Personal care under Support at Home
Personal care is the heart of most Support at Home plans. It is the help with showering, dressing, grooming, and toileting that lets a participant stay safely at home. Personal care currently sits in the Independence stream with a participant contribution. From 1 October 2026 it becomes fully government funded for all participants.
- Currently in the Independence stream with a participant contribution
- Becomes fully government funded on 1 October 2026 (the personal care change)
- Covers showering, dressing, grooming, and toileting
- Does not cover clinical wound care or registered nurse interventions
What personal care covers
- Showering and bathing safely
- Dressing, including help with compression garments and orthotics
- Grooming, shaving, and hair brushing
- Toileting and continence support
- Supervised oral health and denture care
What it does not cover
- Wound dressing or any clinical procedure (these are Clinical Care)
- Medication administration (a registered nurse or enrolled nurse task)
- Massage therapy without an allied health referral
The 1 October 2026 change explained
Under the Support at Home program, personal care moves to fully government funded on 1 October 2026. From that date the participant contribution rate drops to zero for personal care services. This is a significant change for households where personal care is the largest budget line. Your quarterly statement will reflect this automatically once the change takes effect. You do not need to do anything to opt in.
What a typical personal care visit looks like
A morning personal care visit usually runs 30 to 60 minutes. The worker helps the participant shower or wash, dress, groom, and take any set out medication (a nurse still handles medication administration). Many households add a short tidy of the bathroom at the end. A consistent worker at a consistent time of day makes the visit calmer and quicker for everyone.