What Is A Home Care Package?
A Home Care Package is a government-funded initiative that supports individuals aged 65 and older in maintaining their independence at home. Once approved for funding, you can select a provider and work together to create a personalised care plan tailored to your needs.
Looking for Home Care Package providers in Melbourne or Victoria? Benetas offers a dedicated team of qualified carers and nurses committed to empowering individuals to achieve their independence through high-quality services.
What are the different levels of home care packages?
Home Care Packages are categorised into four funding levels based on your care needs. The level of packages you are approved for will determine the amount of government funding you will receive.
| Level | Care Needs | Government Funding Increases with Level Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basic care needs | $ |
| 2 | Low-level care needs | $$ |
| 3 | Intermediate care needs | $$$ |
| 4 | High-level care needs | $$$$ |
Am I eligible for a home care package?
To qualify for a Home Care Package in Australia, you must be at least 65 years old. An assessment by an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) is required to determine your need for support to live independently. Your financial situation won’t affect your eligibility, but you may need to contribute to service costs based on your circumstances. If you only need minimal support, you might qualify for the Commonwealth Home Support Program.
Expected waiting time for a home care package
Home Care Packages are allocated based on a national priority system that considers your approval date and care urgency. Currently, wait times can be up to three months, depending on your required services and location. If waiting isn't feasible, consider applying for the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) or pay privately for care services until your government-funded Home Care Package is in place.
| Level | Approximate Wait Time |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 - 6 months |
| 2 | 6 - 9 months |
| 3 | 9 - 12 months |
| 4 | 12 - 15 months |
* Last revised 31 October 2024
Changes to Home Care Packages
The Australian Government is introducing the new Support at Home program to replace Home Care Packages (HCP) from 1 July 2025. These changes aim to reducing wait times, increase access to services and ensure funding is based on individual needs. If you already have a home care package, you will automatically transition to support at home on 1 July with your budget matching existing HCP level.
How to apply for a Home Care Package
Click on the options below to learn the steps
Register with My Aged Care
To apply for a Home Care Package you will first need to register. You can do this by contacting My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 or completing their online form. We suggest you register at your earliest opportunity in preparation for support when you need it.
Learn more about My Aged Care registration here.
If you are preparing your application for quick access in the future, your registration will remain active and you can recontact My Aged Care as your circumstances change.
Tip: If you wish, you can appoint a family member or friend as your My Aged Care representative so they can act on your behalf on an ongoing basis.
Get Assessed
Once you are registered, My Aged Care will let you know if you need a face-to-face assessment. If this is the case, a trained assessor will visit you at home to help clarify your needs.
What should you have on hand for your assessment?
- Your Medicare number
- A copy of any referrals from your doctor if you have them
- Any information provided to you that you may want to discuss with your assessor
- The contact details of your GP or another health professional
- Information on the current support you receive
What happens at an assessment?
The trained assessor will work with you to develop a support plan, including your strengths, difficulties, goals, what you’d like to achieve and your preferences for services. They might ask questions such as:
- What support you already have
- Your health and lifestyle
- How you are going completing daily tasks around the home
- If you have any issues relating to home and personal safety
- Your family and community engagement
In your meeting, you may discuss the types of services that would suit your needs, the types of funding available and relevant to you, service providers and the costs associated with home care services.
Tip: You are welcome to have a family member, carer or friend present during your assessment and any calls with My Aged Care.
How long will you wait to find out the outcome of your assessment?
You will find out the outcome of your assessment in a letter. It should state the Home Care Package level you've been approved for and your priority level. You shouldn’t have to wait more than a few weeks to receive this letter. If you don’t receive one, we recommend calling up My Aged Care to follow up.
Please note: If the letter states you haven’t been approved for a home care package at this time, you can reapply when your circumstances change.
You can remain assured, self-funded in-home support is always available at your request through providers like Benetas.
Prepare for your Home Care Package
Complete an income assessment
If you are not receiving a full pension, you will need to complete an income assessment - as depending on your income, you may be required to pay a personal contribution to your Home Care Package (known as the income-tested care fee).
The fee is different for everyone because it is based on your individual income. Please note, the money you receive from the government will reduce by the same value of the income tested fee you are assessed to pay.
We recommend you complete an income assessment as soon as you can as the process can take time.
For more information visit myagedcare.gov.au/income-assessment-home-care-packages or call 1800 227 475.
You can also estimate your government funding and whether you will be required to make a personal contribution with the My Aged Care fee estimator tool.
Need support whilst you wait?
Please note, if you need support whilst you wait for your home care package, you can get immediate self-funded in-home support with providers like Benetas. To enquire contact us online or call 1300 23 63 82.
Choose your provider
You should receive a letter from My Aged Care when your Home Care Package is approximately 9-12 weeks away.
When you receive this letter, we recommend you decide on which home care provider you would like to deliver your care, so you can commence your services as soon as your package is assigned.
Tips for choosing a provider
- Chatting to family or friends
- Searching online for providers in your area
- Talking to your doctor or other medical professionals
- Click here for more tips
As you shop around, some questions to ask yourself include:
- Have they connected you with clear, reliable and relevant information?
- Are they are one-stop shop? Can you get all of your required services with the one provider?
- Are they specialists in the aged care journey?
- Is it important to you that they also offer other health services, retirement living and/ or residential care?
- Is it important to you whether the provider is not-for-profit or religiously affiliated?
- Has the provider been transparent in explaining the fees and charges? Are you aware of all the costs involved?
- Have they discussed how they can evolve with your changing circumstances?
Enter into a Home Care agreement
You will receive a third letter from My Aged Care advising that your package is assigned to you, and it’s time to choose a service provider and enter into a Home Care Agreement (a written agreement between you and your provider detailing the services you will access).
The government allows you 56 days to find a provider once you've been assigned a Package. So we recommend booking in a home visit to get to know us as soon as possible.
Funding:
See our Paying For Home Care page for more information about how much funding support will could receive.
Let's develop your care plan
Once you've signed an agreement with us, we will work with you to develop your Care Plan.
A Care Plan is a document that outlines your needs, goals and how those needs will be met. It may include an outline of the care and services you'll use, what type of Care Management you'll use and other details relating to your ongoing support at home.
See Our Management Fees page for more information.
Let’s find the perfect fit
We want to give you the most relevant information to fit your needs. Choose which step of the Home Care process you’re at and we will provide the information that is relevant to you.
English is not my mum’s first language, and we struggled to navigate the government subsidy system with her, until Benetas came along.