What you’ll pay on Classification 2

Last updated 21 August 2026

Figures current as at 21 August 2026: quarterly budgets indexed 1 July 2026; lifetime caps indexed 20 March 2026; median prices from the mid-2026 National Summary of Support at Home Prices.

The short version

Classification 2 provides $4,112.84 a quarter ($16,451.35 a year) - enough for a few hours of regular help each week.
Clinical care - nursing, allied health and care management - is free for everyone, and personal care becomes free for everyone from 1 October 2026.
Contributions apply only to independence services (5-50% of the price) and everyday living services (17.5-80%).
The budget itself is not means-tested - everyone on this classification gets the same amount. Only your share of each service’s price depends on your means.

What the budget covers before you pay a cent

Across a 13-week quarter, $4,112.84 is roughly $316 a week to spend on services. Anything clinical - a nurse’s visit, physiotherapy, and the care management fee (capped at 10% of the budget) - draws on that budget without touching your wallet. Your out-of-pocket amount is a percentage of the price of the non-clinical hours only, and that percentage comes from your Services Australia means assessment, not from your provider and not from the budget’s size.

Three worked examples

The examples use median prices from the government’s national price summary: personal care about $115 an hour, cleaning about $110, gardening about $118, social support about $111, physiotherapy about $194 (free to you as clinical care). We’ve assumed a 13-week quarter, and the part-pensioner percentages are an illustrative mid-range - your real rate could sit anywhere on the sliding scale. Treat all three as sketches, not quotes.

Ray, full pensioner

Classification 2 · $4,112.84/qtr: Weekly: 1 hr personal care, 1 hr cleaning; 1 hr social support each fortnight
His contribution: ≈ $28/week
Why: 5% on personal care and the averaged social support ($8.53 together), 17.5% on cleaning ($19.25). From 1 October 2026: ≈ $22/week.

Judith, part pensioner

Classification 2 · $4,112.84/qtr: Weekly: 1 hr personal care, 1 hr cleaning; 1 hr safety gardening each fortnight
Her contribution: ≈ $105/week
Why: Illustrative mid-range rates of 25% on independence ($28.75) and 45% on everyday living ($76.05). From 1 October 2026: ≈ $76/week.

Marco, self-funded

Classification 2 · $4,112.84/qtr: Weekly: 1 hr personal care; 1 hr cleaning each fortnight; physio each fortnight
His contribution: ≈ $102/week
Why: Around 50% of personal care ($57.50) and around 80% of the averaged clean ($44); the physio is clinical, so free. From 1 October 2026: ≈ $44/week.

How 1 October 2026 lands at this level

Every example above includes personal care, and from 1 October 2026 those lines drop to $0 for everyone, automatically. Ray goes from about $28 a week to about $22; Judith from about $105 to about $76; Marco from about $102 to about $44 - Marco benefits most because personal care was his only independence service and he pays the top rate on it until then.

Already had a package or an approval on 12 September 2024?

The “no worse off” grandfathering arrangements protect people who, at 12 September 2024, had a Home Care Package, were on the National Priority System, or had been assessed or approved. If that’s you, you keep HCP-era fee arrangements for life - full pensioners who paid no income-tested care fee keep paying $0 - and a lower lifetime cap applies. Read how grandfathering works.

Whatever your rates, contributions don’t run forever. Once your non-clinical contributions reach $137,917.01 over your lifetime, you stop contributing altogether - and the cap is $86,185.23 for grandfathered participants. If contributions are genuinely unaffordable, financial hardship provisions exist through Services Australia; nobody should go without care because they can’t contribute.

Want your own numbers, not Ray’s?

Tell us your pension status and the services you actually want each week. We’ll walk through what a Classification 2 budget would cost you - free, no obligation.

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Common questions

Does the 10% care management fee cost me anything?

Not out of pocket. Care management is clinical care, so it’s free to you - but it does draw on your quarterly budget, up to a cap of 10% (about $411 a quarter at this level). It appears on your monthly statement as a budget item, not a charge to you.

Can my provider charge whatever they like per hour?

Providers set their own prices - the planned hourly price caps were deferred indefinitely in May 2026. But the government publishes median prices quarterly, and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission can order refunds for overcharging. Compare against the medians before signing.

Would a Saturday clean cost me more?

Usually, yes. Evening and weekend surcharges are common, and your contribution is a percentage of the actual price charged - so a dearer hour means a proportionally bigger share for you. If weekdays work, they’re generally the cheaper choice.

What if I can’t afford my share?

Financial hardship provisions exist through Services Australia, and nobody should go without care because they can’t contribute. Start with our hardship guide.

Sources

Support at Home Program Manual - service categories, individual contributions and classification budgets.
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, health.gov.au - Support at Home classifications and quarterly budgets (indexed 1 July 2026).
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing - National Summary of Support at Home Prices (median service prices), 2026.
Services Australia, servicesaustralia.gov.au - aged care means assessment; lifetime cap on non-clinical contributions (indexed 20 March 2026).