From 1 November 2025, the Support at Home program will replace the Home Care Packages (HCP) program and the Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) programme.
The Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) will transition to Support at Home no earlier than 1 July 2027.
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 Support at Home.
Aged care providers transitioning from HCP or STRC to Support at Home must meet their current obligations until 1 November 2025, when the Aged Care Act 2024 (new Aged Care Act) starts.
The department’s Support at Home Program Provider Transition Guide explains what HCP and STRC providers should do to prepare for the transition. The department has also published a transition guide for providers delivering services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
How we’ll regulate Support at Home providers
The Commission will regulate registered providers that deliver Support at Home. We’ll regulate them based on their registration categories.
Our draft 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.
From 1 November 2025, Support at Home providers that are registered in categories 4 and 5 must comply with (meet) the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (strengthened 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.
We don’t audit category 1, 2 and 3 providers against the Quality Standards.
All providers, including those registered in categories 1, 2 and 3, must comply with (meet) their obligations (responsibilities) under the new Aged Care Act. This includes (but isn’t limited to):
- upholding the Statement of Rights
- following the Code of Conduct for Aged Care (the Code) and making sure their workers and responsible persons follow the Code
- reporting serious incidents to the Commission through the Serious Incident Response Scheme
- making sure older people and their supporters are aware of their right to make a complaint or give feedback to us or their provider.
You can find more information about provider obligations on the department’s website.
Commonwealth Home Support Program
The Commonwealth Home Support Program(CHSP) will transition to Support at Home no earlier than 1 July 2027. The department has deemed CHSP providers into the relevant registration categories for the service types they deliver. The obligations for the category (or categories) CHSP providers are registered in will apply.
