Reading your monthly statement and the fees on it
What the lines on a Support at Home statement mean, which charges are capped, and the questions worth asking your provider.
Last checked 22/10/2026 against the official sources listed at the end. For clients and families. About 6 minutes to read.
The short answer
Your monthly statement shows the opening balance, the 10% care management deduction, each service and its price, your contribution and the closing balance. Care management is fixed at 10%, and self-managed third-party overheads are capped at 10%. Hourly prices aren't capped, so compare them, and ask about any line you don't understand.
Where the money goes
Each quarter, classification 4: $7,617.13
- 10% to the provider for care management: $761.71
- Left for services: $6,855.42
An hour of cleaning priced at $80.00, on a full pension
- From the budget: $66.00
- You pay (17.5%): $14.00
A self-managed local worker at $66.00 an hour
- The worker: $66.00
- Most the provider can add (10%): $6.60
Your provider must send a statement every month. It’s the single best way to see whether the budget is turning into care. It can also be hard to read, so here’s what to look for.
The main parts
Opening balance. What was left in the budget at the start of the period, including anything carried over from last quarter.
Care management. The 10% your provider takes from each quarterly budget to plan and coordinate your care. This is set by the government and is the same for everyone, self-managed or not.
Services. Each service delivered, with the date, the price, and how much came from the budget versus your contribution.
Your contribution. Your share of each service, depending on the service type and your pension or income. Clinical care is always 0%.
Closing balance. What’s left. Watch this one. If it keeps growing, care that has been approved isn’t being delivered.
Which charges have limits
Some numbers are set by the rules. Others are up to the provider.
The 10% for care management is fixed. Support at Home has no separate package management fee. Providers build their other admin costs into their service prices, which is one more reason prices differ.
If you use a self-managed third-party worker, the provider’s overhead on that service is capped at 10% of its actual cost, and must be included in the price.
Hourly prices for services are set by each provider. The government planned to cap them from 1 July 2026, but in May 2026 it put the caps off without a new date. Instead it publishes a quarterly national summary of Support at Home prices, so you can see the typical range, and it has given the Commission power to order refunds for overcharging. That makes it more important, not less, to compare.
Questions worth asking
You’re entitled to understand every line. These questions are polite and they work:
What exactly is this charge for, and is it a Support at Home rule or your policy?
Why is this service priced at this rate? Is there a lower-cost option?
Can you show me the overhead you’ve added to my third-party worker’s invoice?
My closing balance keeps growing. What approved care am I not getting, and why?
Doing the sums
A statement shows you the past. To think about the future, use the budget tool to see how many hours a quarter your budget buys at different rates. Dropping the hourly rate by $20 can add dozens of hours of care over a year.
If the numbers don’t make sense and you’d like someone to go through them with you, Colin can help. He’ll look at the statements and invoices with you and tell you what he’d ask. Ask whether your provider can fund this help.
Common questions
Are Support at Home prices capped?
Not yet. Caps planned for 1 July 2026 were deferred in May 2026 with no new date. The government publishes a quarterly national summary of prices instead.
Is there a package management fee?
No. Support at Home has no separate package management fee. The provider takes 10% of the budget for care management.