What Is My Aged Care, and How Do You Register?
14 August 2026
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14 August 2026
If you've been told to "register with My Aged Care," you've probably already discovered that there's no button anywhere that says register. That's not you missing something. The wording changed, the process changed with it, and most of the advice still floating around describes a system that has since been replaced.
Here's what My Aged Care is, what you're actually applying for, and what happens once you do.
My Aged Care is the Australian Government's entry point for government-funded aged care. It's a website and a phone line, not a service provider. Nobody from My Aged Care comes to your house.
What it does is check whether you meet the requirements for funded aged care, arrange for someone to assess your needs, and record the outcome so that providers can act on it. Everything that follows, including the funding you're approved for and the support you eventually receive, flows from that first application.
People search for "registering with My Aged Care." The system calls it applying for an assessment. They're the same thing.
Applying for an assessment is the first step to accessing government-funded aged care. You apply, an assessment organisation looks at how you're managing at home, and a decision is made about what you're approved for. There's no separate registration step to complete first, and no waiting list you join before applying.
The application itself checks that you meet the age and needs requirements before it goes any further, so the honest answer to "am I eligible?" is that the process tells you. Nobody, including us, can confirm eligibility on the government's behalf.
What's worth knowing is that needing a bit of help is enough of a reason to apply. This isn't a system reserved for people in crisis, and applying doesn't commit you to accepting anything.
Online. The quickest option. It takes 15 to 20 minutes and you'll need your Medicare card.
By phone. Call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422. Staff can answer questions and complete the application with you over the phone.
In person. Book an appointment with an Aged Care Specialist Officer at a Services Australia office, Monday to Friday between 8am and 5pm. To make a booking, call 1800 227 475.
All three lead to the same place. The phone and in-person options exist because the online form asks about things you might prefer to talk through, and there's no advantage to struggling on alone with it.
Knowing the shape of it in advance takes most of the stress out.
First, it checks you meet the age and needs requirements and asks about your situation. That part takes around 10 minutes and covers how you're managing day to day rather than your medical history.
Then it collects your personal and contact details, so the assessment organisation knows who to contact. This is the step your Medicare card is needed for.
Finally, you can choose to register a supporter. More on that next.
The single most useful thing you can do before starting is to think honestly about the tasks that have become difficult. Not the ones you've stopped doing because you no longer want to do them, but the ones you've stopped doing because they've become hard. That distinction shapes everything downstream.
During the application you can request to register a supporter. A registered supporter is someone you choose who can help you make and communicate your own decisions, and access and update your information. They can talk to assessors, aged care providers and My Aged Care on your behalf.
It's worth doing if there's a family member or friend already helping you with this. It saves repeating your circumstances to every organisation that calls, and it doesn't transfer any decision-making away from you.
An assessment organisation will call you within 2 to 6 weeks. On that call they'll confirm your needs and, if you're eligible, arrange a time to visit. Assessments are done in person, usually at your own home.
If you don't hear anything after six weeks, call My Aged Care rather than assuming you've been overlooked or declined. See preparing for your aged care assessment for what to have ready before the visit.
There are two: a home support assessment, and a comprehensive assessment. The split exists so that people with lower needs aren't put through more assessment than they need, and people with complex needs get a thorough one.
If you've been told to expect an "ACAT assessment," that's now called a comprehensive assessment. The organisations that carry them out, previously known as ACAT and RAS teams, are now simply called assessment organisations. The name changed. What happens at the visit did not.
If you're approved, you'll receive a Notice of Decision letter titled "Outcome of your application for funded aged care services," along with a support plan setting out the care and services approved for you.
Approval is a decision about what you're eligible for. It isn't the same as services starting, and it isn't the same as funding being available immediately. Under the Support at Home program, ongoing funding is allocated when it becomes available, based on your approval date and priority category.
That gap between approval and funding catches people out. It's also the period when it's worth working out who you'd actually want coming into your home, because that decision is yours to make and there's no reason to wait until the letter arrives to start thinking about it.
Once you know what you're approved for, you choose how support is delivered. Some people go through an agency. Others arrange support directly with independent support workers, which means choosing the person themselves.
CareVicinity is an Australia-wide marketplace for that second option, covering aged care, DVA and privately funded support. You browse workers, compare experience and rates, and decide who you want. Care seekers pay no platform fee. CareVicinity's 12.5% platform fee applies to the support worker and is already reflected in the rate shown. Availability of specific services and workers varies by location.
Do I have to register with My Aged Care to get help at home? Only for government-funded support. You can arrange and pay for support privately at any time without any application, including while you wait.
Can someone apply for me? Yes. A family member or friend can complete the application with you or for you, and you can register them as a supporter so they can deal with assessors and providers on your behalf.
Is My Aged Care the same as a Home Care Package? No. My Aged Care is the entry point. The funding program for in-home support is now Support at Home, which replaced the Home Care Packages Program on 1 November 2025.
If you're at the beginning of this, the application is the only step that unlocks everything else, and it's a 15 to 20 minute job with your Medicare card in front of you.
If you're already approved and waiting, or arranging support privately in the meantime, you can browse independent support workers in your area or read more about how CareVicinity works. More questions? Check our FAQs.