Support for Carers Program 2027-2031

Eligibility overview

To be eligible for funding, your application must:

• support unpaid carers or people with a care role, as defined in these guidelines – see Definition of unpaid carer and person with a care role
• be submitted by an eligible organisation – see Organisation eligibility
• request funding for eligible activities – see Eligible activities and costs
• include evidence of valid public liability insurance – see Insurance requirements
• include all mandatory documents – see Mandatory attachments.

Definition of unpaid carer or person with a care role

An unpaid carer or person with a care role is anyone who gives essential and unpaid care, support and help to someone. This care may be anywhere from a couple of hours a day to around-the-clock help.

Every unpaid carer is different. A person with a care role could be a partner, family member, friend, neighbour or community member.

They may care for a child or adult with:

• disability
• mental illness
• drug or alcohol dependency
• life-limiting illness
• chronic illness
• aged care needs.

An unpaid carer may still get:

• a carer payment, allowance or pension
• other Australian government and state funding support.

These carers are still considered to be unpaid carers.

Not in scope for program support

People taking regular care of children, if the children do not have extra support needs due to:

• disability
• neurodivergence
• medical conditions
• mental ill health.

People who are:

• foster carers
• registered kinship carers (except for First Nations organisations)
• permanent carers.

Registered kinship carers are in scope for First Nations organisations only to recognise Aboriginal caring practices.

In some cases, kinship and foster carers may also have extra unpaid care responsibilities. They may be eligible for support in their unpaid caring capacity.

Organisation eligibility

To be eligible to apply for funding, your organisation must be an incorporated not-for-profit community organisation (or other form of legal entity) and have:

• a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
• no overdue final reports from previous state government funded grants.

Eligible organisation types include:

• An organisation incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic), Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or similar state legislation
• A company incorporated under the Corporations Act and registered as a not-for-profit through the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
• An incorporated Aboriginal entity. This includes Aboriginal-led not-for-profit organisations, Aboriginal community-controlled Gathering Places and organisations, Traditional Owner groups and land trusts.
• Community health services registered as a state government entity or statutory authority.
• Local government entities.

Your organisation’s past performance with Victorian government grants and service delivery will be considered. Your organisation may be ineligible if you have not met performance targets or have overdue final reports.

Organisations that do not meet these criteria are not eligible to apply for funding. Consider partnering with an eligible organisation under an auspice arrangement. Information on auspice arrangements is in Auspice arrangements.

How to check your Australian Business Number (ABN)

• To check your ABN, visit the ABN Lookup website.

How to check your organisation type

• For incorporated associations, co-operatives or organisations incorporated through other means: Go to Consumer Affairs Victoria's Licensing and registration web page.
• For a Company Limited by Guarantee: Go to ASIC Connect's Search company and other registers web page.
• For registered charities: Go to Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission's Search for a charity web page.
• For Aboriginal corporations: Go to Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations' Public register web page.

How to check for overdue reports

To check if your organisation is up to date on reporting requirements, view your current grants on the DFFH Grants Gateway website. If a report is red, it is overdue.

You can also email DFFH to check if your organisation is up to date – VictorianCarerStrategy@dffh.vic.gov.au.

You must complete overdue reports before you submit your application for this grant program.

To check your organisation’s performance against service agreements with the Victorian Government, you can:

• check your performance in the relevant reporting system
• reach out to your relevant departmental contact.

Auspice arrangements

If your organisation is not incorporated or does not have an ABN, you may consider partnering with another organisation that:

• meets these eligibility criteria, and
• will accept legal responsibility for the grant.

This is known as an auspice arrangement. If your application is successful, your organisation will provide the activity. The auspice organisation will be responsible for:

• signing the grant funding agreement and service agreement with the department
• making sure the legal and financial requirements of the funding and service agreements are met
• receiving and distributing funds under the funding and service agreements
• making sure all project activities are completed
• submitting reports and financial acquittals on behalf of your organisation.

If you want to propose an auspice arrangement, your application must include:

• a letter of support from the auspice organisation
• a memorandum of understanding outlining roles and responsibilities of the 2 organisations.

Applications for auspice arrangements that do not attach this evidence will be ineligible.

Consortium applications

A consortium application is when 2 or more organisations partner to provide support for carers.

Through consortiums, organisations can combine their strengths, knowledge and experiences. This helps people with a care role get tailored, high-quality support. Consortium applications that improve system connections and broaden access to support are encouraged.

You can apply individually, as a consortium or both.

If you do apply individually and as a consortium, make sure:

• your 2 applications do not overlap or duplicate services
• you are not the lead organisation for the consortium.

The lead organisation for the consortium must:

• meet the eligibility criteria
• submit one application on behalf of the consortium.

The same funding cap applies to consortium applications as individual applications.

If you apply for a consortium arrangement, your application must:

• Include evidence that confirms the consortium arrangement. This may be a memorandum of understanding, letter of support, letter of intent or similar.
• Set out the roles and responsibilities of each organisation in the mandatory Service Delivery Plan.
• Outline each organisation’s relevant capabilities and experience.
• Outline how funds will be allocated between consortium organisations in the mandatory detailed budget.

If successful, the lead organisation will enter into a service agreement with the department. Each organisation in the consortium will also sign the service agreement. For more information, see Obligations of funded organisations.

Note: All organisations in the consortium must meet the requirements of the service agreement.

Eligible activities and costs

Funding is for providing support services to people with a care role in Victoria. Funding is for service delivery from 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2031.

Organisations can offer support in a range of innovative, diverse and flexible ways. Support should be tailored to meet the particular needs of each person with a care role.

The program is designed to provide mainly face-to-face individual or small group services and support. Online activities and remote support can be a small part of your service delivery model.

Organisations that are not registered for GST can use funds to cover the cost of GST from goods and services purchased with the department’s funds. For more information, including what this means for your application, see the DFFH Grants Gateway's Help guides and documents web page.

People who can get support

Services and activities can include support for:

• a person with a care role
• a person with care needs
• other people involved in supporting the care relationship, including family and community members
• everyone in a care relationship.

Modes of service delivery

Services should be mostly individual, small group and face-to-face support. Services should respond to the needs of the person or people getting support. The service delivery model should also respond to the views and experiences of people with a care role.

Services should take place somewhere that ensures safety, inclusion and accessibility for all people getting support.

Organisations should provide at least 75% of funded services as tailored individual, small group, or intensive support, in a face-to-face format where possible. This covers all service delivery stages, including intake, debrief and carer feedback.

You can deliver up to 25% of your service model through large group online activities and less intensive or indirect types of support (such as newsletters or general information sessions).

Service delivery can include:

• intake and service planning
• direct practice or face-to-face support
• phone-based and online support, if face-to-face support is not accessible or possible
• transport to take part in activities
• financial support if needed, including one-off payments or vouchers for essential items or services to support the carer’s health or wellbeing, or the care relationship.

Examples of some possible activities are outlined in Table 1.

Ineligible activities and costs

The following will not be funded as part of the program:

• core operational expenses and costs, including building, rental and overheads
• activities already funded by the Victorian Government, including other government-funded service delivery and grant programs
• activities already funded by local government or the Australian Government
• retrospective costs for activities that were started or provided before funding approval
• activities outside of Victoria, unless they take place in a cross-border community – in this case, activities must support carers residing in Victoria.
• using public funds in a way that is not appropriate or consistent with the program’s objectives. This includes (but is not limited to) buying alcohol and gambling.

Funding and service delivery targets

Funded organisations must provide services over all 4 financial years, from 2027–2028 to 2030–2031. Funding will be the same for each of the 4 financial years.

Funding allocation and yearly targets are based on costs of:

• around $120 for every hour of support provided
• up to $2,400 for each carer for each financial year.

Types of services and levels of support will differ depending on each carer’s needs. You can use funding flexibly to meet yearly targets. For example, some carers may get more or less than $2,400 of support within the overall funding allocation.

Funded organisations must report against their targets each financial year.

If it is appropriate and you still meet set targets, you may allocate up to 10% of the total funding amount to:

• reimburse individual volunteers for costs associated with volunteering that directly support delivery of the funded activity.

Guidance on funding amounts

Table 2 has examples of some suitable services and approaches for different funding amounts. This may help you decide how much funding to request. Your application may include other services and support than those listed in the table.

All applications will be assessed using the assessment process outlined in Table 4.

Note: Organisations must not try to influence the outcome by lobbying department staff either directly or indirectly.