Who we are, and how we’re funded
Last updated 20 August 2026
Home Care Help is an independent, plain-English guide to the Support at Home program. We explain how the system works, what it costs, and how to get through it — and we can connect you with home care providers in your area if you’d like us to.
Why we exist
On 1 November 2025, the biggest change to aged care in a generation arrived. Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages, with new classifications, quarterly budgets, new contribution rules, and a new Act behind it all. The official information is accurate, but it’s spread across program manuals, fact sheets and legislation — and much of it is written for providers, not for the people receiving care.
We started Home Care Help to do one thing: translate the system into plain English for older Australians and the family members helping them. What will I actually pay? How long is the wait, really? What happens to my old package? Those are the questions we try to answer, without jargon and without pressure.
How we make money — the full picture
We believe you should know exactly how a website that gives advice-adjacent information gets paid. Here it is:
- Providers pay us referral fees. When you ask us to connect you with a home care provider and you go on to become their client, that provider may pay us a fee. That is our income.
- You never pay us anything. Our guides and our matching service are free to you, always.
- Fees never change what we write. Our guides describe the program as it is — the waitlist figures, the deferred price caps, the median prices — whether or not that information suits any provider. No provider reviews or approves our editorial content.
- Fees never affect your queue position or your funding. Using our service does not move you up the National Priority System, and not using it doesn’t hold you back. Only the government assessment process determines your priority and your budget.
You are never obliged to use a provider we suggest. Compare them against anyone else you find through My Aged Care’s own provider search — if someone else suits you better, choose them. We’d rather you end up with the right provider than with our referral fee.
How we keep our figures current
Support at Home changes often — budgets index each 1 July, contribution caps index each 20 March and 20 September, and policy announcements land in between. So every page on this site carries a “last updated” date, and money pages name the dates their figures were current. When something changes, we log it on our What’s changed page and update the guides it touches the same week.
We draw our figures from official sources: health.gov.au, myagedcare.gov.au, the Support at Home Program Manual, Budget papers, the government’s quarterly National Summary of Support at Home Prices, and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. If you spot a figure we’ve missed, tell us — we genuinely want to know.
What we are not
- We are not My Aged Care or the Australian Government. We have no access to your My Aged Care record, no role in assessments, and no influence over the waitlist. To register for the program, use myagedcare.gov.au or call 1800 200 422.
- We are not a care provider. We don’t deliver services; we help you understand the system and find providers who do.
- We are not advisers. Everything on this site is general information, not financial, legal or medical advice. Contribution rates depend on your means assessment, so for your own numbers check with Services Australia or My Aged Care. For free, independent aged-care advocacy, OPAN is on 1800 700 600.
Questions about how we work?
Ask us anything — about the program, or about us. We’ll give you a straight answer.