Assessing your in-home aged care costs

Costs for in-home aged care provided through other departments and DVA’s role in assessing your income and assets to determine potential fees. 

Nominating a representative

You may choose to authorise someone to be your nominated representative when dealing with us. A nominated representative can be a partner, adult relative, trustee, agent, legal representative or organisation. You can set up a nominated representative using MyService or by completing this form - Appointing a third party to represent a DVA client. For more information visit the nominated representative webpage.

Please note that this form only authorises representation with DVA. Other government departments or services may require you to create other arrangements. Information on representation arrangements for other departments can be found on the Help accessing aged care services page.

What is a means assessment?

Some government aged care services provided outside of DVA may require a contribution. A means assessment for aged care services is a review of your income and assets. It determines how much the government will subsidise your contribution (if you are eligible for government assistance) and the amount you can be asked to contribute towards your aged care costs.

This process can take a while, so we recommend that you lodge your assessment as soon as possible to avoid being overcharged when first receiving your aged care.

Both DVA and Services Australia conduct means assessments. Which department is responsible for completing this process depends on your situation.

Who does my means assessment?

DVA is responsible for completing the means assessment for:

• Veterans, their partners and war widow(er)s in receipt of one of the following DVA income support pensions:
  • service pension
  • income support supplement, or
  • age pension administered by DVA
• Veterans in receipt of DVA Disability Compensation Payment who have qualifying service, and
• War widow(er)s in receipt of DVA war widow(er)'s pension and income support supplement.

Services Australia is responsible for completing the aged care means assessments for all other DVA clients. For example, veterans who do not have qualifying service or war widow(er)s and are not paid an income support pension by DVA.

To check if the payment you receive is included or to confirm who needs to complete your means assessment, you can contact us on 1800 VETERAN  (1800 838 372).

If you do not receive any of the income support payments listed above and you do not have approved qualifying service, you will need to submit an income and assets assessment to Services Australia. You can find more information on how to do this by visiting the Income and means assessments webpage or calling My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.

You can also get an estimate of your potential fees using the My Aged Care Fee estimator: How much will I pay?

How do I start the process?

If you are in receipt of a means tested payment through DVA (listed above) or if you have approved qualifying service you will need to submit your income and asset information to DVA so that we can complete the means assessment. This information will then be passed on to Services Australia who will determine, and advise you of, your contribution to the cost of your care.

To start the process, complete the SA456 – Home Care Package – Calculation of your cost of home care form and send it via email to income.support.aged.care@dva.gov.au or by post to:

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998
Brisbane, QLD, 4001

If sending via post, please ensure that you take copies of all materials being sent in case documents are misplaced in the mail.

If your income and assets are not assessed, you will be asked to contribute the maximum percentage contribution.

If you have been assessed as eligible for Support at Home but are waiting for your means assessment to be completed, service providers and participants can agree on a temporary contribution rate while a new participants income and assets are being assessed by Services Australia. If this is agreed, a participant’s pension status should be taken into consideration. For example, a full pensioners ongoing contribution rate is most likely going to be 5% for independence service and 17.5% for everyday-living services (unless a hardship application has been made) whereas non-pensioners who do not hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health card will most likely have 50% for independence service and 80% for everyday-living services. For part-pensioner and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders, providers and participants could use the Support at Home fee estimator to estimate a participant’s contribution rates. Service providers and participants will be notified of the new contribution rate by Services Australia once their assessment has been finalised. The new rate will be backdated to the first service delivery date and providers will need to refund any overpayment of contributions or collect any underpayment.

Income included in the assessment

To assess your income, we will include your income support payment (excluding the minimum pension supplement amount) and any of these that apply:

• War Widow(er)’s Pension (except if you have qualifying service in your own right)
• deemed income on financial assets and on large gifting amounts
• overseas pensions
• payments from superannuation
• income from annuities, allocated pensions and transition-to-retirement pensions, market-linked pensions or term-allocated pensions
• net income from businesses including farms
• rental income from investment properties
• family trust distributions or dividends from private company shares.

We will not include:

• the energy supplement
• the Flexible Pension Supplement
• the 4% GST component of the War Widow(er)’s Pension.

Assets included in the assessment 

When we assess your assets, we will include: 

• money in bank accounts
• investments
• real estate
• motor vehicles
• household contents
• personal effects
• any assets you sold or gave away for less than their value 

Each member of a couple is considered to have half of the combined assets of both partners. 

Your home 

Please note your principal place of residence is exempt from your assets assessment in Support at Home.

Your principal home is the home you live in, on an ongoing and permanent basis. 

Costs for the Commonwealth Home Support Program

For CHSP, you will need to contribute towards the cost of the services you receive, if you can afford to do so. You will not be asked to cover the full cost of services unless you are accessing services outside of your approved care plan.

Each service provider is required to have their own client contribution policy and will use it to determine your fees. Service providers must make their client contribution policy publicly available. You can ask your service provider to give you a copy of their policy.

To work out your fees, your service provider will consider the information you supplied during your aged care assessment. They may ask you further questions about your financial situation. They will consider your ability to pay and the number and type of services you are seeking.

Service providers must discuss and agree contribution amounts with you before you start receiving services.

You will not be denied services if you are unable to contribute to the cost. Service providers will have their own arrangements for protecting those least able to contribute towards the cost of their care.

You have a right to appeal the amount you have been asked to pay. If you wish to question your fees, you should first discuss this with your service provider.

Costs for the Support at Home program

The Support at Home program replaces the Home Care Packages Program and Short-Term Restorative Care Programme from 1 November 2025.

Contribution rates will be based on your income and assets and vary by the amount and type of service you have received. An income and asset assessment similar to the Age Pension means-test will be used to determine your contribution rate. Those on the Age Pension and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders will pay lower contributions than self-funded retirees.

The amount you will pay will be set as a percentage of the price of each service you have received. This means that when you pay a contribution, the government will pay the remainder to the provider.

The contribution rate will be based on the type of Support at Home service received. The table below shows that:

• You will not have to contribute for clinical care services, such as nursing and physiotherapy. The government will pay for all clinical care costs.
• Contributions for services that support your independence, such as personal care, will be moderate. Many of these services play an important role in keeping people out of hospital and residential aged care.
• Everyday living services, such as cleaning and gardening, will attract the highest contribution rates.

You can find more information about what you may need to contribute on the Support at Home program – Participant Contributions factsheet.

‘No worse off’ principle

A no worse off principle applies to the contribution arrangements for people who, on 12 September 2024, were either receiving a Home Care Package, were on the National Priority System, or were assessed as eligible for a package. If you are one of these participants you will be no worse off because of the reforms: you will continue to make the same contributions, or lower than you would have had with your Home Care Package arrangements.

If you are a full rate pensioner paying no fees under your Home Care Package as at 12 September 2024, you will never pay fees under the Support at Home program.

If you were required to pay fees under your Home Care Package as at 12 September 2024, the contribution rates may have changed but you will be paying the same or less under the Support at Home program.

If a re-assessment is done anytime after 1 November 2025, you will be allocated a Support at Home program classification that is equivalent or higher than your current Home Care Package classification.

If you were receiving a Home Care Package, visit the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s website for more information about how the introduction of the Support at Home program affects you.  

Help accessing aged care services

It’s no secret aged care can be confusing and it’s often difficult know where to start. You don’t have to do it alone. There are many services available through the government as well as independent services that can support you on your aged care journey.

The Help Accessing Aged Care Services page provides information on available support. There are also further support services to help you understand and navigate aged care. You can explore these options by visiting the Getting support in aged care webpage on the My Aged Care website.

Other pages we think may interest you

• Aged care resources
• Help with personal care
• Help with cleaning and Housekeeping
• Nursing help at home
• Help with home and garden upkeep
• Getting aids, equipment and home modifications
• Other in-home aged care programs and DVA
• Retirement Villages
• How to check your legislation on MyService
• Carer support