Domestic assistance
NDIS domestic assistance is help with essential household tasks, such as cleaning, laundry, meal preparation and yard maintenance, that a participant can't do themselves because of their disability. It is funded from the core supports budget under Assistance with daily life, where the NDIS calls it household tasks.
Also called: NDIS cleaning, household tasks, NDIS domestic help, NDIS home cleaning, assistance with household tasks, domestic assistance NDIS
Key takeaways
- Domestic assistance is funded from core supports under Assistance with daily life; the NDIS calls it household tasks.
- The task must be essential and something the participant can't do themselves because of their disability.
- Main items are House Cleaning And Other Household Activities, House or Yard Maintenance and Assistance with Personal Domestic Activities.
- Cleaning products, groceries and the cost of food are everyday living costs and are not NDIS supports.
- The NDIA says cleaning and laundry are not affected by the budget reductions that started on 1 October 2026.
What is NDIS domestic assistance?
NDIS domestic assistance is help with essential household tasks, such as cleaning, laundry, meal preparation and yard maintenance, that a participant can't do themselves because of their disability. It is funded from the core supports budget under Assistance with daily life. The NDIS calls these supports "household tasks" rather than "domestic assistance", but the two terms mean the same thing to most participants and providers.
The NDIA's own description of core supports says participants might use Assistance with daily life funding "to hire support workers to help you with everyday tasks like cleaning, yard maintenance, cooking and personal care" (NDIA: What are core supports). The current NDIS supports rules describe the household tasks category as assistance with essential household tasks that a participant is not able to do themselves because of their disability, including meal preparation and delivery, house or yard maintenance, and cleaning and laundry.
Domestic assistance can mean two different things in practice:
- Doing the task for the participant: a cleaner or support worker cleans the house, mows the lawn or does the washing.
- Helping the participant do it or learn it: a worker assists the person to clean, cook or keep up the yard, building skills over time.
How NDIS cleaning and household support works
Domestic assistance sits in core supports, which the NDIA describes as flexible: a participant can generally use their core budget across its support categories, as long as what they buy is an NDIS support and in line with their plan (NDIA guide to support budgets). There isn't usually a separate "cleaning budget"; the hours come out of Assistance with daily life funding.
The NDIA's pricing arrangements group the household support items under the registration group 0120 Household Tasks, with a related item under 0107 Daily Personal Activities (NDIS pricing arrangements):
| Support item | What it's for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning And Other Household Activities | Essential house cleaning the participant isn't able to do | Hourly, price-limited |
| House or Yard Maintenance | Essential house and yard work the participant isn't able to do | Hourly, price-limited |
| Assistance with Personal Domestic Activities | Helping a participant do, or build skills to do, basic house and yard work where they own their home or are mainly responsible for it | Hourly, price-limited |
| Linen Service | Clean linen for a participant who can't do their own laundry without help | Quote required; only if stated in the plan |
| Preparation and delivery of meals | Cost of preparing and delivering meals for people who can't do it themselves | The cost of the food itself is not covered |
Current price limits for each item, including remote and very remote limits, are in the free NDIS price guide. Under the pricing arrangements, the hourly household items can also be used to claim non-face-to-face support, provider travel and short notice cancellations with 2 clear business days' notice.
- House cleaning the participant isn't able to do
- Laundry and linen help
- Essential house or yard maintenance
- Help with meal preparation
- Preparation and delivery cost of meals (not the food)
- Building skills to do household tasks independently
Who can get domestic assistance (and what isn't covered)
Domestic assistance is funded when it is reasonable and necessary for the participant's disability. The key test in the supports rules is that the task is essential and the participant is not able to do it themselves because of their disability. When deciding, the NDIA also considers what family, housemates and other informal supports can reasonably do.
| Usually fundable | Usually not funded |
|---|---|
| Regular cleaning of the areas of the home the participant uses | Tasks the participant can do, or that others in the household would ordinarily share |
| Laundry and linen help where the disability stops the person doing it | Cleaning products, groceries and other everyday living costs |
| Essential yard work, such as mowing for safe access | Landscaping or other non-essential work |
| Help with meal preparation, or the preparation and delivery cost of meals | The cost of the food itself |
| Skill-building to do household tasks more independently | A second claim for the same hours already covered by SIL |
The current lists of what is and isn't an NDIS support are on the NDIA's What are NDIS supports page. The "not NDIS supports" list includes day-to-day living costs, which is why cleaning products and food aren't funded.
Domestic assistance vs SIL, personal care and skill building
Household help shows up in several parts of the NDIS, and mixing them up causes claiming errors.
| Support | What it covers | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic assistance (household tasks) | Cleaning, laundry, yard work, meals done for the participant | Core: Assistance with daily life |
| Assistance with personal domestic activities | Helping the participant do or learn household tasks | Core: Assistance with daily life |
| Personal care | Showering, dressing, eating, toileting | Core: Assistance with daily life |
| SIL | Household help as part of 24/7 shared living support | Core: Assistance with daily life (SIL) |
| Improved daily living skills | Therapy or training to build living skills | Capacity building |
If a participant lives in Supported Independent Living (SIL), help with cleaning, cooking and household routines is usually part of the SIL support. Only one support can be claimed for a period of time, so a separate cleaner shouldn't be claimed for hours SIL already covers. Where the goal is learning to do tasks independently, support may instead come from capacity building under improved daily living skills.
Changes in 2026
Cleaning and laundry are protected from the 1 October 2026 budget reductions. From 1 October 2026 the NDIA began reducing budgets for two support categories, Social, Economic and Community Participation and Improved Daily Living Skills, as plans are created or reassessed (or renewed from 1 February 2027). The NDIA lists essential day-to-day supports, including laundry and cleaning, among those that won't be affected (NDIA news, October 2026).
The government's August 2026 consultation on the NDIS supports rules proposes merging household tasks into a broader "in-home and community supports" category, covering assistance with household activities such as cleaning, laundry, garden and outdoor maintenance, meal preparation and meal planning (consultation paper). That is a proposal, and the paper says it isn't intended to remove the broad types of supports currently funded.
- 3 October 2024NDIS supports lists beginHousehold tasks become a defined NDIS support category.
- 19 August 2026Consultation opensProposes folding household tasks into 'in-home and community supports'.
- 1 October 2026Budget reductions beginCleaning and laundry are listed as not affected.
What providers of domestic assistance need to know
Cleaning and garden businesses are common NDIS providers, often unregistered and working with plan-managed or self-managed participants. Participants with NDIA-managed funding must use registered providers. Either way:
- Put it in writing. A service agreement should list the tasks, hours, item used, price, cancellation terms and any travel you will charge.
- Use the right item. Doing the cleaning is House Cleaning And Other Household Activities; helping the person do it themselves is Assistance with Personal Domestic Activities.
- Stay at or below the price limit for the participant's location, and record the actual time worked.
- Check GST. The ATO's GST-free list for NDIS supports includes household tasks, provided the other GST-free conditions are met (ATO: GST and the NDIS).
- Meet worker obligations. Workers must follow the NDIS Code of Conduct, and registered providers must make sure workers in risk-assessed roles hold an NDIS worker screening clearance.
Use the NDIS cancellation calculator to check whether a late cancellation can be claimed.
Common mistakes with NDIS cleaning
- Cleaning the whole household for everyone. Funding is for the participant's needs, not a shared house's chores.
- Charging for products. Cleaning products and food are living costs, not NDIS supports.
- Double claiming with SIL. Household help inside SIL hours is already funded.
- Using the wrong item. Skill-building and doing the task are different items with different price limits.
- No agreement on cancellations. Short notice cancellations can only be claimed if the service agreement allows it.
- Support category that funds it
- Includes household help for residents
- Considered before funding
- Flexible budget it comes from
- Capacity building for independence
- Sets tasks, hours and cancellations
Example
Illustrative example (fictional). Grace, 58, has multiple sclerosis and lives alone in a unit she rents. Fatigue and poor balance mean she can't safely vacuum, mop, change her bed or carry washing, though she can still prepare simple meals.
Her NDIS plan has core funding under Assistance with daily life. Grace engages a local cleaning business, which is unregistered, through her plan manager. Their service agreement covers 2 hours a fortnight of cleaning, linen changes and laundry, claimed under House Cleaning And Other Household Activities at or below the price limit, with 2 clear business days' notice for cancellations.
Separately, an occupational therapist recommends Grace work with a support worker to learn energy-saving ways to cook. Those sessions are claimed under Assistance with Personal Domestic Activities. Grace buys her own cleaning products and groceries, because these are everyday living costs.
Frequently asked questions
Does the NDIS pay for cleaning?
Yes, when cleaning is an essential household task the participant can't do themselves because of their disability and it is reasonable and necessary. It is funded from core supports under Assistance with daily life, usually claimed as House Cleaning And Other Household Activities.
What does NDIS domestic assistance include?
It can include house cleaning, laundry and linen, meal preparation or the preparation and delivery cost of meals, and essential house or yard maintenance. It can also include helping a participant learn to do household tasks more independently.
Which NDIS budget pays for cleaning?
Core supports, in the Assistance with daily life category. Core funding is generally flexible, so cleaning hours come out of the same budget as other daily living support unless the plan says otherwise.
Can NDIS pay for gardening or lawn mowing?
Essential house or yard maintenance that a participant can't do because of their disability can be funded, for example mowing to keep safe access. Non-essential work, such as landscaping, is unlikely to meet the reasonable and necessary criteria.
Does the NDIS pay for cleaning products or food?
No. Cleaning products, groceries and the cost of food are everyday living costs, which are not NDIS supports. The NDIS can fund the labour of cleaning or the preparation and delivery cost of meals, but not the products or the food.
Is NDIS cleaning affected by the October 2026 budget cuts?
The NDIA says essential day-to-day supports, including cleaning and laundry, are not affected by the budget reductions that began on 1 October 2026. Those reductions apply to the Social, Economic and Community Participation and Improved Daily Living Skills categories.
Does a cleaner need to be a registered NDIS provider?
Not for participants who are self-managed or plan-managed, who can use unregistered providers. Participants with NDIA-managed funding must use registered providers. All providers and workers must follow the NDIS Code of Conduct.
Related terms
- Assistance with daily lifeAssistance with daily life is the NDIS support category that funds help with everyday tasks a participant can't do, or can't do safely, because of their disability, such as personal care, cooking, cleaning and yard maintenance. It is a flexible core supports category, numbered 01 in support item numbers.
- Core supportsCore supports are one of the four NDIS support budgets. They fund everyday help such as personal care, household tasks and support to take part in community activities, plus consumables like continence products. Most core funding is flexible across core categories in the same funding component.
- Improved daily living skillsImproved Daily Living Skills is NDIS capacity building funding, support category 15, often shown as CB Daily Activity. It pays for assessment, therapy and training that build a participant's skills and independence, such as occupational therapy, speech pathology, psychology, therapy assistants and travel training.
- Informal supportsInformal supports are the unpaid help a person with disability gets from family, friends, neighbours and community groups. The NDIS takes them into account when deciding funding: it considers what it is reasonable to expect these networks to provide, and how that care can be sustained.
- Service agreementAn NDIS service agreement is an agreement between a participant and a provider that sets out the supports to be delivered, how and when, what they cost and each party's responsibilities. Written agreements are mandatory for SDA, expected of registered providers and needed for GST-free supplies.
- Short notice cancellationA short notice cancellation is when an NDIS participant cancels a support with less than the required notice, or doesn't show, and the provider claims up to 100% of the agreed fee. Notice is 7 days for support worker supports and 2 clear business days for most others, and three conditions must be met.
- Supported Independent Living (SIL)Supported Independent Living (SIL) is NDIS funding for support workers who help with or supervise daily tasks in a participant's home, usually around the clock and often shared with housemates. SIL pays for the support, not the house: rent, food and bills are paid by the participant.
- Unregistered NDIS providerAn unregistered NDIS provider delivers NDIS supports without registration with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Self-managed and plan-managed participants can use them, not NDIA-managed participants, and they cannot deliver supports that require registration. They must still follow the NDIS Code of Conduct.
Go deeper
Sources
- ndis.gov.au/participants/using-your-funding/different-budget-types/what-are-core-supports
- ndis.gov.au/participants/using-your-funding/ndis-support-budgets/guide-ndis-support-budgets
- ndis.gov.au/providers/pricing-and-payments/pricing/pricing-arrangements
- ndis.gov.au/participants/using-your-funding/understanding-your-ndis-funding/what-are-ndis-supports
- ndis.gov.au/news/11695-changes-support-budgets-1-october
- consultations.health.gov.au/disability-and-carers-group/nfp-ndis-supports/user_uploads/consultation-paper---ndis-supports_final.pdf
- ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/in-detail/your-industry/gst-and-health/national-disability-insurance-scheme
General information, not legal, clinical or financial advice. NDIS rules change — check the official source before you act.
Suppora editorial team
NDIS operations and compliance writers
The Suppora editorial team writes practical guides for NDIS providers, checked against the NDIS Commission, NDIA and Fair Work sources cited on each page.
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