Help at home after an injury
If we cover your injury, you may be able to get support to help around your home. This is so you can make a quick and safe recovery, and get back to your everyday activities.
On this page
Types of help you can get at home
The types of support you can apply for:
- home help – to help with cleaning and looking after your home
- attendant care – to help you with personal activities such as showering and dressing.
If you’re not living at home
We may be able to help if you’re staying with family or a friend until you can return home.
Let your case owner know if you move while you're getting support from us.
What we'll pay for
If we accept your application, we’ll pay for the support you need.
You may have paid some of these costs while waiting to hear if we'll cover your injury. Talk to your case owner about a possible refund.
How to apply for help at home
You can apply for support at home any time after we’ve accepted cover for your injury. To apply you can:
- ask your doctor to send us a letter of recommendation. We’ll contact you once we get this
- contact our claims team. Have your claim number ready
- fill out the ACC001 form and send it to us by email or post, or drop it at your local ACC branch
- contact your case owner if you have one.
Applying on someone else’s behalf
If you want to apply for help at home on behalf of someone, you’ll need to get their permission:
Giving someone authority to act on your behalf
Assessing what help you need at home
If you have a short recovery time, your case owner can approve your application straight away. If your recovery looks like it will take longer, we’ll organise someone to come and assess what help you need.
Arranging your assessment
Once you apply, we’ll send a referral to an independent assessor. They’ll contact you within two working days to set up an appointment.
Assessments take place in your home. If you have to stay somewhere else because of your injury, we’ll assess you there.
Getting your assessment
The assessor will come and do an assessment within ten working days. They’ll talk to you about the support you need and come back to us with their recommendations.
We’ll let you know our decision
We’ll be in touch within seven working days after the assessment. We’ll talk to you about:
- what help they recommended
- our final decision on the support we can provide
- how long you can get this support for
- the next steps.
Choosing who helps you at home
You can choose who provides your home help and attendant care:
An agency contracted to us
We have contracts with different agencies that provide home help and attendant care. They’ll invoice us and we’ll pay for the full cost of their services.
An agency that isn’t contracted to us
You can choose to use an agency that doesn’t have a contract with us. We’ll pay a set hourly rate. If the agency charges more than this, you’ll need to pay the rest.
The agency will invoice us for the rate we cover, and invoice you for any extra charge.
A friend or family member
If you have a friend or a family member that can help you at home, you may be able to set them up as your private caregiver. You need to:
- fill in the right paperwork – your case owner can send this to you
- fill in a form each week so your caregiver can get paid
- talk to Inland Revenue about tax obligations.
We have a set hourly rate for private care. This rate earns withholding tax. We can either pay you so that you can pay your caregiver, or pay them directly.
How long it will take to get help at home
Home help and attendant care
If you use an agency, we’ll send them a referral with the help that we’ve approved. They should contact with you within two days.
Your private caregiver can start from the date we’ve agreed to pay for their services.
Extending your help at home
To apply to extend your support, contact your case owner before this ends. You may need another assessment.
Contact us
If you have any problems or want to know more about how we can help, talk to your case owner, or contact our claims team. If you’re using an agency, ask them to contact your case owner.
Phone 0800 101 996 (Monday to Friday, 7am - 7pm)
Email claims@acc.co.nz
Send us your application
If you live in Northland, Auckland, Waikato or Bay of Plenty:
ACC Hamilton Service Centre
PO Box 952
Hamilton 3240
Fax 07 848 7091
If you live in Taranaki, Manawatu-Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, Wellington or the South Island:
ACC Dunedin Service Centre
PO Box 408
Dunedin 9054
Free fax 0800 844 850
Related topics
Returning to work after an injury
Getting paid if you can't work
Contact us
Darryl, Digital team