Support at Home Levels (1-8) Explained [Hours & Examples]

💡 Tip: Clinical services (like nursing or physio) are often more expensive than domestic help. Prioritising needs each week helps stretch your funding further.

To get Support at Home funding and an assigned level, you’ll first need to get an aged care assessment through My Aged Care.

But once you know your level, then you can start to think more specifically about the services you’re actually receiving and using that money for.

The services you use play a key part in how many hours you’ll actually have. The cost of services are broken down into the service type, when you receive the service and your care management costs.

With in-home care, different services have different costs. 

For example:

• A cleaning service is around $120/hr (Everyday Living).
• A personal care worker is also $120/hr (Independence).
• A nurse is higher — around $210/hr (Clinical).
• Some services are charged per trip or per meal (e.g. transport, delivered meals).

Because of these differences, two people with the same budget might get very different numbers of hours depending on what services they use.

Rates go up if services are delivered outside business hours, or on Saturdays, Sundays, or public holidays. For example:

• Weekday Personal Care: $120/hr
• Saturday: $157/hr
• Sunday: $195/hr
• Public Holiday: $227/hr

If you need a lot of weekend or evening help, your hours will stretch less than someone who only needs weekday support.

By design, 10% of your quarterly budget is set aside for care management. That means your budget for direct services is always about 90% of the level amount.

For example:

• Level 2 = $4,400/quarter → ~$3,960 for services
• Level 6 = $14,500/quarter → ~$13,050 for services

3. How Much You're Contributing

One of the biggest shifts with Support at Home is that your budget stays the same but the contribution you pay can vary depending on the type of service and your financial circumstances.

While your contribution doesn’t change the total hours in your budget, it does change how much of those hours the government pays for versus how much you cover yourself. This can influence which services you choose, how often you use them, and when.

Clinical Services — Fully Government Funded

You’ll never pay for clinical supports. These are 100% government-funded regardless of your income or assets.

Examples of Clinical Services:

• Nursing care (Registered or Enrolled Nurse)
• Allied health therapies (physiotherapist, occupational therapist, dietitian/nutritionist, exercise physiologist, podiatrist, psychologist, speech pathologist, social worker)
• Therapeutic services for independent living (acupuncturist, chiropractor, osteopath, remedial massage, art therapy, diversional therapy)
• Group therapy sessions
• Restorative care management

💡 Key point: Whether you’re a full pensioner or self-funded retiree, you pay $0 contribution for these services.

Independence Services — *Mostly* Government Funded

These supports help you stay safe and independent at home. The government funds most of the cost, but you’ll usually pay a small to moderate contribution depending on your means.

Examples of Independence Services:

• Personal care (assistance with showering, dressing, toileting, continence care, medication support)
• Respite care
• Social support (individual or group activities, accompanied outings, cultural support, digital education, help with personal affairs)
• Transport (direct trips, accompanied travel)

💡 Typical contribution rates:

• Full pensioner: ~5%
• Part-pensioner: anywhere from 5–50% (assessed individually)
• Self-funded retiree: 50% flat

Everyday Living Services — Least Government Funded

These are supports for day-to-day living and home upkeep. They attract the highest contribution rates because they’re not considered clinical or essential independence supports.

Examples of Everyday Living Services:

• Domestic assistance (general house cleaning, laundry, shopping)
• Meals (meal preparation, meal delivery)
• Home maintenance and repairs (gardening, minor repairs, safety checks)

💡 Typical contribution rates:

• Full pensioner: ~17.5%
• Part-pensioner / CSHC: 17.5–80% (assessed individually)
• Self-funded retiree: 80% flat

Putting it all together

While it’s impossible to give an exact amount of hours you might get with Support at Home, you can at least get an idea of what kind of hours you can expect by taking a look at some potential scenarios.

Read on:

• Are You Eligible for Support at Home? 
• What You Can (And Can’t) Spend Your Funding On
• How Much Will I Have to Pay for Support at Home? 

Support at Home Funding Scenarios

These figures are based on St Vincent's Care Support at Home costs as at 1st Nov 2025. These numbers will vary depending on your individual circumstances and chosen provider.

Scenario 1 – Full Pensioner, Level 2 Funding

Margaret lives alone and wants to stay independent at home.
She’s on a full Age Pension and has been approved for Support at Home Level 2, which gives her $4,008.61 per quarter ($16,034.45 per year).

Of that, 10% ($400.86) is set aside for care management, leaving $3,607.75 per quarter to spend on services.

Margaret uses her budget for:

• a small amount of cleaning (Everyday Living Support)

• some personal care (Independence Support)

• a monthly registered-nurse check-in (Clinical Support)

Clinical services are fully government-funded, so she doesn’t pay anything out of pocket for them.

Because she’s a full pensioner, her contribution rates are:

• 5% for Independence Support

• 17.5% for Everyday Living Support

Over the quarter, her combined contributions come to about $198 in total, while the government covers the rest.

She still has some funds left each quarter to save for a one-off purchase or add an extra service when she needs it.

Margaret’s scenario in detail 

Key Takeaways from All Three

• Clinical services (nursing, allied health, therapeutic services) are always fully funded. No one pays for these, regardless of income or assets.
• Independence and everyday living services attract contributions that vary depending on pensioner status — lower for full pensioners, higher for self-funded retirees.
• Care management takes 10% of each quarterly budget to coordinate and oversee services.
• People can mix and match services. The same budget can deliver very different hours depending on what’s used, when it’s used, and how much the participant is willing to contribute.

What About Left-Over Money?

Sometimes you won’t spend all of your Support at Home budget in a quarter and that’s okay. The program is built to be flexible.

If you don’t use your full budget, you can carry some of it over to the next quarter:

• You can roll over up to 10% of your quarterly budget or $1,000 (whichever is more).
• Anything above that amount goes back to the program and can’t be kept.

This little “carry-over” lets you save for unexpected needs — like a one-off deep clean, extra respite, or a bigger purchase next quarter.

💡 Tip: Budgets reset every three months. Check in with your care partner regularly so you don’t miss out on help you’re entitled to, and so you can plan ahead if you want to save some funds.

Tips for Getting the Most from Your Funding

1. Start with your goals – What do you need most? Cleaning? Safety? Companionship?
2. Bundle services – Combine cleaning with transport or shopping in one session.
3. Use low-cost services smartly – Community transport, meal delivery, or social groups can be cost-effective.
4. Track your hours – Use a journal or provider app to monitor what’s being used.
5. Review regularly – Care needs change. Request a reassessment if needed.

🧵 From carers online:
  “The hours might not look like much, but if you plan them properly, they really help. We used to burn out doing everything. Now we can breathe again.” – r/AgedCareAustralia

What to Do if Things Change

Care needs can escalate quickly—after a fall, hospital stay, or new diagnosis.

⚠️ Tip: If you or your loved one’s condition changes, you can request a reassessment through My Aged Care at any time. You don’t need to wait until the next review period.

Also:

• Keep notes on changing care needs (e.g., new difficulties with bathing or walking)
• Let your provider know immediately if safety becomes a concern
• Emergency respite care may also be available short-term

Support Outside the Standard Levels

Support at Home gives most people a quarterly budget (Levels 1–8) to spend on ongoing services. But there are also separate funding streams for things that don’t fit neatly into a regular budget. These include equipment and home changes, short-term restorative care, and end-of-life supports.

1. Assistive Technology & Home Modifications (AT-HM)

If you need equipment or changes to your home to stay safe and independent, there is a separate, up-front funding pool for this — it does not come out of your ongoing quarterly budget.

• Covers things like shower chairs, ramps, grab rails, kitchen aids, mobility aids, minor and major home modifications.
• Includes the cost of prescriptions, assessments, set-up and training that go with the item.
• There are three funding tiers:
  1. Low – up to $500
  2. Medium – up to $2,000
  3. High – up to $15,000 (and more if required)
• Funding generally lasts for 12 months and doesn’t accrue if unused.
• You still need an assessment to show the item or modification is necessary.

2. Restorative Care Pathway

This is a short-term, intensive support program designed to help you regain or maintain independence after an illness, hospital stay, or major change in circumstances.

• Lasts for up to 16 weeks (but can be used twice during a 12 month period)
• Provides extra allied health, therapy or reablement support on top of your usual care.
• Worth $6000 in funding with another $6000 available if needed
• Funded separately from your ongoing classification budget.

3. End-of-Life Pathway

For people who are expected to live less than three months and want to remain at home, Support at Home has a special End-of-Life Pathway:

• Provides up to $25,000 over 12 weeks (with the potential to extend to 16 weeks)
• Aims to cover additional nursing, personal care, equipment or respite to support you and your family.
• Fully government-funded clinical services still apply.

4. Unspent Home Care Package Funds

If you were previously on a Home Care Package (HCP) and had unspent funds, these transfer across to Support at Home.

• They can be used for ongoing services beyond your quarterly budget or for approved assistive technology/home modifications.
• Must be used before drawing on new AT-HM funding.

📝 Key Takeaways

• These supports are separate from your normal quarterly budget — using them doesn’t reduce your hours of regular services.
• They’re designed for one-off or short-term needs (equipment, home changes, intensive therapy, or end-of-life care).
• You still need to be assessed and approved for them, but once approved they provide extra funding and flexibility.
• Clinical components (nursing, therapy) remain fully funded in all these pathways.