Support at Home is changing from the 1st October

Approved personal care under Support at Home will no longer attract a “participant contribution”

As you know, there are three categories of Support at Home services:

1. Clinical Supports – including nursing and physiotherapy. You don’t pay a contribution towards these services.
2. Independence services – helping you manage everyday life and stay independent at home. Until now, this has included personal care, as well as services such as transport and respite. These generally attract a contribution.
3. Everyday Living services – including domestic assistance, gardening and home maintenance. These continue to attract a contribution.

From 1st of October, personal care moves out of Independence Services and into Clinical Supports.

That’s the change. And it’s a fairly significant one.

So, what’s now included?

The definition of personal care isn’t changing. It still includes help with:

• showering
• dressing
• personal hygiene
• non-clinical continence care
• eating
• assistance with self-administration of medication

If personal care is approved in your support plan and you have Support at Home funding available, you won’t pay a contribution for these services from the 1st of October.

What hasn’t changed?

You don’t need to be reassessed because of this change. Your provider doesn’t change. Your eligibility for personal care doesn’t change and contributions for other services don’t disappear.

If you’re receiving cleaning, gardening, transport or other services that attract a contribution, you’ll continue to pay the applicable contribution.

So why talk to My Guardian now?

If you’ve been limiting personal care because of what it might have cost you, the 1st of October should change the calculation and enable you to access additional personal care services without paying an additional contribution to your package.

One final thing: personal care delivered before 1st of October is still subject to the contribution that applied when the service was delivered. You won’t receive a refund because the service is claimed after 1st of October. 

So, if you’re receiving Support at Home, now is a good time to find out exactly what 1st of October means for you.

Give My Guardian a call. We can help you work through the change and your current Support at Home arrangements.