What Does NDIS In-Home Support Include?

NDIS in-home support can include help with cooking, cleaning, laundry and personal care when these tasks relate to your disability support needs. You can receive suitable funded support in a home you own or rent. You do not have to move into a provider’s property to get help with everyday tasks.

What you can arrange depends on your needs, your plan and the services a provider can safely deliver. Begin with the tasks that are difficult and the times you need help.

Help with meals and household tasks

The NDIS calls one type of help at home “assistance with daily life”. Its guide to home and living options explains that this can include cooking, cleaning and personal care.

Depending on your needs and funding, household support might involve:

• Preparing ingredients and cooking a meal with you.
• Helping you write a shopping list and put groceries away.
• Washing clothes, hanging them out and changing bed linen.
• Cleaning the areas of your home you use regularly.
• Organising tasks across the week so they are easier to manage.

Be specific about the help you want. If lifting wet washing is difficult, you may only need help with that part of the task. If following a recipe is difficult, you might prefer someone to work through it with you.

Doing tasks with you or for you

Support can involve completing a task you cannot do, helping with part of it, or practising it together. Tell the provider which approach you prefer and where you need assistance.

For a cooking visit, discuss who will choose the meal, what equipment you use and which parts you want to do yourself. Explain how you communicate and how much time you need to respond.

If you want to learn a skill, describe it plainly. “I want to make my own lunch” gives you and the provider a task to practise during visits. Our daily living skills guide has examples for cooking, shopping and managing everyday money.

Personal care and more specialised support

Some people have NDIS funding for assistance with showering, dressing or other personal care. Check whether a provider offers the particular support you need before arranging a visit. A service that offers household help may have a different scope from one providing personal care.

For tasks involving equipment, transfers, medication or health needs, ask what assessment, training or written instructions are needed. Confirm who can deliver the support safely rather than assuming it is included in a general household visit.

Support in a home you own or rent

Tell the provider where support will happen and who else lives there. If family or a partner already helps, describe that help and any limits on what they can continue doing.

Agree on access to your home, the rooms where support will happen and how other household members’ privacy will be respected. If a worker needs a key or entry code, ask how it will be stored and who can use it.

Receiving support in an ordinary rental does not make the property specialist disability accommodation (SDA). Scheduled visits and supported independent living (SIL) also meet different needs. Compare the options in our guide to SIL, SDA and support at home before assuming you need a particular funding label.

If your property needs changes

Help from a worker and a change to the building solve different problems. If you cannot safely use a doorway, bathroom or kitchen, discuss whether equipment or a home modification should be assessed.

The NDIS home modification assessment guidance requires evidence about the proposed changes and written consent from the property’s legal owner or representative. Shared ownership can require other permission, such as body corporate approval.

In a rental, check the required permissions before booking work. An assessment, a quote, funding approval and permission to change the property are separate matters. Do not assume that the NDIS or landlord will pay for proposed work.

What your funding pays for

The NDIS home and living guide separates disability support from ordinary living expenses. You generally pay your own rent or mortgage, groceries and utility bills. Paying a worker to help prepare food is different from paying for the ingredients.

Check your plan before booking regular visits. The NDIS support budget guide explains flexible and stated funding. Money remaining in a budget does not make every proposed service eligible for payment.

If you cannot tell whether a service fits your funding, ask your my NDIS contact or support coordinator, if you have one, before agreeing to it.

Agree on visits and costs

Ask for a written proposal showing the tasks, visit times and charges, including any proposed travel or cancellation charges. For a visit before work, say when you must be ready to leave rather than asking only for “morning support”.

Record the agreed tasks, schedule and charges in a service agreement. The NDIS guide to making an agreement covers delivery arrangements, responsibilities and changes. Our service agreement checklist explains questions to ask before signing.

Confirm who you should contact if a visit needs to change and what happens if the usual worker cannot attend. You can ask about our in-home support using your task list and preferred times.