Level 4 Home Care Package: Funding and Hours (2026)
A Level 4 home care package was the highest of the four Home Care Package levels, worth $174.68 a day (about $63,758 a year) when the program closed. If you held one on 1 November 2025, you are now a transitioned Support at Home participant with a Transitioned Level 4 budget of $65,543.98 a year. New applicants cannot be given Level 4. They receive one of eight Support at Home classifications, and the nearest by budget are Classification 7 ($59,776.80) and Classification 8 ($80,294).
Key points
- Home Care Packages closed to new entrants on 1 November 2025, when Support at Home started
- Transitioned Level 4 budget: $65,543.98 a year, or $16,386 a quarter, indexed each 1 July
- 10% of each quarterly budget goes to care management
- Hours are not fixed. At $100 an hour for personal care, the budget buys about 11 hours a week
- Clinical supports, including nursing and personal care, have no participant contribution
- If you were approved for a package on or before 12 September 2024, the no worse off principle applies to what you pay
- New applicants are assessed for Classifications 1 to 8, not Levels 1 to 4
What was a Level 4 home care package?
Level 4 was the top level of the Home Care Packages Program. It funded care at home for people with high-level needs, often as an alternative to moving into an aged care home.
The program closed on 1 November 2025. Support at Home replaced it on the same day. Nobody can be assessed for Level 4 now.
What happened to existing recipients depends on where they were in the process:
| Your situation on 31 October 2025 | What you have now |
|---|---|
| Receiving a Level 4 package | A Transitioned Home Care Package Level 4 budget under Support at Home |
| Approved for Level 4 but still waiting | A place in the Support at Home Priority System. You receive the Transitioned Level 4 budget when funding is allocated |
| Not yet assessed | A new assessment and one of the eight Support at Home classifications |
You keep the transitioned budget until you are reassessed. If a reassessment finds higher needs, you move to a Support at Home classification (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, 2026).
How much funding do you get?
A Transitioned Level 4 budget is $65,543.98 a year, released as $16,386 each quarter. These amounts include the 10% set aside for care management.
For new applicants, the two highest classifications sit either side of that figure:
| Budget | Annual amount |
|---|---|
| Classification 7 | $59,776.80 |
| Transitioned Home Care Package Level 4 | $65,543.98 |
| Classification 8 | $80,294 |
This is a comparison by dollars. The department does not publish a conversion from Level 4 to a classification. Your assessor decides the classification from your needs.
Budgets are indexed on 1 July each year, and the department can adjust them at other times. It did so on 1 October 2026 after a Nurses Award increase. The Schedule of Subsidies and Supplements for Support at Home shows the amount that applies today.
What the old package paid
| Date | Level 4 daily subsidy | Annual equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| From 1 July 2024 | $168.33 | About $61,440 |
| At 1 October 2025 (final rate) | $174.68 | About $63,758 |
Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Schedule of Subsidies and Supplements for Aged Care (Before 1 November 2025).
Unspent package funds
If you had unspent Home Care Package funds, you kept them. No carryover limit applies to those funds, and they move with you if you change provider. You must use them first for assistive technology and home modifications. You can also use them for extra services once your quarterly budget is spent.
Your ongoing quarterly budget works differently. You can carry over up to $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is greater.
What does high-level care cover?
Your budget pays for services on the Support at Home service list that are in your support plan. The list has three contribution categories.
Clinical supports
- Nursing care from a registered nurse, enrolled nurse or nursing assistant
- Wound care, clinical continence management and medication administration
- Allied health, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, speech pathology and dietetics
- Personal care: showering, dressing, eating, hygiene, non-clinical continence support and help to self-administer medication
- Prescribed nutrition products
- Care management
Independence
- Respite in your home or in the community
- Transport, with a driver and car or through taxi and rideshare vouchers
- Social support, accompanied activities and cultural support
- Therapeutic services such as remedial massage in a prescribed treatment plan
Everyday living
- Domestic assistance: cleaning, laundry and shopping help
- Home maintenance, repairs and essential light gardening
- Meal preparation and meal delivery
Assistive technology and home modifications are funded separately through the AT-HM scheme. The tiers are $513, $2,052 and $15,390, so a hospital bed, hoist or bathroom change does not have to come out of your quarterly budget. Transitioned participants use unspent package funds first.
Residential respite is not paid from a Support at Home budget. It is funded through the residential aged care system.
For the full list of what is in and out of scope, see our guide to Support at Home inclusions and exclusions.
How many hours per fortnight?
There is no set number of hours for Level 4. Providers set their own prices, so the same budget buys different hours with different providers.
Here is a worked example. It uses the department’s indicative national median prices, which came from a provider survey and are not price caps.
Step 1. Transitioned Level 4 budget: $65,543.98 a year.
Step 2. Take off 10% for care management. About $58,870 a year is left for services, or about $1,130 a week.
Step 3. Divide by the price of the services you use.
| Service | Assumed weekday price | Hours a week | Weekly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal care | $100 an hour | 7 | $700 |
| Registered nurse | $160 an hour | 1 | $160 |
| Domestic assistance | $95 an hour | 1.5 | $142.50 |
| Physiotherapy (one visit a fortnight) | $185 an hour | 0.5 | $92.50 |
| Total | 10 | $1,095 |
That mix is about 20 hours a fortnight. If the whole budget went on weekday personal care at $100 an hour, it would buy about 11 hours a week, or 22 to 23 hours a fortnight.
Three things reduce the hours:
- A provider that charges more than the median
- Weekend, evening and public holiday rates
- A plan with more nursing and allied health, which cost more per hour
Compare full price lists before you sign. Every provider must publish one. Our Support at Home prices guide explains how to read them, and the Support at Home calculator lets you model your own mix.
Personal care is the support people ask for most through Carevo (1,593 recent inquiries), which is why the example leans on it.
Who is high-level care for?
Level 4 was for people with high-level care needs. Under Support at Home, the same needs usually lead to Classification 7 or 8. That often means someone who:
- Needs help with personal care every day, often more than once
- Needs regular nursing for a chronic or complex condition
- Lives with moderate to advanced dementia
- Has significant mobility limits or a high falls risk
- Relies on a family carer who needs regular respite
- Would otherwise be looking at residential aged care
Your assessor decides the classification, not the provider. If your needs are closer to regular nursing and allied health without daily personal care, read about the Level 3 home care package. The other levels are covered in our guides to Level 1 and Level 2.
How to apply
You cannot apply for Level 4 any more. New applicants apply for an aged care assessment and receive a Support at Home classification.
- Check you meet the requirements. You need care needs and must be 65 or older, or 50 or older if you are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person or are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
- Apply for an assessment. Use the form at myagedcare.gov.au or call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422. Our My Aged Care registration guide walks through it.
- Have the assessment. An assessment organisation contacts you, usually within 2 to 6 weeks, and visits you at home.
- Read your Notice of Decision. It lists your classification, your priority category and your support plan.
- Wait for funding. Funding is allocated through the Support at Home Priority System.
- Choose a provider. You have 56 days from your funding letter to sign a service agreement and start services. My Aged Care can give you 28 more days.
Already on a Transitioned Level 4 budget? You do not need to reapply. Ask My Aged Care for a reassessment if your needs have grown.
More detail is in our guide to home care package eligibility.
The wait and what to do about it
Your wait depends on your priority category and your approval date. There are four categories: urgent, high, medium and standard.
| Priority category | Estimated wait for ongoing funding |
|---|---|
| Urgent | Within 1 month |
| High | 1 month |
| Medium | 5 to 6 months |
| Standard | 7 to 8 months |
Source: My Aged Care estimates, last updated 30 June 2026. The estimates change, so check the current table.
Interim funding. When waits are longer than expected, you may be given 60% of your approved budget first. The rest follows when funding is available. It is not backdated.
While you wait:
- Ask whether the Commonwealth Home Support Program can cover basic services
- Tell My Aged Care if your situation gets worse. Your priority can be reviewed
- For emergency respite, call Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737
- Consider paying privately for the most urgent support
Costs and fees
Under Support at Home you only pay a contribution on services you receive. The percentage depends on the type of service and on your income and assets.
Service-based contributions
| Your assessment outcome | Clinical supports | Independence | Everyday living |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full pensioner | 0% | 5% | 17.5% |
| Part pensioner or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder | 0% | Between 5% and 50% | Between 17.5% and 80% |
| Self-funded without a Seniors Health Card, or means not disclosed | 0% | 50% | 80% |
Personal care has counted as a clinical support for contributions since 1 October 2026. You pay nothing for showering, dressing and similar help if it is in your support plan. Care management also has no contribution.
No worse off principle
If you were receiving or approved for a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024:
- If you were assessed as having to pay an income-tested care fee at 31 October 2025, you pay the same or less under Support at Home
- If you were assessed as not having to pay one, you will never be asked to pay contributions under Support at Home
If you were approved after 12 September 2024, the standard rates in the table apply.
Lifetime cap
Contributions stop once you reach the lifetime cap. The standard cap is $140,652.80. If the no worse off principle applies to you, the cap is $88,934.57. Both figures are as at 20 September 2026 and are indexed each 20 March and 20 September. The cap is shared with the non-clinical care contribution in residential aged care.
The value equation
Prices matter more than fees at this level. A provider charging $10 an hour more for personal care costs a Level 4 participant about one hour of care a week. Care management is the same 10% everywhere, and providers cannot charge entry or exit fees.
If you cannot afford your contributions, ask Services Australia about financial hardship assistance.
Support at Home changes
Support at Home replaced the Home Care Packages Program on 1 November 2025. For someone who held Level 4, the main changes are:
- Budget. You keep a Transitioned Level 4 budget. It is released quarterly
- Classifications. Eight classifications replaced the four levels for new applicants. See Classification 7 and Classification 8
- Care management. A flat 10% of the quarterly budget
- Contributions. A percentage of each service, with none for clinical supports
- Equipment and modifications. Funded through the separate AT-HM scheme
- Assessment. The Single Assessment System has done all aged care needs assessments since 9 December 2024
- Prices. Providers set their own. Government price caps were deferred in May 2026
Read our Support at Home program guide for the full picture, or switching from a Home Care Package to Support at Home if you are a transitioned participant.
High-level home care vs residential care
| Factor | High-level care at home | Residential aged care |
|---|---|---|
| Funding | $65,543.98 (Transitioned Level 4) or up to $80,294 (Classification 8) a year | Government funded, plus resident fees |
| What you pay | A percentage of non-clinical services, up to the lifetime cap | Basic daily fee of $68.93 a day, plus means-tested and accommodation costs |
| Overnight staffing | Not funded around the clock | Staff on site 24 hours |
| Where you live | Your own home | A shared facility |
| Who coordinates care | You, your family and your care partner | The home |
Home care at this level works when needs can be met by scheduled visits, the home can be made safe, and a carer is coping. If someone needs supervision around the clock, residential care may be the safer choice.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a Level 4 home care package?
A Transitioned Level 4 budget is $65,543.98 a year, paid as $16,386 a quarter. New applicants cannot get Level 4. The nearest classifications by budget are Classification 7 ($59,776.80) and Classification 8 ($80,294).
How many hours is a Level 4 home care package?
There is no fixed number. After 10% care management the budget leaves about $1,130 a week. At $100 an hour for weekday personal care that is about 11 hours a week. See the worked example.
How much was Level 4?
The final Level 4 basic subsidy was $174.68 a day, about $63,758 a year, at 1 October 2025. From 1 July 2024 it was $168.33 a day. Transitioned recipients now have $65,543.98 a year.
How many hours is high-level care?
It depends on your provider’s prices. At $100 an hour for weekday personal care, a Transitioned Level 4 budget buys about 11 hours a week after care management. A plan with nursing and allied health buys fewer hours.
Can high-level care replace a nursing home?
For some people. The budget can fund daily personal care, regular nursing and respite. It does not fund 24-hour staffing.
How long is the wait?
My Aged Care’s estimates at 30 June 2026 ranged from within 1 month for urgent priority to 7 to 8 months for standard priority. Once funding is allocated you have 56 days to start services, with a 28-day extension on request.
What if high-level care is not enough?
Ask My Aged Care for a reassessment. A transitioned participant who is reassessed at a higher need moves to a Support at Home classification, and Classification 8 is $80,294 a year. You can also pay privately for extra services, or look at residential aged care.
Can I get overnight care with high-level support?
Some, but the budget does not stretch to regular overnight shifts. Many people use personal alarms, monitoring equipment or family support overnight.
Resources
- Funding classifications for Support at Home - Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
- Support at Home costs and contributions - My Aged Care
- Assessment outcome: Support at Home - wait times and priority categories
- Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission - complaints about a provider
- Carer Gateway - support for family carers
Find a high-level care provider
Carevo is a connection platform. We do not deliver care. We connect you with aged care providers that deliver high-level home care so you can compare price lists, services and availability before you sign a service agreement.
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