Are you eligible for a Home Care Package?

This guide aims to provide useful information/links relating to the Home Care Package Program, while helping you use your Home Care Package to purchase your prescribed mobility aids or equipment for you to be able to stay at home for longer.

What is a home care package?

The Australian Government’s Home Care Packages Program helps you to live independently in your own home for as long as you can. The Program provides a subsidy towards a package of care, services and case management to meet your personal needs.

There are four levels of home care packages:

• Level 1 supports people with basic care needs – approximately $8,800 per year
• Level 2 supports people with low-level care needs – approximately $15,500 per year
• Level 3 supports people with intermediate care needs – approximately $33,700 per year
• Level 4 supports people with high-level care needs – approximately $51,100 per year

You work with your chosen provider to identify your care needs and decide how best to spend your package funding. Your service provider coordinates and can manage your services on your behalf.

To find a provider click here.

Am I eligible?

Eligibility is based on your care needs as determined through a face-to-face assessment, but you must also be:

• an older person who needs coordinated services to help them stay at home, or
• a younger person with a disability, dementia or other care needs not met through other specialist services.

Your financial situation won’t affect your eligibility. But you will need a financial assessment to work out exactly how much you may be asked to contribute.

If you think you only need a low level of support – perhaps only one or two services – you may not need a Home Care Package. You may be more suited for help at home through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.

What can home care package funds be used for?

The types of services that you can purchase under a home care package include but are not limited to:

• Personal services such as bathing, showering, toileting, dressing and undressing, mobility and communication
• Nutrition, hydration, meal preparation and diet
• Continence management
• Nursing, allied health and therapy services such as speech therapy, podiatry, occupational or physiotherapy services and other clinical services such as hearing and vision services
• Assistive technology such as devices that assist mobility, communication and personal safety
• Aids and equipment: particularly those that assist a person to perform daily living tasks can be purchased using funds from your package budget.

Approved home care providers will work in partnership with you to tailor care and services to best support your needs and goals.

TIP: Identifying goals will help you choose care and services that best support your needs. A goal might be maintaining a healthy lifestyle or achieving independence in mobility.

You might consider:

• What sorts of things might improve my day to day life?
• What do I enjoy doing most?
• What support do I need to stay safe?
• Where and when do I want support?
• How does this fit in with the help my carer provides me?

The best home to be in is yours!

Bearing in mind that using the right mobility equipment and disability aids for everyday living can help you maintain independence in the activities that are most important to you.

Some of the mobility aids and equipment that you may wish to consider include:

More Information

For more information on the Home Care Package, please visit:

• My Aged Care website
• Download your Guide To Home Care Package Services Booklet

Or download a copy of our brochures below:

If you would like to speak directly with us, call  03 9568 8383 and we would be happy to assist you with any queries.