Funding, in plain words
What the government helps pay for: personal alarms and fall sensors.
Personal alarms and fall sensors are not cheap to buy outright, and the monitoring fees add up. If you or a parent qualifies, there are real funding paths in Australia that can cover most or all of the cost. Which pathway applies comes down almost entirely to age, so here is the plain version of who pays for what.
Last reviewed: 21 July 2026
The short version, by age
There are two government pathways, and age decides which one you use. If the person is 65 or older, it runs through My Aged Care. If they are younger than 65 and live with disability, it runs through the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the NDIS. Both can fund personal alarms and fall sensors as assistive technology: the equipment that helps someone stay safe and independent at home.
You do not need to know any dollar figures before you start. Funding is worked out from an assessment of what the person needs, and the assessor confirms what applies. The one thing worth knowing up front is that fall-safety equipment is a fundable category, so it is always worth asking.
Aged 65 and over: My Aged Care
My Aged Care is the government's front door to aged-care support. You qualify for an aged care assessment from 65, or from 50 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Personal alarms and fall sensors sit under assistive technology: equipment that helps you stay safe and independent at home.
Since November 2025, help at home has been delivered through the Support at Home program, and equipment is funded through a scheme inside it that gives upfront funding for products that make the home safer, matched to your assessed needs. The funding comes in levels rather than one flat amount, so a monitored fall sensor and its setup usually sit comfortably within them.
The process, roughly:
- Register with My Aged Care, online or by phone, and ask for an assessment.
- An assessor works out your supports, including any assistive technology you are eligible for.
- Once approved, you choose a device that fits, funded up to the level that applies to you.
You do not need to know the exact figures before you start; the assessment sets your level. If you want the detail on how the aged-care equipment levels are structured, we set it out in our guide to Support at Home funding for fall monitoring.
Under 65: the NDIS
If the person is younger than 65 and lives with disability, aged care is not the pathway; the National Disability Insurance Scheme is. The NDIS can fund assistive technology within a participant's plan when the equipment relates to their disability and supports their goals, and staying safe and independent at home is a common goal. Fall sensors and personal alarms are the kind of safety equipment that fits.
How a device is chosen and bought can depend on how the plan is managed and on the value of the item. Those rules change, so confirm the current detail on the NDIS website or with your planner, who can tell you exactly what your plan allows.
Why funded equipment can beat a pendant you have to remember
Traditional personal alarms are pendants or wrist buttons. They work, but only when they are worn and only when the person can press them. In real homes they get taken off in the shower, where many falls happen, left on the bedside table overnight, or not pressed at all if the person is knocked out or confused.
Passive fall detection works differently. Sensors in the home detect a fall on their own and raise the alarm, through an app notification, a text, or a call to family or a monitoring service, with nothing to wear and nothing to press. It keeps working in the shower and at three in the morning. For someone who will not wear a pendant, or cannot reliably press one, that can be the difference between a fall being caught and a fall being missed. These are wellbeing and safety aids, and no device detects every fall, so it is sensible to pair any device with a clear plan for who responds, which we cover in setting up the response plan before the fall.
Both types can be funded through the pathways above. If a pendant has already been refused, a no-wearable option is worth raising by name at the assessment.
What to do next
- Work out the pathway by age: 65 and over goes to My Aged Care; under 65 with disability goes to the NDIS.
- Ask for an assessment, and name the safety concern and any past falls directly.
- Talk to the person's GP about their falls risk too; a GP can support the assessment and point to local help.
- Once approved, choose the device that suits the person, including no-wearable fall sensors, not only pendants.
- If you are paying privately in the meantime, keep the receipts; some costs can be recognised once a plan is in place.
It also helps to be clear on whether a device is a one-off you own or a service you keep paying for, because the two add up very differently over a few years. We compare those two models in subscription versus owning the sensor, and if you are still weighing up which device suits, the two-minute quiz is a good place to start.
The short version: if the person is 65 or older it is My Aged Care; under 65 with disability it is the NDIS. Both fund fall sensors and personal alarms as assistive technology, often covering most of the cost, including modern no-wearable options that catch a fall on their own. Ask for an assessment and name the safety concern directly.
General information only, current as of the review date. Funding levels, eligibility and program rules change. Confirm the current detail with My Aged Care or the NDIS, or talk to an assessor.
Wondering how a sensor would fit your funding?
Tell us about the person and the home. We will explain plainly how a fall sensor fits each pathway, so you can raise it clearly with your assessor.
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