Help at home with household tasks, across Melbourne.

Yes, when your disability means you cannot clean your home safely and nobody else in the household can reasonably be expected to do it. It is funded from the Core budget as Assistance with Household Tasks. The NDIS does not fund cleaning any household would need regardless of disability, so a planner looks at what you and others at home can do.

Personal care is support with your own body: showering, dressing, toileting, eating and medication prompts. Household tasks are support with your home: cleaning, laundry, meals, shopping and the garden. Both sit in the Core budget under Assistance with Daily Life, but household tasks have a lower hourly price limit. One worker can do both in a single shift.

Yes. Meal preparation is a household task. The worker can plan meals with you, shop for ingredients, cook with you or for you, and batch cook for the week, following any plan from your dietitian or speech pathologist. If you want to learn to cook rather than have it done, that is life skills support and we set it up that way.

It can, where your disability stops you doing it and it is needed to keep your home safe and your tenancy in order. Yard maintenance has its own line in the Pricing Schedule. For a simple mow a gardening service is sometimes cheaper than a support worker, and we tell you if so. Landscaping and improvements are not funded.

Yes, that is how we roster household support. You meet the worker first, and they come on a fixed day and learn how you like things done. If they are sick or on leave we call you beforehand and offer someone who has read your home routine, or you can reschedule. You can ask for a different worker at any time without giving a reason.

Usually yes. The NDIS funds the worker's time, and cleaning products, a vacuum cleaner or a mower are ordinary living costs. If your disability means you need specific equipment, such as a lightweight vacuum, that may be funded as an assistive product, and your occupational therapist can advise. We work with what you have and tell you if something is unsafe.

Sometimes. The NDIS expects adults in a household to share ordinary chores, so it will not usually fund cleaning for a whole family home. It can fund the tasks that are yours alone, or tasks a family carer cannot reasonably add to the care they already provide. Describe the household honestly in your planning meeting, and ask us if unsure.

There is no set number. It depends on your home, your disability and what the planner decides is reasonable and necessary. Many people have two to four hours a week; some have a fortnightly visit. Your plan gives a dollar budget rather than hours, and your plan manager can show you how far it stretches at the current price limit.