FAQs

One-on-one short-term care is where you are paired up with support workers for a period of time to suit your particular needs. This can be spent in your home or out in the community staying in a specific respite facility or even in a hotel or booked accommodation.

Group short-term options match your needs with other people who may have similar needs and interests and enjoy participating in a group respite activity. Again, this can be provided in a purpose-built respite facility or in booked accommodation.

STA includes the accommodation, as well as the support you receive while staying there. Capacity-building activities, such as art therapy sessions, cooking lessons, equine therapy, group fitness activities, sightseeing or day trips might be part of your STA activities.

A short stay away from home can help you:

• try new things and increase your independence
• make new friends or develop new skills
• maintain your current living situation by giving your informal supports a break

Planned regular respite breaks can support your transition to Support Independent Living if that is one of your goals and gives your carers a chance to have a break and recharge.

The NDIS funds ‘Short-Term Accommodation and Assistance’ under the Core Support category ‘Assistance with Daily Living’ (Category 1). 

STA funding includes all basic expenses in a 24-hour period related to the service including:

• Accommodation
• Personal care and support (incl. overnight)
• Food
• Activities you and the provider agree to

Up to 28 days of Short Term Accommodation can be funded by the NDIS each year, depending on your disability. This funding can be used flexibly, for example, you might want to use it in two blocks of 14 days, or for one weekend a month.  Generally funding is for a group price, unless you require individual support because of your disability.

You may not need funding for Short Term Accommodation put into your plan. You can choose to use your Core budget on supports like Short Term Accommodation if it helps you pursue your goals.

If your circumstances change and you need Short Term Accommodation but there isn’t enough funding in your Core budget, you can ask for a plan reassessment (review). We can include additional funding in your plan to cover Short Term Accommodation if it’s reasonable and necessary. This means it relates to one of your goals outlined in your NDIS plan such as ‘Preparing to live independently’ or ‘Learning new life skills’.

So that the NDIS can better understand why it’s reasonable and necessary for you to receive STA, you will need to supply evidence such as formal documentation from an Occupational Therapist or other professional, as well as a letter from your informal supports, explaining why they (and you) would benefit from a break.

Your Core Budget is where you’ll find funding for STA & Respite.

We are currently taking bookings for Plan Managed and Self Managed participants. If you are Agency Managed, we will be able to help you once our NDIS Provider Licence is finalised by the NDIA – late 2021.

Depending on the amount of funding you have in your plan, you can stay for a night, a weekend, a week or up to 14 days. 

If you’ve never been away on a Respite break before, we will do an assessment as to how you might handle being away from your family or home environment. We might recommend a weekend trip away before taking a longer trip.

For group trips, we will assess individual participants to ensure they are compatible with others in the group.

We are very flexible and tailor your respite break to suit you, so speak to us to find out how we can accommodate your support worker coming with you.