SAH Quarterly Budgets: Allocation, Carry-Over Caps & Budget Tracking

Quarterly budget management is one of the most operationally significant changes that the Support at Home (SAH) program introduces for home care providers. Under the former Home Care Packages program, providers managed a single cumulative balance that rolled over indefinitely. SAH replaces this with a structured quarterly allocation model that requires real-time budget tracking, proactive service planning, and careful carry-over management.

Under SAH, each client's annual budget (determined by their classification level) is divided into 4 equal quarterly allocations. The quarters align with the financial year: Q1 (July–September), Q2 (October–December), Q3 (January–March), Q4 (April–June).

At the start of each quarter, the client's quarterly budget becomes available for service delivery. Services delivered during the quarter are drawn from that quarter's allocation. Any client contributions (calculated per service based on the client's means-testing tier and service category) reduce the government-funded portion but do not reduce the total service value available to the client.

This quarterly structure means providers cannot front-load or back-load services across the year in the way that was possible under HCP. A client's July services must be funded from Q1's allocation, not from the annual total. This requires a fundamentally different approach to care planning and service scheduling.

The following table shows the approximate annual and quarterly budgets for each SAH classification level:

Level 1: ~$11,500/year → ~$2,875/quarter Level 2: ~$17,000/year → ~$4,250/quarter Level 3: ~$25,000/year → ~$6,250/quarter Level 4: ~$36,500/year → ~$9,125/quarter Level 5: ~$42,000/year → ~$10,500/quarter Level 6: ~$52,000/year → ~$13,000/quarter Level 7: ~$62,000/year → ~$15,500/quarter Level 8: ~$78,000/year → ~$19,500/quarter

These amounts are indexed annually and may change. Providers should refer to the current Department of Health and Aged Care schedule for exact figures. The amounts above are indicative for the 2025–26 financial year.

For clients who enter SAH partway through a quarter, the budget is pro-rated based on the number of days remaining in the quarter.

Not all clients will use their full quarterly allocation every quarter. SAH allows limited carry-over of unspent funds to the next quarter, subject to a cap:

The carry-over cap is 10% of the quarterly allocation or $1,000, whichever is greater.

For example, a Level 4 client with a quarterly allocation of ~$9,125 has a carry-over cap of ~$912.50. Since this is below $1,000, the $1,000 minimum applies — so they can carry over up to $1,000. A Level 8 client with a quarterly allocation of ~$19,500 has a carry-over cap of ~$1,950 (10% of $19,500).

Any unspent amount above the carry-over cap is forfeited — it is returned to the government and does not remain in the client's budget. This is a critical difference from HCP, where unspent funds accumulated indefinitely.

The carry-over creates an incentive for providers to actively manage service delivery throughout the quarter. Significant underspend means the client may not be receiving the services they need (a care quality concern) or the provider is not scheduling services effectively (an operational concern). Either way, the carry-over cap means the money is lost if services are not delivered.

Carry-over funds are added to the next quarter's regular allocation. They are available for the same quarter only and do not carry over again — there is no compounding of carry-over amounts.

SAH allows providers to deduct a care management fee from the client's quarterly budget to cover the costs of care coordination, administration, and management. However, this deduction is capped at 10% of the quarterly budget.

For a Level 4 client with a quarterly budget of ~$9,125, the maximum care management deduction is ~$912.50 per quarter. This must cover all care coordination activities including care plan development and review, service scheduling, provider coordination, progress monitoring, and administrative overheads.

The 10% cap is significantly lower than the care management charges many providers applied under HCP (where 20–35% was common). This reflects the government's intention to maximise the proportion of funding that reaches the client as direct services.

Providers need to carefully manage their care management costs within this cap. Those with high administrative overheads or inefficient coordination processes may find the 10% cap constraining. Investing in systems that automate care coordination tasks — scheduling, budget tracking, reporting — can help providers deliver effective care management within the cap.

Effective quarterly budget management requires real-time visibility into budget consumption. Best practices include:

Real-time budget dashboards. Care coordinators should be able to see, at any point in the quarter, how much of each client's budget has been consumed, how much remains, and what the projected end-of-quarter position is based on scheduled services. Waiting until the end of the quarter to calculate budget position is too late.

Alerts and thresholds. Set up automated alerts when a client's budget consumption reaches key thresholds — for example, 50% consumed by mid-quarter (on track), 80% consumed with 4+ weeks remaining (potential overspend), or less than 25% consumed at mid-quarter (potential underspend and carry-over forfeiture).

Projected vs actual tracking. Compare scheduled services (projected cost) against delivered services (actual cost) to identify discrepancies early. Cancelled services, changed service durations, and unplanned additional services all affect budget position.

Carry-over forecasting. Before the end of each quarter, calculate the projected carry-over amount and compare it to the carry-over cap. If carry-over will exceed the cap, consider whether additional services could be meaningfully delivered before quarter-end. If carry-over is well below the cap, the budget is being managed effectively.

Client communication. Keep clients informed about their budget position. Under SAH, clients have a right to understand how their funding is being used. Regular budget statements build trust and support informed decision-making about service priorities.

If a provider delivers services that exceed the client's quarterly budget (including any carry-over from the previous quarter), the provider bears the cost of the excess. The government does not provide additional funding for over-delivery.

This creates a direct financial risk for providers. Under HCP, over-delivery against the package could be offset by unspent balances from previous periods. Under SAH, the quarterly structure limits this flexibility.

Providers should have clear policies for managing budget overruns, including: requiring care coordinator approval before delivering services that would take the client over budget; having a process for requesting reclassification when a client's needs consistently exceed their classification level; and documenting the clinical rationale when services must be delivered despite budget constraints (for example, in response to a health crisis).

In cases where a client's needs consistently exceed their classification level, the appropriate response is to request a reclassification assessment through the Aged Care Assessment Organisation. Continuing to absorb the cost of over-delivery without seeking reclassification is neither financially sustainable nor in the client's interest — a higher classification level provides more funding and better reflects the client's actual needs.

Statura Care's Support at Home module provides real-time quarterly budget tracking, carry-over calculations, overspend alerts, and budget forecasting — giving care coordinators the visibility they need to manage budgets proactively. SAH budget management is one of 35 modules in Statura Care's aged care compliance software. For the full SAH framework overview, see our Support at Home program guide.