Feels Like Home

Written by James Woerndle

If you’ve recently started looking into help at home for a parent – or a husband, wife, aunt, brother – you may have hit something confusing. The system that everyone called “Home Care Packages” doesn’t exist any more. In its place is something called Support at Home, which started on 1 November 2025.

If you’re finding the change hard to follow, you’re not alone. We’ve had dozens of conversations with Victorian families over the past few months, and the same questions come up every time. What’s actually changed? Is my parent still eligible for what they were getting before? How do we apply? Is it more expensive? Less? What if they were already on a package? This article is a plain-English guide to those questions. It’s the kind of thing we wish someone had handed us when our own family started figuring this out.

First, the short version:

Support at Home is the new national program for older Australians who need help to keep living at home. It replaced the Home Care Packages program from 1 November 2025. It also folded in two other programs (Short-Term Restorative Care, and parts of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme for higher-needs participants) so that older Australians and their families have one program to understand, not three.

If your parent was already receiving a Home Care Package, they automatically transitioned to Support at Home on 1 November 2025, on what are called “grandfathering” arrangements – meaning their existing services kept running and, in most cases, they were no worse off financially. If you’re new to the system, your application now goes through the Support at Home pathway.

What’s actually different?

Three things changed materially.

1. One assessment, not three.

Previously, families dealt with ACAT (the Aged Care Assessment Team), RAS (the Regional Assessment Service), and sometimes other assessors depending on what was needed. Support at Home uses a Single Assessment System: one assessor, one assessment, one decision. The assessment looks at what you need help with, how often, and whether you have informal supports (family, friends, neighbours) already helping. You can request an assessment via My Aged Care (1800 200 422) or your GP can refer you.

2. Eight ongoing levels, not four packages.

Home Care Packages had four levels. Support at Home has eight ongoing classification levels, with notional quarterly budgets that step up as needs grow. The wider spread of levels is meant to better match support to what each person actually needs, rather than putting everyone into one of four buckets. There are also two non-ongoing pathways: Short-Term Restorative Care (up to twelve weeks of intensive support to help someone regain function after a hospital stay or fall) and an end-of-life pathway with higher funding for the last twelve weeks of life.

3. Three service categories with different funding splits.

Under Home Care Packages, the government contributed and the participant contributed, but the split didn’t change much between service types. Support at Home introduces three service categories – Clinical Supports, Independence, and Everyday Living – and the participant contribution varies by category. Clinical Supports (like nursing and allied health) attract the highest government contribution and the lowest participant contribution. Everyday Living (like cleaning and gardening) attracts a higher participant contribution. The reasoning is that clinical help is genuinely health-related, while everyday tasks are things most people already pay for at some level.

What hasn’t changed?

A few things stayed the same. Eligibility is still based on age (generally 65 and over, or 50 and over for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people) plus a care need confirmed by an assessment. My Aged Care is still the front door (call 1800 200 422 or visit myagedcare.gov.au). Older Australians can still choose their own provider, and they can still change provider if it’s not working. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission still regulates providers, and the same consumer rights apply.

A short example of how it might look

Imagine Margaret*, 78, who lives alone in Bendigo. After a fall last year, her family supported her application. The Single Assessment System assessor visited, listened to Margaret, talked with her daughter, and recommended an ongoing classification at a moderate level. Margaret’s notional quarterly budget now covers a weekly cleaner, fortnightly nursing visits to check her blood pressure and medications, and a podiatrist every six weeks. Margaret pays a participant contribution toward the cleaning (Everyday Living category) and a smaller share toward the nursing and podiatry (Clinical Supports category).

(*Margaret is a hypothetical example; we don’t share real client experiences – and as a pre-approval provider, we don’t yet have any.)

What to do if you’re just starting out

Three steps that almost always help, in order:

1. Get an assessment. Call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 or ask your GP for a referral. Don’t try to predict the outcome – the assessor’s job is to look at the whole situation, including how much support family and friends are already providing.
2. Talk to two or three providers before you sign anything. Look at how they communicate, what their care management actually includes, and whether you feel listened to. We’ve written a separate piece on ten questions to ask any provider before you sign.

Trust your instinct on fit. The provider you choose is going to be in your parent’s life (and yours) for years. If something feels off, it usually is.

If you’re still confused, you’re not failing

We’ll say this often on this blog: the system is genuinely complicated, and the fact that you’re reading this means you’re doing more research than most families do. Take it a step at a time. Ask questions. And give yourself credit for showing up for someone you love.

A quick note about us:

Feels Like Home is a family-led business preparing to launch as an Approved Provider of Support at Home services in Victoria. We will be expecting to commence operations in late-2026. If you’d like to be among the first to know when we’re operating, you can register your interest using the following link: Feels Like Home – free 14 page PDF guide to understanding Support At Home – Fill in form.

We’re writing these articles because we genuinely believe Victorian families deserve plain-English information about how this system works, whoever they end up choosing.

Want a printable summary?

We’ve made a free 14-page Family Guide to Support at Home in Victoria. It covers eligibility, the assessment, the new classification levels, the fee model, ten questions to ask any provider, and a printable checklist for the family conversation. Download it free at: Feels Like Home – free 14 page PDF guide to understanding Support At Home – Fill in form

Thank you for reading ‘Feels Like Home’s’ first ever Blog – we hope to see you continue to follow for more information!

For any enquiries, please send an email to James@feelslikehome.services