Your quarterly budget and monthly statement, line by line
Last updated 20 August 2026
Budget figures on this page reflect the 1 July 2026 indexation; contribution rates are current at 20 August 2026.
The short version
- Your funding arrives as a quarterly budget tied to your classification (from $2,752.50 to $20,034.28 a quarter). Unspent money rolls over only up to $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is greater.
- Your provider must send a statement every month. It should show each service delivered, the price charged, your contribution, and your remaining balance.
- Five things to check: hours billed match hours delivered; the right contribution percentage per category; care management no more than 10%; no charges for things that never happened; and a closing balance that adds up.
- If you’ve been overcharged and your provider won’t fix it, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission can order a refund — a power it has used since May 2026 in place of the deferred price caps.
How the quarterly budget works
Each of the eight classifications comes with a set budget per quarter — for example $5,634.20 a quarter at Classification 3 and $10,182.38 at Classification 5. Budgets are indexed each 1 July (they rose 2.6% on 1 July 2026). The budget pays for services at your provider’s prices; your contribution, if any, is a percentage of each service’s price depending on its category.
The quarter matters because of rollover. If you underspend, only a limited amount carries forward: the greater of $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget. Anything above that is lost — with one big exception. Funds transferred from an old Home Care Package on 1 November 2025 are exempt from the rollover cap and stay yours until spent. If you transitioned from a package, make sure your statement shows that balance separately, and get it confirmed in writing.
Reading the monthly statement, line by line
Formats vary between providers, but every statement should let you answer the same questions. Work down it in this order:
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Opening balance
Does it match last month’s closing balance? If it doesn’t, stop and ask why before checking anything else. Transferred Home Care Package funds should appear as their own line, not blended in.
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Services delivered
Each visit should be listed with a date, service type, hours and price. Check the hours billed against your diary or calendar — hours billed but not delivered are the most common error we hear about. Cancelled visits shouldn’t appear unless your service agreement allows a cancellation charge, and shortened visits should be billed short.
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Prices per hour
Compare what you’re charged with the national medians — around $115 an hour for personal care, $110 for cleaning, $118 for gardening, $180 for registered nursing, $194 for physiotherapy. Providers set their own prices and can sit above the median, but well above it deserves an explanation. Weekend and evening surcharges are common; check they’re only applied to weekend and evening visits.
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Your contributions
Clinical care (nursing, allied health, care management) is 0% for everyone. Independence services (personal care, respite, transport, social support) are 5% for full pensioners, sliding 5–50% for part-pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders, around 50% self-funded. Everyday living (cleaning, gardening, meals) is 17.5% for full pensioners, sliding up to 80% self-funded. Check each line uses the right category — a shower charged as “everyday living” instead of an independence service means you’re paying 17.5% where you should pay 5%. If you’re grandfathered under “no worse off” rules, your old fee arrangements apply instead.
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Care management
Add up the care management charges across the quarter: they must not exceed 10% of your quarterly budget. Under the old program some providers took up to 20%, and old habits have occasionally survived on statements. This one is a hard cap — anything over it should be reversed.
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Closing balance and rollover
In the last month of a quarter, look at what will roll over. If you’re about to lose money above the cap, that’s the moment to bring forward services you’ve been putting off, or talk to your provider about the plan for next quarter.
From 1 October 2026, personal care — showering, bathing, dressing, grooming and continence support — is reclassified as clinical care and becomes free for everyone, automatically. From your October statement onward, no contribution should appear against personal care lines. What’s changing and who benefits.
Overcharged? Your refund rights
Hourly price caps were due on 1 July 2026 but were deferred indefinitely. In their place, the government leant on transparency and enforcement: statements are mandatory, median prices are published quarterly, and since May 2026 the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission can order providers to refund overcharging.
The path is simple: query the line with your provider in writing first — most errors are fixed at this step. Keep the email. If the provider won’t correct a genuine error or an over-cap charge, escalate to the Commission. Our complaints and refunds guide covers the ladder, and OPAN (1800 700 600) can advocate for you free of charge. Raising a billing dispute cannot reduce your funding — your budget is set by your assessment, not your provider.
Statement doesn’t add up?
Send us the numbers that bother you. We’ll tell you whether they look normal, high, or worth a formal complaint — and who else services your area if it comes to that.
Common questions
My provider hasn’t sent a statement. Is that allowed?
No — monthly statements are mandatory under Support at Home. Ask for the missing months in writing. A provider that can’t produce statements is telling you something about its administration; persistent failure is a legitimate complaint to the Commission, and a fair reason to switch.
What counts as overcharging?
Clear cases: billing hours that weren’t delivered, charging the wrong contribution category, care management above the 10% cap, surcharges applied to ordinary weekday visits, and charges for excluded items. High hourly prices alone aren’t illegal — providers set their own — but you’re free to compare against the published medians and move to someone cheaper.
Do unspent funds ever expire?
Each quarter you keep up to $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget, whichever is greater; amounts above that don’t carry over. The exception is money transferred from an old Home Care Package on 1 November 2025, which is exempt from the cap. See unspent funds and rollover for the detail.
My contribution seems too high. Who sets the percentage?
Services Australia sets your rate through the means assessment — the provider just applies it. If you never completed the means assessment, you’re charged maximum rates until you do, which is the most common cause of a too-high bill. Check your assessment status with Services Australia, and if paying is causing genuine hardship, hardship provisions exist.
How long should I keep statements?
Keep them all — a folder or an email label is enough. Refund claims, switching providers, and lifetime-cap tracking on non-clinical contributions all lean on your statement history. If you switch, download everything before your access to the old provider’s portal ends.
Sources
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, health.gov.au — Support at Home classification budgets (indexed 1 July 2026).
- Support at Home Program Manual — quarterly budgets, statements, contributions and unspent funds.
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — National Summary of Support at Home Prices (median service prices), 2026.
- Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission — statements, pricing obligations and refund powers, 2026.
- Services Australia — aged care means assessment, accessed 20 August 2026.