Moving from Home Care Packages to Support at Home – What a journey!

A blog from our CEO, Luke Traini.

The Government’s new Support at Home program went live over the weekend and we’re finally able to move from talking about things to doing them.

Like any program of this size, it’s been an interesting journey for Home Care providers and an anxious and confusing time for clients already in the system or joining for the first time with the release of an additional 83,000 packages.

With so much anxiety and mixed information out there, I started out to write a simple blog update, but it’s turned into an XL-sized read! However, I hope to cover off on some of the main topics we’ve been hearing from clients, forum discussions and family members of those that need care.

Haven’t signed your agreement yet? Services continue as normal!

Your services continue, unchanged.

There’s nothing to worry about. The original advice from Government to providers was to have all agreements signed and returned prior to 1 November 2025 where practicable. This placed a lot of pressure on providers to act quickly to hit that timeframe; however, this advice changed one week before Support at Home was to go live and now there’s more time for clients to consider their agreement.

Our goal is to enable the choice and control to stay in your home and receive the services you want for the price you negotiate with local providers.

However, ultimately a Services Agreement is required. So, once you’ve read and understood the Agreement and had any questions answered, there are a number of quick and convenient ways to sign, which are outlined below.

Support at Home Agreements - Long documents but convenient, secure and easy to sign

To comply with the Commonwealth Government’s requirements for Support at Home providers, we’ve had to put a lot of information in our new agreements to meet the standards imposed on us. The agreements contain important information that aligns to, and supports, the Government’s legislation and enshrines your rights and protections — but we’re the first to admit it is quite a long and detailed read.

Being asked to consider long Care Agreements isn’t something you are asked to do too frequently, but these are once-in-a-generation changes to Australia’s aged care system. Hence the size of the document we were required to produce to remain compliant.

You should take your time to read and understand the document and reach out to Trilogy Care if there’s anything you need assistance with. Once you’re ready to agree, we give you a few quick and convenient ways to sign:

1.       Each client receives a personalised agreement with a unique QR code. Any mobile phone can simply scan the QR code on your Agreement and automatically generate an SMS message that you can send to Trilogy Care. That’s it, you’re all signed; or

2.       If we have your email, we will have already sent you a link via email enabling you to digitally sign online. This is the modern, secure and convenient way and saves you a trip to the Post Office; or

3.       Give us a call and accept your agreement verbally over the phone. The Government does not require written signatures on your Support at Home Agreement and agreeing verbally has the identical effect as signing electronically or in writing - it’s just more convenient! ;or

4.       If you prefer to print things out, we can email you a PDF copy. You can then a) scan the QR code and sign, or b) sign the paper copy and send an image of the signed page to us via email or SMS, or c) you can sign the paper copy then visit your local post office and return it in the reply-paid envelope we provide via traditional mail; or

5.       If you told us you preferred a paper copy, we have already printed and sent you one. If you didn’t initially tell us, that’s no problem, just let us know and we’ll organise to get one printed and dispatched to you.

Support at Home service pricing

Under the outgoing Home Care system and as outlined in the Department’s support materials, care services (e.g. nursing, physio. cleaning, gardening etc.) were charged against your package as you used them and then you were charged separately for care and package management fees as a percentage of your total funding per month. These prices varied by Home Care provider but existed as high as 35% for some providers or as low as 15% for Trilogy Care clients.

Now, under Support at Home, Services Australia will allocate 10% of your package for Care Management. This applies to every provider in the market, so everyone is the same and there is no longer any variation or competition in the monthly percentage fees.

Along with that, the Government’s new pricing model requires providers to recover all other costs within the hour of service delivered to a client.

This is where Home Care Providers should now compete for the lowest possible price per hour. Check out our handy calculator that lets you compare actual prices from multiple providers.

In the case of a Fully Managed provider (where you’re required to only purchase services from them), there is no cap as to what the hourly rate can be increased. We have seen some prices increased by well over 30%.

For self-managed providers, where you set the price by selecting the workers you choose for the price you want, the Government’s legislation sets out a loading fee applicable only on those services actually used each month (not on the whole package value, as was the case in the old Home Care system). This is capped at 10% and no self-managed provider can legally charge more than that.

Our pricing is perfectly transparent and easy to understand: it’s a loading fee of 10% on only those services you choose to use each month and aligns with the Government’s Support at Home legislation for Self Management providers.

Note: If comparing providers, please make sure you check the hourly rate you will be paying as this is far more important to the amount of care you can afford per month than the platform loading fee (almost all self-managed providers charge a 10% fee). Please use our handy calculator to compare actual market prices of services per hour – you could be missing out on many hours of care per month by over paying per hour.

Contributions and signing your Agreement

The new Support at Home program enhances the number of places in the Home Care system but also introduces an element of ‘user pays’ for those that have been assessed after September 12 2024.

Advice from the Commonwealth Government Health and Aged Care Department indicates that between 95-96% of transitioning Home Care participants know or have certainty over their contribution rate.

If you are a Grandfathered client and are not subject to contributions (i.e. you were receiving or were assessed and approved for Home Care prior to September 12 2024, you are covered by the no worse off principle). So you can easily sign your agreement and get back to living your life. Remember, as a Self Managed client, you’re always in control of the services and the price you pay.

If you are a Full Pensioner or a Fully Self Funded Retiree (assessed and approved after September 12 2024), you already know your contribution rates as they have been published by the Government. You can check your level of contributions here.

If you are a Part Pensioner who needs to contribute towards your care (assessed and approved after September 12 2024), Services Australia will work during this transition period to write to you with your specific, personalised contribution rate.

The Government’s latest guidance is that you may also choose to sign your Service Agreement before receiving this advice from Services Australia. Then once you have received your contribution rate from Services Australia we will develop an updated individualised budget that will specify the contribution rate you will need to pay for each service on a per unit basis.

If you prefer the certainty of having an Agreement in place that allows you to select your own workers and negotiate your own prices, then it’s completely OK to conveniently sign your Agreement using any of the methods outlined in this blog.

We all wish we had more time

Whilst the Support at Home reforms have been in the works for some time, the subordinate legislation (known as the Rule) was only passed by Parliament on 24 September 2025. Once this legislation was passed, this allowed providers to race to finalise the drafts of their Service Agreements to ensure they were in line with their new legislative obligations. From there, providers had to get busy distributing them Agreements electronically and via mail to clients as fast as possible to ensure people had a reasonable time to consider them.

Although the original and ongoing Government advice was that contracts should all be signed prior to the commencement of Support at Home on 1 November, this advice was updated on Monday 27 October, changing the expectations for all providers and clients alike.

In the month of October in the ramp up to Support at Home, The Department of Health Disability and Ageing has released 150 documents spanning thousands of pages – from fact sheets and tutorials to guidance documents that link in some way to the effective operation of the Support at Home program.

With Support at Home being a large change to the way aged care is delivered in Australia, this last-minute change has caused confusion for both providers and clients. However, we stand ready to do our best and deliver exception care under exceptional circumstances to advance the overall aged care sector for all older Australians.

Getting in touch

These once-in-a-generation changes to aged care have caused once-in-a-generation levels of calls, emails and questions from our clients as a result of implementing the Government’s new Support at Home program.

If we don’t pick up straight away, please leave a message or send an email and we’ll be working overtime with additional staff on hand to get back to you as soon as we can. Most calls or emails are returned within 48 hours.

Please be respectful when engaging with Trilogy Care staff. The new Support at Home program was designed by the Government, not by our staff, but it’s our care partners and broader organisation working diligently to assist you and all our clients to make sense of this new program moving forward.

Top tips for Support at Home

1.       Read and understand your Agreement

Feel free to contact Trilogy Care with any questions or to talk through things. Call your Care Partner directly or our general line on 1300 459 190.

However, or if you’re anxious or want independent assistance, OPAN provides free and confidential support to older people receiving government-funded aged care.

2.  Sign your Agreement when you’re ready

If you’d like the certainty of your Agreement being in place, then feel free to sign the Agreement. We can’t be exactly sure when Services Australia might write to you specifically, but Government advice states there is no impediment to signing, even if you don’t have your Services Australia advice yet. Our contracts allow for contribution rates to be set when they’re set and we’ll work through your budget with you in detail at that time, so there is no cause for concern.

3.  Understand the fees
We’re super clear and transparent about our fees: it’s a simple 10% of only those services that you actually use. The hourly rate is really what matters under Support at Home as there’s no point paying over $300 for a physio session with a traditional provider when you can get it for $145 (including the 10% loading fee) with Trilogy Care.

View the calculator

4.   Sign your agreement based on what’s most convenient for you

The Government’s Support at Home Program does not require you to sign your new Agreement in writing, nor return a fully signed copy of your Agreement in paper.

Choose the method that is most convenient to you, such as QR code / SMS, secure online signing, tell us verbally on the phone, or just take a photo of the signed page and send it to us in an email or SMS.

The Trilogy Care team is here to help, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Luke Traini

Chief Executive Officer

Trilogy Care