Part pensioner home care costs: why your rate is a range
If you (or your parent) receive a part Age Pension, nobody can tell you an exact Support at Home cost until Services Australia sets your personal rate from income and assets. What the rules do fix is the band your rate must land in: 5%–50% on independence supports and 17.5%–80% on everyday-living supports. Clinical care is $0.00 regardless.
That is the full band in the Rules, and it is shared with people who are not on the pension but whose income is under the Seniors Health Card limit (whether or not they hold the card). A part pensioner does not reach the top of it. Worked through with the pension figures current from 20 September 2026, a single person who still receives any Age Pension lands below about 34.2% on independence supports and 58.06% on everyday living. The ceiling is a little lower for couples and higher for renters who receive Rent Assistance. The table and the working are further down this page.
Any estimate that gives a part pensioner one tidy number is guessing. The honest answer is a range — so that’s what we show.
What the band means in dollars
For a typical weekly plan (personal care, domestic assistance and nursing at median prices), a single part pensioner’s weekly share lands somewhere between $38.50 and $127.73. The full band in the Rules runs wider, $38.50 to $176.00, but the upper part of it is for non-pensioners under the Seniors Health Card income limit:
| If your assessed position is… | Independence rate | Everyday living rate | This plan, weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just above the full pension | 5% | 17.5% | $38.50 |
| Halfway to the pension cut-off | 19.6% | 37.78% | $83.12 |
| Right at the pension cut-off (single person) | 34.2% | 58.06% | $127.73 |
| Top of the band in the Rules (non-pensioners under the Seniors Health Card income limit) | 50% | 80% | $176.00 |
One thing to note: since 1 October 2026, personal care no longer attracts a contribution, so the personal care in this plan costs you $0.00wherever you land in the band (it still draws on your budget) — here’s what changed.
How Services Australia decides where you land
- Pensioners are auto-matched. Your pension data flows through — there’s no separate means assessment form for part pensioners.
- Financial assets are deemed, not measured. Deeming assumes 1.75% earnings up to $66,800.00 (single) / $110,600.00 (couple combined), and 3.75% above — whatever your money actually earns.
- Your rate letter is valid for 120 days before signing a provider agreement — and final rates are backdated to your entry record date, so interim payments true-up later.
- Tell Services Australia about financial changes within 28 days — your rate moves with your circumstances.
The sum behind your rate
The method is written into the Aged Care Rules 2025 (sections 314-55 to 314-85), and it is simpler than most people expect. In plain words:
- An income figure: half of your income above the pension income free area (s314-60). Income here is counted the way the pension income test counts it, so deemed earnings on financial assets are included.
- An assets figure: 7.8% of your assets above the pension assets limit (s314-65).
- Only the larger of the two is used. They are not added together (s314-75).
- That figure is turned into a position in the band. It is divided by a fixed ceiling — half the gap between the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income limit and the pension income free area (s314-70) — to give a percentage.
- Your two rates come straight from that percentage. The independence rate is 5% plus 0.45 times it (s314-80). The everyday living rate is 17.5% plus 0.625 times it (s314-85).
So someone with nothing above the free areas pays the bottom of the band, 5% and 17.5%, and the rates climb in a straight line from there. The thresholds themselves are the pension ones, and they are indexed, so the dollar figures move during the year even when the method does not.
Why a part pensioner stops short of the top. The income and assets figures above are the same sums the pension tests use, so the figure is roughly how much pension a year your income or assets have cost you. Once it reaches the whole pension, you are no longer a part pensioner. On the figures current from 20 September 2026, that happens at these rates:
| Your situation | Highest rates while any pension is paid | If your pension includes the maximum Rent Assistance |
|---|---|---|
| Single | 34.2% independence, 58.06% everyday living | 39.48% independence, 65.4% everyday living |
| Member of a couple living together (each partner) | 32.67% independence, 55.94% everyday living | 35.8% independence, 60.28% everyday living |
| Member of a couple separated by illness (each partner) | 33.99% independence, 57.77% everyday living | 39.23% independence, 65.05% everyday living |
Couples are assessed per person: a couple’s income and assets are halved, and each partner’s share is set against per-person limits. Rent Assistance lifts the ceiling because it is part of the pension, so the pension takes longer to run out. The income test and the assets test give the same ceilings. These are the highest points, not predictions — most part pensioners sit lower — and a few other supplements can shift the cut-off slightly, so rely on your Services Australia letter for the figure that counts.
One difference worth knowing: if you are in the grandfathered group, the Rules use the income figure only, with no assets figure, and both rates are a quarter of the percentage — anywhere from 0% to 25% (s314-55(2), s314-80(2) and s314-85(2)).
How the calculator uses this. Choose “part pension” and the estimate stops at the highest rate any part pensioner can reach, which is the single-renter figure in the table above. That keeps the range honest for everyone, but it means a couple, or a single person who owns their home, will see a top figure a little above their own ceiling. The top of that range is our working from the Rules and the published pension figures. It is not a legal limit, and your Services Australia letter is the answer.
See your own range — and once your letter arrives, enter the two rates from it for a single-figure answer.
Estimate the costsRelated: what Support at Home costs in 2026 · personal care is contribution-free from October