The Support at Home service list groups funded services into three participant contribution categories: Clinical Supports, Independence and Everyday Living. For providers, the distinction affects service descriptions, participant information, claiming and billing. It does not, by itself, determine which worker is qualified to deliver a service. The current service list contains 14 service types and 49 services, with guidance on activities that are in and out of scope.
We recommend that home care executives and compliance managers work from the current service list, rather than relying on familiar Home Care Package labels. This article explains the three categories and the checks needed when updating policies and systems. For the wider reform context, read our Support at Home transition guide for providers.
What the categories mean
| Category | Examples | Contribution treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical Supports | Nursing care, allied health and, from 1 October 2026, personal care | The Australian Government funds the full cost of approved clinical supports, subject to available Support at Home funding; participants do not pay a contribution for these services. |
| Independence | Social support, respite and transport | Participants may pay a contribution, subject to their applicable arrangements. |
| Everyday Living | Domestic assistance, home maintenance and repairs, and meals | Participants may pay a contribution, subject to their applicable arrangements. |
This is a useful starting point, but the category heading is not a substitute for checking the specific service type, permitted activities and participant’s approved support plan. The Department’s service list identifies what is in and out of scope for each service type. Providers should use that detail when describing a service, setting up a claim or deciding whether an existing offering needs to be revised.
Clinical Supports: define the service precisely
Clinical Supports includes services such as nursing, allied health and nutrition and, from 1 October 2026, personal care. A provider delivering these services needs to distinguish the funded service from the clinical responsibilities associated with its delivery. The service list identifies professions for certain service types, including nursing, allied health and other therapeutic services, and therapeutic services for independent living. For broader decisions about staffing, worker experience, qualifications and scope of practice, the Department directs providers to the Aged Care Quality Standards, particularly Standards 2 and 5.
We advise providers to review clinical service descriptions alongside care plans, professional responsibilities, supervision arrangements and escalation procedures. The question is not only whether a service can be claimed under Clinical Supports. It is whether the organisation can show that the assessed service is delivered safely, by an appropriate worker, and recorded accurately.
Independence: support function and participation
The Independence category includes services such as respite and transport. These supports can be central to a person’s ability to remain at home and participate in daily life, even where the service itself is not clinical care. Providers should describe what each service includes, how it relates to the person’s assessed needs, and any circumstances requiring referral or escalation.
A transport service, for example, should not be treated as an interchangeable label for every form of community support. Its description, scheduling, records and claim should reflect the actual service delivered. We recommend checking legacy service names against the current service list before carrying them into agreements, staff instructions or billing systems.
Everyday Living: manage practical risks
Everyday Living includes domestic assistance and home maintenance and repairs. These services support safe day-to-day living, but their contribution treatment differs from Clinical Supports. Accurate categorisation matters because it informs what participants are told about potential out-of-pocket costs and what providers subsequently claim.
Non-clinical services still require appropriate operational controls. We recommend clear task descriptions, home-based risk assessment, worker instructions and a process for reporting concerns identified during a visit. A worker attending to a practical task may notice a change in a person’s circumstances; the provider’s procedures should make clear how that observation is recorded and escalated without misrepresenting the service delivered.
Personal care: a change from 1 October 2026
Providers should pay particular attention to personal care. From 1 October 2026, personal care moved from the Independence category to Clinical Supports for participant contribution purposes. Participants who are approved for personal care in their support plan and have available Support at Home funding no longer pay a contribution for personal care services delivered from that date. Services delivered before 1 October 2026 remain subject to the previous contribution arrangements, even if they are claimed later.
This change does not turn personal care into a clinical service. The Department states that its definition and scope remain the same, as do workforce roles, qualifications, delivery models, registration categories and service IDs. Personal care workers can continue to deliver personal care. Examples within the existing definition include assistance with showering, dressing, eating, personal hygiene, non-clinical continence management and assistance with self-administration of medication.
For providers, the immediate work is primarily in contribution settings and associated information. Review how your systems classify personal care for billing; check service agreements, budgets, statements and invoices; and brief staff who explain charges to participants. Care plans may also need review where a participant wishes to change the amount of personal care received, subject to their approval and available budget.
Review policies and systems together
A service-list review should connect regulatory interpretation with operational implementation. We recommend the following sequence:
- Inventory current services. List the descriptions used in care plans, agreements, rostering, finance systems and staff guidance.
- Map each service to the current list. Confirm its service type, category and in-scope activities; flag descriptions that combine distinct services.
- Check approval and delivery. Confirm that the participant is approved for the service and that the worker, supervision and documentation arrangements suit the work performed.
- Test charging and claiming. Check that the correct contribution treatment is applied, including the 1 October 2026 personal care change, and apply contributions according to the date each service was delivered, not the date it was claimed.
- Update controlled documents. Amend policies, procedures, templates and participant information, then verify that staff are using the revised versions.
The objective is consistency: an assessed service should be described the same way in the support plan, the provider’s instructions, the participant’s information and the claim. A change made only in the billing system, or only in a policy, leaves room for avoidable errors.
We support providers to review service portfolios, audit documentation and practice, and update home care policies and procedures. To place these service categories within your broader governance and transition plan, visit our Support at Home transition guide for providers.
