Home care package levels, and what replaced them
Home Care Packages came in four levels, from level 1 for basic care needs to level 4 for high care needs, and each level carried a different amount of funding. From 1 July 2025 that system was replaced by Support at Home, which uses a larger set of classifications rather than four levels. In both systems the level is set by an assessment of what you need, not by what you ask for, and higher levels carry more funding rather than different types of care.
VSG Home Care is a registered NDIS provider. We are not an approved aged care provider yet, and we cannot deliver Support at Home services today. This page explains how the system works — it is not an offer of service. For anything about your own situation, contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.
What the four levels meant
Under Home Care Packages there were four levels. Level 1 was for basic care needs — perhaps some help with cleaning and shopping. Level 2 was for low care needs, level 3 for intermediate, and level 4 for high care needs, which might mean daily personal care and nursing.
The level did not change what kind of help you could buy. It changed how much of it. Somebody on level 1 and somebody on level 4 could both use their funding for personal care; the level decided how many hours it stretched to.
What Support at Home changed
Support at Home began on 1 July 2025 and replaced Home Care Packages for new participants. Instead of four levels it uses a wider set of classifications, so the funding fits the need more closely than four broad bands could.
It also groups services into categories — clinical care, help to stay independent, and everyday living — and treats them differently when working out what you contribute. Clinical care is treated most generously; everyday living help the least.
People who already had a Home Care Package when the change happened were not meant to end up worse off. If you are in that position, your existing arrangements are the thing to ask My Aged Care about specifically, because the transition rules are their own subject.
How your level is decided
By assessment. You contact My Aged Care, an assessor visits and works through what you can and cannot manage on your own, and a classification follows from that.
It is worth being straightforward in that conversation rather than stoic. Assessors are working out what an ordinary day actually looks like, and describing your best day rather than your average one is the most common way people end up with less support than they need.
Questions
Not directly, but you can ask for a reassessment if your needs have changed or if you think the assessment missed something. That is a normal request and not a complaint. Keep a note of what has changed since the last one, because that is what a reassessment turns on.
Not for new participants. Support at Home replaced them from 1 July 2025. The phrase is still what most people search for and still what most families say, which is why it is used here — but the current system has a different name.
Want to hear from us when we are approved?
Join the waiting list. It costs nothing, commits you to nothing, and is not a service agreement — and if you need help before then, we will point you to someone who can give it.