Most people picture home support as one thing: someone comes round and helps. New Zealand funds it as two things, with two different eligibility tests, and the gap between them catches a lot of households out.
Everything here is allocated through a Needs Assessment and Service Coordination organisation (NASC). If you have not been through that gate yet, start with NASC — the door everything else opens through, because a provider cannot take you on without an allocation.
Checked in August 2026.
Two supports, not one
Personal care is help with your own body. Disability Support Services lists it as “assisting with your eating and drinking, dressing and undressing, getting up and ready for bed, bathroom needs care, getting around your home.”
Household management is help with the house. DSS lists it as “preparing meals, washing, drying or folding laundry, house cleaning, vacuuming and tidying.”
They look like the same visit. They are not the same entitlement.
The Community Services Card catch
Here is the sentence, in full, from the DSS page:
Household management is only available to people that have a Community Services Card.
The Community Services Card is income-tested and it is not hard to overlook. It comes automatically with Supported Living Payment, so if you are on that payment you already hold one. If you are not on a benefit, you can apply on income alone — the 1 April 2026 limit for a single person living alone and not on NZ Super is $37,116 a year before tax, and $55,501 for a couple with no dependent children.
If household management is what you actually need — the vacuuming that is now impossible, the meals you can no longer cook standing up — then the Community Services Card application is not a side errand. It is the application.
Why the timing of a visit matters more than the number of hours
This is the part that is particular to Parkinson’s, and it is worth pushing on.
Home support is allocated in hours, and providers build rosters around those hours. But with Parkinson’s the same task is easy at one hour of the day and impossible at another. Getting dressed before the first dose has taken effect is a different job from getting dressed ninety minutes later. A support worker arriving at 9:30 when you needed someone at 7:00 has not helped you get up; they have watched you having already struggled.
Support workers are not usually allowed to give you medication in the way a nurse would, and the rules differ between providers and contracts. Ask directly at the start what the worker may and may not do with your tablets, so you are not discovering it during a bad morning.
How the support actually reaches you
If the arrangement is not working — wrong times, wrong tasks, a worker who cannot manage the transfers — the person to ring is the NASC, not only the provider. The provider delivers against the allocation. Only the NASC can change the allocation.
Community day services
Separately from support at home, DSS funds community day services, which “help disabled adults to take part in their community” and “provide access to regular meaningful social contact and stimulating activities” — daily living skills, education and learning, social activities, recreation and leisure.
Two details worth knowing. Eligibility runs through the same NASC gate. And DSS funds these for disabled adults “who are not receiving compensation through ACC” — the injury system and the disability system do not stack. Once you are accepted, a provider works with you on an Individual Day Programme Service Plan, which “can take up to four weeks to prepare.”
For someone living alone with Parkinson’s, a day service is often doing two jobs at once: the social contact, and a predictable block of the week when someone else notices how you are doing.
Turning 65 sends you through a different door
DSS says these services are “mainly for people under the age of 65 years,” and for people over 65 it says to “contact your local hospital for more information.”
Support for older people runs through Health New Zealand’s own needs assessment agencies. The services on offer look similar — “personal care — such as getting out of bed, showering, dressing, or taking medicines”, “household support — such as cleaning or meal preparation”, “carer support”, and “equipment to help with your safety at home” — but the agency, the assessment and the paperwork are different ones.
If this applies to you
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| You were told you are not eligible for home support | Ask which part. Household management requires a Community Services Card; personal care does not |
| You need help with cleaning and meals but have no Community Services Card | Apply for the card first. Household management depends on it |
| You are on Supported Living Payment | You already hold a Community Services Card, so the household management barrier does not apply to you |
| The morning visit arrives too late to be useful | Ring the NASC, not just the provider, and ask for the visit to be tied to your medication timing |
| Evenings are your worst time, not mornings | Say so. There is no rule that support has to be in the morning |
| You want to choose your own support worker, or pay a family member | Ask the NASC about Individualised Funding |
| You are isolated during the week | Ask about community day services at your next assessment |
| You turn 65 soon | Ask now which agency takes over, and get the answer before the birthday |
| You are getting ACC support for an injury | Day services are funded for people not receiving compensation through ACC. Ask the NASC how the two interact in your case |
This page is not medical or legal advice and does not decide your eligibility. It describes the system as published in August 2026. Confirm what applies to you with your NASC and your care team.