Support at Home Service Agreement Policy Template

The Support at Home Service Agreement Policy Template That Gets Signed Before the First Shift

A free, editable Word policy template covering how your service agreements are drafted, explained, signed, varied and retained under Support at Home.

Key Takeaways

A Support at Home service agreement must be in writing and must cover four things: what services will be provided, who will provide them, the responsibilities of each party, and how much the services cost.
The agreement has to be agreed before services begin, so your intake workflow, not your billing run, is where compliance is won or lost.
Under the single provider model each participant is linked to one registered provider that holds the agreement and coordinates, delivers and claims for all of their services.
A care plan review, a classification change, a price change or a move to self-management all call for a written variation, signed before the change is delivered or charged.
Participants who transitioned from a Home Care Package may keep an existing Home Care Agreement, but it has to be checked against the four inclusions and varied where it falls short.

Why Service Agreements Are the First Thing an Auditor Opens

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. Funding moved into quarterly budgets, care managers became care partners, and each participant is now tied to a single registered provider. The service agreement is where all of that lands in writing.

Most providers already hold agreements. The risk sits in the detail. Documents written for packages still describe annual budgets and fee types that no longer apply. Prices in the agreement drift from the prices published on My Aged Care and on the provider's own website, even though those must match and must already include travel and administration. Care plans get reviewed, services change, and nobody issues a variation.

Timing is the other common gap. An agreement signed a fortnight after the first shower visit is not an agreement reached before services begin, and the file shows it. This template builds the sequence that prevents it: draft from the support plan, check the service mix against the quarterly budget, explain it in plain language, sign, then release the roster and submit the start notification.

What This Template Includes

A policy control table and a Document Control sign-off block in the house format.
Scope covering new entrants, transitioned HCP participants, short-term pathways and self-managing participants.
Definitions for care partner, supporter, classification, quarterly budget, variation and start notification.
The four mandatory matters, with the detail each one needs.
Preparing the draft, plain-language explanation, supporters and advocates, and the start notification.
Pricing transparency, contributions, the no worse off protection and the care management allocation.
The seven variation triggers, a review checklist for transitioned Home Care Agreements, and version control.
A Roles and Responsibilities table and quarterly board measures.

Who Should Use This

Registered providers writing their agreement policy since 1 November 2025.
Quality and compliance managers preparing for an audit against the strengthened Quality Standards.
Service managers and care partners who sign agreements and issue variations.
Finance staff who need every charge to trace back to a current signed agreement.
Providers still carrying legacy Home Care Agreements for transitioned participants.

Related Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

What must a Support at Home service agreement contain?

Four matters, as a minimum: what services will be provided, who will provide them, the responsibilities of each party, and how much the services cost. It must be in writing and in plain, readily understandable language. The template also adds the classification, quarterly budget, complaints contacts, privacy terms and the variation process.

Can services start while the agreement is still being signed?

No. The agreement must be agreed before services begin. Where need is urgent, the template gives you an expedited same-day path that still produces a signed agreement first, with the reason recorded, rather than an exception that quietly becomes the norm.

Do we have to rewrite agreements for transitioned Home Care Package participants?

Not always. A transitioned participant can continue under a varied Home Care Agreement, provided it carries the four matters and reflects quarterly budgets, the transitioned classification, retained unspent HCP funds, care management and the correct contribution position. Our guide to the Support at Home program reform covers the wider transition.

How do contributions appear in the agreement?

The Government fully funds Clinical Support services. Participants contribute towards Independence and Everyday Living services at a rate set by a Services Australia income and assets assessment. Participants receiving or approved for a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024 who were not liable for an income-tested care fee pay no contribution for services on the Support at Home service list.

What counts as a variation rather than a file note?

Any change to the services, the people delivering them, the cost, the classification or the contribution. The template treats a variation as a new signed version, keeps the superseded version, and updates the roster, care plan and billing on the day it takes effect.

Put the Agreement in Front of the Participant Before the Roster

Download the template, replace the bracketed placeholders with your own roles, timeframes and price schedule, and approve it through your own governance process. Then run the monitoring audit once against your current participant list: count how many signed agreements are dated before the first service, and how many still describe a package rather than a quarterly budget. That count tells you where to start, and our aged care policy templates cover the next gap it points to.