Carer Support Subsidy

The principle of Carer Support is to provide full-time Carers with time to themselves as a break from their full-time Carer role. This can mean reimbursement of some of the costs of engaging a support person to care and support the person in need of care or purchases which will provide the Carer with respite.

Carer Support for older people, people living with long-term chronic health conditions, or mental health and addiction issues is funded by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.

Carer Support is a subsidy that helps you take some time out for yourself. It provides reimbursement for some of the costs of care and support for the recipient of care while you have a break. Once assessed, your Carer Support allocation will be given to you in a number of days.

Carer Support is available for ‘full-time Carers’. A full-time Carer is the person who provides more than 4 hours per day unpaid care, for example, the wife of a husband who has dementia.

The number of hours or days that Carer Support is funded for depends on your needs and those of the person you care for.

The Carer Support Subsidy is accessed by having a needs assessment from a Health NZ Needs Assessment Service Coordination (NASC) service, and your GP, Mental Health Clinician or Specialist may also be able to support you to access a Carer Support Subsidy. Paid family and whānau carers may also be eligible for Carer Support and will be advised of this by their NASC.

The Carer Support Subsidy for people with disabilities is funded by Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People.

You can find more information about Whaikaha Carer Support on Carer Support | Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People.

Carer Support | Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People (external link)

You can use your Carer Support as a contribution towards paying a support worker to look after your loved one. You can also use your Carer Support to fund purchases which allow you to take a break.

There is often some confusion around what you can claim for, but here's some guidance on that.

Carer Support funding is governed by purchasing guidelines. Understanding these guidelines will help you make the most out of your Carer Support funding and minimise frustrations when making a claim.

Health NZ Carer Support Subsidy Purchasing Guidelines [PDF, 206 KB]

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

• Illegal activities
• gambling
• alcohol
• things that are not disability supports like rent/mortgage, food, personal debt, gifts, beauty treatments, power, regular household items, etc.

If you have bought something to give you a break instead of paying a support worker, you do not need a signature from a support worker on your Carer Support forms, however the full-time carer must sign/date the form. In the hours section of the Carer Support form you need to write the item purchased and the cost.

You will also need to provide an invoice/receipt. The amount of the purchase must fall within your allocation. All claims must be sent in within 90 days of the date of care.

Full-time Carers can download a claim form. Once completed, please send the completed from to csclaims@health.govt.nz

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 currently accepted if you do the form electronically.

If you print it 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 form’s details are clear.

The benefit of sending us your form via email is that we will receive it quicker and begin the processing. If possible, please use the PDF format when sending by email.

By post

If electronic submission is not possible, please phone the Health NZ Contact Centre, Carer Support team on 0800 855 066 to discuss options.

Our standard service level agreement is to process correctly completed claim forms within 10 working days from the date of receipt. However, we aim to process claims more quickly whenever workload permits.

More tips are available below to ensuring your claim can be processed easily by our team.

If you are granted an advanced approval of a claim, no further claims will be paid until the receipt for any previous advance is provided to confirm the use of the advance funding.

A copy of the receipt must be attached to the next claim submitted and will be checked by the Carer Support Team when processing the next claim. Disputes regarding this will be considered by the relevant Health NZ district representative, to ensure carers can be adequately supported in making claims.

Please phone Health NZ Contact Centre, Carer Support team on 0800 855 066 or email carer_support@health.govt.nz if you have an enquiry regarding your claim.

Tips for filling in your form correctly

To avoid delays and help us process claims more efficiently, make sure your form is filled out correctly. The tips below highlight the most common issues we've seen in emailed claims.

• Make sure your images aren't blurry. 
• Send the claim form in its entirety - we often get images with the bottom cut off.
• The claim form needs to be signed and dated
• 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 ok.
• Attach everything (claim form and any supporting documentation) together in one email. 
• One file format is ideal. Sometimes we receive jpegs, word docs and pdfs in one email. This adds to the time we need to process. Our preference is pdf.
• Email your claim to: csclaims@health.govt.nz

* Verification can be in the form of a pre-printed deposit slip, the top of a bank statement, or a handwritten deposit slip stamped by the bank. Account verification should display the full bank account number (including the suffix) and the account holder’s name. Alternatively, if you have internet banking, please provide a screen shot that includes the bank's header, the account holder's name and the full bank account number (including the suffix).

Sometimes it’s helpful to see how other people have used their Carer Support funding. These examples are based on real-life claims.

Example 1

Penny is the full-time carer for her uncle Mike. Although Mike receives home support services through an agency, Penny still provides him with care outside of these visits.

Penny sometimes uses her allocation of her Carer Support Subsidy to pay for Mike to go to day activity programmes for older people with dementia. This gives her time to recharge her own batteries.

Example 2

Josie is the full-time carer of her son Mitch, who suffers from anxiety.

Josie wants to use 2 days of her 28 Carer Support allocation to purchase a weighted blanket for Mitch.

The weighted blanket will help Mitch feel safe and secure in his own bed at night which enables Josie to get a good night’s sleep.

People paid to care for your disabled loved one using Carer Support may have tax implications as this will be treated as part of their overall income. This will depend on their individual circumstances. You may wish to seek advice regarding tax issues from the Inland Revenue Department or, if you receive a benefit, from Work and Income New Zealand.

Carer Support allocations can be made by NASCs, GPs, Mental Health Clinicians and other Specialists such as Paediatricians.

Allocators of carer support are responsible for making sure carers are fully informed of the purchasing guidelines and expectations around the use of Carer Support.

Please ensure to provide guidance to carers to assist them in using the Subsidy in a way that will optimise its benefit for them. [PDF, 206 KB]The purchasing guidelines can help you do this.

Heath NZ Carer Support Subsidy Purchasing Guidelines [PDF, 206 KB]

To support you in making allocations of Carer Support, please find the registration forms attached which offer further guidance:

For NASCs [PDF, 1.1 MB]

For other allocators (eg. GPs, Mental Health Clinicians and Specialists) [PDF, 1.9 MB]