Commonwealth Home Support Programme

The Commonwealth Home Support Programme can assist you by providing Government-subsidised access to a variety of respite services. Some of these planned respite service types are listed below:

In-home respite
This type of respite usually involves a person working as a carer who comes to your home so that your carer can go out for a few hours. Or, they may take you for an outing for a few hours while your carer has a break.

In-home respite can happen during the day or overnight.

Centre-based day respite
This type of respite care usually takes place at a day centre or club. It offers personalised structured activities, group activities or small group outings that give you a chance to talk to other people. Day respite often runs from 10am to 3pm and may include transporting you to and from the centre-based day respite centre.

Overnight or weekend respite
Overnight care may be provided in a variety of settings. These include a respite house (‘cottage-style’ respite) or the home of a host family.

Community access respite
Community access respite provides activities to give you a social experience to encourage a sense of independence and social interaction and provides your carer with a break.

This may be provided to you individually or as part of a group setting. It may be provided during the day or in an overnight setting.