Care at home: what is funded and what you pay for

Start with a needs assessment

Publicly funded help at home starts with a needs assessment from your local NASC agency (Needs Assessment and Service Coordination). The assessor works out what help you need. See our guide to needs assessments.

What is funded

Health New Zealand describes funded home support that can cover:

• Personal care: help getting out of bed, showering, dressing or taking medicines.
• Household support: cleaning or meal preparation.
• Support for your carer: help for the person who lives with you or looks after you for 4 hours or more each day.

Health New Zealand's home support for older people is not available if you are eligible for funding from Whaikaha Disability Support Services (DSS), the government's funded support for disabled people. If that applies to you, ask DSS about support at home.

Age Concern notes that help with household cleaning may not always be fully covered by government funding. A Community Services Card, which lowers the cost of some health services for people on lower incomes, can help with the cost of home help. The government page does not say by how much, so ask NASC what you would pay.

Paying a family member

After a needs assessment, a family or whānau member may be able to be paid to give the funded care. To do this, they must be employed by a Home and Community Support Service provider, one of the organisations contracted to deliver home support. Ask NASC whether this is possible for you.

Breaks for carers

If you are a full-time unpaid carer, the Carer Support Subsidy pays a daily rate so you can take a break. Health New Zealand gives this example: if you are allocated 25 days at $83 a day, your total budget is $2,075. Your own allocation and rate may differ, so ask NASC.

You can use the subsidy to pay another person to provide care at home.

If you meet the criteria for respite care in a facility, you will be allocated up to 28 days of planned respite care a year. Ask NASC how respite days and Carer Support days work together in your case.

Age Concern describes in-home respite as a support worker coming into your home for a few hours or days.

Paying privately

You can pay privately if you do not qualify for funded help, or if you want more help than you are funded for. Most of the providers we looked at do not publish their rates, so private prices are hard to compare.

The only published price we found was a promotional offer from Private Care NZ: 4 hours of support at home from $215, seen on 15 October 2026. It is a special offer, not a standard rate, so do not budget on it. Ask every provider for a written quote.

Some providers to ask

What follows is what each provider says about itself. It is not a full list, so ask NASC which providers you can choose from.

• Access Community Health. Says it has served more than 40,000 people. Says its care is free if your needs are approved for government or ACC funding. ACC is the Accident Compensation Corporation, which covers injuries.
• HealthCare NZ. Says it works with NASC, ACC and other agencies to arrange funded care.
• Geneva Healthcare. Says it has provided home care since 1996.

Questions to ask

Ask NASC:

• What tasks, and how many hours, have I been allocated?
• Which providers can I choose from?
• Will I pay anything towards cleaning or other household help?
• Am I eligible for the Carer Support Subsidy or respite care, and at what rate?
• How do I get reassessed if things change?

Ask a provider:

• Will the same support worker come each time?
• What happens if a worker is sick or a visit is missed?
• What are your private rates, and is there a minimum visit length?
• Can I pay privately to top up my funded hours?
• How do I raise a concern or make a complaint?