By Luke Benson. Last reviewed 13 September 2026, against Support at Home program manual V4.4.
When a participant is self-managing and has directly sourced their own third-party worker, the provider can charge an overhead to cover the cost of supporting that arrangement, and that overhead is capped at 10% of the actual cost of the third-party service. This is section 11.5.1 of the Support at Home program manual.
What the overhead is for, in the manual’s words: oversight to ensure the third-party worker meets worker obligations under the Act (worker screening, training the worker in the provider’s complaints and incident procedures), and claiming the subsidy and paying the third party.
How it is charged: the overhead is not claimed separately. It must be included in the final service price agreed with the participant for the third-party worker.
When the cap does not apply: if the provider has chosen to engage a third party to deliver services outside of self-management, and the participant is not contributing to coordinating the arrangement, the cap does not apply. The cap is only for the case where the participant sourced the worker and is doing the activities listed in section 11.5 (researching, liaising, negotiating price, organising times).
The manual adds that the overhead “should be proportionate to the activities the participant is undertaking to support the arrangement”. A participant doing most of the coordination should see a smaller overhead than one doing little.
Two related rules from section 11.5.2. Services under Support at Home are GST-free for participants; GST should not be charged to a participant’s budget even where the provider pays GST to the worker. And the provider and participant should agree and document who receives and who pays the worker’s invoice.
How DidYouGo fits. The overhead pays for oversight. A delivery record for each visit is the cheapest form of oversight there is, and it answers section 10.5 at the same time.
