Classification 5: what your budget actually buys
Last updated 20 August 2026
Budget figures current as at the 1 July 2026 indexation (2026–27); median hourly prices from the mid-2026 National Summary of Support at Home Prices.
Classification 5 sits at the midpoint of the eight levels, and it’s where care becomes a daily presence rather than a weekly visit — personal care most days, the house kept in order, and clinical support entering the roster.
What $10,182.38 a quarter buys in real hours
Over a 13-week quarter that’s about $783 a week, leaving roughly $705 for services after the 10% care management cap — roughly 5.5 to 6 hours of help a week at national median prices. Three ways it commonly comes together:
| Service | Median rate | Hours / week | Cost / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care | $115/hr | 3 hrs | $345.00 |
| Cleaning & laundry | $110/hr | 1.5 hrs | $165.00 |
| Enrolled nurse visit (wounds, medications) | $145/hr | 1 hr | $145.00 |
| Care management (10%) | — | — | $78.33 |
| Total | 5.5 hrs | $733.33 of $783.26 weekly budget |
| Service | Median rate | Hours / week | Cost / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care | $115/hr | 4 hrs | $460.00 |
| Cleaning | $110/hr | 1 hr | $110.00 |
| Social support (outings, appointments) | $111/hr | 1 hr | $111.00 |
| Care management (10%) | — | — | $78.33 |
| Total | 6 hrs | $759.33 of $783.26 weekly budget |
| Service | Median rate | Hours / week | Cost / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care | $115/hr | 3 hrs | $345.00 |
| Cleaning | $110/hr | 1.5 hrs | $165.00 |
| Physiotherapy (half-hour session) | $194/hr | 0.5 hr | $97.00 |
| Social support | $111/hr | 0.5 hr | $55.50 |
| Care management (10%) | — | — | $78.33 |
| Total | 5.5 hrs | $740.83 of $783.26 weekly budget |
Indicative only — providers set their own prices, evening and weekend visits usually cost more, and your contribution rate changes what you pay out of pocket. Compare typical hourly rates.
Who typically gets Classification 5
Classification 5 is assessed where support needs are substantial and daily. Showering or dressing safely needs help most days, not occasionally. There’s often a chronic condition in the picture — heart or lung disease, Parkinson’s, diabetes with complications, or dementia in its earlier stages — that brings nursing or allied health into the weekly routine. Falls, or the fear of them, are a recurring theme in assessments at this level.
It’s also, in practice, the biggest cohort of former Home Care Package clients on the middle rungs: most people who held an HCP Level 3 at the November 2025 transition map to Classification 5, with their old budgets and unspent funds carried across.
Classification 5 is the closest equivalent to the old HCP Level 3 ($42,055.30 a year at the November 2025 transition). If you transferred, the “no worse off” rules mean reassessment can’t take your funding below your HCP-equivalent level, and HCP unspent funds moved with you exempt from the rollover cap — how grandfathering works.
What you’ll contribute at this level
The balance of your budget starts tipping toward free care at Classification 5. Nursing, physiotherapy and other allied health, plus care management, are clinical care — free for everyone. From 1 October 2026, personal care joins them, free and automatic. For a plan like Mix 1 above, that leaves only the cleaning attracting an everyday living contribution (17.5% for full pensioners, sliding up to around 80% if self-funded). Work out your likely contribution.
Find a provider that makes Classification 5 go further
Care management fees and hourly rates vary widely — on a budget this size, the difference is measured in hundreds of hours a year. We’ll show you who services your area and what they charge.
Common questions
Can I mix nursing from one provider and cleaning from another?
You sign with one registered provider, but many deliver some services through subcontractors — and self-management arrangements give you more say over who walks in the door. Self-management explained.
How much can the care management fee actually be?
Up to 10% of your quarterly budget — at Classification 5, up to about $1,018 a quarter. It’s free to you (clinical care carries no contribution), but it still consumes budget, and some providers charge less than the cap, which buys you more hours. The fee explained.
My mother needs equipment and a bathroom rail as well. Does that come out of these hours?
Usually not. Assistive technology and home modifications are funded through the separate AT-HM scheme — tiers of $500, $2,000 and $15,000 over 12 months — so a shower chair or grab rail doesn’t cost her weekly care hours. How AT-HM works.
What if her needs grow beyond Classification 5?
Ask for a free reassessment through My Aged Care (1800 200 422) rather than stretching the budget thin. Classifications 6, 7 and 8 exist precisely for higher daily and clinical needs. How reassessment works.
Sources
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — Support at Home program classifications and budgets, 1 July 2026 indexation.
- Support at Home Program Manual — classifications, care management cap and AT-HM scheme.
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — National Summary of Support at Home Prices (median service prices), 2026.
- My Aged Care, myagedcare.gov.au — Support at Home program guidance, accessed 20 August 2026.