Aged care wait guide
Support at Home wait times: the two queues nobody separates
Updated Jul 27, 2026
Written and checked by the QueueCheck editorial team. Last checked July 27, 2026. How we verify information
If you are searching for home care package wait times, the name has changed. Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages during 2026, and it works differently enough that older advice can send you down the wrong path. The waits, however, are still long.
The single most useful thing to understand is that there are two separate queues, and most of the confusion in this sector comes from treating them as one. First you wait for an aged care assessment. Then, if approved, you wait again for a package to actually become available. The Productivity Commission's Report on Government Services 2026 puts the median assessment wait at 27 days for 2024-25, and the median gap between approval for a package and services starting at 245 days. Those are sequential stages, not alternatives, and they are not the same as a single advertised number.
Support at Home aged care official wait signal right now
OfficialSupport at Home: median 245 days between package approval and services starting, per the Productivity Commission Report on Government Services 2026
Reader timelines are being collected for this service. The tracker page keeps the current official figure and what people who applied in your month are reporting.
Wait anxiety for Support at Home aged care
Editorial score from official sources. Last checked 27 July 2026.
The Support at Home journey, stage by stage
Median figures are from the Productivity Commission Report on Government Services 2026, covering 2024-25. A median means half of people waited less and half waited more, so it is a midpoint, not a promise.
- 1Contact My Aged Care and register
- 2Wait for the aged care assessment
- 3Receive the assessment outcome and classification
- 4Wait for a package to become available
- 5Services begin
Contact My Aged Care and register
Same day to a few weeksYou register through My Aged Care, by phone or online, and answer screening questions about how you are managing at home. This step decides whether you are referred for an assessment and how urgently. Being specific about what you cannot do safely matters more here than being stoic about it.
Wait for the aged care assessment
27 days medianAn assessor visits, usually at home, and works through your daily living, health, safety, and support situation. The Productivity Commission reports a median 27-day wait for assessment in 2024-25. Having a family member present and a written list of concrete examples of what has gone wrong at home tends to produce a more accurate assessment than a good-day snapshot.
Receive the assessment outcome and classification
WeeksThe outcome sets out whether you are approved, at what level of support, and what priority category you are placed in. The priority category is the part most people overlook, and it is the single biggest driver of how long the next stage takes.
Wait for a package to become available
245 days median, far less if classified urgentThis is the long queue. The Productivity Commission reports a median 245 days between approval for a package and services starting. Priority categories are intended to move urgent cases far faster than the median, so an urgent classification is not a formality; it is the difference between months and weeks.
Services begin
Days to weeks after assignmentOnce a package is assigned, you choose a provider and agree a plan of services. There is usually a short further gap while the provider organises workers, especially in regional areas where staffing is the binding constraint rather than funding.
Why the 245-day figure is so often quoted wrongly
The 245 days measures one specific gap: from being approved for a package to services actually starting. It does not include the time before that, when you were waiting for an assessment, nor the registration step before that. Adding the stages together gives a longer total; treating 245 days as the whole journey understates it for some people and overstates it for others.
You will also see larger numbers reported, covering the entire journey from first contact with My Aged Care through to the first day of services. Those totals are not wrong, they are simply measuring something different. When you read any aged care wait figure, the first question worth asking is which two points it measures between.
The practical consequence: if you have just been approved, the 245-day median is the number that applies to you now. If you have not yet been assessed, your realistic planning horizon is longer than that, because you have a stage to get through first.
Priority category is the lever most families do not know exists
Support at Home allocates places by priority category rather than purely by queue position. The categories are intended to move people in urgent need substantially faster than the median, with urgent cases targeted at access within about a month and high-priority cases within roughly one and a half to two and a half months.
This matters because the category is set from your assessment. If the assessment captured a calm, well-supported picture of your situation, and the reality is closer to daily risk, the category may not reflect the need. That is a reason to prepare for the assessment properly, and a reason to ask what category you were placed in rather than only asking how long the wait is.
If your circumstances get materially worse while you wait, that is a reason to contact My Aged Care rather than to keep waiting quietly. A change in circumstances can be a basis for reassessment, and the queue does not know your situation changed unless someone tells it.
Do you have to sell your house? The question that belongs to a different system
This is one of the most searched and most frightening aged care questions in Australia, and it usually belongs to a different service from this one. The fear of selling the family home relates to residential aged care, meaning moving into a nursing home, where accommodation payments and means testing apply.
Support at Home is care delivered in your own home. It does not involve buying an accommodation place, so the specific worry about selling a house to fund a bed does not arise in the same way. There are contributions toward home care costs, and they depend on your circumstances and the type of support.
Because contribution rules, thresholds, and fee arrangements change and are genuinely fact-specific, this is one to confirm with Services Australia or an aged care specialist rather than to plan around a number found online, including here. The distinction worth carrying away is simply that home care and residential care are separate financial systems, and advice about one does not transfer to the other.
What the system is trying to do about the queue
The scale of demand is not a secret. More than 130,000 people were reported to be on the Support at Home waiting list as at December 2025, and the government has stated an aim of reducing average wait times to around three months by July 2027.
For someone waiting now, a 2027 target is cold comfort, but it is useful context for two decisions. First, it suggests the current median is understood to be an outlier rather than the intended steady state. Second, it means advice built on the queue as it stands today may not hold in a year, so re-checking your position periodically is reasonable rather than pushy.
When the wait becomes a problem
Your situation is deteriorating while you wait for a package
What helps
Contact My Aged Care and explain specifically what has changed, with examples. A material change in circumstances can support a reassessment or a change in priority category. Waiting silently is the option that most reliably keeps you where you are in the queue.
You need help before the package arrives
What helps
Ask My Aged Care about entry-level support through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, which is a different and generally faster path than a full package, and about short-term restorative care if you are recovering from a hospital stay. These are not substitutes for a package, but they exist precisely for the gap.
You think the assessment did not reflect your real situation
What helps
Assessment outcomes can be reviewed. Before requesting one, write down concrete, dated examples of what has gone wrong at home, because a reviewer can act on specifics far more readily than on a general sense that the outcome was too low.
You have been approved but cannot find a provider with capacity
What helps
In regional and remote areas the binding constraint is often workforce, not funding. Ask My Aged Care about providers servicing your area rather than only contacting the ones you already know, and ask providers directly about their current capacity for the specific services you need.
Someone offers to move you up the queue for a fee
What helps
Treat this as a warning sign. Placement in the queue follows assessment and priority category, and no fee to a third party changes your classification. Registration and assessment through My Aged Care do not require a paid intermediary.
Add your Support at Home aged care dates to the public comparison
Official numbers cannot show what applicants actually experience month by month. Sharing your application and decision dates helps the next reader see the real pace. Under a minute, dates only, nothing personal.
Share my Support at Home aged care datesSupport at Home aged care timeline questions
How long is the wait for a home care package now?
Home Care Packages were replaced by Support at Home during 2026. For the current scheme, the Productivity Commission's Report on Government Services 2026 reports a median 245 days between approval for a package and services starting, plus a separate median 27-day wait for the assessment beforehand. Your own wait depends heavily on the priority category set at assessment.
What is the difference between the assessment wait and the package wait?
They are two separate stages. The assessment wait is the time until an assessor evaluates your needs, with a median of 27 days. The package wait is the time from being approved to services actually starting, with a median of 245 days. Most confusion in this sector comes from quoting one figure as though it covered both.
Does an urgent classification really make a difference?
Yes. Support at Home allocates by priority category, with urgent cases targeted at access within about a month and high priority within roughly one and a half to two and a half months, against a median of 245 days overall. This is why the assessment, which sets the category, matters more than most families realise.
Do I have to sell my house to get Support at Home?
The fear of selling a home relates to residential aged care, where you move into a facility and accommodation payments apply. Support at Home is care in your own home and does not work that way. There are contributions toward home care costs that depend on your circumstances, and because those rules are fact-specific and change, confirm them with Services Australia rather than relying on any figure found online.
Can I get any help while I wait?
Ask My Aged Care about the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, which provides entry-level help and is generally a faster path than a full package, and about short-term restorative care after a hospital stay. Also tell them if your situation worsens, because a change in circumstances can support reassessment.
Is the wait getting better?
The government has stated an aim of reducing average Support at Home waits to around three months by July 2027, against a reported waiting list of more than 130,000 people as at December 2025. That is a target rather than a current position, so plan around today's figures and re-check periodically.