What will Support at Home actually cost? A 2026 guide to fees and contributions

There are two separate pieces to the cost, and it helps to keep them apart.

The first is the service price. This is what the provider charges to deliver a service, such as an hour of personal care or a house clean. Each provider sets its own prices, and they must publish them.

The second is your parent's contribution. This is the share of that price they pay themselves, set as a percentage. The government pays the rest as a subsidy. Your parent's percentage depends on their income, assets and pension status, which Services Australia works out through an income and assets assessment.

So the dollar amount your parent pays is their contribution percentage applied to the provider's service price. A lower price or a lower percentage both reduce the out of pocket cost.

This is the part most families want spelled out. Contributions depend on the service category and the person's financial situation. Clinical care is always free. The other two categories work like this.

Pension status	Clinical care	Independence services	Everyday living services
Full pensioner	0%	5%	17.5%
Part pensioner or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder	0%	Between 5% and 50%	Between 17.5% and 80%
Self-funded retiree, no card	0%	50%	80%

So a full pensioner getting an hour of personal care might pay 5% of the cost, while a self-funded retiree getting a house clean might pay 80%. The government covers the rest in both cases.

If your parent does not complete an income and assets assessment, they are treated as "means not disclosed" and charged the maximum rate. So even if their finances are simple, it is worth completing the assessment.

Yes. There is a lifetime cap on contributions. Once your parent reaches it, they stop paying contributions for non-clinical services for the rest of their life, whether the care is at home or in residential aged care.

For new participants the cap is $135,318.69 as at 20 September 2025, and it is indexed on 20 March and 20 September each year. People protected by the no worse off rule have a lower cap of $84,571.66.

If your parent cannot afford their contributions, financial hardship assistance is available through Services Australia on 1800 227 475. If approved, the government covers some or all of the contributions.

This is the most important update for 2026, and a lot of online guides still have it wrong.

Price caps were due to start on 1 July 2026. They would have set a maximum price for each service. In May 2026 the Minister for Aged Care, Sam Rae, announced the caps were being deferred, saying:

Older Australians and their families told us they need stronger protections against rogue market prices.

He pointed to the risk of setting caps in a volatile market. No new start date has been set.

So for now, providers set their own prices. That makes comparing providers more important than it would have been with caps in place. The government has added some protections in the meantime. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission can now order refunds where a provider has overcharged. A quarterly National Summary of Support at Home Prices will show median prices and ranges so families can compare. Providers are being encouraged to limit price rises to no more than twice a year.

Because there is no hard ceiling on prices right now, checking your parent's statement each month is the practical safeguard. This is one of the main reasons families use Wayly, which flags charges that look out of line with what a service should cost.

Yes. My Aged Care has a free Support at Home fee estimator and budget planner. It asks about your parent's assessment status, partner status, pension status and finances, then estimates their contribution rates. You can then add the services they expect to use and adjust the amounts to match a provider's price list.

It does not ask for personally identifying details, just general income and asset information. There is an income and assets checklist on the My Aged Care website to help you gather what you need first.

A word of caution. The estimator gives a guide, not a final figure. Services Australia determines the actual contribution, and the family home is exempt from the asset test for Support at Home. For anything complex, such as decisions about the family home or large assets, it is worth speaking to a specialist aged care financial adviser. Services Australia also offers free Financial Information Service officers.

A quick worked example helps. Say a self-funded retiree without a concession card uses a house clean priced at $60. That is an Everyday Living service, so at 80% they pay $48 and the government pays $12.

The same person has a nursing visit priced at $120. That is clinical care, so they pay $0 and the government pays the full $120.

This is why two people on the same classification can end up paying very different amounts. It comes down to the mix of services they use and their financial situation, not just the level they are on.

Support at Home costs are made of two parts, the provider's price and your parent's contribution percentage. Clinical care is free, Independence and Everyday Living services are means tested, and there is a lifetime cap that protects against open-ended costs. The price caps that were meant to start in July 2026 have been delayed, so comparing provider prices and checking statements matters more than ever.

Start with the My Aged Care fee estimator to get a guide, then let Wayly keep track of the real contributions once care begins. Try Wayly free for 7 days.