

A self-funded retiree without a CSHC would contribute $80 and the government would pay $20.

The same rules scale to a whole quarter of care, so your overall out-of-pocket cost depends on your rate, the mix of services you use, and each provider’s prices.

Reviewing your support plan when your needs change, and using funded supports such as respite care and home care helps you get the most from each quarterly budget.

How to find out exactly what you’ll pay

Frequently asked questions

How Homage can help

Understanding contributions is the first step. Putting quality care in place is the next. Homage matches you with trained, local Care Professionals and nurses for aged care at home, from personal care and nursing to companionship and respite.

If you would like help understanding your options under Support at Home, our Care Advisory team is ready to talk it through with you.

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