"NDIS vs Support at Home: Which Is Right for an Older Loved One?"

When an older family member starts needing a bit more help at home, one of the first questions we hear from families across St Marys, Epping and the Inner West Sydney is a confusing one: "Do we go through the NDIS, or aged care?" It's an easy thing to get tangled in, because the two systems can look similar from the outside — both fund help at home, both involve assessments, and both use unfamiliar language.

Let's gently untangle them, so you can work out which door to knock on.

Two different systems, one shared goal

Australia runs two separate systems for funded support, and which one a person uses comes down largely to age and when their disability or care needs began.

• The NDIS is for people with a permanent and significant disability who first apply before they turn 65.
• Support at Home is the aged-care program that, from 2025–26, replaced Home Care Packages. It's for older Australians — generally 65 and over — who need help to keep living safely and independently in their own home.

Both aim for the same thing: helping someone stay where they're most comfortable, doing as much for themselves as they can. They simply sit in different parts of the system.

The age-65 line

The single biggest deciding factor is age at the point of first applying.

If a person is under 65 and has a permanent, significant disability, the NDIS is usually the right path. If you're not sure whether your loved one meets the criteria, our explainer on NDIS eligibility walks through it gently.

If a person is 65 or over and hasn't already joined the NDIS, aged care — now delivered through Support at Home — is generally where support comes from instead.

There's an important detail here that reassures a lot of families: if someone is already an NDIS participant when they turn 65, they can choose to stay on the NDIS. The age cap applies to *joining*, not to *staying*. So an older participant doesn't get pushed off the scheme on their birthday.

What the NDIS funds

The NDIS funds supports that relate to a person's disability. For an older participant, that often includes assistance with daily life, help getting out into the community, and building or maintaining skills. To understand the structure behind it all, our guide to how the NDIS works is a good plain-English starting point.

The key test is that a support is *reasonable and necessary* and tied to the person's disability — not simply to getting older.

What Support at Home funds

Support at Home is built around helping older people stay safe and independent at home. Depending on the assessed level of need, it can fund things like:

• Help with everyday tasks — showering, dressing, meals, and light housework
• Clinical care such as nursing and allied health
• Home modifications and assistive technology to reduce the risk of falls
• Respite so family carers can take a break

Support at Home introduced clearer service categories and shorter wait times than the old Home Care Package system it replaced. People are assessed, assigned a level, and then choose a provider to deliver the agreed services.

How a family might choose

In practice the choice is rarely a toss-up — the person's age and history usually point clearly to one system. But here are the situations we see most:

• A person under 65 with a lifelong disability → the NDIS, almost always.
• A person who acquires a disability after 65 (for example after a stroke) → aged care / Support at Home, because they're over the joining age.
• An existing NDIS participant who turns 65 → they can stay on the NDIS, and it's usually best to do so rather than switch systems.

The wrong move is to *wait at the wrong door* — a family spending months chasing the NDIS when their loved one should be heading into an aged-care assessment, or the reverse. A quick conversation early on saves a lot of lost time.

Where Adom Grace Care fits

As a provider, we support people across both worlds — NDIS participants and older people receiving aged-care support — with the same warm, person-centred care. Whether your loved one is an NDIS participant in Epping or an older parent in St Marys needing a hand at home, we deliver daily living and personal care support that respects their independence and dignity.

Because we're an unregistered NDIS provider, we can offer real flexibility in how and when support happens — and we're always happy to explain what that means for your family. Our piece on using an unregistered NDIS provider covers it clearly.

Still not sure which way to turn?

You don't need to have it all worked out before you reach out. Sometimes the most helpful first step is simply talking it through with someone patient who knows both systems.

If you'd like a calm, no-pressure conversation about whether the NDIS or Support at Home is right for your older loved one, please get in touch with our team. We'll help you find the right door — and walk through it with you.