From 1 November 2025 the Support at Home program replaces the:
- Home Care Packages (HCP) program
- Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) programme.
Support at Home helps older people to:
- keep living at home longer
- be connected to their community
- receive health and wellbeing support.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (department) leads the Support at Home program. You can find more information about it in the department’s Support at Home manual.
Support at Home short-term pathways
People using the Support at Home program will have access to 3 short-term pathways to help them stay at home longer:
- Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme
- Restorative Care Pathway
- End-of-Life Pathway.
You can find more information about the pathways on the department’s website.
Our role
The Commission regulates registered providers that deliver Support at Home.
We register all providers in one or more registration categories. Each category groups services together based on:
- common characteristics
- risks associated with the services they provide
- provider obligations (what they must do) to reduce those risks.
We regulate providers based on their category (or categories) and the obligations they have to meet.
All providers must:
- uphold the Statement of Rights
- follow the Code of Conduct for Aged Care (Code) and make sure their workers and responsible persons follow the Code
- report serious incidents to us through the Serious Incident Response Scheme page
- make sure older people and their supporters are aware of their right to make a complaint or give feedback to us or their provider.
Support at Home providers registered in categories 4 and 5 must also comply with the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (Quality Standards) that apply to them:
- Providers in Category 4 – strengthened Quality Standards 1 to 4 (and Standard 5 [Outcome 5.1] if they provide care management or restorative care management)
- Providers in Category 5 – strengthened Quality Standards 1 to 5.
Our Regulatory Strategy 2025–26 explains our risk-based, proportionate approach to regulating the aged care sector. It applies to all registered providers of Australian Government-funded aged care.
We use a range of regulatory and enforcement tools to make sure providers and workers are meeting their obligations and delivering safe, quality aged care.
More information
Guidance
The strengthened Quality Standards guidance tool helps providers and workers understand and meet the strengthened Quality Standards.
You can use this online tool to find the information you need. Choose your registration category to see the strengthened Quality Standards that apply to you. You’ll find information about how to meet each outcome.
The tool also encourages you to use best practice when providing care and services.
