Giuseppe, 84, grows the best tomatoes in his street and has strong opinions about how his house should be run. What he doesn't have is patience for the phrase he keeps hearing: "sorry, that's not on the list." His podiatry? On the list. Help getting to the club on Fridays? Apparently on the list. A hand re-potting his tomatoes? "Not on the list." Nobody had ever shown him the actual list — so Giuseppe decided to find out what's really on it.
Giuseppe's story is an illustrative scenario, created to show how Support at Home works in practice. It is not a real client testimonial.
Since Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025, there's one government service list that defines what funding can buy. It's organised into three categories — and once you know them, "not on the list" stops being a mystery and starts being a conversation.
Category one: clinical supports
These are health-focused services: nursing care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry and other allied health. Giuseppe's podiatry sits here. Clinical supports are fully government funded — there's no participant contribution on this category, regardless of your income.
Category two: independence supports
These help you keep doing things for yourself: personal care such as help with showering and dressing, transport to appointments and outings, and social support to stay connected with your community. Giuseppe's Friday lift to the club belongs here. Participant contributions can apply, with the amount depending on your means — for example, whether you receive the Age Pension.
Category three: everyday living supports
These keep the household running: domestic assistance like cleaning and laundry, meal preparation, and home maintenance such as gardening. Contributions can apply here too, again based on your means. And this is where Giuseppe's tomatoes get interesting — routine gardening that keeps a home safe and functional is generally fundable, but gardening that's purely a hobby usually isn't. The line depends on what your care plan says the service is for.
The list is only half the story — your care plan is the other half
A service being on the list doesn't automatically mean your budget covers it. It also has to be in your care plan, which is built from your assessment through My Aged Care (1800 200 422). If your needs change, the answer isn't to squeeze new needs into old line items — it's to ask for a review so the plan catches up with real life.
Build the ask-first habit: before booking anything new, ask your provider "which category does this sit in, and is it in my plan?" With Partner with Care you get a same-day answer from a real person who knows your situation — so "not on the list" always comes with a reason, and often with an alternative that is.
Grey areas are normal — silence isn't
Every funding program has edge cases: the pruning job that's part safety, part tidiness; the transport that's part appointment, part outing. What you should never accept is a flat "no" with no explanation. As a registered provider, Partner with Care handles the compliance side and tells you plainly what fits where — and because self-managed care means you choose your own workers and services, once something is approved, you decide who does it and when. Giuseppe got his answer, by the way: safety pruning yes, tomato re-potting no — and a gardener he chose himself for the rest.