Support at Home statement check

How a monthly statement works

Your budget is set quarterly. Each month your provider must give you a written statement of the services delivered in the previous month, no later than the last day of the following month (Aged Care Rules 2025, section 155-40). The Department of Health publishes a sample template, but it is not mandatory, so your provider may lay the information out differently.

The Rules say a statement for home support must contain:

• The Support at Home amount for the quarter, what was available at the start of the month, and what was left at the end.
• The name and amount of any supplements, and any rollover credit received for the quarter.
• An itemised list of each service or item delivered that month, plus any adjustments, variations or refunds from earlier months.
• For each service: its name as it appears on the Support at Home service list, the price the provider charged, the date it was delivered, and the hours or units delivered.
• For each service: your contribution amount, the total you contributed for the month, and the amount of government subsidy the provider claimed.
• Whether a service was delivered by an associated provider or a third party, and the hours or units of care management delivered.

Unspent quarterly budget can be carried into the next quarter, up to the higher of $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget (Rules, section 193-5). Assistive technology, home modifications, and the Restorative Care and End-of-Life pathways have their own short-term budgets, shown separately.

Contributions, the lifetime cap and personal care

• For a service priced per hour or unit, the Act (section 273) works out the contribution as your contribution rate applied to the hours or units delivered, at the lower of the government’s base price for the service and your provider’s price. A provider must not require payment of a contribution before the service is delivered.
• There is a lifetime cap on contributions. Once the total passes the cap, the Act sets the contribution for later services at zero. The cap is indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year, and Services Australia notifies the participant and provider when it is reached. The current figure is published on the My Aged Care and Department of Health websites.
• From 1 October 2026, personal care moves to the Clinical Supports category and participants approved for personal care no longer pay a contribution for it, if they have available funds. Personal care delivered before 1 October still attracts a contribution, even if it is claimed after that date.

Prices and what has changed

• Providers set their own prices. The Department says prices must be all inclusive, reasonable and transparent, must be agreed before a participant is charged, and that the most frequently charged price for each service must be published on the provider’s website and on My Aged Care.
• My Aged Care explains that the price of a Support at Home service reflects the entire cost of delivering it, including administrative costs such as transport. Under Home Care Packages, administration was charged separately as “package management”. Care management is still a listed service in its own right.
• Formal price caps were planned to start on 1 July 2026. In May 2026 the government announced it is deferring them until it has greater confidence in the stability of the market, so no formal cap is in place.
• The government also announced it will empower the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to order refunds where a provider is found to be overcharging, and will publish a National Summary of Support at Home Prices each quarter. These were announcements in May 2026, so it is worth checking the Commission’s site for their current status. The Minister’s release also lists a ban on entry and exit fees among the protections already in legislation.

Self-check list

Have last month’s statement, your service agreement and any care notes or rosters to hand. A “no” to any question below does not mean there is a mistake. It marks something that may be worth asking your provider about.

If something looks wrong

1. The provider.The Department of Health guide says to start with your provider. If an adjustment or refund is needed, the provider is required to show it in a later statement, separately from the current month’s charges.
2. OPAN. The Older Persons Advocacy Network gives free and confidential advocacy on 1800 700 600 (opan.org.au).
3. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. A person has the right to make a complaint about an aged care provider not meeting its obligations, by phone on 1800 951 822, online or in writing, and can do so confidentially or anonymously.
4. My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 can answer general questions about the program.