Support at Home funding: what rises for Tasmania in October

Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages and the Short-Term Restorative Care program from 1 November 2025. Less than a year in, two funding changes land on the same day this October and both affect how Tasmanian providers plan their nursing workforce for the rest of the financial year.

Two changes landing on the same day

First, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has confirmed that Support at Home subsidy rates and some supplements rise from 1 October 2026. The uplift is specifically meant to help providers meet the cost of the 1 August award wage increase for aged care nurses under the Fair Work Commission’s Aged Care Work Value Case.

Second, personal care services under Support at Home become fully government-funded from the same date. Showering, dressing and continence support move to no out-of-pocket cost for participants who are approved for that service type, which almost certainly means more people take up the hours they’re entitled to rather than rationing them.

The staffing question underneath the funding

Extra subsidy dollars only solve the wage cost problem if they reach the pay run. Tasmanian providers should confirm their finance team can trace the October uplift through to nursing wages specifically, not absorb it into general operating costs, particularly if the facility is also carrying the tail end of the August increase across a full roster. What the August wage increase means for facility budgets works through that side of it.

The personal care change is the less-discussed half of this. If more participants use their full personal care allocation once it’s free, rostered hours for registered and enrolled nurses supervising or delivering that care in a home setting will need to stretch further. A provider that hasn’t modelled the demand side of this change is planning for half the picture.

What to check before the date lands

• Confirm the exact revised subsidy rates for your service classifications once published, rather than budgeting off the wage increase alone
• Model whether current Support at Home nursing hours can absorb a realistic rise in personal care uptake
• Check rostering for any gaps that only become visible once personal care demand increases
• Brief nursing staff on the change ahead of time, participants will start asking questions from 1 October

A funding increase that never reaches the roster isn’t a wage rise, it’s an accounting entry. The test is whether nursing hours in October look any different from September.

It also sits alongside the wider staffing pressure set out in what minimum staffing levels could mean for smaller providers.

Bottom line

Two funding changes on one date is a reasonable amount of change to plan for properly. The wage-cover uplift is the easier one, it’s a direct pass-through. The demand effect from fully funded personal care is harder to model and easier to miss and it’s the one worth getting ahead of.

If you’re a nurse working in Support at Home: expect more questions from clients about what’s now included at no cost and expect rostering conversations if uptake shifts. It’s worth raising early with your coordinator if your current hours already feel tight.

If you’re a Tasmanian provider: treat 1 October as two separate planning exercises, not one. Confirm the wage pass-through and separately model the demand impact of fully funded personal care before it lands, not after.