Short Term Respite (STR): Your Complete NDIS Guide

What is Short Term Respite (STR)?

Short term respite (STR) allows you to have time apart — for at least one night — from your primary informal supports who give you significant daily support. This provides the opportunity for you to be supported by someone else, while giving your primary informal supports a short break from their usual caring responsibilities.
When we say your primary informal supports, we mean your family and friends who give you the majority of your unpaid, active, disability-related support. We know the things your informal supports do for and with you are vital to your wellbeing. We understand how important it is they’re able to keep supporting you.
We also know it might be important for you to spend time apart from your primary informal supports. Most of us have a break from our informal supports — for example, many adults work or study and aren’t always home with their family.
Learn more about how we can help carers.
Short term respite may include:

• Standard accommodation, with no extra inclusions. By standard accommodation, we mean the accommodation should be clean and comfortable and include basic amenities like a bed, bathroom and the accessibility features you need. For example, in a hotel, motel, short stay rental, cabin, cottage, hostel or respite accommodation.

• Staying in your own home, or a homestay arrangement where you stay in a private home and get support from the person who lives there. We would only fund the supports you need in these situations, not the accommodation. We also can’t fund homestay if it’s provided by or with your friends and family. Those arrangements are informal supports and can’t be funded by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

• Supports to help you do everyday activities, like getting ready for the day or cooking, eating and drinking, cleaning and doing chores. These are the supports your primary informal supports would normally give you.

Short term respite is just one way you and your primary informal supports can have time apart to sustain your usual arrangement and help you achieve your goals. Your plan can include supports to help you build your independence, access the community, or try new things without using short term respite. Usually, we’ll think about other supports before funding short term respite. This could be funding for personal care supports in your home, or we may fund a support worker to take you to a community activity each month (for example, a local men’s shed).

You can choose to use your short term respite funding in a range of stationary accommodation settings: this might be a respite facility, hotel, motel, short stay rental, cabin, cottage, homestay or your own home. You can’t use it to go on a cruise or a tour.
Short term respite is paid supports to make sure you can keep doing the things your informal supports normally help you do in your day-to-day life, while they take a break. So if you need to go away from home, we generally expect it to be in your home state or territory in Australia.
If you live in a remote or very remote area, or a border town, your closest short term respite might be in your neighbouring state or territory. In this situation, we may be able to fund short term respite for you outside of your home state or territory.
We’ll only fund your accommodation, personal care, and the support you need to take part in community, cultural or social activities. This means we won’t fund the activities themselves. If you need a support worker to stay at the location with you (for example if you need overnight support, or there isn’t a local support worker near your short term respite accommodation), we can also fund their accommodation.
Short term respite isn’t for holidays. You can’t use short term respite support for things like accommodation on holiday or airfares, including interstate and overseas travel for holidays.
Learn more in the section “What Supports Can’t the NDIS Fund?”

Example Stories

Example A – Ben’s Weekend Break
Ben is 22 years old and lives with his parents, Diana and Mark, and two younger sisters. He uses a wheelchair and needs assistance with his personal care. Diana and Mark provide most of his support but are also juggling work and caring for his sisters.
Ben’s NDIS plan includes short term respite funding for one weekend every month. Diana and Mark get a break and spend more time with the younger children, while Ben’s support needs are met and he enjoys some new experiences. This helps him progress towards his goal of gaining more independence and doing more in the community.

Example B – Talia’s Homestay Option
Talia lives with her mother and sister in their family home. She uses some daily assistance from her support worker and has short term respite funding in her plan. To make it more cost-effective, Talia arranges to stay with a registered host in a homestay setting, where the host provides her usual daily supports. She prefers this because it feels more homely and also gives her mother a much-needed rest. It also gives Talia the chance to meet other participants through the host’s home environment.

How Are Decisions Made for Short Term Respite?

All NDIS-funded supports must meet the “reasonable and necessary” criteria. When deciding about short term respite, the NDIA looks at several factors:

• The need for short term respite must be directly related to your disability support needs.

• It must help you pursue your goals. 

• It must support your participation in the community. 

• It must be value for money. 

• The level of support provided by family or informal network is considered. 

Eligibility Highlights

You must typically:

• receive active disability-related support by your primary informal supports for more than 6 hours a day, on a long-term basis. 

• have informal supports whose wellbeing or capacity to keep caring is at risk (e.g., self-health issues, other children to care for).
  Short term respite will not generally be funded if you:

• live independently alone without significant informal supports;

• receive more than 18 hours of paid support each day;

• are in a housing crisis (for that you may need other supports). 

Inclusions & Exclusions

What’s Included

• Accommodation and personal care support in the chosen short-term facility or arrangement.

• In group settings: meals and agreed activities, some travel costs (if within day-rate limits). 

• In individual STA settings: accommodation and personal care (meals/activities often not included).

What’s Not Included

• Everyday living costs: food/groceries, utilities, internet.

• Holiday expenses: flights, cruises, holiday packages, entertainment tickets.

• Non-NDIS supports—things you’d buy yourself even without disability.

• Travel or accommodation for family/support workers when they are informal supports.

Funding & Duration

The NDIS usually funds up to 28 days of STA per year, booked in blocks of up to 14 days at a time. 
You can use it flexibly—for example:

• one weekend per month

• a block of up to 14 days

• several shorter stays throughout the year
  Funding is usually structured at a group rate, unless you can demonstrate the need for 1:1 individual support. 

How Does It Differ From a Holiday?

It’s important to understand that STR/STA is not funded for holidays. 
It must have a disability-related purpose, such as:

• providing respite care

• skill building or independence focus

• social participation or community engagement
  If you’re travelling for leisure but still need disability supports, talk with your support coordinator about appropriate funding arrangements.

Why It Matters for Participants & Carers

Short term respite (or STA) isn’t just about a break. It can:

• offer participants the chance to try new experiences, build their independence, and meet new people

• allow carers/informal supports to have a rest, reduce burnout and help sustain long-term care arrangements

• support the participant’s goals and help maintain their current living setup rather than escalate into high-cost supports

Final Thoughts

Short term respite is a vital tool within your NDIS plan that can benefit both you and your informal supports. By understanding the rules, eligibility, inclusions/exclusions and how to use it wisely, you can make informed decisions that support your goals and maintain your living arrangements. If you’d like expert guidance on how to include STA in your NDIS plan and manage your funding, we at Complete Money Management are here to help you navigate the process from start to finish.