Support at Home: Mid-Year Opportunity Update

Ten months into Support at Home, the rules governing it are still moving. It is not surprising that the system continues to be tweaked, and we have written and spoken about this previously. Some of this reflects challenges in the design and consultation process. Each tweak, however, can have profound impacts on risk, economics and incentives in the system, and consequently can reshape the market.

This Insight sets out the near-term opportunities we see for registered Support at Home providers.

An updated timeline

Eleven opportunities

We have identified eleven near-term opportunities for registered Support at Home providers: 

1. NDIS / Support at Home nexus

There is significant back-office synergy between the two business models, but little synergy in the client-facing services. With recent changes to funding, regulation and eligibility criteria, many organisations are finding the disability program more risky than the margin available compensates.

The NDIS funds functional supports rather than clinical treatment, and aged care providers often carry reputational risk around clinical outcomes that NDIS pricing limits do not fund. In our experience, this is the single largest reason aged care providers are reconsidering their exposure to the sector. Treat it as a model selection decision: consider separate branding, workforces, marketing and training; ring-fence clinical risk and profitability so unfunded work does not disappear into shared aged care overhead; and share infrastructure only where it genuinely reduces cost or improves control.

2. Margin improvement: the top quartile benchmark

In the March 2026 StewartBrown Support at Home Aged Care Financial Performance Survey Sector Report (StewartBrown Sector Report), top quartile programs generated an operating result of $9.97 per client day and a 12.0% operating margin, down from $13.64 and 15.8% in December 2025. Revenue fell $3.21 per client day while expenditure moved $0.43. 

We believe the compression is largely a transition issue. While prices remain uncapped, top quartile results are expected to recover and then exceed previous levels, because rising complexity widens the gap between well-run organisations and the average.

StewartBrown Sector Report, Top 25% benchmark. December figures are six-month year-to-date, March figures nine-month. Cohort size moves between quarters, so movements are directional.

The levers

• Visibility: Every outlet should have visibility over revenue, internal direct service cost, brokered cost, care management, administration and operating result.
• Delivery mix: Internal direct hours fell from 3.37 to 3.07 per client per week while external hours rose from 0.67 to 0.73. Capacity is moving outside the organisation and needs attention.
• Utilisation: Package utilisation fell from 86.3% to 75.8%. Budget reviews for underutilised packages are critical.
• Retention: Annualised departures fell to 16.6%, but 19.5% were transfers to another provider, so roughly one in five is contestable.
• Beyond that, the controllables are roster productivity, short shifts, travel recovery, cancellation rules, subcontractor mark-ups, care partner claiming and central recharge transparency. Logistics drive everything else in the business model.

3. CHSP: retain, convert, partner or transfer

CHSP will remain a standalone, grant-funded program to at least 30 June 2029 rather than transitioning into Support at Home. That gives providers a window to make the program clean enough to retain, convert, partner, transfer or exit.

CHSP has seen underinvestment for many years across both the industry and government. It is our expectation that whatever new model is settled on, it will result in a substantial movement of risk of under-delivery from the government to the provider.

If you are planning to retain it, now is the time to begin investing in it.

Where to start

1. Build a clear view of each activity by service type, planning region, contracted and delivered output, unit funding, client contribution, direct cost, overhead allocation and quality risk.
2. Review unit economics against the current national unit price ranges and client contribution framework. Many providers are operating below benchmark pricing or under-recovering contributions.
3. Triage service lines. Retain what creates a defensible channel, workforce base or clinical capability; consolidate or partner where services are low-volume, low-margin, geographically thin or strategically non-core.

4. Pricing policy while price caps are paused

The pause creates a window to reset pricing architecture before caps or stronger benchmarks return. The opportunity is to build a defensible, service-item price model that reflects true cost and market positioning and protects margin.

Many providers we work with have been cautious with price-setting decisions, and we have seen margin decline as a result. There are particular opportunities around short services, group activities, third-party mark-ups and channel pricing.

Build service-item cost structures covering labour, on-costs, travel, rostering, supervision, compliance, systems, package management, subcontractor cost, overhead and margin, noting that travel and package management must now sit inside unit prices rather than being charged separately. Review competitor pricing regularly. Pricing projects often carry enormous ROIs; they are low-cost projects that can provide large profit uplifts.

5. Co-contribution changes and workforce optimisation

From 1 October 2026, the Government will fully fund approved personal care. Contribution settings for other service types remain differentiated, which changes both client behaviour and care planning conversations.

Map where the same workforce delivers personal care and domestic assistance, and ensure appropriate controls are in place to segregate claiming categories. Prepare client communications and review support plans ahead of 1 October, and keep workforce flexibility while the effects on client preference emerge.

6. Care management claiming

Care management is funded through a 10% deduction from each participant's quarterly budget and pooled at service delivery branch level. It is now a claiming discipline as much as a care discipline.

Define care management activities and evidence requirements, set prices at a level that ensures the full funding pool is retained, set caseloads and benchmarks for claimable Care Partner time, and reconcile the pool to actual claims by branch. Rostering, governance and general administration should not be claimed as care management.

7. Budget utilisation

Utilisation is both a client outcome and a revenue-growth opportunity. Once care partner claiming is under control, the next major industry project will be pushing utilisation well above current levels.

Segment clients by unspent funds, declined services, cancellations, workforce shortages and planned pauses; introduce a quarterly budget review rhythm; and design product solutions that clients see as value-adding to overcome co-contribution concerns.

8. Business model design

Providers should be deliberate about which business model they are building, because each option carries a different mix of growth potential, margin control, workforce burden and quality risk. There are three emerging models under Support at Home:

9. Channel opportunities

Providers with trusted stakeholder relationships can convert channels into package growth, but only if the referral pathway is compliant, responsive and measurable. Map the relationships genuinely unique to you, build referral intake, response time, conversion and service commencement KPIs, and report channel performance to the board alongside package growth.

10. Acquisition models and the M&A value proposition

In a reform-pressured market, acquirers need a clear reason why they can create more value from a target than its current owner can. Define your buyer advantage (margin turnaround capability, pricing model, systems platform, care management model, workforce access, channels, geography or clinical capability) and build the integration thesis before approach.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that scale alone will fix profitability problems. All costs in this industry are variable, so larger businesses with a broken business model will just have larger losses. Fix the business model first. The M&A marketplace is also highly competitive, and without a competitive advantage in the process you are unlikely to be consistently successful.

11. Acquiring associate providers

An associate provider brokers or coordinates outsourced workforce to registered providers. It holds the workers and the rostering capability while the registered provider holds the client relationship, the funding and the accountability. The market reads them as subcontractors, a cost line to negotiate down, and the marketplace is being largely overlooked by the industry when it comes to acquiring businesses.

They trade more often than registered providers and are generally cheaper, because there is less competition to buy them and they usually trade between private purchasers. Recruitment, rostering and retention are their core business, so workforce depth is a strength, and registered providers can buy presence in a region or a clinical or cultural skill set that would take years to build. Value can be added immediately by redirecting the acquired workforce onto higher-value Support at Home clients.

Two conditions to note:

1. Your own operations should already be near top quartile, because acquisition amplifies existing results.
2. Diligence must test worker classification, insurance, incident history and key-person risk.

Discuss the opportunities

We are experienced in helping home care providers identify where they can add the most value in their business. If you would like to discuss any of the opportunities covered in this insight, please contact Jason at jason.howie@prideagedliving.com.au 

Sources: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — Support at Home program, pricing resources, care management funding, participant contributions, provider payment arrangements, CHSP reforms and the CHSP 2025–27 Manual, and the ministerial announcements of 20 May and 20 August 2026. IHACPA Support at Home pricing and costing advice, 28 May 2026. StewartBrown Support at Home Survey Report, Top 25% cohort, December 2025 and March 2026. Services Australia.