Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) clients are required to pay a Client Contribution toward the cost of their care. We keep the cost to you minimal and simple, click this link to view our current fee schedule.

Home Care Package (HCP) clients are assessed by Services Australia to determine how much they can afford to contribute toward the package. If on a full pension or have a concession card, you won’t be expected to contribute. The maximum amount payable is 17.5% of the Aged Pension or 50% of your total income above the maximum pension rate. Once this rate has been set, you can relax, knowing that your packaged care will not exceed a pre-arranged, regular amount.

If you would like to access services which are extra to the agreement, such as meals at our day centre or additional private services, the costs will be made clear and will appear separately on your monthly bill.

At Albany Community Care, no client is disadvantaged due to their inability to contribute a fee for their package of care.

The short answer is no, but … we advise you not to refuse a Home Care Package if it is offered to you. You can pause it if you don’t think the time is right to receive services, and pick up your place in the queue for a package right where you left off.

It’s important to remember that just because you don’t need assistance now, doesn’t mean you won’t in the future. And when you stay in the system, it’s easier to upgrade your package to a higher level, meaning you will have more funding to receive more services when you need them.

Home Care Packages are limited in their supply and can take a long time to set up. On average, once you make an enquiry, it can take 3 weeks just for an appointment to be made with a government assessor. After that, it could be another 1-12 months to be assigned a Home Care Package, depending on the urgency. If you get on the waitlist and decide you don’t need the service, you can pause your place in the queue, so it’s ready when you are.

Once you receive a Home Care Package and are income assessed, you may be expected to contribute toward the cost of your services – some people decide not to take government funding thinking they may as well pay the same amount privately, but that isn’t future proofing your care and services. As your needs increase, your Home Care Package income increases but your personal contributions stay the same - you are always better off with funding and not needing it, than without funding and paying extra.

Commonwealth Home Support Programme recipients only pay a minimal amount toward the cost of their care, and the government funds us the rest. You can save the rest of your income for other interests and activities to keep you active as you age.

Our ‘Services’ page has more information on all the service types we offer.

There are strict funding guidelines we need to follow on what can and can’t be included. For instance, your HCP funding can pay for someone to prepare a meal for you, but it can’t pay for the food. It can pay for safety rails in your bathroom, but can’t pay for a new shower. Generally speaking, the funding won’t pay for expenses you ordinarily incur to live in your home, however, it may pay for services that, in your younger days, you would have been able to do yourself, such as cleaning gutters.

Clients receiving CHSP services have been assessed for particular service types – you can discuss your needs and preferences with the government assessor who comes to visit you when setting up your services. It is important to remember that CHSP services are considered ‘entry level’, and are designed to work with you, not for you. This means when we come to your home to help you clean, the Care Provider only does the things you can’t.

Lawnmowing and edging, weeding, pruning, spreading mulch, removing cobwebs, window cleaning, gutter cleaning (single storey), high pressure cleaning, chopping wood, spray weeds and green waste removal (plus the cost of chemical and tip fee), general maintenance which includes changing light globes and batteries in fire alarms, repairs and maintenance to keep your house safe repair hinges etc (no structural work) instal hose reels and letter boxes etc.

Feedback is essential for us to keep improving the quality of our care and services. We welcome all types of feedback - positive, negative, and any suggestions on how we can continuously improve.

You can give feedback tofeedback form your Care Provider, by calling us on 9841 8668, sending your Case Coordinator an email, or filling in a feedback form.

More information on our feedback policy can be found here.