If your current provider isn’t working for you, you can leave. Changing home care package providers is your right. Your ongoing funding and eligible unspent funds can move with you when you follow the transfer process. The tricky part is that a lot of advice online still describes the old Home Care Package rules, which were replaced when the Support at Home program started on 1 November 2025.
This guide follows My Aged Care’s current rules for changing Support at Home providers, step by step. It explains what happens to your unspent funds, which timeframes actually matter, and how to avoid gaps in care.
Why changing home care package providers is simpler than it used to be
Home Care Packages became Support at Home on 1 November 2025, the day the new Aged Care Act 2024 came into force. If you had a package, your funding moved across with you. Three things work in your favour when you switch:
- Your funding belongs to you: your Support at Home classification and any unspent Home Care Package funds stay with you, not with your provider.
- Choice is a legal right: the Act’s Statement of Rights gives you the right to control how you access aged care services and who provides them.
- There are no exit fees: providers have been banned from charging exit fees since 1 January 2023.
In other words, the system is designed to let you move. What protects your funding is doing things in the right order.
Step 1: Raise the problem with your current provider
Sometimes the fix is simple: a different support worker, new visit times or a care plan review. My Aged Care suggests raising concerns with your provider first, and the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) can help on 1800 700 600. Unresolved complaints can go to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on 1800 951 822.
But you never need your provider’s permission, or a complaint on file, to change. If you’d simply prefer someone else, that’s reason enough.
Step 2: Check your service agreement and your budget
Look through your service agreement for any conditions about ending services, such as an agreed end date. There’s no program-wide notice period, so this document sets the terms with your current provider.
Then check your latest statement for two figures:
- What’s left in your quarterly budget for the rest of this quarter
- Any unspent Home Care Package funds carried over from before 1 November 2025
Talk with your new provider early about whether that’s enough to cover your services for the rest of the quarter. It matters because your new provider may not see your accurate budget until up to 28 days after you start with them.
Step 3: Line up your new provider before you give notice
This is the step that protects you from a gap in care. Use the Find a provider tool on the My Aged Care website to shortlist providers in your area, then check each one has capacity to start, offers the services you need, and has staff who suit you, including language and cultural needs. Our guide on how to choose the right home care package provider lists the questions worth asking.
Before you go any further, get your new provider’s proposed start date in writing.
Step 4: Reactivate your referral code through My Aged Care
Call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and ask them to reactivate your referral code. Give that code to your new provider. Once they accept your referral, your current provider is notified.
If you’re moving to Cura, our Care Partner team can talk you through this call or help you make it. You’ll find the full process on our how to get started with Cura page.
Step 5: Agree your end date and your new start date
Now confirm a formal end date with your current provider and let them know the day you’ll stop receiving services. Your new provider’s start date must be on or after that end date, so line the two up as closely as you can.
My Aged Care strongly recommends you don’t end your current service agreement until your new provider has confirmed a start date. If you know you want to leave but need more time to decide, you can agree a future end date instead, which keeps your services running while you weigh up your options.
What happens to your funding when you switch providers
This is where most of the worry sits, and where much of the advice online is out of date. Your money sits in a few different places, each with its own process. Everything below comes from My Aged Care’s guide to changing Support at Home providers.
Unspent Home Care Package funds
Any unspent government subsidy from your Home Care Package (paid between September 2021 and 31 October 2025) sits in your home care account. That account is held by Services Australia, not by your provider, and both your old and new provider can access it when you transfer.
Funds your old provider still holds
If you started on a package before September 2021, your old provider may still hold some Commonwealth unspent funds on your behalf. These are transferred into your home care account 60 days after you move. Your old provider also has 60 days from your exit date to finalise any outstanding invoices. After that, they can’t make a claim on your behalf.
Your own unspent contributions
Any unspent contributions (fees) you’ve paid will be repaid to you within 70 days after your services stop.
Your quarterly budget
Support at Home funding is set quarterly. If you don’t use it all, you can carry over up to $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget, whichever is higher. Plan your first few weeks with your new provider around what’s realistically left this quarter.
Your contribution arrangements
If you were approved for, or receiving, a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024, changing provider won’t affect your contribution arrangements. The protections that came with your transition stay in place.
The timeframes that actually matter
| Timeframe | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| 12 months | For ongoing Support at Home services, counted from the start of the quarter after your agreed end date. Sign with a new provider within this time or your ongoing funding will be withdrawn. |
| 60 days | Your old provider’s window to finalise invoices, and to move any provider-held Commonwealth funds into your home care account. |
| 70 days | The deadline for any unspent contributions you paid to be repaid to you. |
| 28 days | How long it may take your new provider to see your accurate budget. |
You may see “56 days” quoted in other guides. Under Support at Home, 56 calendar days is the time you have to find a provider when your funding is first allocated, with a possible 28-day extension through My Aged Care. It isn’t a notice period, and it isn’t the deadline for switching. When you change providers for ongoing Support at Home services, the 12-month rule applies. Short-term pathways have separate funding periods.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Ending your agreement too early: leaving before your new provider has confirmed a start date is the easiest way to end up without support.
- Switching on the End-of-Life Pathway: My Aged Care encourages people on this pathway to stay with their existing provider where possible, because of the risk of delays.
- Ignoring your remaining budget: switching late in a quarter with little left can mean fewer services until the next quarter begins.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to give my current provider notice?
There’s no fixed notice period under Support at Home. You agree an end date with your current provider, so check your service agreement for any conditions.
Can a provider charge me for leaving?
No. Exit fees have been banned since 1 January 2023. Your old provider can only invoice for care and services you received before your exit date. If you’re asked to pay an exit fee, contact the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
Will I need a new assessment or lose my Support at Home level?
No. Your classification and funding level stay the same when you switch. You only need a reassessment if your care needs have changed, and that’s a separate process through My Aged Care.
How long does it take to change providers?
There’s no minimum waiting period. The timing mostly depends on when your new provider can start, since their start date must be on or after your agreed end date.
Can I switch to Cura if I don’t live on the Gold Coast?
Yes, if you live within our service areas on the Gold Coast, Tweed Coast, Sunshine Coast or eastern Moreton Bay. Contact our Care Partner team to confirm support is available at your address.
Thinking about switching to Cura?
Changing home care package providers shouldn’t feel like starting from scratch. Cura is a not-for-profit provider built on the long history of the Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast. Our team represents more than 65 nationalities, many of our staff speak more than one language, and we can arrange interpreter support through TIS on 13 14 50.
Our Care Partner team will guide you from reactivating your referral code through to building your care plan and budget with care management. Learn more about our multicultural aged care or how Support at Home works with Cura.
Ready to talk it through? Call our Care Partner team on 1800 941 212 or send us a message and choose “I am looking to switch providers”. We’ll take it from there.
