One in four home care providers had a problem

About 200 of the home care sector's 800 providers were reporting operating losses only months before the rollout of the Government's Support at Home program.

However, overall, the home sector was more profitable.

Between 1 July to 30 September 2025, the home care sector's earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached $168.2 million, up 14% on the same period the previous year, according to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's Quarterly Financial Snapshot (QFS).

EBITDA per care recipient per day (pcrpd) rose 11% to $6.81, with the average EBITDA margin 7.6%, steady with Q1 2024-25, as

Higher package utilisation helped lift earnings, although much of the gain was absorbed by rising labour costs. Median staff costs rose 10% to $59.61 pcprd reflecting wage rises following Fair Work Commission decisions. Average package utilisation was 87.5%, up 1.8 percentage points year on year.

With care management now capped at 10% of budgets under Support at Home, which came into effect 1 November 2025, care management was 17% of total Home Care Package in Q1 2025-26.

Package management was a median of 12% of packages. Under Support at Home, package management fees are bundled directly into unit prices.

The report also highlights the scale of unspent funds. As of 30 September 2025, unspent funds totalled $4.2 billion, up $0.5 billion year on year - representing billions in unused dollars.

Read our analysis of the QFS results for residential aged care here.

Read our recent analysis of StewartBrown's Q1 2025-26 home care results here.

You can read the QFS report in full here.