Managing residential respite care

Residential respite care gives an older person or their carer a break from their usual care arrangements. The government pays providers a respite subsidy and supplement for providing respite care to eligible people.

How many respite days are allowed

Eligible people are entitled to 63 days of respite care in a financial year. This can be extended by up to another 21 days if an Aged Care Assessor approves it.

Monitoring balances of respite days and extensions

It is important you monitor a person's entitled respite days balance closely through the Services Australia Aged Care Payment System (ACPS). Due to delays with providers submitting claims, this information may not always be current. So you should also check with the care recipient and/or their carer.

If the person requires additional days, you must submit an extension request through the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal. Find out where to get help using the portal.

You must submit the request on, or before, the number of entitled days end. Ensure you include:

all mandatory information
further comments about the reason for the extension
the respite paid day balance information sourced from the ACPS
if applicable, information on any known unclaimed days used.

Residential respite care fees

You can ask people in government-funded residential respite care to pay some fees.

Learn about fees for residential respite care.

Providing respite care before an approval

There are emergency provisions that allow people to enter residential respite care before receiving the appropriate approval. These provisions are in sections 22–25 of the Aged Care Act 1997. See section 71-5 of the Aged Care Rules 2025 for exceptions when residential respite care is provided by a NATSIFAC or MPSP provider.

If a person enters residential respite care due to an emergency and does not have an approval in place, providers may help them to:

complete an Application for Care Form including the 'emergency cases only' section
send the completed application for care form to the Aged Care Assessors within 5 business days of the date the person began receiving care.

If a care recipient enters residential respite care due to an emergency and does not have an approval in place, you must:

complete an Application for Care Form including the 'emergency cases only' section
send the completed application for care form to the Aged Care Assessors within 5 business days of the date the care recipient entered care.

If you cannot submit the Application for Care Form within 5 business days, you can email the Aged Care Assessment Delegate to request an extension. You can only receive an extension in exceptional circumstances. The assessor will contact you to schedule the assessment.

The assessment and approvals do not need to be completed within the 5 business days of the person entering care.

Following the assessment, the Aged Care Assessment Delegate can decide to approve the person to become a respite recipient from the day care started if:

the application process meets requirements
the person is eligible for the care and urgently needed the care because of an emergency; and
it was not practicable to obtain approval beforehand.

To help the person participate in the assessment process, you should provide the assessor with information about the person’s:

care needs
type of care
situation and urgency when the care started.

For more information on the Aged Care Assessment process, please contact your Aged Care Assessment Delegate. If you do not know your local Aged Care Assessment Delegate, contact the My Aged Care service provider and assessor helpline 1800 836 799.

Temporary absences from residential respite

The formal residential care leave provisions under the Aged Care Act 2024 do not apply to residential respite. Respite recipients are, however, able to agree a temporary absence from a respite episode with the aged care home.

Aged care homes are required to adhere to the Aged Care Quality Standards and Statement of Rights. There is also the continued obligation to always act in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the respite service agreement.

Hospital admission

If a respite recipient is taken to hospital, the respite service agreement should remain in effect until the aged care home determines the recipient/family’s intentions with the respite episode.

If all parties agree that the respite recipient does not have an intention or ability to return, then the respite episode ends, their booking fee is refunded, and their respite service agreement is no longer in effect.

If the respite recipient (or their family) wants to keep the respite episode open so they can return, then the aged care home should hold the place for the duration of the episode. In these situations:

respite subsidy continues to be paid, and the respite recipient continues to pay their basic daily fee
their booking fee is not refunded, and the aged care home continues to hold a place for the person
it is recommended that the aged care home stays in regular communication with the family/hospital to see how long the resident is expected to be in hospital.

Non-hospital absence

Aged care homes and respite recipients (or their family) can agree on a short temporary absence for social or other reasons, but this can only be for one night at a time.

In these situations:

respite subsidy continues to be paid and the respite recipient continues to pay their basic daily fee
their booking fee is not refunded
the aged care home continues to hold the place for that night.