Support at Home Price Caps: What They Are and Why They've Been Deferred

What's Changed: Price Caps Have Been Deferred

If you receive Support at Home services, or you're helping a parent who does, you may have heard that the government was about to cap the prices providers can charge. That cap had a start date: 1 July 2026. In May 2026, the government deferred it.

On 19 May 2026, the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae, announced that the planned price caps would not start as scheduled. They have been postponed, with no new start date set, until the government has, in its words, greater confidence in the stability of the aged care market.

This guide explains what the caps were designed to do, why they've been paused, and, most importantly, what the deferral means for the price you pay for care.

What Support at Home Price Caps Were Meant to Do

Support at Home replaced the Home Care Packages program on 1 November 2025. One of the reforms still being phased in is a set of price caps, a maximum price for each service in the Support at Home service list.

The most important thing to understand about a price cap is that it is a ceiling, not a fixed price. A cap does not tell every provider to charge the same amount. It sets the most a provider is allowed to charge for a service. Providers can, and many would, charge less than the cap to stay competitive. No registered provider could legally charge more.

The caps were designed to be all-inclusive

Under the plan, a capped price would have had to cover everything involved in delivering that service: the support worker's wages, travel to and from your home, scheduling, and the provider's administration. A provider could not advertise an hourly rate at the cap and then add separate travel fees, admin fees or booking fees on top. The cap was the total.

Prices were also expected to vary by location. Delivering care in a remote town costs more than delivering it in a capital city, given longer travel, a thinner workforce, and higher supply costs. The cap framework was designed with geographic loadings, so the ceiling would sit higher in regional, rural and remote areas.

The Original Two-Stage Plan

Price caps were always meant to arrive in stages, not on day one. Support at Home launched in November 2025 with a transition period built in.

In other words, the first stage, providers setting their own prices, has not ended. It has been extended. The deferral keeps the system in that opening transition period for longer than originally planned.

Why the Government Pressed Pause

The decision to defer the caps followed consultation with the aged care sector. A few connected reasons were given.

• Not enough pricing data yet. Support at Home only began in November 2025. The government and IHACPA wanted to see how prices actually settled under the new system before locking in a ceiling, rather than capping prices against the old Home Care Packages model.
• The risk of caps pushing prices up. When a maximum price is published, there is a known risk that providers priced below it drift up towards it, and the cap becomes a target. The government pointed to this pattern and to the broader experience of regulated pricing schemes.
• Protecting choice and access. Industry groups warned that a cap set too low, before the true cost of quality care was understood, could push providers out of the market, particularly in regional areas and for complex, high-needs care. Fewer providers means less choice and longer waitlists.

Catholic Health Australia, which represents a large group of not-for-profit aged care providers, welcomed the deferral, arguing that most providers were not overcharging and that a premature cap would have done more harm than good. Ageing Australia, the sector's main industry body, made a similar point, that any cap set now would not reflect the true cost of delivering quality services.

What Protects You While There Are No Caps

No price caps does not mean no rules. Several protections are already in force under Support at Home, and the government has announced more to fill the gap left by the deferral.

Protections already in place

• Care Management is capped at 10%. The Care Management fee a provider charges to coordinate and oversee your care cannot exceed 10% of your quarterly budget, well below the 25% to 35% some providers charged under the old Home Care Packages program.
• Entry and exit fees are banned. A provider cannot charge you a fee to start with them, or a fee to leave them.
• A lifetime contribution cap. There is a limit on the total amount you can be asked to contribute to your care over your lifetime, $135,318.69 as at 1 November 2025, indexed twice a year. It protects people who need care for many years.
• Clinical care is fully funded. Nursing and allied health, such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy, are paid for entirely by the government. You contribute nothing, regardless of income.

New protections announced with the deferral

Alongside the deferral, the government announced stronger oversight of pricing while caps are on hold:

• Refunds for overcharging. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is to be given the power to order a provider to refund you where it has overcharged.
• Monthly statements. Providers are required to give you a clear monthly statement showing what you have been charged.
• Published price comparisons. The Commission is to publish regular summaries of provider prices, so it is easier to see how your provider compares with others.
• A definition of reasonable pricing. A working group is being set up to define what counts as reasonable pricing, a benchmark regulators can act on even without a hard cap.

What the Deferral Means for Your Budget

For most people receiving Support at Home, the deferral changes one thing in practice: the price you pay for services is still set by your provider, not by a government ceiling. That has a few consequences worth understanding.

Prices still vary, a lot

Because there is no cap, two providers in the same suburb can charge very different rates for the same service. A difference of $15 an hour on personal care does not sound dramatic, but across a year it can mean dozens of hours of care gained or lost from the same budget. A cap would have narrowed that gap. Without one, it stays wide.

Your provider can still change its prices

During the transition period, providers can adjust their prices. A reputable provider will give you notice and a clear reason. But there is no legal ceiling stopping a price rise, which makes it worth checking your statements and knowing what others charge.

Lower-overhead providers pass on more care

The less a provider takes in fees and margin, the more of your budget reaches actual care. Providers built around a self-managed model, where you direct your own care and the provider mainly handles compliance and administration, typically run leaner than full-service providers who coordinate everything for you. Self-managed clients pay a capped self-management fee (a provider overhead capped at 10%) for that support. With no cap flattening the market, that difference in how much budget reaches care is larger, not smaller.

What to Do Now

The deferral is not a reason to do nothing. If anything, it puts more responsibility on you to check that you are getting fair value, and there are a few straightforward steps.

1. Read your statements. Pull your last two or three statements and work out the effective hourly rate you are paying for each service type, such as personal care, domestic assistance, and nursing. This is your baseline.
2. Compare it. Check what other registered providers in your area charge for the same services. If your provider sits well above the local range, that is worth a conversation.
3. Ask your provider directly. Ask for a full, written fee schedule, every charge, not just the headline hourly rate. A provider that hesitates to put its prices in writing is telling you something.
4. Know that you can switch. Your funding follows you, not the provider. If another provider offers better value, you can move. There are no exit fees, and the process usually takes a few weeks.
5. Keep an eye on the news. The caps have been deferred, not cancelled. A new start date may be announced. When it is, the published caps will give you a clear benchmark to check your provider against.

The Bottom Line

Price caps for Support at Home were meant to start on 1 July 2026 and were deferred in May 2026. The government's view is that capping prices before the new system has settled could do more harm than good. Whether or not you agree, the practical situation is clear: for now, there is no government ceiling on what providers charge for services.

That makes the ordinary work of comparing prices more valuable, not less. A cap would have done some of that work for you. Without one, the most reliable way to protect your budget is to know what your provider charges, know what others charge, and act on the difference.