Your statements will continue to be issued monthly in arrears under Support at Home, just as they were under the Home Care Package program. Your monthly statement will provide actual financial information for the previous month and show:

The statement is not a bill. You do not need to pay anything when you receive it. If you have a participant contribution to pay, you will receive a separate invoice. 

We also have a 'How to read your Statement Guide' available if you need help understanding it and our team is always here to walk you through it.

Whether you need to make a contribution to your Support at Home services – and what the amount is – is not decided by Five Good Friends. It is assessed by Services Australia based on your income, assets, and circumstances. They write to you directly with this information.

You will be issued an invoice each month for the contribution amount you need to pay. This means that you will always receive your invoice first, so you can see the amount and understand what it relates to. Similar to an electricity bill.

We have made the payment of contributions as easy for people as possible by setting up a direct debit facility using a trusted Australian direct debit provider called EziDebit who meet strict payment security standards.

If you have been assessed by Services Australia to make a contribution and do not have direct debit set up, our team are able to help you with this.

Your Direct Debit will occur after the invoice has been provided, in line with the payment terms outlined in that invoice. Our payment terms are 5-days.

We sent an email advising you of technical issues at Services Australia that impacted our ability to generate, and provide you with contribution invoices.  We extended the due date for the first two invoices under Support at Home to 10 days due to this delay.

We acknowledge that some Members will have received contribution invoices in what would have felt like a short period of time.  We will be moving back to a regular monthly cadence for contribution amounts based on Services Australia being able to provide this information.

It is important to note, unlike the Home Care Package program, where there was a regular income tested fee, you will only pay a contribution on eligible services that you have actually received.

If making contributions is causing financial difficulty, you can apply for Financial Hardship Assistance through Services Australia using a form called the SA462.

If approved, the government may pay some, or all, of your contribution. We can help you understand the process and update your account once Services Australia makes their decision.

Once your application has been submitted, and you have provided us with evidence that it has been successfully received by Services Australia, your contribution payments will be paused until Services Australia completes their assessment.  They aim to complete this within 28 days.  Any change will be backdated to when the Hardship Application was lodged only, so you may still have contributions to make prior to this.

It’s important to know that if the application is not approved, contributions for that period will still need to be paid. Five Good Friends have no influence over the assessment process of Services Australia.  If you are worried about your application, we encourage you to speak to Services Australia directly.

Any unspent Home Care Package funds you may have had, transferred into Support at Home with you. Under the new program:  

Under Support at Home, funds are not designed to accumulate over time in the same way as Home Care Package funds previously did.  Under the new program, you can carry over a small amount of unspent funds from one quarter to the next. The most you can carry over is the greater of $1,000 or 10% of your quarterly budget.

Any remaining balance beyond this amount is returned to the government.

Importantly, your previous HCP funds remain available and aren't affected by quarterly limits.

Under Support at Home, good planning starts with understanding your quarterly budget allocation and how it aligns to your care needs and goals. This includes:

Because funding is allocated quarterly, it’s important to plan proactively within each funding period. Quarterly allocations are designed to support services during that quarter, rather than building up long-term balances.

Along with your monthly statement, your Support at Home budget is the key tool to help you plan the care and support you want to receive.

Your budget is a planning tool that estimates the cost of your support, based on your care and services for the coming quarter. It shows you

It can help you consider if you would like to make any changes and plan how your funding may be used.

Important to note: Your budget is an estimate. The prices shown are based on the Five Good Friends' service prices and may vary based on your chosen Helper or service provider.

Changes to the Support at Home program mean the way funding works has been redesigned. Because of this, the projected balance feature that previously appeared in the app is no longer able to operate in the same way.

We are working with our software provider, who in turn is working with Services Australia, to introduce this functionality in coming months.

In the meantime, you can understand your current position by referring to your most recent statement.

During the Support at Home transition, our focus has been on ensuring quarterly budgets are accurate and government funding data is correctly reflected.   Changes to how funding information is provided by Services Australia required  additional work to ensure balances are accurate before displaying them live in the app.

Now that budget accuracy and claims stability are being addressed, our software team is focusing on adding live balance tracking to the app. We expect these improvements to be available over the coming months.

We acknowledge that the changes to how Support at Home is funded, and therefore how pricing works, is one of the biggest changes we have all had to manage.

Under Support at Home, the way services and fees are structured has changed.  

Previously under Home Care Packages, you paid

Under Support at Home:

The service price appears higher because it now includes package management and operational costs that were previously charged separately.

The Five Good Friends model is unique and designed to ensure that as much of your funding goes to your care as possible.  Our schedule of prices is in your Support at Home Service agreement, and the most common prices our Members have paid for services in the first two months of Support at Home is available on our website.

One of the benefits of the FGF model is you can choose to negotiate a different rate directly with your Helper.  It is important to note that if  you do, that this may affect the overall price you pay and contribution you are required to make, as contributions are linked to the all-inclusive service price.

Care Management is the time our team spends planning, coordinating, and reviewing your care. It includes activities such as:

Many of these activities happen behind the scenes to make sure your care is safe, well-coordinated, and working for you.

You will see a summary of the total of care management hours you have received in your monthly statement.  You will also see each care management activity listed for you in your weekly invoice summary.

Care management appears as hours in your statement for transparency, but the cost is not charged to you directly. It’s funded through a separate government-managed pool that you have already contributed to.

Importantly, you do not receive a bill for Care Management.

Care management includes both direct contact with you and important behind-the-scenes activities that happen even when we're not speaking directly.

These activities include:

This means that you may see a care management activity in your weekly invoice summary for a week where you may not have spoken to a member of the Five Good Friends team.

Please remember this is funded by the care management pool held by Services Australia.

If any charge doesn't make sense to you, please contact us so we can review it promptly and explain exactly what it relates to.

The 10% allocation is pooled by Services Australia at the provider level. However, unused CM funding does not accumulate at the individual Member level for future personal use. Instead, the pooled funding allows providers to support Members who may need more intensive care management, while still ensuring every Member has access to care coordination and oversight when needed.

Think of Care Management like a shared safety net. It’s there when you need it and shared across Members to make sure everyone gets the right level of support.  This means that you can get more care management support when you need it.

We will always provide you with the level of care management support you need.

Please get in touch with your care coordinator, who can help you organise additional support and review your budget.

You can contact them directly via email or call our Customer Service Team on 1300 787 581 for assistance.

You should also speak with your care coordinator if your care needs have changed. They can review your current care plan and services to determine whether a reassessment is required. Your care coordinator is there to help ensure your support remains appropriate for your evolving needs.

If the change relates to one of your primary or regular Helpers and is a one-off adjustment, you’re welcome to contact the Helper directly. 

If the change is ongoing, involves a Helper you haven’t met before, or relates to a change in the services required for the visit, please get in touch with Five Good Friends and our team will be happy to assist you.

View the how do I access my account page here.

Visit Your Membership: Self-managed - This guide gives you the tools, support, and confidence to manage your care effectively.

Some guides you might find useful are:

Yes. The Aged Care Act 2024 and the Strengthened Quality Standards are a priority across our platform.

Training aligned to the new legislative framework has been rolled out to our Helper community, and the majority of active Helpers have already completed formal training aligned to the new Act and Standards.

We are continuing to support the remaining Helpers to complete this training through our onboarding, compliance and ongoing engagement processes.

This training is now embedded into: 

This ensures that all new Helpers joining the platform meet the updated legislative and quality expectations.

Yes. Registered Nurses (RNs) are available through Five Good Friends to provide in-home clinical care.

This includes services such as:

We deliver nursing services through a combination of: 

This approach allows us to ensure nursing support is available across the regions in which we operate, while maintaining quality, compliance and continuity of care.

Where clinically appropriate, nursing may be delivered either in person or via telehealth.

Under Support at Home, clinical supports delivered by a Registered Nurse are funded by the Government. This means Members generally do not have out-of-pocket costs for eligible nursing services.

If you would like to understand what nursing supports are available in your area, your care team can provide further information.