Respite advice and other resources

‘Respite’ is taking a break for a few hours, a day, overnight or longer, from your caring responsibilities. It can feel hard to take a break from caring, but taking time out for you can help you feel rested and re-energised.  

A ‘respite option’ is any support or service that gives you a break from your caring responsibilities. This can be a break away or a break in your home.  

A Needs Assessment and Service Coordination provider (NASC) in your region can help you get funding for respite and find respite options that will work best for you. Funding options allocated through NASCs include: 

Carer Support subsidy 

This is a subsidy that provides reimbursement of some of the costs of care and support for a disabled person while you, their Carer take a break. It's available for ‘full-time carers’ only – a person(s) who provides more than four4 hours per day unpaid care to a disabled person (for example, the parent of a disabled child). For more information on this, please visit our Carer Support page 

Individualised Funding (IF) 

This is a type of funding that gives disabled people a way of directly managing their disability supports. It can be used to purchase respite through support workers or other suitable things so that your full-time Carer can have a break. For more information, please visit our Individualised Funding page. 

We are currently working on an up- to- date directory of services. More regions are coming as we complete work to ensure they are up to date.  

• Auckland region 
• Bay of Plenty and Lakes region 
• Canterbury, South Canterbury and West Coast 
• Wellington, Hutt Valley and  Kāpiti Coast 

• Carers New Zealand provides a wide range of respite tips, strategies and advice  external

• Find advice, information and resources for carers seeking support for their wellbeing  external