Support at Home Services List: What Is Covered and What Is Not

The official service list

Every service a provider can deliver under Support at Home is set out in a national service list, grouped into three categories. Your support plan from the assessment approves which service types you can use, and your provider delivers them from your quarterly budget. The category also decides what contribution you pay, so it is worth knowing where each service sits.

Clinical care (no contribution)

• Nursing care - wound care, medication management, continence support, health monitoring
• Allied health and therapy - physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, dietetics, speech pathology, exercise physiology
• Care management - the provider's planning and coordination of your services, funded from the 10% built into your budget
• Restorative care management - for people on the Restorative Care Pathway
• Personal care - moves into this category from 1 October 2026

Independence services (moderate contribution)

• Personal care - showering, dressing, grooming, toileting, help with eating and moving around (until 30 September 2026, after which it becomes free)
• Social support and community engagement - a worker accompanying you to activities, shopping or appointments, or providing companionship
• Respite - in-home, community or cottage respite that gives your carer a break
• Therapeutic services for independent living - allied health assistants, some group programs
• Assistive technology and home modifications - funded via the AT-HM scheme, with contributions at the independence rate

Everyday living services (highest contribution)

• Domestic assistance - cleaning, laundry, changing bed linen
• Meals - meal preparation in your home, or delivered meals (you pay for the food itself)
• Home maintenance and gardening - lawn mowing, gutter cleaning, minor repairs, essential garden upkeep
• Transport - to appointments, shopping and social activities, whether by a worker driving you or a transport service

What Support at Home does not cover

The program funds care, not living costs. Excluded items include:

• Rent, mortgage payments, rates, insurance and general utility bills
• Food and groceries (as distinct from a meal preparation service)
• Medical treatment, medicines and consumables covered by Medicare or the PBS
• Holidays, travel for leisure, entertainment, club memberships
• Gifts, gambling, alcohol
• Major home renovations that go beyond accessibility modifications, or anything that adds value to the property rather than to your safety
• Services that another scheme is responsible for, such as NDIS supports for people under 65, or hospital-funded care
• Payments to family members for care (with narrow exceptions arranged through the provider)

Grey areas exist. A good provider will tell you plainly when something falls outside the list rather than quietly refusing it; ask for the reason in writing if you disagree.

The Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme

Equipment and home changes were the single biggest drain on old Home Care Packages. Support at Home funds them separately through the AT-HM scheme, in three tiers set by your assessment:

Tier	Funding	Examples
Low	Under $500	Shower chair, grab rails, pick-up reacher, pill organiser, non-slip mats
Medium	Up to $2,000	Walker, pressure-relief mattress, bed rails, hand-held shower, small ramps
High	Up to $15,000	Electric bed, lift chair, powered wheelchair or scooter, bathroom modification, stairlift

Funding is usually available for 12 months from allocation, and high-tier home modifications are capped at $15,000 per lifetime. An occupational therapist typically prescribes medium and high tier items. The scheme also offers equipment loans and refurbished items where suitable.

The Restorative Care Pathway

This replaced the old Short-Term Restorative Care Programme. It is for people whose function has dropped after an illness, injury or hospital stay and who could regain independence with intensive support. It provides a unit of funding of around $6,000 for up to 16 weeks of allied health and nursing, and for eligible participants a second unit can be approved, taking the episode up to $12,000. You can access assistive technology in all tiers and low and medium home modifications while on the pathway.

The End-of-Life Pathway

For people who have been given a prognosis of three months or less and want to remain at home, the End-of-Life Pathway provides $25,000 over 12 weeks, which can be spread across up to 16 weeks if funds remain. It can be used once. Participants get immediate priority for AT-HM funding, so hospital beds, pressure care and bathroom equipment arrive without waiting in the queue. The pathway sits alongside, not instead of, palliative care from your state health service.

Finding a provider that delivers what you need

Not every registered provider offers every service type. Some concentrate on nursing and allied health; others are strong on domestic help and transport but subcontract clinical care. Before choosing, check that the provider is registered for the service types in your support plan. Our guide to choosing a Support at Home provider has a checklist, and the AusCareGuide aged care directory lists registered providers by state and suburb.

Figures on this page are current as at August 2026. Support at Home budgets, contribution caps and pathway amounts are indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year, so always confirm the latest amounts with My Aged Care before making decisions. This guide is general information, not financial or legal advice.