Enkindle Consulting has today opened its fourth annual Home Care Provider Outlook Survey, inviting home care providers across Australia to share their early experiences of the aged care reform.
The first few months of reform have been significant for home care providers. Some changes are working well; others are creating pressure, and others are having unintended impacts on clients, care delivery, and provider sustainability.
This year’s survey is designed to capture what’s really happening on the ground, including what’s working, what’s been challenging, what’s surprising providers, and what needs attention next as reforms continue to embed.
“Providers are doing the heavy lifting of reform delivery,” said Jennene Buckley, Director at Enkindle Consulting. “The early implementation period is where issues show up fast, in claiming, care management, workforce pressure, systems, financial sustainability, and the way client and market behaviours start to shift. This survey gives providers a collective voice, so their lived experience is visible and heard.”
The survey explores provider experience and perspectives across key areas, including:
- Early delivery and embedding of the new Act and Support at Home
- Financial sustainability, pricing pressures and risk
- Workforce readiness and capability gaps
- Technology readiness and system pressure
- Care management, claiming and administrative impacts
- Changes in consumer behaviour and demand
- CHSP preparedness and priorities for transition to Support at Home.
The survey includes dedicated questions for Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) providers, recognising that many organisations are now planning for transition ahead of the proposed 2027 timeline.
“For CHSP providers, 2026 is about readiness,” said Natasha Edwards, Director at Enkindle Consulting. “We want to understand what providers need, where the risks are, and what support would make the biggest difference to their transition. We have already heard from providers that getting the right details early matters.”
Insights from the survey will inform a Home Care Provider Outlook 2026 summary findings report, highlighting emerging risks, opportunities and system pressure points that may not yet be visible through formal reporting.
With a Senate inquiry into Support at Home scheduled later this year, the survey is also a timely opportunity for providers to ensure their early reform experience helps shape the national evidence base and conversation.
The survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. All responses are anonymous. Home care providers delivering home care services, including CHSP, Support at Home, NATSIFACP, Transition Care and MPS programs, are encouraged to participate.
