How older people and families find help at home now
Support at Home started on 1 November 2025. It replaced the Home Care Packages Program and the Short Term Restorative Care Programme, and it is now the main government program that pays for aged care at home. The Commonwealth Home Support Program keeps running separately and has been extended to 30 June 2029.
For a funded client, the path almost always starts with an aged care assessment through My Aged Care. Once approved and funded, the older person chooses one registered provider to deliver all of their Support at Home services. That provider also handles care management, which takes 10% of each quarterly budget and covers planning, reviewing and keeping track of the person’s care. Our plain guide to Support at Home explains the family side step by step.
In practice, the person doing the searching is very often an adult child, a partner or a close friend. They are usually busy, sometimes worried, and searching by suburb: “home care Ryde”, “aged care near Mum”, “cleaning for elderly parent Frankston”. Many have just received a Notice of Decision letter and are not sure what to do next. Others are waiting for Support at Home funding and want some help in the meantime.
That means the providers who get found are the ones who are visible in the suburbs families type, who explain clearly what they do and how it is paid for, and who are easy to talk to. You can see how families move through this on our aged care hub, where every suburb has its own home care page.
Support at Home clients or private clients: know which you serve
Under the new Aged Care Act, which started on 1 November 2025, every provider of government funded aged care must be registered with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. Only registered providers can deliver and claim Support at Home services.
If you are not registered, you can still build a strong business. There are three common paths:
- Private clients. Families pay you directly, at your price. This includes older people who are not eligible for funded care, people approved but still waiting for funding, and people who want more help than their budget covers.
- Working with a registered provider. Registered providers can deliver funded services through other businesses and individuals under an agreement. The Commission calls these associated providers. The registered provider stays responsible for the care, and the Code of Conduct and worker screening still apply to you.
- Registering yourself. Registration is open to sole traders, partnerships and companies with an ABN. The Commission checks suitability, capacity and capability, and some registration categories are audited against the Quality Standards.
Many businesses do a mix: private clients now, work with a registered provider for funded clients, and registration later. Whatever you choose, say it plainly on your website and every listing. A family with Support at Home funding needs to know in seconds whether you can help them, and a family paying privately needs to know you take private clients. The aged care Startup Kit walks through each path in more detail.
Being findable on My Aged Care
Only organisations that provide Australian Government funded services can be listed in the My Aged Care Find a provider tool. If you are registered, your profile there matters a great deal, because it is where many families compare their shortlist.
Each registered provider’s profile shows the services offered, published prices, a compliance section with current and past performance, and a summary of the provider’s finances. Families are told to compare all of these.
- Keep your list of services complete and accurate, including the suburbs you actually cover.
- Publish the price you most often charge for each service, and keep it up to date. This is a program rule, not just good marketing.
- Describe the languages your team speaks, cultural and faith backgrounds you support well, and experience with conditions such as dementia.
- Make your contact details easy to use, and answer the phone or email that families will reach.
If you are not registered, My Aged Care suggests providers without government funding consider listing on external directories. That is where your own website, your Google Business Profile and independent directories do the work instead.
Referral sources worth building
Word of mouth and local relationships still bring in a lot of aged care work. The aim is simple: be known, be trusted and be easy to reach when someone asks “who could help?”.
- GPs and practice nurses. They are often the first to notice an older patient struggling at home. A short, clear introduction to the practice manager, with your services, suburbs and funded or private status, is a good start.
- Hospital discharge planners and social workers. People leaving hospital often need help at home quickly, and private help can bridge the gap while funding is sorted.
- Care finders. They help older people who have no one else to support them through the aged care system. Care finders and assessors need to stay independent, so the goal is to be known and easy to find, never to ask for special treatment.
- Councils, libraries and community centres. Many run seniors programs, newsletters and information days.
- Seniors groups, clubs and multicultural community organisations, especially if your team speaks the languages of the community.
- Carer Gateway services, which support people caring for an older family member. Carers are often the ones choosing a provider.
- NDIS providers and support coordinators. An NDIS participant does not have to leave the NDIS at 65, but some do move to aged care. Our guide to turning 65 on the NDIS explains the rules, so you can talk about it accurately.
Follow up every referral with a thank you and, with the client’s consent, a short note that they are settled. Reliability is what referrers remember.
What families check before they call you
We publish guides for families on choosing a home care provider and on paying privately for home care. Read them as a checklist of what to show. Families are told to ask:
- Are you registered to deliver Support at Home, and for which services? Can you deliver everything in the Support Plan in this suburb?
- Do you deliver the services yourselves, or through another company?
- Can we see your price list, including evenings, weekends and public holidays?
- Who will the care partner be, and how often will they check in?
- Will the same workers come each time, and what happens when they are away?
- What happens if a visit is cancelled at short notice?
- Do you have experience with needs like dementia, and with our language, culture or faith?
- For private care: your insurance, how you screen workers, and everything in writing.
Answer these on your website before anyone has to ask. A family who can see the answers is far more likely to pick up the phone.
Google Business Profile and a simple website
You do not need an expensive website. You need a clear one. Families judge quickly, often on a phone, so make the basics easy to find.
- The suburbs you cover, written out by name, not just a region.
- Each service you offer, in plain words families use: personal care, cleaning, meals, transport, nursing, respite, social support.
- Whether you deliver Support at Home, take private clients, or both.
- Your prices, or at least how you price, and what is included.
- Your checks and insurance: police certificate or NDIS worker screening check, first aid, public liability insurance.
- How quickly you respond, and the best way to reach you.
- A real photo of you or your team, and a short story of why you do this work.
Set up a free Google Business Profile with your service area, hours, phone number and a link to your website. Keep it current, add photos with permission, and reply to every review politely, including the critical ones. Local search is where many families start, so this is often the highest value hour you will spend on marketing.
Pricing clearly and fairly
Under Support at Home, providers set their own prices, but they must publish the price they most often charge for each service on My Aged Care and their website, and agree prices with the client in the service agreement. Prices must be reasonable and based on the cost of delivering the service, and providers cannot charge separate administration or travel fees. The rules are set by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, so check its current pricing guidance before you set or change prices.
For private clients there is no government price list. Put your hourly rate, any evening, weekend and public holiday rates, minimum visit length and cancellation terms in writing before you start. Clear, honest pricing is one of the strongest trust signals you can give a family comparing a few providers.
Responding to worried families
An enquiry about aged care often comes at a stressful time: a fall, a hospital stay, a parent who is no longer coping. Families usually contact several providers at once, and the first one to reply with a clear, kind answer often wins the client.
- Reply the same day where you can, and within a day at the latest.
- Answer the real question first: can you help, in that suburb, and roughly when could you start?
- Explain funded and private options in plain words, without jargon or pressure.
- Speak with the older person, not only about them. Involve family with the older person’s consent.
- If you cannot help, say so quickly and, where you can, suggest where else to look. Families remember that kindness.
Keeping clients and earning word of mouth
Keeping a client is worth far more than finding a new one, and happy families are the best referral source there is.
- Consistency: the same workers wherever possible, and a heads up when that has to change.
- Communication: a regular, simple update for the family, with the client’s consent.
- Care plan reviews: check in on goals and preferences, not just tasks. Under Support at Home, providers must have at least one direct care management contact with the client or their registered supporter every month.
- Easy complaints: make it simple to raise a concern, and fix things quickly.
- Respect choice: clients can change providers at any time and cannot be charged for leaving. Earning their loyalty is the only lock in that works.
Marketing to private clients
Private clients often find you through the same search as funded clients, so make sure your pages say clearly that you take private clients and that help can start without an assessment. Three moments are worth speaking to directly:
- Families waiting for Support at Home funding who need help now.
- Older people assessed as not eligible for funded care who still want a hand.
- Clients with a Support at Home budget who want extra help on top, through a separate private agreement.
Be honest that private care is not subsidised, and make the value clear: reliable workers, flexible times and clear prices.
Compliance notes for your marketing
Good marketing in aged care is honest, specific and respectful. A few things to keep in mind:
- The Code of Conduct for Aged Care applies to registered providers, their responsible persons and their aged care workers, including independent contractors. Registered providers must also uphold the Statement of Rights and give clients a copy of both.
- Keep prices and claims accurate. Australian Consumer Law applies to all businesses, funded or private, and misleading claims can cause real harm to families.
- Never pressure an older person or their family to sign, and give them time to think and talk it over.
- Ask for written consent before sharing any client story, photo or review, and never share personal or health information without it.
- Only send marketing emails or texts to people who have agreed to receive them, and include a simple way to unsubscribe, as the Spam Act requires.
- Be careful with referral payments or gifts to win clients. They can create conflicts of interest and may breach the Code of Conduct or consumer law.
This is general information, not legal advice. If you are unsure about a rule, check with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission or get professional advice.
Where directories and Supportd fit
Directories are useful because families search them by suburb, and because providers without government funding cannot appear on My Aged Care. Choose ones that show the suburbs you cover, whether you are funded or private, and how to contact you directly, and check what each really costs you over a year.
Supportd is one option. Listing your home care business on Supportd puts your profile on the home care page for every suburb you cover, shows families whether you deliver Support at Home or take private clients, and lets them contact you directly. It is a flat monthly subscription with no commission and no cut of any client’s budget, and on the Growth plan our team hand matches family enquiries to providers in the right area.
A first 30 days checklist
- Decide and write down who you serve: Support at Home, private, or both, and which suburbs.
- Set up or tidy your Google Business Profile and a one page website with services, suburbs, prices and checks.
- If registered, review your My Aged Care profile and published prices.
- Introduce yourself to five local GP practices and one hospital discharge team.
- Contact your local council’s seniors program and one community organisation.
- Write a simple enquiry reply you can personalise, and aim to respond the same day.
- List your business on directories families use, including the ones that show your suburbs.
- Ask your current clients and families, with consent, whether they would recommend you.
If you also support people with disability, our sibling guide on how to get NDIS clients covers the NDIS side. Unfamiliar terms are explained in the aged care glossary.