Classification 7: 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 7 is close in value to the old top-level Home Care Package. It funds a genuinely intensive week at home — daily personal care, weekly nursing, the household maintained, and time left for a life beyond appointments.
What $14,915.00 a quarter buys in real hours
Over a 13-week quarter that’s about $1,147 a week — roughly $1,033 for services once the 10% care management cap is set aside. At national median prices, expect roughly 8 to 8.5 hours of care a week. Three ways families arrange it:
| Service | Median rate | Hours / week | Cost / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care (daily, longer visits) | $115/hr | 6 hrs | $690.00 |
| Enrolled nurse (medications, monitoring) | $145/hr | 1 hr | $145.00 |
| Cleaning & laundry | $110/hr | 1.5 hrs | $165.00 |
| Care management (10%) | — | — | $114.73 |
| Total | 8.5 hrs | $1,114.73 of $1,147.31 weekly budget |
| Service | Median rate | Hours / week | Cost / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care | $115/hr | 5 hrs | $575.00 |
| Registered nurse (complex care review) | $180/hr | 1 hr | $180.00 |
| Cleaning | $110/hr | 1 hr | $110.00 |
| Social support (outings, church, club) | $111/hr | 1.5 hrs | $166.50 |
| Care management (10%) | — | — | $114.73 |
| Total | 8.5 hrs | $1,146.23 of $1,147.31 weekly budget |
| Service | Median rate | Hours / week | Cost / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care | $115/hr | 5.5 hrs | $632.50 |
| Physiotherapy (weekly session) | $194/hr | 1 hr | $194.00 |
| Cleaning & laundry | $110/hr | 1.5 hrs | $165.00 |
| Care management (10%) | — | — | $114.73 |
| Total | 8 hrs | $1,106.23 of $1,147.31 weekly budget |
Indicative only — providers set their own prices, surcharges apply to evenings and weekends, and your contribution rate changes what you pay out of pocket. Compare typical hourly rates.
Who typically gets Classification 7
Assessments land at Classification 7 when someone needs substantial help with almost every activity of daily living, every day — and has clinical needs that require regular professional attention. Think advanced Parkinson’s, dementia that now needs constant structure and supervision, severe heart failure, or the combination of frailty and multiple conditions where a bad week without support would end in hospital.
People at this level are often weighing home care against residential care. Classification 7 is designed to make staying home a real option: at close to $60,000 a year, it funds the kind of daily roster that previously only the old top-level package could. The honest caveat is that it still relies on some informal support — a partner, family nearby, or good neighbours — for the hours in between visits.
Classification 7 is the nearest match to the old HCP Level 4 ($63,758.20 a year at the November 2025 transition); former Level 4 recipients map to Classifications 6–7. If you transitioned with a Level 4, your funding can’t fall below its HCP-equivalent value, and reassessment can only move it up — potentially to Classification 8, which has no old-system equivalent at all. How grandfathering works.
What you’ll contribute at this level
Most of a Classification 7 budget attracts no contribution. Nursing, allied health and care management are clinical care — free for everyone — and from 1 October 2026 personal care becomes free too, automatically. In the rosters above, that leaves only cleaning (everyday living) and social support (independence) with means-tested contributions, and every non-clinical dollar you contribute counts toward the lifetime cap of $137,917.01 ($86,185.23 for grandfathered participants). Nobody should go without care they can’t afford to contribute to — hardship provisions exist through Services Australia. Financial hardship help.
An intensive roster deserves a careful provider choice
Reliability, clinical capability and fair pricing all matter at this level — and they vary more than most families expect. We’ll help you compare who can genuinely deliver in your area.
Common questions
Is Classification 7 enough to avoid residential care?
For many people, yes — especially with family support around the funded hours, equipment through the AT-HM scheme, and a provider who rosters well. For others, particularly those needing overnight supervision, it’s part of the picture rather than the whole answer. Talk it through with your assessor and family honestly; there’s no single right choice.
Can the budget fund respite so my wife can visit our daughter interstate?
Community respite is a covered service (around $130 an hour at the median) and can be rostered in blocks. For longer absences, ask your provider and My Aged Care about the options well ahead of time so the plan is in place before she books flights.
We keep hitting the budget ceiling before the quarter ends. What now?
Three levers: request reassessment (Classification 8 funds roughly a third more), compare providers on price — at this spend, a cheaper hourly rate returns whole extra hours a week — and check whether care management is being charged at the full 10% cap. How to read your statements and spot the leaks.
Does unused budget disappear at the end of each quarter?
Not entirely — you can carry over up to the greater of $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget, which at Classification 7 means up to about $1,491. Funds transferred from an old Home Care Package are exempt from the cap. Unspent funds explained.
Sources
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — Support at Home program classifications and budgets, 1 July 2026 indexation.
- Support at Home Program Manual — classifications, respite, unspent funds and contribution categories.
- 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.