Home Lift Funding: Support at Home AT-HM Guide

Yes, you may be able to get government funding towards a home lift, but it will rarely cover the whole cost. If you’re approved for the Support at Home program, the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme can contribute up to $15,390 towards changes that make your home safer to get around. An occupational therapist (OT) has to prescribe the work, you’ll usually pay a share based on your pension status, and the money has to be spent within a set time.

This guide covers what that $15,390 pays for, who qualifies, how the OT assessment works, and where a home lift fits.

Support at Home and AT-HM in brief

Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. It funds ongoing help at home through a quarterly budget, and it also includes AT-HM, a separate pot of money for equipment and home modifications. Because AT-HM sits outside your quarterly budget, you don’t have to save up for months to afford a bigger change to your home.

AT-HM is split into assistive technology (equipment) and home modifications (changes to the building itself). Each has three funding tiers:

Home modifications budget

Low

$513

Medium

$2,052

High

$15,390

These are the rates in effect from 1 July 2026. The scheme launched with a $15,000 high tier, which is why you’ll still see that figure on older pages.

What the $15,390 covers

The high tier is meant for larger, more complex work, and it isn’t limited to the lift or rail itself. Under the government’s AT-HM guidelines, home modifications funding can pay for:

the item and its installation
trade work, building, plan drafting, and council approvals and fees
the OT’s prescription and follow-up, including training on safe use
quotes, where a supplier charges for them
your provider’s coordination fee, capped at 15% of the quoted cost or $1,500, whichever is less

The government’s own examples of home modifications include grab rails, handrails, ramps and stair lifts, bathroom redesigns and widened doorways.

Three rules matter for anything as big as a lift.

It’s a lifetime cap. The $15,390 high tier is once-off. If you spend $6,000 on a bathroom now, you’ll have $9,390 left for any future high-tier allocation.

It has a deadline. Funding must be spent, not just committed, within 12 months. For complex jobs your provider can apply to extend this to 24 months by showing progress, such as council approvals, plans or a signed building contract. Lift installations often need that extra time.

Some things are excluded. AT-HM won’t pay for general renovations, normal maintenance, cosmetic work, layout changes unrelated to your care needs, or any modification an OT hasn’t prescribed.

If you live in a remote or very remote area (Modified Monash Model 6 or 7), a 50% supplement is added on top of your tier.

Will AT-HM pay for a home lift?

Stair lifts are named in the government’s examples of home modifications. A fully enclosed home lift isn’t, so whether yours can be funded comes down to two things: whether the lift matches an item on the AT-HM list, and whether your OT prescribes it as the right answer to your assessed needs.

A stair lift is usually the cheaper option, and many OTs will consider it first. A home lift tends to come into the conversation when a stair lift isn’t safe or practical, for example when:

you use a wheelchair or walker and need it on both floors
getting on and off a stair lift seat isn’t safe for you
a carer needs to travel with you
the staircase can’t take a stair lift rail

Even when a home lift is prescribed, a fully installed lift costs well over $15,390. In practice the AT-HM funding goes towards the lift and you cover the balance. Ask your provider how the remaining amount will be handled before anything is ordered.

Who qualifies

To use AT-HM you need to be approved for Support at Home. That generally means you’re 65 or older (50 or older for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) and an aged care assessment finds you need help to keep living at home.

You can start by calling My Aged Care on 1800 200 422, applying online, or asking your GP or hospital to refer you. The assessor looks at how you manage day to day and how safe your home is. If you need home modifications, they’ll give you a funding tier, which appears in your Notice of Decision and support plan. Your assistive technology and home modifications tiers can be different.

Funding is then released through a priority system. You get a point for each of these:

you live alone
you have an assessed mobility impairment
you identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
your home poses a moderate or severe risk to your health or safety
you’ve waited more than six months and live in a rural or remote area (MM5 to MM7)

Two or more points puts you in the high priority category.

Once your allocation letter arrives, you have 56 days to sign a service agreement with a Support at Home provider, or 84 days if you ask for an extension. After that the funding is withdrawn.

A few other situations come up often:

Already on Support at Home but not approved for home modifications? Ask for a Support Plan Review or a reassessment. A prescription and quotes help make the case.
Moved across from a Home Care Package? Your unspent package funds are used first, and no contribution applies to them.
Renting or living in a retirement village? You’ll need the owner’s written consent before work starts. Public housing tenants usually go through their state housing authority instead.
Under 65 with a disability? The NDIS is the usual route. [Link: Lift Ease NDIS funding article]

What you’ll pay

Home modifications count as “independence” services under Support at Home, so most people pay a contribution:

Your situation

Contribution on home modifications

Full pensioner

Part pensioner or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holder

5% to 50%, based on income and assets

Self-funded retiree

50%

The OT’s prescription and follow-up are clinical supports, so the government pays for them in full.

On $15,390 of work, a full pensioner would contribute about $770 and a self-funded retiree about $7,695. Some people who moved across from Home Care Packages pay less or nothing under the “no worse off” rules. There’s also a lifetime cap on contributions, and you can apply for help if you’re in financial hardship.

How the OT assessment fits in

Every home modification under AT-HM needs a prescription from an occupational therapist. Without one, there’s no funding.

Your Support at Home provider arranges the OT. The OT will usually visit your home (sometimes it’s done by telehealth), watch how you move around, and work out what’s getting in the way. Their prescription names the modification and the need it meets. For a lift, expect them to look at:

how you get between floors now, and what goes wrong
your mobility aids and how they’re likely to change
whether you could safely use a stair lift instead
where a lift could go, and the doorways and paths you’d use to reach it

For complex jobs, the OT and the builder or lift installer may meet on site to agree the scope. That’s a good time to bring us in. We can check the position, power supply and floor-to-floor height so the OT’s prescription and our quote describe the same lift.

Major modifications usually need three quotes so your provider can show value for money. Each quote should list the full scope, parts and labour, how long the job will take, and whether building permits are included.

Step by step

Register with My Aged Care and complete your aged care assessment.
Check your Notice of Decision for a home modifications tier, then wait for your funding allocation letter.
Choose a Support at Home provider registered to deliver AT-HM and sign a service agreement within 56 days.
Your provider arranges an OT home assessment and prescription.
Your provider collects quotes. Ask them to include Lift Ease.
Agree the budget and your contribution in writing, and get the owner’s consent if you don’t own the home.
Permits are lodged, the lift is installed, and the OT follows up to show you how to use it safely.
Make sure the work is finished and claimed within 12 months, or that an extension is in place.

For OTs and support coordinators

If you’re prescribing for a client who may need a home lift, we can meet you on site, talk through what will work in their home, and provide an itemised quote covering scope, parts, labour, timing and permits, ready for the provider’s paperwork.

Our home lifts

When the prescription points to a home lift, the Vector Pro and Atlus are the models to start with. We’ll measure up, confirm what the build needs, and work with your provider and OT through to handover.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get funding for a home lift through Support at Home? Possibly. AT-HM can put up to $15,390 towards prescribed home modifications. Stair lifts are a named example; a home lift depends on the AT-HM list and your OT’s prescription. The funding usually covers part of the cost, not all of it.

Is the $15,390 per year? No. The high tier for home modifications is a lifetime amount.

Do I need an OT? Yes. Every home modification under AT-HM needs an OT prescription, and you don’t pay a contribution towards it.

Can I choose which lift company does the work? Your provider sources the work, but you can ask them to get a quote from a particular supplier. If you self-manage, you can choose suppliers with your provider’s agreement.

I had a Home Care Package. Can I use my unspent funds? Yes. They’re used before your AT-HM funding, and no contribution applies to them.

Talk to us about your home

Whether you’ve already got a prescription or you’re just starting the assessment process, we can tell you what a lift would involve in your home.

*This article is general information only. It isn’t financial, legal, clinical or aged care advice, and it doesn’t take your personal circumstances into account. Whether you’re eligible for funding, how much you receive and what you contribute will depend on your aged care assessment, your OT’s prescription, your Support at Home provider and your income and assets.

Funding amounts, eligibility rules and legislation change from time to time. The figures in this article are based on information published by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and My Aged Care as at October 2026. Before making any decisions, confirm the current rules with My Aged Care (1800 200 422), your Support at Home provider or a qualified professional. Lift Ease Pty Ltd accepts no liability for decisions made based on this article.

Can I Get Funding for a Home Lift? Support at Home and AT-HM Explained