What does it cost me out of pocket?

These are services that protect your health, safety, and wellbeing. They are often delivered by qualified professionals.

You pay 0% for Clinical supports. These services are covered from your Support at Home funding.

Examples from your list include:

Because these supports are about health and safety, the government generally protects them.

These services help you stay independent, connected, and able to manage day-to-day life.

This includes things like:

These are the services many people recognise as “home help”.

Most people do pay a contribution toward everyday services because these are things many people would normally pay for privately if they didn’t have Support at Home.

Your Support at Home budget works like “buckets of support”, into three broad buckets:

• Clinical supports (health and professional care)
• Independence supports (help to stay independent)
• Everyday supports (help around the home and daily living)

Each bucket works a little differently when it comes to your contribution.

Full pensioners pay the lowest standard contribution rates:

• 0% for Clinical supports
• 5% for Independence services
• 17.5% for Everyday living services

Full and part pensioners will generally have their rates calculated using information already provided for their pension assessment.

Part pensioners and self-funded Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders pay rates based on their assessed income and assets:

• 0% for Clinical supports
• 5% to 50% for Independence services
• 17.5% to 80% for Everyday living services

The exact rate is not determined by pension status alone. Services Australia applies a tapered rate based on the outcome of your individual assessment.

Holding a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card does not automatically qualify you for the lowest contribution rate.

Self-funded retirees who are not eligible for a pension or a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card generally pay the maximum standard rates:

• 0% for Clinical supports
• 50% for Independence services
• 80% for Everyday living services

A person who does not receive a pension may still qualify for a lower contribution rate if their assessed income and assets are comparable to those of a pensioner. They must provide their financial details to Services Australia for this to be considered.

How your care is funded

Your Support at Home package is paid for two ways:

• A government subsidy
• Your personal contribution, an amount set by Services Australia (government) and based on your income. You can estimate it here.

What is the Wallet?

The Wallet is a small reserve of your own money we hold to pay your care providers on time.

Think of it like a float. Instead of billing you each time an invoice arrives, we keep a buffer ready so payments go out smoothly without delays. The money is held safely in trust, it is always yours.

The buffer is usually around two weeks’ worth of your expected contributions.

You don’t manage it. We handle everything.

How does it get topped up?

When the balance drops below the minimum, it is topped up automatically by direct debit. You’ll get a notification each time.

We can’t notify you a few days in advance, top-ups are triggered by invoices as they arrive, and those can’t be predicted ahead of time.

Default minimum balance:

• Two weeks of your budgeted personal contribution.
• Optional: rounded buffer (recommended)

Based on experience managing packages for thousands of clients, we suggest rounding up to:

• Minimum balance: $100 (or the nearest $100 above your two-week default)
• Top-up amount: $200 (or the nearest $200 above your default)

This is not a requirement. The exact minimum can be requested to be different, just be aware it may result in more frequent top-ups, sometimes on consecutive days, and will delay service provider payments.

Why bother?

Invoices don’t arrive evenly, some weeks are quiet, others have several at once. A slightly higher, rounded buffer means fewer top-ups (average 13 a year, considering the direct debit is a four-week budgeted value), no back-to-back direct debits, ensuring fast service provider payments and a simple amount that’s easy to remember.

GST on goods and services provided under Support at Home cannot be paid directly from the Support at Home funding. Instead, GST should be clearly identified when invoices are uploaded, allowing Local Guardians to manage the GST payment separately.

This ensures that the GST portion is not drawn from the Support at Home funding, preserving those funds for the recipient to allocate towards additional care and services.

The full invoice amount, including GST, is paid to the service provider or reimbursement account in one deposit.

If you cannot afford your Support at Home contributions, you may be able to get financial hardship assistance from Services Australia.

You may be eligible if:

• Your assets are below the current limit
• You have not given away large amounts of money or assets
• You have been approved for Support at Home
• Services Australia has up-to-date information about your financial situation

Services Australia will look at your circumstances and decide whether they can reduce or cover some of your aged care costs.

1. You choose the worker or business that delivers your service. We pay them their rate.
2. We add 10 per cent to that rate. That covers arranging the service, checking the worker’s insurance and clearances, paying the invoice and keeping your records straight.
3. The total is the one price you pay. There are no separate booking fees, exit fees or administration fees on top.

Because you choose the worker, the price follows their rate. That is why we show a range as well as the most common price. Care management is funded separately by the government and is not charged on top of your service prices.