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Home Care Services

The family folder

Home care services: aged care at home, step by step

Help at home, and the paperwork that comes with it

When an older person needs help to keep living at home, the Australian Government’s aged care system has a front door, a form, an assessment and a letter. This guide, published by Dotto, takes them one tab at a time, from the official pages they come from.

General information, not advice about anyone’s own care or money. The program changed in 2025, so every rule here was read on 8 October 2026 on the official site linked beside it, mostly My Aged Care, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Two loose sheets of blank paper and a ballpoint pen on a wooden kitchen bench, with a kettle, toaster and mugs on the counter behind
A few pages and a pen on a kitchen bench. Photo by Marc Pell on Unsplash

The six tabs

Each tab answers one question about the system, in the order the steps come.

  1. Starting with My Aged Care

    Applying for an assessment: online, by phone or in person, and who can help.

  2. The assessment

    Who comes, what they ask, what to have on the table, and the letter afterwards.

  3. Support at Home, explained

    The home-care program that began in November 2025, and what it pays for.

  4. What it costs

    Budgets, contributions and the income and assets assessment, as at October 2026.

  5. Quality and complaints

    The standards providers meet, and where a concern goes.

  6. Rights under the Aged Care Act

    The Statement of Rights, sleeve by sleeve, in plain words.

The order things happen in

For help at home through the Support at Home program, the steps run like this.

  1. Apply for an assessment Online, by phone or in person. It is the first step to government-funded aged care.
  2. A phone call, then the assessment An assessment organisation calls to confirm the details and arrange a time. The assessment is done in person, usually at home.
  3. A letter and a Support Plan The outcome arrives as a Notice of Decision with a copy of the Support Plan, by post or email.
  4. Funding Ongoing Support at Home funding is allocated through the Support at Home Priority System, by priority category and the date of approval.
  5. A provider and a service agreement From the date of the funding letter there are 56 days to enter into a service agreement with a chosen provider and start services. My Aged Care can give a 28-day extension. If no service agreement is in place and services have not started within that time, the funding is withdrawn and goes to the next person in the Support at Home Priority System; a person can re-join the Priority System by calling My Aged Care.

What changed, and when

Several main parts of the system changed on the same day in 2025, and one more changed this month.

25 November 2024
Parliament passed the Aged Care Act 2024, the new law governing aged care funded by the government.
1 November 2025
The new Act started, alongside the new Support at Home program. Support at Home replaced the Home Care Packages Program and the Short-Term Restorative Care Programme.
1 November 2025
A Statement of Rights in the new Act replaced the Charter of Aged Care Rights. The strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards started the same day.
1 October 2026
Personal care under Support at Home, such as help with showering, dressing and continence, moved into the fully funded clinical supports category.
Funded to 30 June 2029
The Commonwealth Home Support Program, for entry-level help, keeps running. On 21 August 2026 the Department extended its grant funding to 30 June 2029 and said it will consult on the program’s future.

A Home Care Package approved on or before 31 October 2025 carries over as an equivalent Support at Home classification when funding becomes available.

Numbers for the front pocket

Each number below was read on 8 October 2026 on the organisation’s own website, linked beside it.

My Aged Care
1800 200 422Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 2pm, closed Sundays and national public holidays. Free from Australian landlines and some mobile phones. My Aged Care’s contact page
Services Australia Aged Care line
1800 227 475Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm. Used to book a free appointment with an Aged Care Specialist Officer. Services Australia’s aged care page
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
1800 951 822The Commission’s line for complaints and concerns about aged care. The Commission’s website
Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN)
1800 700 600Free, confidential help to raise and resolve concerns and complaints. OPAN’s website

About this folder

Home Care Services is a plain-language guide published by Dotto. It follows the system side of help at home: the application, the assessment, the program, the costs, the standards and the rights. This guide does not arrange care or assess anyone, and it names no provider.

Everything here comes from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, My Aged Care, Services Australia, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and OPAN. Where this guide and one of those sources differ, the source is right.