How NDIS Respite Funding Works
In-home respite is usually paid from the Core supports budget in the participant's NDIS plan, most often the Assistance with daily life category, which pays for support workers. Core funding is flexible, so it can be used across its categories, but only for NDIS supports that are in line with the plan. Stays away from home are funded separately as short-term accommodation.
Which NDIS Budget Pays for In-Home Respite?
Core supports. The NDIS says Core helps with everyday activities, and its Assistance with daily life category can pay for support workers to help with everyday tasks like cooking and personal care.
Core is one of four support budgets in a plan, and it can have funding in up to three categories: Assistance with daily life, Consumables, and Assistance with social and community participation. A support worker who comes to the home so the family can have a break is paid from this budget.
The NDIA's guideline on short term accommodation puts it plainly: you may be able to use your flexible Core support for a support worker to help you in your home, or when you're out in the community, when your informal supports can't support you, or to give them a break.
What Does Flexible Core Funding Mean?
You can use the total Core budget to buy NDIS supports across and within its categories, as long as they're NDIS supports and in line with the plan.
Flexible doesn't mean unlimited. If you use more support than planned early on, the budget runs out sooner. The NDIA says you need to make sure your funding lasts for the whole plan, and you can ask for a change if your situation changes.
A quick budget check
Before you book regular respite, work out what it costs over the rest of the plan. For example, a 4 hour weekday shift each week for 26 weeks is 104 hours of support, plus any provider travel you've agreed to.
Need a Break at Home?
We'll connect you with a registered NDIS provider who can send a support worker to your home.
What Does the NDIA Look at Before Funding Respite?
Whether the support meets the NDIS funding criteria, and how much support the family and other informal supports provide and can keep providing.
- That the need is related to the participant's disability support needs
- That it helps them pursue their goals and take part in the community
- That it's value for money, and effective and beneficial
- How much support family and other informal supports provide, and whether they can keep it up long term
- That it doesn't duplicate another support the participant already gets
Those are the criteria the NDIA lists for short term accommodation, and they're the same funding criteria that apply to every NDIS support. Reports from therapists and doctors, and a clear description of the care the family gives, help the NDIA decide.
How Is Short-Term Respite Away From Home Funded?
As short-term accommodation, which the NDIA now also calls short term respite. It's included as flexible funding in the Core budget, generally up to 28 days a year.
Short-term accommodation pays for supports and standard accommodation for a stay of at least one night, up to 14 days at a time. It can also be used in your own home if you usually need overnight support. It isn't for holidays, and it doesn't cover meals or activities.
What Can't Respite Funding Pay For?
Day-to-day living costs and anything on the list of supports that aren't NDIS supports.
- Food and meals
- Tickets, entry fees and activity costs, for the participant, a worker or family
- Holidays, airfares and holiday accommodation
- Babysitting or care that any parent is expected to give a child of the same age
- Paying friends or family who give informal support
The NDIA can ask for funding back if it's used for things that aren't NDIS supports and aren't in line with the plan.
Questions People Ask
What NDIS category is respite under?
In-home respite is usually support worker time from Core supports, Assistance with daily life. Stays away from home are short-term accommodation, also in the Core budget.
Can I use Core funding for respite at home?
Yes, if it's an NDIS support in line with the plan. The NDIA says flexible Core support can pay for a support worker at home to give your informal supports a break.
What happens if the respite budget runs out?
You can ask the NDIA for a change to the plan if your situation has changed or the plan doesn't have the support you need. Otherwise you'd need to fund extra support another way.
Is short-term accommodation the same as in-home respite?
No. Short-term accommodation, now also called short term respite, is a stay of at least one night, usually away from home. In-home respite is support worker time in the person's own home, paid from flexible Core supports.
Keep Reading
- NDIS respiteHow NDIS respite works: support workers at home paid from Core funding, short stays away from home, who qualifies, and where carers fit into the plan.
- NDIS respite ratesWhat in-home respite costs on the NDIS in 2026-27: maximum hourly prices for support workers by time of day, the sleepover price, travel and cancellation rules.
- Getting respite in your NDIS planA step by step guide to getting in-home respite into an NDIS plan: what to write down, the evidence that helps, who to talk to and what to do if it's a no.
- How much respite the NDIS fundsHow much respite the NDIS funds: no set hours for in-home respite, how the Core budget limits it, the 28 day guide for short stays, and when more can be funded.
- Respite for parentsRespite for parents of a child with disability: what the NDIS funds at home, what it treats as normal parenting, the tests for children, how to ask.
- How it worksHow we connect you with a respite provider, and what happens to your details.
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