SWEP Continence Aids Program: Victoria's Continence Subsidy Explained
By Kim Hando
, Owner & Founder
│ 02 September 2026
Last reviewed: 02 September 2026
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A Victorian rings about continence products, mentions they already get CAPS, and asks whether that is the end of it. In Victoria, it need not be. The state runs a second scheme, the SWEP Continence Aids Program, and being on CAPS does not shut you out of it. That one fact changes what a Victorian household can claim, and it is oddly hard to find stated plainly.
Our complete guide to NDIS continence funding covers the national schemes. This is the Victorian piece, for people managing continence at home and the carers doing it with them.
The short version: the SWEP Continence Aids Program is a Victorian Government subsidy towards the cost of continence products. A registered continence practitioner assesses you and applies on your behalf, then SWEP orders the products and has them delivered. Where the subsidy does not cover the full cost, you or a third party pay the remainder. It funds catheters, drainage equipment and washable products, and it does not fund disposable pants or pads.
What the SWEP Continence Aids Program is
The SWEP Continence Aids Program is a Victorian Government subsidy that helps eligible Victorians with the cost of continence products. It runs as one program under the Victorian Aids and Equipment Program, and it is administered by the State-wide Equipment Program, a business unit of Grampians Health Ballarat, funded by the Department of Health, Victoria.
SWEP itself is broader than continence. It subsidises assistive technology, home and vehicle modifications, oxygen equipment, lymphoedema compression garments and laryngectomy products, with continence sitting alongside them as its own program. The team is based in Ballarat and supports consumers across the state.
The thing to understand before anything else is that SWEP is not a payment. It is a supply program. Money does not land in your account the way CAPS assistance does. Your practitioner applies, SWEP confirms your eligibility, and SWEP then orders your products from its own tendered supplier, who delivers them to the address you nominate.
That difference catches people out, because there is no form to fill in and no rebate to claim in the shape the name suggests.
Who is eligible for SWEP continence aids
SWEP publishes six eligibility criteria for the Continence Aids Program. You are eligible for funding if you:
- Are a permanent Victorian resident, or hold a temporary or permanent protection visa, or are an asylum seeker
- Have a long-term condition or disability, or are frail aged, or both
- Do not receive other government funding for equipment or products
- Are not an in-patient of a public or private hospital, or a permanent resident of a residential care facility
- Cannot claim the full costs of the equipment or products through your private health insurance policy
- Have not been discharged from a public hospital or an extended care centre within 30 days, where the products required relate to that hospital admission
On top of those, you must be assessed by a SWEP registered Continence AT Practitioner, and you must meet the requirements set out in the Victorian A&EP Guidelines.
Worth knowing before you rely on any of that: SWEP states its continence eligibility in two places, and the two lists are not identical. The Continence Aids Program page carries the six criteria above. The continence FAQ carries a shorter list of five that leaves out the other-government-funding limb and says "long-term disability" where the program page says "long-term condition/disability". Work from the program page, and if your situation sits near either edge, ring and ask rather than reading it off whichever page you landed on first.
The residential care limb is the one that ends the conversation for some families. If the person has moved permanently into residential aged care, this is not their scheme, and the question becomes what the facility supplies.
CAPS and SWEP can be held together
Here is the part that is worth the phone call. SWEP answers the question directly in its own continence FAQ, and the answer is yes: if you are receiving assistance from the CAPS program, you can still be assisted through SWEP's Continence Aids Program.
That sits oddly beside the eligibility limb about not receiving other government funding for equipment or products, and the two statements are easy to read as a contradiction. Being on the Commonwealth payment does not disqualify you from the Victorian subsidy.
So the shape of it in Victoria is a two-layer arrangement for people who qualify for both. CAPS pays an annual amount you spend on your own products. SWEP subsidises a separate list of items and supplies them to you. Neither replaces the other, and neither scheme's staff will necessarily mention the other one to you.
If you are not yet sure which national scheme is yours, which of the two national schemes applies to you covers that decision, and our complete guide to CAPS covers the Commonwealth payment on its own terms. Services Australia publishes the current CAPS rate and eligibility rules, and that page is the one to trust on the CAPS side.
What this means if you are an NDIS participant
SWEP handles NDIS participants differently again. Rather than a direct application to the Continence Aids Program, its FAQ directs NDIS participants to the Safety Link Assist service, on 1800 995 009.
Be careful how far you push that. SWEP does not publish a flat statement that the two can never coexist. What it publishes is an eligibility limb about other government funding for equipment and products, and a separate route for participants to take. In practice, continence support for a participant is a plan conversation, and what the NDIS covers and how to access it sets out that side.
For anything about amounts in your own plan, your plan manager or support coordinator is the right person, or ndis.gov.au.
What SWEP funds, and the disposables it does not
This is the part of the Victorian scheme worth reading slowly. SWEP says the Continence Aids Program is able to help fund anal plugs, anal irrigation systems, catheters both long term and intermittent, catheter drainage tubing, connectors, straps and valves, condom drainage systems, drainage bags, drainage bottles and connectors, intra vaginal bladder supports, washable bedding and chair pads, and washable briefs and pads. SWEP points to its catalogue for the complete list of fundable items, so treat that as the starting point rather than the whole of it.
Now the exclusion that matters. SWEP states that it will not fund disposable pants or pads, drip collectors, colostomy appliances or urinals.
Read those two lists together and the shape becomes clear: every absorbent product SWEP funds is a washable one. If your daily continence management runs on disposable pull-ups, slips, pads or underpads, the Victorian scheme is not going to pay for them, no matter how well you meet every eligibility criterion.
There is a further limit on the washable side. SWEP funds all washable products as a one-off order only, and says that in exceptional circumstances additional items may be supplied where a recommendation is received from a SWEP registered practitioner who can provide clinical justification for the need for additional washable items. So the washable pads are a one-time supply with a documented route to more, not an ongoing entitlement.
SWEP also requires that all continence items it subsidises comply with Australian Standards.
The gap funding form, and what the subsidy actually covers
A maximum annual subsidy level applies to continence products over a twelve-month period, with supply based on consumer need as recommended by a Continence Practitioner. SWEP publishes the current maximum on its own site, and since these levels change, that page is the one to check rather than any figure quoted elsewhere.
The part that gets less attention is what happens when the subsidy runs short. SWEP is direct about it: if the subsidy does not cover the full cost of the continence products, you or a third party will need to pay the remainder.
There is a specific mechanism for that, and it has a name. Where the subsidy does not cover the full cost, SWEP sends you a gap funding form to complete, and that form tells SWEP how the remainder of the cost is to be paid. If you are working out a household budget around this scheme, the gap funding form is the document to ask your practitioner about early, not the one to be surprised by in the post.
That is the honest position on the Victorian subsidy. It is a contribution towards cost, not a guarantee that continence products stop costing you anything.
How to apply for SWEP continence aids
The application is not yours to lodge, which is another thing that costs Victorians time. You need to be assessed by a SWEP registered continence practitioner, a urological or continence nurse or similar, from your local area. That practitioner works out which products suit you, including whether you or your carer can safely use them, then completes the online application form and supporting documents on your behalf.
To find one, start with your GP or local health care professional. Continence Health Australia is the other route, and it also runs the National Continence Helpline.
After the application goes in, an administration officer processes and triages it, and a letter is sent to you with the status. If no letter arrives within two weeks, SWEP asks you to contact your Continence Practitioner or ring SWEP on 1300 747 937 and choose option 2.
Once eligibility is confirmed, SWEP orders the products and they are delivered to your nominated address. A wait list may apply for new consumers if funds are not available, and SWEP says it will tell you if your first application is going onto one. That wait list does not apply to ongoing funding once you have received your first order.
Reordering, reviews and what to do when things change
After that first supply, SWEP continues to supply continence products on an ongoing basis, with washable products the exception, since those are the one-off order described above. When you need your next supply, you can place a phone order with SWEP rather than starting a fresh application.
Continence applications are required to be reviewed every two years by a SWEP registered practitioner. Put that review in the calendar when your first order arrives. A review that lapses is a supply that stops.
Where to get independent help
SWEP takes calls on 1300 747 937 and publishes the current program rules, eligibility and subsidy levels for the SWEP Continence Aids Program. That page wins over anything written here.
One caution on SWEP's own continence FAQ. It still refers readers to the Continence Foundation of Australia, which is now Continence Health Australia, and it points to an older bladderbowel.gov.au address for CAPS. Go to Services Australia for anything CAPS.
The National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 is free and staffed by nurse continence specialists. They are not selling anything, and they know how the state and federal schemes fit together, which makes them a good first call for anyone who does not yet know which scheme they belong in.
For the wider picture, state continence schemes across Australia sets out what every jurisdiction runs, the Queensland equivalent covers the MASS pathway in the same depth as this one, and the national overview of continence subsidies covers the federal picture.
Where Comfort First fits, and where we don't
Straight answer first. SWEP orders through its own tendered supplier, and Comfort First is not it. If your products come through SWEP, they come through SWEP, and the people to talk to are your continence practitioner and SWEP. We would rather say so than let anyone waste a phone call.
Where we can help is the part SWEP does not fund. Disposable pants and pads sit outside the Victorian subsidy entirely, so every pull-up, slip, pad and disposable underpad a Victorian uses is bought privately, whether or not they are on the scheme. That is the portion CAPS assistance can be spent on, and the portion households carry themselves.
Comfort First is Australian owned and run, based in East Bendigo. The range covers pull-up pants and slips, insert boosters, Underpads Small and Underpads Regular, and the Maxi Bed Mat, the largest of the three disposable underpad sizes. You can see the Comfort First range online, and our free trial lets you test fit and feel before you commit to a size. As a registered NDIS provider we also supply participants directly through our NDIS ordering page.
Sizing is by waist measurement, and the team can talk a measurement through before you order. Getting that right matters, because a pull-up that gaps at the leg leaks regardless of how much it can hold.
If you do not yet know which scheme you belong in, ring the National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 first. If you are already a SWEP client, the call about your subsidy or your gap funding form is to SWEP on 1300 747 937. And to talk products through with someone who knows them, call us on 03 5443 2239 or email sales@comfortfirst.au. We are happy to point you in the right direction even when the answer is not a Comfort First product.