Getting started
Where to begin with aged care.
If this feels like a lot, that is a fair reaction. Most people come to aged care knowing very little about it, usually because something has changed at home, and are met with a system full of terms nobody has explained.
The good news is that it is more straightforward than it first appears. There are really only three stages, and you do not have to work any of it out alone.
The short version
First
Get approved
A phone call, then an assessment. This part is the government, not a provider, and it is free.
Then
Choose and plan
Pick a provider you are comfortable with, and work out together what support actually looks like.
After that
Get going
Once funding is available and your arrangements are in place, support starts and can be adjusted as things change.
That is genuinely it. If you want the detail of what happens at each stage, it is below, but you do not need to read it all before making a start.
The detail, step by step
Step 1 · Get approved
Contact My Aged Care
Go to myagedcare.gov.au or call 1800 200 422. This is the front door to all government-funded aged care.
You can call for yourself, or for someone else with their permission. There is no cost and no commitment.
Step 2 · Get approved
Have your assessment
An assessor talks with you, usually at home, about how you are managing day to day.
Describe your hard days, not just your good ones. A common mistake is understating how much help you need, so give the assessor a realistic picture of the days when things are hardest.
Step 3 · Get approved
Receive your classification
If you are approved for ongoing Support at Home services, you are assigned one of eight ongoing funding classifications, which sets your quarterly budget. Short-term pathways work differently.
You will also get a referral code. Keep it somewhere safe because your chosen provider uses it to view your client record and support plan, accept your referral and start organising services.
If ongoing funding is not available straight away, you may wait in the Support at Home Priority System until funding is allocated.
Step 4 · Choose and plan
Choose a provider
You decide who delivers your care. Worth asking any provider: what do your services cost, will I see the same workers, and what happens when my needs change?
Giving someone your referral code does not commit you to them, and you can change provider later without needing a reason.
Step 5 · Choose and plan
Build your care plan
Your provider turns funding into an actual plan: which supports, how often, and who from.
Your service agreement records the prices before anything is charged to your budget.
Step 6 · Get going
Start receiving support
Care begins, with regular check-ins so the plan keeps matching your life rather than the other way around.
Needs change. Plans are meant to change with them.
Not sure where you fit?
Start with a conversation, not a form.
Tell us where you are up to and we will point you at the right next step, including telling you if another provider suits you better right now.