Income and assets assessments for Support at Home

If you’re applying, or have been approved, for the Support at Home program, your contributions will differ based on the service being delivered and your income and assets.

• If you’re a full or part pensioner, Services Australia (or DVA, if applicable) will use the information on your income and assets that has been provided for your pension assessment to determine your Support at Home contributions.  
• If you’re a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder or a non-pensioner (self-funded retiree), you will need to complete an income and assets assessment if Services Australia (or DVA) does not already have your current financial details. Anyone who doesn’t provide this information will pay the highest rates.

What happens if I’m part of a couple? 

Half your combined income and assets is included in the assessment, regardless of who earns the income or whose name the asset is held in. You may still be considered a couple if you are living apart for health-related reasons.

What happens after the assessment? 

Once your assessment is complete, Services Australia will send you a fee advice letter that tells you what you will need to contribute towards your services.  

Note: Even if your income and assets assessment was done by DVA, your fee advice letter will come from Services Australia. 

You can get your income and assets assessed at any time, even before you enter care. However, your fee advice letter is only valid for 120 days from the date of your assessment. So, if you don’t enter care during this time, you will need to complete another assessment. 

SA456 is the Support at Home - Calculation of your cost of care form. Complete this form if you need an income and assets assessment for Support at Home.

This form is managed by Services Australia. They manage payments for a number of Australian government agencies, and they are a separate organisation to My Aged Care.

If you have questions or concerns about the forms, you can call Services Australia on 1800 227 475 or visit a service centre.

To find out if you need to fill out an income and assets assessment form, visit the Services Australia website.

Assessable income includes, but is not limited to:  

• income support payments from the Australian Government such as the age pension, a service pension, or an income support supplement
• deemed (not actual) income from financial assets
• net income from rental property
• war widow or widower pensions and some disability pensions
• net income from businesses, including farms
• superannuation and overseas pensions, and income from income stream products such as annuities and allocated pensions
• family trust distributions or dividends from private company shares
• deemed income from excess gifting.

The assessment uses what’s called a deemed rate of income for your financial assets, so the actual income earned on an asset is not counted. This means that if you earn more than the deemed income, the extra amount is ignored.

The deemed rate applies to, but is not limited to:

• bank, building society, and credit union accounts
• cash
• term deposits
• cheque accounts
• friendly society bonds
• managed investments
• listed shares and securities
• loans and debentures
• shares in unlisted public companies
• gold and other bullion
• account-based income streams from 1 January 2015.

Assets not deemed to be earning income include:  

• your home or its contents
• cars, boats, and caravans
• antiques, stamp or coin collections
• standard life insurance policies
• holiday homes, farms, or other real estate
• accommodation bonds, refundable deposits.

Current deeming rates are provided on the Schedule of Residential Fees and Charges. 

All your assets are considered, including financial assets, but special rules apply in some situations.

Financial assets include but are not limited to:

• bank, building society, and credit union accounts
• cash
• term deposits
• cheque accounts
• friendly society bonds
• managed investments
• listed shares and securities
• loans and debentures
• shares in unlisted public companies
• gold and other bullion
• gifted assets: gifted amounts above $10,000 in the last financial year or above $30,000 in the last five financial years (or amounts above $10,000 in any of those financial years) are included as a financial asset.  

Other assets include but are not limited to:

• your family home
• household contents and personal effects (these are typically valued at $10,000)
• foreign assets including investments, business interests, and real estate
• investment property
• special collections such as stamps, art works, or antiques
• superannuation balances
• private trusts, family trusts, and private companies. 

Your principal home will be exempt from the asset tests in the Support at Home program.  

For more information on treatment of the family home in Support at Home, visit the Real estate assets - Age Pension - Services Australia page on the Services Australia website. 

If you don’t think the outcome of your income and assets assessment is correct, you can ask Services Australia (or DVA if relevant) to review their decision. They will follow up with you on the next steps. To discuss your assessment, call Services Australia on 1800 227 475 or DVA on 1800 838 372.