Personal care becomes free from 1 October 2026
From 1 October 2026, personal care — help with showering, dressing, grooming and similar daily supports — moves to the clinical funding category under Support at Home. In plain terms: the participant contribution on personal care drops to $0.00, for everyone, regardless of pension status. The government funds it fully, the way nursing already works.
What actually changes on your bill
Take a full pensioner with a typical plan — 3 hours of personal care ($300.00/week worth), plus domestic assistance and nursing:
| Until 30 September | From 1 October | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay each week | $48.25 | $33.25 |
| Government pays each week | $591.75 | $606.75 |
The saving equals whatever you were contributing on personal care specifically — the more personal care hours in your plan, the bigger the change. Higher contribution rates (part pensioners and self-funded participants) see proportionally larger drops.
Three things worth knowing
- It’s automatic. Nothing to apply for — from 1 October, providers simply stop charging contributions on personal care.
- Your budget draw doesn’t change. Services Australia deducts the full price of each service — the government share and your contribution — from your quarterly budget, then pays the provider the government share (Program Manual, s16.5). So from 1 October the split changes, not the draw: the same hours use the budget at the same rate, with the government picking up the share you used to pay. The estimator shows both periods automatically.
- Watch your statements. Providers must give you an itemised monthly statement. Contributions still apply to personal care delivered before 1 October, even if it is billed later — but for services delivered from 1 October onward, the personal care contribution line should read $0.00. If it doesn’t, ask.
See your own before-and-after — the estimator shows both periods for any plan.
Estimate the costsRelated: what Support at Home costs in 2026 · why part-pensioner costs are a range