What short-term accommodation is
Short-term accommodation is an NDIS support that gives you time apart from your usual care arrangements, like your family, friends or carers.
You may be able to get short-term accommodation funding if you:
- live with your primary informal supports, like family, friends or a carer or get daily drop-in support
- get disability-related support from your primary informal support for more than 6 hours a day.
What short-term accommodation is for
It can be used to support you while the people who usually help you take a short break from their caring responsibilities.
This helps them to then keep caring for you after their short break.
It focuses on providing the supports you need during this time.
What having short-term accommodation funding is like
You can talk to your my NDIS contact if you think you may need short-term accommodation funding included in your plan.
There may also be other support options available to you. This could include a support worker to help you in your home, or community and mainstream supports.
When we fund short-term accommodation, it's based on the level of support you usually need. This means you can keep doing the things you normally do.
What you can use this funding for
It can be used for:
- supports to help you do everyday activities, like showering, cooking and toileting
- standard accommodation, like a hotel, motel, short stay rental, cabin, cottage, hostel or respite accommodation
- support to stay in your own home or a homestay arrangement with a support worker if you usually need overnight support.
You should generally use this funding in your home state or territory in Australia.
If you live in a remote area, we may be able to fund short-term accommodation for you outside of your home state or territory.
You can choose to use short-term accommodation in your own home, a shared or individual accommodation setting.
It is usually funded for up to 28 days per year
You can use this funding flexibly. For example, you can use it for a block of up to 14 days at a time. Or you might want to use it for one weekend per month.
You must spend this funding in line with your plan even though it is flexible. This means, making sure your short-term accommodation funding lasts for the whole length of your plan.
You may use all this funding before the end of your plan if you choose to use your short-term accommodation funding for more support than needed.
You can ask to change your plan if your current plan doesn't have the short-term accommodation support you need or your situation has changed.
There are standard rates
The new line items for claiming short-term accommodation are in the NDIS pricing schedule.
You should only pay for the supports you actually use.
For participants younger than 18 years old
We may fund short-term accommodation for participants younger than 18 years in some situations.
This may be when:
- their disability-related support needs are more than what is typical for their age
- short-term accommodation will help their family to continue to care for them, for example a break to look after their own wellbeing or health concerns.
Short-term accommodation doesn’t replace normal parenting responsibilities. For example, helping your child to go to the toilet, settle to sleep at night or for babysitting.
What you can’t use this funding for
Our rules say what NDIS funding can be used for. You can’t use your short-term accommodation funding to pay for items on the list of non-NDIS supports.
This includes:
- cruises, holiday packages, holiday accommodation and airfares
- passports, visas, or travel and vehicle insurance
- accommodation or travel expenses for family members or support workers who are providing you with support on holiday
- theme parks, music, theatre, cinema, sporting events and conferences
- food or meals.
Short-term accommodation doesn’t replace normal time apart, like going to school, work or doing activities in the community. It also doesn’t replace other mainstream and community supports, like crisis accommodation.
Our Guideline
Download the Short-term accommodation guideline:
- Short-term accommodation- PDF 216 KB
- Short-term accommodation- DOCX 114 KB