Personal care has been fully funded under Support at Home since 1 October. Under CHSP, extended to 2029, the September manual lets providers charge a contribution

Which program you are in decides what you pay

Government-funded help at home now runs through two programs. Support at Home, which began on 1 November 2025, replaced Home Care Packages and, in the CHSP manual’s words, supports older people with higher support needs; on 1 October the minister put it at almost 400,000 older Australians. CHSP is the entry-level program: cleaning, shopping, meals on wheels, transport, home maintenance, social support and allied health, in the ministers’ list, with personal care and nursing among the service types in its manual. On 6 October the minister described it this way: Most of the Meals on Wheels program delivery is done under the Commonwealth Home Support Program, which is separate to the Support at Home program.

On 1 October, personal care, such as help with showering, dressing and non-clinical continence management, moved into the clinical supports category of Support at Home, where participants pay no contribution. The department’s notice says that applies to participants who have the personal care service type approved in their support plan and Support at Home funding available. Neither that notice nor the minister’s 1 October release mentions CHSP.

Help with showering and dressing at home: who pays what

1. CHSPEach provider sets its own contribution under a national framework, agreed with you in writing. No formal means test. The department’s guide for 2026-27 gives a reasonable range for personal care of $7.22 to $13.71. Providers must have a public hardship policy for waivers or reductions.
2. Support at HomePersonal care sits in clinical supports and attracts no participant contribution, where it is approved in your support plan and you have funding available. From 1 Oct 2026

The CHSP manual is candid about what a provider-set fee means: Two clients of a similar age with similar support needs may pay different CHSP contributions for a similar service. It also covers people who use both programs: Support at Home participants must pay CHSP client contribution fees like other CHSP clients and cannot use their budget to pay the CHSP client contribution.

Our reading: the $7.22 to $13.71 range was published on 31 July, before the Support at Home change. We found nothing from the department, as we read its CHSP pages and the September 2026 manual on 9 October, saying CHSP personal care changed on 1 October. So, for personal care specifically, a person on the entry-level program can be asked to contribute where a person on the program for higher support needs, with personal care in their plan and funding available, is not.

What was decided in August

CHSP’s grant funding had run to 30 June 2027, and the department’s Support at Home pages said CHSP would transition no earlier than 1 July 2027. On 20 August the Minister for Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, and the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae, announced a two-year extension to 30 June 2029 and went further.

The Australian Government believes CHSP should remain a standalone program, rather than rolling it into Support at Home.

The same release says almost 40 per cent of CHSP clients live outside the major cities, and that around 1,300 providers, including councils, deliver it. The department’s September 2026 CHSP manual removed the line about moving to Support at Home no earlier than July 2027 and added the extension. Its Support at Home overview page, last updated 19 January 2026, still says CHSP will transition no earlier than 1 July 2027. The department’s CHSP reforms page says information about the 2027-29 funding agreement extension will be available shortly.

The dates, as the sources give them

1. 14 May 2026The Auditor-General reports CHSP is partly effective
2. 20 Aug 2026Extension to 30 June 2029 announced; government believes CHSP should remain standalone
3. 24 Aug 2026Minister says consultation will begin in the next month or so
4. Sep 2026CHSP manual version 5 drops the 2027 transition and adds the extension
5. 1 Oct 2026Personal care fully funded under Support at Home
6. 5 Oct 2026Department opens an in-home aged care consultations page; its one item is a Support at Home evaluation closing 14 October
7. 30 Jun 2027Where CHSP grant funding had run to
8. 30 Jun 2029Where it now runs to

What the Auditor-General found first

Three months before the decision, the Australian National Audit Office reported on the program. Its verdict: The CHSP is partly effective. The office found that the department lacks assurance that CHSP services are being delivered effectively, to eligible people, according to need, and in a timely manner, made nine recommendations, and the department agreed to all of them. In the 24 August speech, the minister said work on what more CHSP needs would be informed by the audit.

Australian National Audit Office, Effectiveness of the Commonwealth Home Support Program, Auditor-General Report No. 31 of 2025-26, 14 May 2026: key facts, summary paragraphs 12, 13 and 16, and the recommendations. The unassessed figure is the department’s estimate from a survey of providers, as the ANAO reports it. The two percentages are from an ANAO survey of more than 10,000 CHSP clients. Short labels are ours.

The 838,694 is a count for 2024-25. The ministers’ 830,000 is their current round figure; the two are not a trend.

The consultation, and where it stands on 9 October

The extension was presented as time to design the program’s future. The department’s 21 August notice lists four things the consultation will focus on.

What the department says the CHSP consultation will focus on

1. 1maintaining a sustainable entry-level in-home aged care program
2. 2ensuring fair and equitable contributions to the costs of home care
3. 3how early intervention services can reduce pressure across the system
4. 4a seamless path to more complex in-home care services, residential care or other aged care options as a person’s needs change

The department said it would begin consultation this year. At the CHSP national conference on 24 August, the minister was more specific, saying it would begin in the next month or so. That was 46 days before 9 October, by our count.

On 9 October we searched the department’s Consultation Hub, which its aged care reforms page names as the place to find aged care consultations. A search for CHSP returned no open and no forthcoming activity. The hub does have a page called In-home aged care consultations, opened on 5 October, which says We're seeking feedback on services that help older people receive care at home. Its only item is an evaluation of aged care assessments and Support at Home, with surveys for older people and for carers and families, closing on Wednesday 14 October. The page does not mention CHSP. We will report the CHSP consultation when it opens.

Our view

Keeping CHSP is defensible. Group social support and cottage respite, the minister’s own examples, do not fit neatly into an individual budget, and a meal delivered with a conversation at the door is worth more than the meal. The minister says providers, older people and their advocates made that case, and the extension stops organisations having to decide, in the minister’s phrase, in the dark.

But a standalone CHSP means two cost regimes side by side, and since 1 October the gap is sharpest on the most personal help there is. The consultation is where it gets settled, and the department has named contributions as one of its four questions. It has also been told by the Auditor-General that it is unable to clearly demonstrate CHSP is meeting community demand or its objectives, which is the evidence any fair contribution scheme would need. If you or someone you help gets personal care through CHSP, two practical steps: ask the provider for its client contribution policy and its financial hardship policy, which it must make public, and keep the written service agreement that sets your fee. When the consultation opens, it is the place to say what the gap means for you.