Respite supports full-time carers of a person with a disability to take a temporary break from caregiving and provide the person with a positive experience.

Who can get IF Respite?

• People who are eligible for Ministry of Health funded disability supports and who have been allocated Respite supports by the NASC.
• People who are eligible for DHB funded disability support and have a Respite allocation.

Who can provide Respite services?

• Host family including family members from within the same household.
• Any contracted organisation (e.g. a support person, camp or group activity).
• Ministry of Health contracted provider.

How do I get IF Respite?

IF Respite can only be allocated by the NASC.

What can IF Respite be used for?

IF Respite can be used to purchase planned or emergency Respite services including:

In-home Respite: Provided in the person’s home.

Out-of-home Respite: (Host Family) provided by a Host Family in their own home.

Out-of-home Respite: (Facility) provided in a facility that is a home-like environment.

Out-of-home Respite: (Non-facility) provided in a variety of settings with a range of activities agreed between the support person or provider and the person.

What can’t IF Respite be used for?

• To supplement personal care or household management allocations.
• Other Disability Support Services funded by the Ministry of Health or other government organisations.

Budgeting

The IF Respite budget is additional to your IF budget and needs to be kept separate.

The Ministry of Health requires us to record Respite hours/units separately.

You will receive a separate statement from us for your Respite hours.

Please remember that is it up to the IF Fund holder or Agent to track their IF – Respite budget.

Also, IF Respite cannot be a tax-free allowance for hours worked.

Documentation

You must record your Respite hours separately from your IF hours on both timesheets and expense claim forms.

Payroll

You must fill in any hours that your support person works for Respite under the Respite column on your timesheet. If you do not specify it is Respite, it will come out of your IF allocation.

If you are going to use your usual support person for Respite but you are going to pay them a different rate, you must send us an employee change in details form specifying that it is for Respite only and what the pay rate will be.

Self-Managing

You must note that the expense you are claiming is for Respite on your expense claim form.

If you do not specify it is Respite on your expense claim form, then it will come out of your IF budget.