Support at Home Program: What's Replacing Home Care Packages

Support at Home is the Australian Government program that replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. It uses 8 funding classifications instead of 4 levels, adds two short-term care pathways, and protects existing recipients through the "no worse off" principle. Here's exactly what changed, what's protected, and what it means for your care in south-west Sydney.

Key Takeways

• What replaced Home Care Packages, and when it happened
• The 8 Support at Home funding classifications, plus the separate figures for anyone transitioning from an existing package
• Who is protected under the "no worse off" principle, and exactly what that protects
• What to do if you already have a Home Care Package, and how to access Support at Home in Punchbowl, Bankstown, Liverpool and Campbelltown

Call Care Steps Australia on (02) 8201 3100 if you want to talk through your own situation directly.

What Is the Support at Home Program, and Why Did It Replace Home Care Packages?

Support at Home is the Australian Government's aged care funding program that replaced Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care on 1 November 2025, when the Aged Care Act 2024 took effect. The change came from a broader aged care reform aimed at simplifying a system that had grown into several overlapping programs with different rules, different assessments and different funding structures.

Under Home Care Packages, funding sat in four levels, and providers charged a package management fee and a care management fee on top of the funding itself. Support at Home replaces those four levels with 8 funding classifications, sets clearer rules for what providers can charge, and folds in short-term pathways that used to sit in separate programs. The goal, according to the government, is one clearer front door into home-based aged care rather than several confusing ones.

Not every part of home support has moved yet. The Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP), which funds lower-level, entry-point services like basic domestic assistance and social support, is not transitioning into Support at Home until no earlier than 1 July 2027. If you or a family member currently receive CHSP services, nothing changes for you yet under this reform. Everything below applies to people who held, were approved for, or are newly applying for a Home Care Package.

What Are the 8 Support at Home Funding Classifications?

Support at Home replaces the old 4 package levels with 8 funding classifications, and the amount you get depends on whether you're a new participant or someone who transitioned from an existing Home Care Package. This is the detail that trips up the most families, because the two groups use different figures.

New participants are assessed into one of 8 ongoing classifications, each with its own quarterly budget:

If you already held a Home Care Package before the change, your old level converted to a separate "Transitioned HCP Level" classification, and this uses a different funding table entirely:

Both tables come directly from the Department of Health and Aged Care's Support at Home funding classifications page. The department confirms these quarterly budgets and annual amounts are effective from 1 November 2025 and are indexed each year on 1 July, so the figures above will move slightly each financial year rather than staying fixed. If you're reading this after a 1 July indexation date and want the current figures confirmed against your own classification, ask your provider or check the same government page directly.

A separate rate change is coming on 1 October 2026, but it's easy to misread. From that date, Support at Home subsidy rates and some supplements increase to help providers cover a Fair Work Commission-mandated wage increase for aged care nurses that takes effect on 1 August 2026. That's a change to what the government pays providers, not a change to your personal funding classification or quarterly budget.

Am I Protected Under the "No Worse Off" Principle?

You're protected under the no worse off principle if, as of 12 September 2024, you were receiving a Home Care Package, sitting on the National Priority System, or already assessed as eligible for one. This single date is the one to check first, because it determines everything else about your fees and funding.

If you meet that cutoff, the principle guarantees four things. First, if you were assessed as paying an income-tested care fee under your Home Care Package, you'll pay the same amount or less under Support at Home, never more. Second, if you were exempt from contributions, you won't be asked to start paying them now. Third, you keep the same funding level you had, and any unspent Home Care Package funds carry over with you rather than being forfeited. Fourth, if you had already built up contributions toward the Home Care Package lifetime cap, that cap continues to apply: it currently sits at $84,571.66 as of 1 November 2025.

This protection is confirmed directly on the Department of Health and Aged Care's Support at Home participant contributions page, under the "no worse off principle" section. It's worth reading in full if your fees or unspent funds are a genuine worry, since the exact wording matters more than a paraphrase when you're deciding whether to raise something with your provider.

If you weren't in the system by 12 September 2024, you're assessed as a new Support at Home participant under the ongoing classification structure covered above, not the transitioned figures.

What Happens If You Already Have a Home Care Package?

If you already had a Home Care Package, you didn't need to reapply or go through a fresh assessment just because the program changed. Your existing package level converted automatically to the matching Transitioned HCP Level classification, your provider relationship continued, and any unspent Home Care Package funds moved across with you rather than resetting to zero.

You also kept the right to choose or change your provider, exactly as you could under Home Care Packages. If you're not sure how your specific level converted, or you want the full detail on how Home Care Package levels and costs worked before this change, our earlier guide on home care package levels, costs and eligibility in Sydney walks through the system Support at Home is replacing, which is useful context if you're comparing what you had against what you have now.

What Services and Short-Term Pathways Does Support at Home Cover?

Support at Home covers ongoing personal care, nursing, allied health and domestic assistance in the same broad categories Home Care Packages did, plus two short-term pathways and a dedicated equipment and home modification scheme that used to sit in separate programs.

The Restorative Care Pathway is a short, goal-focused period of support designed to help someone regain independence after a health setback, rather than funding open-ended ongoing care. The End-of-Life Pathway provides a short-term funding boost for people receiving palliative care at home, on top of their existing classification.

The Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme funds equipment and home changes in three tiers, for both assistive technology and home modifications separately. Low-tier items are under $500, medium-tier items go up to $2,000, and high-tier items go up to $15,000, or more if an assessed need genuinely requires it. For home modifications specifically, a high-tier project capped at $15,000 can extend over up to 24 months where there's evidence of ongoing progress. These figures come directly from the Department of Health and Aged Care's AT-HM scheme page, and they sit outside your regular quarterly classification budget, so they don't eat into the funding covered in the tables above.

How Do You Access Support at Home in Punchbowl and South-West Sydney?

You access Support at Home the same way you'd start with any aged care funding: through a My Aged Care assessment, followed by an approval letter that confirms your classification, then a provider of your choice. What changes locally is which provider actually shows up and does the work well across Punchbowl, Bankstown, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Campsie, Lakemba and Greenacre, since coverage and responsiveness vary a lot between suburbs even within the same local government area.

Care Steps Australia is based at 48 Lancaster Avenue in Punchbowl and works with Support at Home participants across all of those suburbs. If you're still working out whether you're eligible, or you need help gathering the right documents before your assessment, our guide on how to apply for aged care funding in Sydney covers the application steps in more detail than fits here.

What Should You Ask a Provider Before Choosing Them Under Support at Home?

Ask any provider, including us, these five questions before you commit: how they'll help you understand your classification and quarterly budget, whether they can explain exactly how your old Home Care Package level converted if you're transitioning, what they charge on top of your funded budget, how quickly they can start once your approval letter arrives, and whether they have experience with your specific suburb rather than just your local government area in general.

A provider who can answer all five clearly and specifically, not with a generic brochure line, is one worth trusting with a transition this significant. If an answer feels vague or rehearsed, that's worth noticing before you sign anything.

What Does This Mean If You're Already a Care Steps Client?

If you're already a Care Steps Australia client, you're being supported through the Support at Home transition as part of your existing service, without needing to chase us for it. We're not going to pretend every internal process detail is something we can lay out publicly here, because that would mean overstating specifics we haven't confirmed for your exact situation. What we can say plainly is that continuity matters more than novelty in a transition like this: the same team, the same local knowledge of Punchbowl and Bankstown, and the same phone number, just working within the new classification structure.

If anything about your own transition feels unclear, the most accurate answer comes from a direct conversation with our team, not from a generic FAQ, including this one. You can see our ongoing local presence on our Bankstown aged care service page if you want a sense of how we operate day to day in the area.

In Short

Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care on 1 November 2025. New participants are assessed into one of 8 funding classifications, while anyone who transitioned from an existing Home Care Package uses a separate Transitioned HCP Level table with different figures. If you met the 12 September 2024 cutoff, the no worse off principle protects your fees, funding level and unspent funds. CHSP is unaffected for now, and a 1 October 2026 rate change is a provider subsidy matter, not a cut to your personal funding. If any of this applies to you or a family member in Punchbowl, Bankstown, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Campsie, Lakemba or Greenacre, Care Steps Australia can talk it through with you directly.

Need Help Understanding Your Support at Home Transition?

Care Steps Australia is already helping existing clients and new families across south-west Sydney through the Support at Home transition. Whether you're checking your classification, working out what's protected under the no worse off principle, or applying for the first time, get in touch with our team and we'll talk you through your specific situation.

Care Steps Australia
48 Lancaster Avenue, Punchbowl, NSW 2196
Phone: (02) 8201 3100
Find us on Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZsJQgwvKcMMUVb1MA