What Support at Home won’t pay for — and the logic behind it
Last updated 20 August 2026
The short version
- Support at Home uses a defined service list: if something isn’t on it, your budget can’t fund it — even if your old Home Care Package used to pay for it.
- The recurring test: is it about your safety and independence, or is it a general household or lifestyle cost? Safety yes, lifestyle no.
- Common exclusions: groceries, cosmetic gardening and landscaping, pet care, pest control, professional repairs and renovations, rent, utilities, holidays and entertainment.
- Anything Medicare (MBS) or the PBS covers is also out — the program won’t double up on other government funding.
The exclusions people ask about most
Gardening: safety yes, cosmetic no
This is the classic boundary case. Support at Home funds safety gardening — lawn mowing, pruning, and clearing paths so you can get to the letterbox and the clothesline without tripping. It does not fund cosmetic or ornamental gardening: planting flower beds, landscaping, or tree removal. A tangled path is a falls risk; a tired rose bed isn’t. If a gardening job is about keeping you safe and mobile at home, it’s likely in; if it’s about how the garden looks, it’s out.
Groceries vs meal preparation
The program pays for the service of preparing or delivering meals — a worker cooking with you, or the delivery component of a meal service — but never the ingredients or groceries themselves. Food is a cost everyone has, package or not. The same logic means the budget can’t fund meals for other people in your household. Help with shopping (someone taking you, or picking items up) is covered as domestic assistance; the items on the docket are yours to pay.
Pets, pests, repairs and the landlord’s job
- Pet care — walking, grooming and vet costs aren’t covered, much as pets matter to wellbeing.
- Pest control, carpet cleaning and dry cleaning — treated as ordinary household costs.
- Professional repairs and renovations — a handyman fixing a wobbly rail is home maintenance (covered); rewiring, re-roofing or renovating is not. Safety-related changes to the home itself, like grab rails and ramps, go through the separate AT-HM scheme instead.
- Landlord or council responsibilities — if it’s legally someone else’s job to fix, the program won’t pay for it.
- Rent, utilities, holidays, entertainment — living costs, not care costs.
- Anything MBS or PBS funds — GP visits and subsidised medicines stay with Medicare and the PBS.
Home Care Packages gave providers broad discretion, so practice varied — some approved items like garden makeovers or extra household costs that others refused. Support at Home replaced that discretion with a single national defined service list: the same rules for everyone, but less room to stretch. If your provider funded something under the old rules that’s now excluded, that isn’t your provider being difficult — the list changed on 1 November 2025.
What to do when something you need isn’t covered
First, check whether it’s genuinely excluded or just lives elsewhere in the system — equipment and home modifications sit in the AT-HM scheme, and clinical items may be a Medicare matter. Second, ask your provider to explain a refusal against the service list; monthly statements and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s oversight mean decisions should be transparent. And if a gap is causing real hardship, talk to your provider about your care plan, or call the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) on 1800 700 600 for free, independent advocacy.
Not sure if something would be covered?
Describe the help you’re after and we’ll tell you honestly whether it fits the service list, sits in another scheme, or is one you’d need to fund yourself.
Common questions
Can my provider make an exception for an excluded item?
No. Under Support at Home the service list is set by the government, not the provider — a provider who funded excluded items would be misusing program funds. If a worker offers to “put it through anyway”, that’s a red flag, not a favour.
My old Home Care Package paid for my gardener to do the whole garden. What now?
The safety parts — mowing, pruning, clearing paths — can continue under your budget. The ornamental parts can’t, so many people keep the same gardener and simply pay privately for the cosmetic portion of the visit. Ask for the invoice to be split so your statement stays clean.
Meals confuse me — what exactly do I pay?
Your budget can cover the preparation and delivery service; you always pay for the food itself. So with a meal delivery service, the ingredient portion of the bill is yours, with your contribution rate applying to the service portion. This split caused real anger when billing started in late 2025, so reputable providers now itemise it clearly — check your monthly statement.
Are grab rails and ramps excluded too?
No — they’re covered, just funded differently. Home modifications and assistive equipment go through the AT-HM scheme, with tiers of $500, $2,000 and $15,000 over 12 months. See our AT-HM guide.
Who can help me argue a coverage decision?
Start with your provider’s care manager and ask for the decision in writing against the service list. If you’re not satisfied, OPAN (1800 700 600) provides free advocacy, and complaints can go to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission — see complaints and refunds.
Sources
- Support at Home Program Manual — defined service list, inclusions and exclusions.
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, health.gov.au — Support at Home service list guidance, accessed 20 August 2026.
- My Aged Care, myagedcare.gov.au — what Support at Home can and cannot fund, accessed 20 August 2026.
- Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission — provider obligations and complaints handling, 2026.