Respite & Short Term Accommodation (STA)

A genuine break, on both sides

Short Term Accommodation — most people still call it respite — is a stay away from home with support included. It’s funded for up to 14 days at a time, and most participants have around 28 days a year in their plan.

Two things happen at once. The person supporting you day to day gets to properly stop, which is what keeps a caring arrangement sustainable over years rather than months. And you get a change of scene, your own routine, and time with people who aren’t family.

What a stay includes

Everything is covered for the length of the stay: a bed, all meals, personal care, medication support, staff overnight, and activities. You bring your own clothes, medication and anything that makes a place feel comfortable.

Stays can be a single night, a weekend, or a fortnight. Some people book the same week every school holidays; others use it once a year.

Trying before deciding

STA is also the low-risk way to test supported living. A few short stays tell you far more than any tour or brochure — what the staff are actually like, whether you sleep well there, whether you’d want to spend more time with those people.

There’s no obligation either way.

Emergency stays

Sometimes it isn’t planned. A carer is hospitalised, a housing situation falls through, a family emergency. Where we have capacity we’ll take emergency placements at short notice.

If you’re in that situation right now, call rather than email — we can tell you within the hour whether we have a bed.

How this is funded

STA is funded under Short Term Accommodation and Assistance in Core Supports. It’s usually priced as a daily rate covering accommodation, support, meals and activities together.

Because it sits in the flexible Core budget, most participants can use it more or less than originally planned as circumstances change.