Support at Home Calculator
Contributions 2026
Estimate what you pay towards Support at Home services from your pension status, savings and classification level, at the rates from 20 September 2026.
Read the full answer — method, rates and figures
Quick answer: Under Support at Home (from 1 November 2025), you pay a percentage of the price of each service. Clinical care (nursing, allied health and, from 1 October 2026, personal care) is free.
Independence services (transport, respite, social support) cost 5% to 50%, and everyday living (cleaning, gardening, meals) 17.5% to 80%. Full pensioners pay the lowest rates, self-funded retirees without a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card the highest, and part pensioners somewhere between, set by an income and assets test.
Contributions stop at a $140,652.80 lifetime cap. Example: on a level 4 budget ($30,528.15 a year) with 30% of services in each paid category, a full pensioner pays about $1,855 a year, a single homeowner part pensioner with $400,000 of savings about $3,067, and a self-funded retiree about $10,715.
Source: health.gov.au schedule of contributions from 20 September 2026, read 6 October 2026.
How much does Support at Home cost in 2026?
Clinical care is free. Independence services cost 5%–50% and everyday living 17.5%–80% of the price, depending on your income and assets, with a $140,652.80 lifetime cap. Budgets run from $11,032 to $80,294 a year. Next indexation: 20 March 2027.
Clinical (free): 40% of services.
Independence rate
11.2%
Everyday living rate
26.1%
You pay a year
$3,067
Years to lifetime cap
45.9
Assessed on $13,664 of income and $420,000 of assets; the home is not counted. Your assets test sets an input rate of 0.137, placing you 14% of the way from the lowest to the highest rates. Of the $30,528 level 4 budget, $3,053 goes to care management; of the $27,475 left, you contribute $3,067 a year ($767 a quarter), or 11.2% of what is spent on your services.
Keep the care costs, pension and savings together
Home care runs for years while savings, super and the pension all move. Richify keeps them in one place so the family sees the same numbers.
Assessed assets
$420,000
Everyday living rate
26.1%
Pay a year
$3,067
Budget
$30,528
Last reviewed 6 October 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Felix, Richify's AI CFO — an AI author, presented as one.
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Services Australia runs an income and assets assessment much like the Age Pension means test. Assessable income is deemed income on financial assets plus other income (the Age Pension itself is not counted); assessable assets exclude the home. It works out an income reduction (50% of income above $5,876 a year for a single) and an asset reduction (7.8% of assets above $333,000 for a single homeowner, $600,000 for a non-homeowner), takes the larger, and divides it by the maximum reduction (50% of the gap between the free area and the $105,048 Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income limit). That gives an input rate between 0 and 1. Your independence rate is 5% plus 45% of the input rate, and your everyday living rate 17.5% plus 62.5% of it. A member of a couple is assessed on half the couple's combined income and assets against half the couple thresholds. The method reproduces every maximum threshold in the health.gov.au schedule to the cent; the department publishes only the end points, so treat part-pensioner rates as an estimate.
Support at Home contribution rates by savings
A single homeowner with no income other than the Age Pension, $20,000 of cars and contents, and savings and super as shown. Yearly cost on a level 4 budget with 30% independence and 30% everyday living services.
| Savings + super | Independence | Everyday living | You pay / year |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | 5% | 17.5% | $1,855 |
| $300,000 | 6.8% | 20% | $2,215 |
| $450,000 | 14.7% | 31% | $3,764 |
| $600,000 | 25.3% | 45.7% | $5,855 |
| $800,000 | 39.5% | 65.4% | $8,643 |
| $1,000,000 | 50% | 80% | $10,715 |
Part-pensioner rates are estimates from the published method. health.gov.au schedule of contributions from 20 September 2026, read 6 October 2026.
Support at Home levels 1 to 8: budgets and what you pay
Annual budgets from 1 October 2026, including the 10% kept for care management. Yearly contributions if the whole budget is used with 30% independence and 30% everyday living services, at the lowest (full pensioner) and highest (self-funded) rates.
| Classification | Budget / year | Full pensioner | Self-funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | $11,032 | $670 | $3,872 |
| Level 2 | $16,484 | $1,001 | $5,786 |
| Level 3 | $22,581 | $1,372 | $7,926 |
| Level 4 | $30,528 | $1,855 | $10,715 |
| Level 5 | $40,809 | $2,479 | $14,324 |
| Level 6 | $49,462 | $3,005 | $17,361 |
| Level 7 | $59,777 | $3,631 | $20,982 |
| Level 8 | $80,294 | $4,878 | $28,183 |
Budgets: myagedcare.gov.au, current 1 October 2026. Contribution rates and caps index again on 20 March 2027.
Support at Home now, aged care home later?
The $140,652.80 lifetime cap is shared: what you contribute at home counts toward the cap on the non-clinical care contribution if you later move into an aged care home. The two systems also treat the home differently. Support at Home never counts the home, but an aged care home counts it (up to a cap) once nobody you are protecting lives there. The aged care fees calculator shows the residential side, including RAD vs DAP.
Because savings are deemed, the same balance drives your Age Pension and your contribution rate. The Age Pension calculator and the deeming calculator show both. If you are self-funded, check the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income test: holding the card, or qualifying for it, moves you off the maximum rates.
How to use this calculator
- Choose single or couple, and whether you own your home (the home itself is never counted).
- Enter savings, shares, term deposits and super if you are at pension age; they are deemed to earn income.
- Enter other assets (cars, contents, investment property) and any other yearly income, not counting the Age Pension.
- Pick your Support at Home classification (1–8) from your notice of decision.
- Set roughly how much of your services are independence (transport, respite) and everyday living (cleaning, gardening, meals). The rest is clinical and free.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How much do you pay for Support at Home?
A percentage of each service's price, never a flat fee. Clinical supports cost you nothing.
Independence services cost 5% for a full pensioner, up to 50% for a self-funded retiree. Everyday living services cost 17.5% to 80%.
So if a provider charges $80 an hour for cleaning, a full pensioner pays $14 and a self-funded retiree $64, and the government pays the rest from your budget.
How are part pensioners' contribution rates worked out?
Services Australia compares two numbers: 50% of your assessable income above $5,876 a year (single), and 7.8% of your assessable assets above $333,000 (single homeowner; $600,000 if you don't own a home). The larger one, divided by the maximum (reached at $105,048 of income or $968,718 of assets for a single homeowner), places you between the full-pensioner and self-funded rates.
Your home is not counted. Your letter from Services Australia gives the exact rates; this calculator estimates them.
Is personal care free under Support at Home?
Yes, from 1 October 2026. Help with showering, dressing and other personal care is now fully funded by the government, like nursing and allied health, so there is no contribution if personal care is in your support plan.
What is the Support at Home lifetime cap?
$140,652.80 from 20 September 2026, indexed every 20 March and 20 September. Once your contributions reach it you pay nothing more for Support at Home services.
The cap is shared with the non-clinical care contribution in an aged care home, so whatever you pay at home also counts if you move into residential care later.
I had a Home Care Package before 12 September 2024. What do I pay?
You are covered by the "no worse off" principle. If you paid no income-tested care fee on your Home Care Package, you will never pay Support at Home contributions.
Otherwise you pay the same or less: full pensioners 0%, self-funded retirees 25%, part pensioners between 0% and 25%, with a lower lifetime cap of $88,934.57. This calculator models the standard rates for everyone approved after 12 September 2024.
What are the Support at Home funding levels?
There are 8 ongoing classifications. From 1 October 2026 the annual budgets run from $11,031.56 (level 1) to $80,294.00 (level 8), and 10% of every budget goes to your provider for care management.
Your contributions are part of the budget, not on top of it: the provider charges the full price to the budget and you pay your share.
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Further Reading
Care Costs, the Pension and the Savings in One View
Richify tracks savings, super and property together, so the family can see what home care will cost against what there is to pay for it. Free, no ads.
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