The Support at Home Quarterly Budget and Unspent Funds Policy Template Your Finance and Care Teams Can Actually Share

A free, editable policy template putting the four-quarter cycle, the carryover limit and retained Home Care Package funds under one written rule set.

Key Takeaways

• A classification amount is divided into four budgets of three months each, so planning works quarter by quarter, not across a full year.
• Unspent funds carry between quarters up to $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is higher, and your written rule has to apply the higher of the two.
• 10% of each ongoing quarterly budget goes to a care management account pooled across the service delivery branch and held by Services Australia.
• Retained unspent Home Care Package funds are tracked as a separate balance, not folded into the quarterly budget.
• Under-spend is a care quality signal as much as a finance one, and both teams need the same escalation path.

Why the quarterly cycle trips up home care providers

Support at Home commenced on 1 November 2025 under the Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth), replacing the Home Care Packages Program and the Short-Term Restorative Care Programme. The funding model changed shape at the same time. Instead of a package balance that quietly accumulated, a classification amount is split into four quarterly budgets, and only a limited amount of what is left at the end of a quarter follows the participant into the next one.

That puts pressure on the handover between care and finance. A care partner planning loosely across the year leaves money on the table that the participant loses, and a finance team watching only the total misses the participant who stopped accepting services in week three.

Most providers know the rules. What they lack is one approved document naming who calculates carryover, by when, who tells the participant, and what happens when assessed need costs more than the quarter holds.

What This Template Includes

• A control table, purpose, scope and policy statement written for home care under the single provider model, plus a sign-off block.
• Definitions covering quarterly budget, carryover, the care management account, care partners and retained HCP unspent funds.
• Budget set-up steps for new and transitioned participants, including the Services Australia start notification.
• Care management account procedures and a four-point funding check before any service is booked.
• A carryover procedure applying the $1,000 or 10% rule, with timeframes for the calculation and the participant conversation.
• Separate handling of retained Home Care Package funds, plus under-spend and over-spend triggers with named owners.
• An escalation path for when the budget will not cover assessed need, including clinical risk.
• QFR and ACFR touchpoints, a roles and responsibilities table, and quarterly monitoring measures.

Who Should Use This

• Registered Support at Home providers writing or refreshing their financial governance suite.
• Finance managers and chief financial officers who own the Quarterly Financial Report.
• Care partners and care operations managers planning inside a three-month budget.
• Quality and compliance leads preparing audit evidence against the strengthened Quality Standards.
• Boards and providers still holding retained unspent funds for transitioned participants.

Related Resources

• Support at Home Quarterly Budget Governance for Providers walks through the governance decisions behind the quarterly cycle.
• Getting Support at Home Monthly Statements Right covers what a participant statement has to show each month.
• Administering Support at Home Participant Contributions explains which services attract a participant contribution.
• What a Support at Home Service Agreement Must Include lists the four inclusions every written agreement needs.
• Self-Management in Support at Home and Who Carries the Risk covers where accountability sits when a participant self-manages.
• Fee Transparency and Financial Governance Policy pairs with this template across your financial governance suite.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much of a participant's unspent funds can be carried into the next quarter?

Up to $1,000 or 10% of the quarterly budget, whichever is higher. Both figures are calculated and the higher one applies, which matters most on smaller classifications where the flat $1,000 is usually larger. The template sets timeframes for the calculation and for telling the participant.

What happens to unspent Home Care Package funds after transition?

They stay with the participant who transitioned and sit separately from the Support at Home quarterly budget. The template keeps them as a distinct balance, reconciled monthly and shown separately on statements, and has staff confirm the drawdown order in the program manual.

How does the 10% care management allocation work?

10% of each participant's ongoing quarterly budget is allocated to a care management account. It is pooled across participants in a service delivery branch and held by Services Australia, and the provider claims from that pool. The template has care partners record activity as it happens so claiming can be evidenced.

What should we do when a participant's assessed need costs more than the quarter holds?

Document the need, the gap and the risk, then escalate rather than absorb it. The template sets a two business day window and options to record: reprioritising services, checking a short-term pathway, referring for reassessment, and discussing choices with the participant. Clinical supports are fully funded by the Government, so clinical risk follows the clinical governance route.

Set the rule before the next quarter closes

Carryover is calculated whether or not you have written down who does it. Providers that come out of an audit cleanly are the ones whose finance and care teams worked from the same document months earlier. Download the template, replace the bracketed placeholders, approve it through your governing body, and brief your care partners before the quarter ends.