Help at home - A Guide for Carers
Options for people with high or very high support needs to employ their family member to care for them
If someone has been assessed as having high or very high support needs by a Needs Assessment and Service Coordination organisation (NASC), they are able to employ their family member to provide personal care and/or help with household tasks.
- For people with high or very high support needs due to a health condition, there is an option to employ their family carer through a Home and Community Support Service provider funded by DHBs. The support needs requirement must be assessed by a DHB NASC.
- Disabled people can choose an arrangement to employ their family carer that best suits their circumstances, through:
- personal budget processes like Individualised Funding (see Individualised Funding for Disabled People for Household Management and Personal Care), or
- employing their family carer through a Home and Community Support Service provider.
In all cases, a NASC will be able to help work out your needs and the support options. Find out how to contact a NASC.
Help at home with housework or personal care
Help at home with housework and personal care is available for some people who have been assessed by a Needs Assessment and Coordination Service (NASC) organisation.
If the person you care for is recovering from an injury, see page 25 ‘Help from ACC for somone who is injured’.
The person you care for may need help at home due to their disability or health condition. Once their needs have been identified by a NASC assessment (see page 24), the NASC organisation will let the person know what kind of help they can get.
The Ministry of Health and DHBs fund two types of help at home: Household Management and Personal Care.
Household Management may include help with:
- meal preparation
- washing, drying or folding clothes
- house-cleaning, vacuuming and tidying up.
Personal Care may include help with:
- eating and drinking
- getting dressed and undressed
- getting up in the morning and getting ready for bed
- showering and going to the toilet.
To get help with Household Management, the person must have a Community Services Card.
For information on who to contact to get help at home, see Getting in touch with a NASC organisation.
Individualised Funding (IF) for disabled people for Household Management and Personal Care
IF is a way to let disabled people directly manage their disability supports funding allocation.
It provides greater choice and control over how and when support is given. A NASC assessment will determine what supports they need and whether IF is right for them. For information on the NASC assessment process, see Assessing needs.
IF can be used by a disabled person to manage their disability supports allocation to purchase household management and personal care provided by support workers (where employees can include family members, contracted personnel or organisations) and pay costs relating to the employment of support workers. It can also be used to purchase respite (see Extra help with navigating the care and support system).
IF doesn’t cover costs related to medical supplies, equipment, home renovations, leisure, recreation and personal or family costs. You also can’t use it to increase the personal income of an individual or family.
If you are not eligible for Ministry-funded services for disability but you are eligible for Home and Community Support Services with funding from your District Health Board (DHB), you may still be able to use the IF process. To explore your options, contact your DHB.
Individualised Funding Host organisations
If the disabled person you care for wants to manage their support allocations, they must use an Individualised Funding (IF) Host organisation. Host organisations help the person you care for to understand IF help set up, organise and manage supports, or organise payments for the support services.
Host organisations are also required to make sure the service is working well and report back to the Ministry of Health. For more information on IF, including how to contact an IF Host organisation, visit the Individualised Funding page on the Ministry of Health website.
