If you’ve just received your Support at Home Funding Assignment Notice and noticed your budget is less than you expected, you’re not alone – and there’s nothing wrong with your application.

Many family carers across Queensland are opening letters right now that confirm their loved one has been approved for Support at Home funding only to discover that just 60% of the total budget is available straight away. The letter can be confusing, the timeline feels urgent and the jargon doesn’t help. Here’s what that reduced figure actually means, why it happens and what you need to do next.

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What Is Support at Home?

Support at Home is the Australian Government’s home care program, which replaced the former Home Care Packages Program from 1 November 2025. It subsidises in-home care for older Australians, helping them live safely and independently at home rather than moving into residential aged care.

Funding is based on individual assessed care needs and allocated across eight classifications, from Classification 1 (minimal support, around $10,732 per year) through to Classification 8 (the highest level of complex care, around $78,106 per year). Most people receiving interim funding will sit somewhere in the middle of that range. A Classification 3, for example, provides around $21,966 annually for moderate support including personal care, meal preparation, mobility aid support and household cleaning.

What Is Interim Funding?

When demand for Support at Home places is high, the government uses a national Priority System to manage the queue. Rather than leaving people waiting months with no support at all, it releases 60% of your total annual budget as an interim measure so your loved one can begin essential services immediately.

The remaining 40% is not lost. It is still allocated to you and will be released automatically once your place in the national queue is reached. You do not need to contact My Aged Care or reapply. The government estimates most people will stay on interim funding for around 10 weeks before moving to their full budget, though some may wait longer depending on demand and their Priority Category.

When the full funding is released, My Aged Care will notify both you and your provider. There is no backpay, however, your budget simply increases to 100% from that day forward.

Three Things to Do When the Letter Arrives

Your Funding Assignment Notice can look daunting, but the key information is all there, it’s just spread across a few pages. Here’s what to look for:

Check your classification and total budget (Page 1). This confirms your Support at Home classification and your full annual funding amount once 100% is in place.
Check if you have been allocated interim funding (Page 2). Current high demand means many people are given interim funding initially. If this applies to you, this page will confirm your 60% figure in dollars. For example, if your full budget is $42,055, your interim amount is approximately $25,233. If you aren’t on interim funding, this page will simply confirm your full 100% allocation.
Locate your referral code (Page 3). Keep this safe. You’ll need to give your referral code to any provider you contact. It allows them to access your loved one’s assessment so they can confirm whether they can meet their care needs.

What Will Your Budget Actually Buy?

One thing that often surprises carers is how provider fees affect the real-world hours of care received. Under Support at Home, your budget is funded quarterly, so a Classification 3 budget of $21,966 per year becomes roughly $5,491 per quarter. Of that, 10% is set aside for care management, leaving the rest for direct services.

Providers then charge their own hourly rates for delivering those services, which vary significantly across Australia. This means two providers offering exactly the same classification of care can deliver very different numbers of hours, which is why comparing providers before you commit is so important.

Your budget is also split across three service categories, each with different out-of-pocket contribution rates:

Clinical Care (nursing, allied health, continence support, nutrition) — the government covers 100% of the cost regardless of your pension status
Independence (personal care, transport, social support, respite) — full pensioners contribute just 5%; self-funded retirees contribute 50%
Everyday Living (domestic assistance, meal preparation, gardening, home maintenance) — full pensioners contribute 17.5%; self-funded retirees contribute 80%

Focusing your interim budget on clinical and independence services (where your out-of-pocket contributions are lower) means your 60% goes further while you wait for the full amount.

Making the Most of a Reduced Budget

Because you’re working with 60% of the full budget, it pays to be strategic about which services to start with.

Prioritise these first:

Personal care like showering, dressing, toileting support
Medication management
Nursing or allied health visits if clinically needed
Transport to medical appointments
Meal preparation if cooking is unsafe

Defer these until full funding arrives:

Deep cleaning (basic bathroom and kitchen cleaning is fine for now)
Social outings or extra respite hours
Non-urgent home maintenance or gardening

When you contact providers, ask specifically: “On my current interim budget, how many hours of care will I receive each week, and which service categories will those hours be drawn from?” The answer will vary widely between providers. Understanding these differences is crucial to getting the most out of your reduced budget.

Don’t Miss the 56-Day Deadline

This is the most important thing to act on. Your letter includes a strict deadline: you must sign a Service Agreement with a provider within 56 days of the date your funding was allocated.

If you need more time to find the right provider, call My Aged Care before that deadline expires to request a single 28-day extension. This will give you up to 84 days in total. If you miss the deadline without requesting an extension, your funding can be withdrawn, and your loved one may need to re-join the waiting list. Given the current demand for Support at Home places, that’s a delay that’s worth every effort to avoid.

Navigate Your Options with Confidence

Decoding a Funding Assignment Notice, comparing provider hourly rates across three service categories and meeting a 56-day deadline, on top of everything else you manage as a carer, is a lot to carry. At Aged Care Decisions, we help thousands of families across the country make sense of their Support at Home funding, find providers with current availability, and ensure their loved one’s care starts as quickly and smoothly as possible. Our free, independent service matches you with providers tailored to your location, budget and personal preferences.
Visit agedcaredecisions.com.au or call 1300 775 870.