How to access Carer support

The purpose of Carer Support is to enable full time Carers to have a break from their carer role.

This can mean Carer Support can be used to make purchases with carer support (following the purchasing guidelines) and reimburse some of the costs of engaging a support person to care and support a disabled person while the full-time carer has a break.

This information is about Carer Support for disabled people who are supported by Disability Support Services.

Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand external provides carer support for people receiving support from Te Whatu Ora Needs Assessment Service Coordination (NASC) services. 

Carer Support is a subsidy that can be used to provide the full-time carer a break from their caring role. It provides reimbursement for some of the costs of care and support for a disabled person while you have a break. It can also be used to make purchases with carer support (following the purchasing guidelines).  

Your local NASC allocates the Carer Support subsidy. The NASC allocates Carer Support in days which can then be treated as a whole budget for the year. Carer support can also be added to types of flexible budgets (Individualised Funding for example) so it is altogether in one sum rather than separate. 

Carer Support is available for ‘full-time Carers’ – as set out in our Who is a Carer section of our website. A full time Carer is the person who provides more than 4 hours per day unpaid care to a disabled person, for example, the parent of a disabled child. 

The number of hours or days that Carer Support is allocated for depends on your needs and those of the person you support. Needs Assessment and Service Coordination undertake a needs assessment and allocate supports, including Carer Support.

The Purchasing Rules governing what you may use your Carer Support for changed on 18 March 2024. 

• Purchasing guidance is available for applying the Purchasing Rules. 

You can use your Carer Support as a contribution towards paying someone to support your disabled family member. 

You can use your Carer Support as a total budget, and not just as your budget per allocated day. What this means is you can take the number of days you are allocated funding, times the daily amount to figure out your total Carer Support budget.

For example, Lisa is allocated 28 days at a rate of $80 per day. Lisa's total Carer Support budget is therefore 28 x 80 = $2,240 per annum.  

The claiming process for Carer Support has not changed so please claim as usual, using dates of care and costs, or costs of items with receipts attached. 

What you can and cannot claim for 

Carer Support funding is governed by the same Purchasing Rules as Individualised Funding (IF) / Enhanced Individualised Funding (EIF). These can be found on our Purchasing Guidance page. Understanding these rules will help you make the most out of your Carer Support funding. 

Flexibility and person-led choice are key to Carer Support, so when making a claim or thinking of using your Carer Support funds you should first consider "will this provide the full time Carer with a break?"  

You can claim for: 

• A contribution to the costs of substitute caring whilst the full-time carer takes a break.  
• Expenses that are a necessary part of supporting the disabled person while the full-time carer takes a break.  
• One-off purchases of: 
• Tablet devices. 
• Noise cancelling headphones. 
• Sensory items (such as fidget spinners etc.) and  
• Weighted blankets. 

You cannot claim for: 

• All purchases of items as a form of delivering respite, except those listed above. 
• All self-care services such as massages, pedicures and other appearance or therapeutic care that are not for the direct benefit of the disabled person. 
• All expenses that are not a necessary part of supporting the disabled person while the full-time Carer is taking a break. 
• Gifts and other forms of recognition for support provided voluntarily. 
• Travel related costs for disabled people, whānau , and/or persons providing support, including: 
• Accommodation.
• Overseas and domestic travel. 
• Food.

Full-time Carers will receive a claim form in the post 

• when a new allocation of Carer Support has been made or 

• where a claim form for Carer Support has been processed and paid, a new claim form is sent out with your remaining Carer Support allocation. 

If you don't have a current form, you can download them here: 

• Carer Support Claim Form (DOCX 80 KB)
• Carer Support Claim Form (PDF 123 KB)

The Ministry of Health is our partner which fulfils claims processing. There are a couple of ways of doing this: 

By email

Carer Support forms can be sent by email to csclaims@health.govt.nz. To do this, you can either download the form to your desktop or print out the form and fill it in accurately and sign it. Electronic signatures are accepted if you submit the form electronically. If you print the form out you will need to scan it back or take a photo of it on your phone and attach this to an email. If you do not have a scanner at home, your local library can help you with this or you can take a photo on your phone as along as all the forms details are clear. The benefit of sending us your form via email is that we will receive it quicker and begin the processing. 

By post

Print out the form, or use the form we have sent to you, fill in all the relevant fields before addressing with our reply-paid address and post. If you have additional paperwork to put with your claim, we suggest you use an envelope. There is no need to put a stamp on it. 

Processing time can vary depending on the volume of claims received. However, a correctly filled-in form should take 10 working days to process from the time it is received. See our tips below to ensure your claim can be processed easily by our team. 

Please call Te Whatu Ora Contact Centre, Carer Support team on 0800 855 066 or email carer_support@health.govt.nz if you have an enquiry regarding your claim. 

When submitting your form, it is important to complete it correctly so that it gets approved the first time. The below tips have been put together after we looked at reoccurring issues we've seen when people submit their claim forms. 

• Make sure your images aren't blurry. And make sure all the form is included in the photo/scan - we often get images with the bottoms cut off. 
• The claim form needs to be signed and dated. We need both. 
• Make sure you provide support carer information. 
• Make sure you provide identifying information. Your client name, ID and full time Carer name. 
• In the subject header of your email (not just on the form) you need to provide your client information (carer name and/or ID). For example, if you are sending in a bank account verification, we need to understand which client this account is relevant for. Please don't assume just your email address is sufficient. 
• Please make sure you send everything together in one email. This means the claim form and any supporting documentation needs to be sent in one email. Multiple emails adds time. 
• One file format is ideal. Sometimes we receive in one email jpegs, word docs and pdfs. This adds to the time we need to process. Our preference is pdf. 
• There is only one email address to send your claim to, csclaims@health.govt.nz.  
• If you are mailing in your claim form with receipts or other support documentation, it’s a good idea to put it in an envelope so it doesn't get lost. You just write our postage paid details on it. No stamp required. 

Ensuring you have considered all these tips enables easier and quicker payments.  

Payments to people for caring for your disabled family member using Carer Support may be treated as part of their overall income and will depend on their individual circumstances. You may wish to seek advice about tax issues from Inland Revenue external (search 'carer support payments') or, if you receive a benefit, from Work and Income New Zealand.