Key Takeaways
- The big drivers of your out-of-pocket cost are pension status, services used and the basic daily fee, start there, not with the small stuff.
- Clinical services (nursing, allied health) cost you nothing, leave those out of any rough estimate.
- A full pensioner using mostly Everyday Living services will usually be under $40 a week out-of-pocket; a self-funded retiree, more like $90-$150.
- Any estimate without a service mix is misleading. Decide your typical week first, then put dollars against it.
- Use this five-minute method to ballpark; use a comparison tool or means assessment to get a precise number.
When people ring us asking what Support at Home will cost them, the first answer is always the same: it depends. Which is true, but unhelpful. So we built a five-minute method that gets you to a sensible ballpark without waiting on a means assessment or a provider quote.
You can do it now. All you need is a rough sense of your pension status and the kind of help you'd actually use.
Step 1, Pension status (30 seconds)
This sets your contribution band. Pick the one closest to you:
- Full age pensioner: low contributions across the board.
- Part-pensioner: moderate contributions, scaled by income.
- Self-funded retiree: high contributions, capped over time.
If you're not sure which bracket you're in, use Services Australia's pension calculator, but for ballpark purposes, your status today is close enough.
Step 2, Service mix (90 seconds)
Decide what a typical week of help would look like. Not the worst week, not your dream care plan, your normal. Most participants use a blend of three buckets:
- Clinical, nursing visits, physio, OT, podiatry. 100% government-funded under SAH. Doesn't add to your out-of-pocket.
- Independence, personal care (showering, dressing), transport, social support. Modest contribution from you.
- Everyday Living, domestic cleaning, gardening, meals, laundry. Larger contribution from you.
A typical mid-need participant might use:
- 1 hour of personal care, 3 days a week (Independence)
- 2 hours of cleaning, weekly (Everyday Living)
- 1 podiatry visit a month (Clinical, free to you)
- 4 hours of social support, weekly (Independence)
That's the kind of mix to write down before going to step 3.
Step 3, Apply the contribution rates (60 seconds)
The numbers below are indicative for 2025-26 and will shift when your means assessment is done. They're enough for a five-minute ballpark.
| Service category | Full pensioner | Part-pensioner | Self-funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Independence | 0-5% | 15-30% | up to 50% |
| Everyday Living | 5-15% | 25-50% | up to 80% |
Take your service hours from step 2, multiply by the typical hourly rate (around $80 for personal care, $70 for cleaning), then apply the contribution rate from the table. That's your fortnightly out-of-pocket on services.
Step 4, Add the basic daily fee (30 seconds)
Almost every SAH participant pays a basic daily fee, currently around $12.75 a day. Over a fortnight that's roughly $178. Most providers ask for it; the few that don't will be unusual.
Put another way: even if your services contribution is zero, you're probably looking at around $90 a week minimum once the BDF is added.
Step 5, Sanity check against typical numbers
A rough range for all-in fortnightly out-of-pocket cost for a participant on Classification 4 or 5 (which is mid-range):
| Pension status | Typical fortnightly out-of-pocket |
|---|---|
| Full age pensioner | $180-$280 |
| Part-pensioner | $260-$420 |
| Self-funded retiree | $400-$700 |
If your five-minute estimate is in that ballpark, you've done it right. If it's wildly outside, redo step 3, you've probably mis-classified your service mix.
What this estimate is not
Three caveats worth flagging before you treat the number as gospel:
- It assumes a "normal" week. If you have intensive needs (after-hours care, complex clinical visits, frequent transport), your numbers will be higher.
- It assumes one provider, no extras. Once you start adding equipment, occasional taxis on top of social transport, or holiday respite, numbers move.
- It ignores the lifetime cap. Your out-of-pocket on Independence and Everyday Living stops accruing once you hit $130,000 (or $82,018 if grandfathered). If you're already several years into care, factor that in.
When to upgrade from a ballpark to a proper estimate
The five-minute method is enough to:
- Decide whether SAH is genuinely affordable for you
- Compare two providers at a high level
- Estimate the gap between current spend and SAH spend if you're switching from private services
It is not enough to commit to a long-term care plan. For that, use a proper SAH budget calculator and ideally get a means assessment letter from Services Australia.
Run the numbers properly
When you're ready to move from a ballpark to a real plan, the SAH budget calculator lets you input your Classification, your pension status and a service mix and outputs an annual estimate.
If you'd rather see what providers in your area are charging before you commit, the price comparison shows hourly rates side-by-side. The five-minute method is just the doorway. Walk through it.