Support at Home planning ramps up following info release

Support at Home information is flowing thick and fast ahead of its July 1 start date with the latest release – the program manual – delivering 209 pages of guidance just last week.

The program manual outlines how the Support at Home program should be delivered by registered providers, focusing on key areas such as governance, service delivery, short term pathways and services and provider payment arrangements. 

While there are details that have been published previously through FAQs, handbooks and other government releases, the document also includes new and noteworthy features worth highlighting. 

The key points

• Support at Home replaces the Home Care Packages (HCP) Program and Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme from July 1, 2025
• The Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) will transition into Support at Home no earlier than July 1, 2027​
• Support at Home has eight funding classifications for ongoing services and three short-term funding classifications: the Restorative Care Pathway, the End-of-Life Pathway and the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) Scheme

Care management

There are several changes to care management that have already been revealed, such as the reduced care management cap – it will be 10% rather than 20% and pooled together in a care management account held by Services Australia. 

Aged care commentator and Blue Bike Principal Consultant Luke Benson shared his thoughts on the most notable care management features on LinkedIn, highlighting the following:

• Care Management funds are only for use by Care Partners, incl. Clinical, Restorative and End-of-Life Partners. Exclusions apply for other “Administration” activities/roles.
• “Service Delivery Branch” is the level for pooling of Care Management funds. This means that the 10% cap needs to be continuously monitored in multiple places and isn’t actually ‘global/org-level’. Org-level tracking of percentage claimed is interesting, but irrelevant, from an operational perspective.
• A claim can be submitted once a service or purchase is delivered and confirmed (no mention of waiting for invoices to arrive, as long as you’ve confirmed it).

Elsewhere, the manual details  on pages 67-69 what activities can be legitimately claimed and which are excluded (primarily administrative tasks). 

Invox’s Paul Sadler also pointed out that even self-managed participants receiving ongoing services will have 10% deducted from their quarterly budget for care management. This will also be pooled with care management funding from all other participants. 

Funding & Participant co-contributions

A breakdown of new funding avenues has been provided, including details on co-contributions and government funding (all under section 8.0). 

Participants will be allocated funding based on their Support at Home classification with that amount to be divided into four equal quarterly budgets. Short-term classifications will have budgets that cover the entire pathway or scheme. The following image provides a brief explanation of how it all works:

In terms of participant contributions, the collection and payment methods must be outlined in service agreements. Providers are also responsible for establishing and managing processes for collecting contributions, and the collection of contributions ‘can be flexible and these may occur weekly, fortnightly or monthly, or at any other time as agreed with the participant’.

Other important observations from Mr Benson include:

• Participant contributions are almost unavoidable (unless participants are exempt). Non-clinical End of Life, Short-Term Restorative Care services, AT-HM purchases and Self Managed services all attract contributions.
• Providers can start delivering services before Income and Assets assessment are complete, and the Provider will receive 100% subsidy initially, but if contributions are required, they will be backdated/payable.
• If quarterly funds are exhausted, providers must still claim for the full amount but know it won’t be paid in full (once account balance = $0). Providers can’t ‘hold back claiming until next quarter’ (i.e. can’t wait for extra budget to emerge).

The manual also confirms that providers will set their own prices for the 2025-2026 Financial Year, incorporating admin and travel costs, with the government to set capped prices from July 2026.

Person-centred approaches: Wellness and reablement

Providers must adopt wellness and reablement approaches that are person-centred and holistic to help participants maintain independence and reduce reliance on services​. 

Aged care services should be goal-oriented, supporting individuals in retaining skills and engaging in their communities​. 

According to the program manual, “Wellness and reablement approaches support providers to ensure that service delivery aligns with the core principles of Support at Home”. Providers should therefore support participants to maximise their well-being, independence, autonomy and capacity through a ‘doing with’ approach to service delivery. 

More information is available through section 5.0. 

Other major takeaways

Home care providers should also take into account a range of operational changes, including service verification. Now, evidence must be collected and retained for every service and purchase, including those delivered by third parties. 

Invoices are not considered proof of delivery and providers must ‘maintain documentation that demonstrates confirmation of delivery of care and services for all participants’.

Meanwhile, Mr Sadler’s highlighted that there will be no leave arrangements, and ‘participants can temporarily stop services for hospital stays, residential respite or holidays, but the provider will not need to report this to the Department or Services Australia’.

He’s also said that providers operating through the Assistive Technology & Home Modifications (AT-HM) Scheme will have to claim coordination costs from the AT-HM budget, capped at 15% of the quoted cost or up to $1500. 

What’s to come?

The Support at Home program manual explains the government’s policy, legislative context, operational requirements and guidelines for the delivery of Support at Home. However, more information is still to come by July 1, including:

• A new Aged Care Act policy manual
• Restorative Care Pathway clinical guidelines
• Assistive Technology & Home Modifications (AT-HM) Scheme Guidelines
• Supported Decision-Making Framework
• Support at Home program Assurance Framework and Program Assurance Plan

Many of these documents are referenced in the program manual, although the appendix links redirect back to the program manual’s URL. 

Additionally, other focal points are listed as still to come due to ongoing consultations. Keep an eye out for details regarding the likes of service agreements, provider obligations and registration conditions, Service Australia claiming guidance and monthly statements. 

Questions have also been raised by industry experts, including Feros Care’s Ben Happ. 

His LinkedIn post queries how providers can manage late cancellations, how providers and recipients in thin markets will be supported, whether Services Australia will be ready to process complex claims in a tight timeframe, and whether a multiple provider model would work with tight budgets.

Some of these questions will likely be answered in upcoming releases. Others may not be answered until the sector has already adopted Support at Home. 

An updated version of the manual will be published once the Rules legislation is finalised.