Support at Home update

Update on Support at Home and your new Services Agreements

This month, we welcomed one of the most significant milestones being the launch of the Government’s Support at Home program on 1 November 2025—a reform designed to simplify home care and place customer rights and protections at its heart.

As Australia’s largest home care provider, we’ve been proud to play an active role in helping shape the Support at Home program—bringing your voices to the table and ensuring the needs of older Australians are not only heard but acted on.

Now the program is here, we’re committed to helping you understand what the changes mean and working with you to ensure you continue to receive the right supports and services to live well in the place you call home. Because ageing shouldn’t mean slowing down—with the right support, you can keep life moving on your terms.

Now that’s it’s finally here, let’s unpack what it all means:

Support at Home at a glance:

• Eight support levels with funding up to $78,000 yearly, plus two short-term pathways.
• Quarterly budgets will replace Annual budgets.
• Clear service list so you can know exactly what support is available to you.
• Price caps on services, starting approximately July 2026. Providers set their own prices until then.
• 10% capped care management fee ensuring you receive trusted, quality care that you deserve.

A detailed information handbook can be downloaded here.

Haven’t signed your agreement yet? Rest assured, services continue as normal

In September, we shared updates about how we’re enhancing the support we provide, along with information about the upcoming Support at Home reforms taking effect from 1 November 2025.

As part of these changes, we outlined additional provisions that will be added to your existing Customer Service Agreement. These updates are designed to support your wellbeing, improve service quality, and ensure your care continues to align with your needs and preferences. Whilst also ensuring safe, respectful and personalised support to live well at home.

If you haven’t received your updated Service Agreement yet, there’s no cause for concern. Initially, the Government advised providers to have all agreements signed and returned by 1 November 2025, where feasible.

This created significant urgency for providers to meet the deadline. However, that guidance was revised just one week before the Support at Home program was due to launch. As a result, customers now have additional time to review and consider their agreements. We are working hard to get all Service Agreements out to our customers over the coming weeks.

Tips on how to complete your Service Agreement

We’re sending out new Service Agreements electronically via DocuSign if we have your email address on file. If we only have a mailing address, you’ll receive a printed copy instead.

You may have noticed that our Service Agreement contains a lot of details. This is to ensure we meet Government requirements. To make things easier for you, we’ve provided a summary of the key clauses of the Support at Home Service Agreement (in the covering letter), so you can quickly understand what you agree to.

To complete your Service Agreement, here are some quick tips:

1. Read through the Service Agreement and Privacy Statement.

2. As a transitioning Home Care Package customer to Support at Home, your current service types convert to ‘Ongoing Services’ from 1 November 2025. This has been automatically set in the Agreement.

3. If we have received your Individual Contribution Rate from Services Australia, this will be included in your Service Agreement. If we have not, the contribution field will be marked as ‘TBC’, and we will include an Interim Contribution Rate based on your estimated Support at Home contribution from the Aged Care Provider Portal. 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 choose to sign your Service Agreement before receiving this advice from Services Australia. Once you have received your Individual Contribution Rate from Services Australia, we will calculate any underpayment or overpayment in accordance with your Service Agreement and develop an updated individualised budget that will specify the contribution rate you will need to pay for each service on a per unit basis.

4. You are not required to complete the Legal Personal Representative or Supporter. If you wish to add these, please speak to your Care Partner as these need to be validated before inclusion in the Agreement.

5. Complete the ‘Money Handling’ section in the Key Terms section of your Service Agreement by ticking your preferred option.

6. (if signing manually):

a. Sign both copies of the Service Agreement

b. Return one copy of the signed Service Agreement to us by using the reply-paid envelope; and

c. Keep the second copy of the Service Agreement for your records.

7. (if signing electronically via DocuSign) – Review and sign the Service Agreement where indicated. You will receive a copy of the fully executed agreement once completed by email.

For more helpful information we’ve also updated our Customer Services Guide outlining key information about your home health and care services. A copy of the Guide is available on www.australianunity.com.au/compliance. This supersedes your current Guide and also contains the new Statement of Rights and Aged Care Code of Conduct.

We’re here for you

We understand this is a lot to take in, and we’re here to support you through the transition. If you have any questions, our Health Concierge team is ready to help.

You can call us on 1300 160 170 or email customercare@australianunity.com.au.
For more information, visit Support at Home Program.

We’ve also developed a tailored tool to help you understand what Support at Home means for you.

We’re always here to help—don’t hesitate to reach out if you need support.