Key points

  • The Support at Home fee estimator is a free tool on the official My Aged Care website
  • It asks about your assessment status, partner and pension status, income and assets, and any past Home Care Package
  • It returns contribution percentages by category: clinical care 0%, independence services 5% to 50%, everyday living services 17.5% to 80%
  • Full pensioners pay the lowest rates, self funded retirees pay the highest, and part pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders sit on a means tested sliding scale between
  • The result is an estimate only: it does not compare providers, does not show real hourly prices, and is not a binding quote
  • From 1 October 2026, personal care moves into clinical supports and becomes fully government funded
  • Carevo helps you understand the estimate and connects you with vetted providers; it never sets fees or runs assessments

What the fee estimator is for

The My Aged Care fee estimator helps you work out roughly what you would contribute toward your Support at Home services before you commit to anything. It turns your financial situation into a set of contribution percentages and an indicative quarterly budget.

It is run by the government. Carevo is a connection platform, so we do not set any of these fees or carry out assessments. What we can do is help you read the result and then connect you with vetted providers who deliver the actual care. For background on how the program works overall, see our Support at Home program complete guide.

This walkthrough covers home care only. If you are looking at a residential aged care home and want to estimate room and care fees there, that is a different calculation covered in our aged care fees calculator guide for Australia.

Before you start

You do not need to log in, and you do not need exact figures to get a useful first estimate. It helps to have a rough idea of:

  • Whether you have had an aged care assessment, and roughly when
  • Whether you are single or a member of a couple
  • Your pension status: full pensioner, part pensioner, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder, or self funded
  • Your income and assets, even approximately
  • Whether you held a Home Care Package before the changeover

You can open the official tool here: the Support at Home fee estimator on My Aged Care. That is the only place the real estimator lives.

Step by step walkthrough

1. Answer the assessment status and date question

The estimator starts by asking whether you have had an aged care assessment and roughly when. Your assessment status sets the context for which Support at Home rules apply to you. If you have not been assessed yet, you can still get an estimate based on your circumstances, but the assessment is what eventually decides your funding level.

2. Enter your partner and pension status

Next, the tool asks whether you are single or part of a couple, and what your pension status is. This is the single biggest driver of your result. The four broad groups are full pensioner, part pensioner, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder, and self funded retiree. Full pensioners pay the lowest contribution rates, and self funded retirees pay the most.

3. Provide your income and assets

If you are a part pensioner or a card holder, the estimator asks about your income and assets. It uses these to place you on a means tested sliding scale that sits between the full pensioner rates and the self funded rates. Two part pensioners with different savings can end up with different contributions, which is why this step matters. For a closer look at how the sliding scale works for these groups, see our guide for Support at Home full pensioners.

4. Answer the Home Care Package and no worse off question

The estimator then asks whether you held a Home Care Package, or were assessed, before the cut off for the new rules. There are no worse off protections for people who were already in the old system. If that applies to you, your contribution rate can be capped so the change does not leave you paying more than before. Answer this honestly, because it can change your estimate.

5. Read your contribution summary

Once you have answered the questions, the estimator returns your contribution percentages by category:

  • Clinical care: 0% for everyone. Nursing and allied health are fully government funded regardless of income or assets. From 1 October 2026, personal care also moves into this fully funded group.
  • Independence services: 5% to 50%. Full pensioners contribute around 5%, self funded retirees up to 50%, with part pensioners and card holders in between.
  • Everyday living services: 17.5% to 80%. This covers things like cleaning, gardening, meals, and transport, and carries the highest contribution rates.

These percentages are the core of the estimate. They tell you the share of each service type you would pay, with the government funding the rest.

6. Add services to build the quarterly budget

Finally, you can add the services you expect to use to see an indicative quarterly budget and what your share might be. This is useful for planning, but treat the dollar figures as a guide rather than a real price. The estimator does not know which provider you will choose or what they charge per hour.

What the estimator does and does not tell you

It is worth being clear about the limits of the tool so you are not surprised later.

It does tell you:

  • Your contribution percentages by service category
  • A rough quarterly budget based on the services you add
  • How your pension and means status changes what you pay

It does not tell you:

  • A binding quote. The result is an estimate only, and your assessment and chosen provider decide the real numbers.
  • Real hourly prices. The estimator works in percentages and indicative budgets, not the actual rates a provider charges for a cleaning visit or a nursing hour.
  • Provider comparisons. It will not show you which providers are available in your area, what they charge, or how they compare on quality.

That last gap is where most people get stuck. You can finish the estimator knowing your contribution rate is, say, 5% on independence services, and still have no idea what a real provider in your suburb would bill.

From estimate to real numbers

To turn the government estimate into something closer to your real costs, two things help.

First, our own Support at Home calculator lets you model your situation against the contribution categories so you can see how the percentages play out across a typical care plan. For more on what services actually cost in practice, see our breakdown of Support at Home prices.

Second, you need real providers. Carevo is a connection platform: we connect you with vetted Support at Home providers who can give you actual prices and availability, so you can compare on more than a percentage. We do not deliver the care ourselves and we do not set the fees. You can see how that works on our Support at Home program service page.

The government estimator is the right place to start. Once you know your contribution rates, the next step is finding a provider you trust, and that is where we can help.

Disclaimer: This article is general information only and does not replace advice from My Aged Care or a financial adviser. Contribution rates, thresholds, and program rules are set by the Australian Government and can change. Always confirm your own figures using the official My Aged Care fee estimator. Carevo is a connection platform and does not set fees or conduct aged care assessments.