Household services are provided for in Division 3 of Part 7 of Chapter 4 of the MRCA [1] and section 29 of the DRCA [2]. A client's need for household services may be identified through a Needs Assessment [3], [4] an ADFRP assessment if the client is still serving, a Rehabilitation Assessment [5] or a request directly from the client.
The provision of household services of a short-term nature may be relatively common for clients recovering from surgery or other treatment of an accepted service injury or disease. However, long-term approvals should only be for seriously incapacitated clients whose needs will be ongoing, due to the nature of their accepted conditions.
Given that the primary aim of rehabilitation is to maximise the potential to restore a client and to promote independence, where a person is experiencing difficulties in managing their normal activities of daily living, consideration must be given to the purchase of other supporting aids and or appliances. This empowers the client and improves their overall ability to function more independently within their family, household and community.
Section 214 of MRCA, and or subsection 29(1) of DRCA, provide that the Commonwealth will meet the cost (to a statutory upper limit) of household services provided that they are reasonably required by the person as a result of a service injury or disease for which liability has been accepted. A formal determination letter must always be sent to a client when a decision is made to approve, extend, or reject provision of household services.
The statutory limit for household services is indexed as at 1 July each year by reference to the Consumer Price Index. Current rates are published in the CLIK Compensation and Support Reference Library under Payment Rates, Current Payment Rates [6]. The MRCA limit is listed on the MRCA Rates and Allowances page. The DRCA limit is listed on the SRCA and Defence Act payments page.
Rehabilitation Coordinators must not approve household services in excess of this statutory limit. Further information about the approval and review of household services can be found in section 7.4 [7] of this library.
Ideally, for most clients, household services will be delivered as part of a “package of support” that may also include rehabilitation services being provided under a whole-of-person rehabilitation plan [8]. This is in keeping with the department's whole of person approach to rehabilitation and allows the client's various needs to be considered and reviewed on a regular basis. However, the provision of household services is not dependent on participation in rehabilitation where the delegate is satisfied that there are no other needs that must be considered and addressed at a particular time. For example, where a client is still serving and their rehabilitation or treatment needs are being provided through the ADFRP.
From 29 May 2017, all new household services claims will need to be managed through a specific services plan using R&C ISH processing. Further information about household services claims can be found in section 7.3 [9] of this library.
Household services may be available to current and former ADF members, including part time Reservists, ADF Cadets, Officers of Cadets and Instructors of Cadets who have suffered a service injury or disease for which liability has been accepted by the MRCC. To be eligible, the person must first make a claim for compensation for household services.
Further information about household services for serving members can be found in section 7.1.3 [10] of this library.
Household services, are defined in Section 213 of the MRCA [1] and Section 4 of the DRCA [2], as '...services of a domestic nature (including cooking, house cleaning, laundry and gardening services) that are required for the proper running and maintenance of the client's household.'
Household services are of a domestic nature and may include:
When determining which services might come under the description of being 'required for the proper running and maintenance of the person's household', a client's individual circumstances need to be considered. In determining the reasonable requirement for provision of household services, in all cases, the delegate must consider the criteria in section 215 of the MRCA [1] and subsection 29(2) of the DRCA [2]. Please refer to section 7.2 [16] of this Guide for further information.
Reasonable level of service
The following examples are provided as a guide to what might be considered a reasonable level of service for specific household services:
*Note: Wood collection around a person’s property or pick-up of firewood from another location cannot be provided. The client is responsible for arranging delivery of the wood to their home.
When considering a reasonable level of service, each case must be considered on its own merits, with reference to each client’s individual circumstances. This means that for those cases where more frequent services are reasonably required, then a more frequent level of service can be approved.
The following examples are provided to illustrate where a more frequent level of service may be considered reasonable:
Cleaning associated with moving house
Cleaning prior to moving house can also be provided through the household services provisions. As with all other requests for household services, the delegate must be satisfied that a “move clean” is reasonably required, using the criteria outlined in section 7.2 [16] of this chapter, and that the total amount of household services to be provided does not exceed the weekly statutory limit.
Even though cleaning before moving house can be approved, it should be noted that the removal of home contents is not an eligible household service as the removal is not reasonably required for the proper running and maintenance of the client's household.
The AAT decision in Todd v Department of Defence [1993] AAT No. 9004 (4 August 1993) [18] confirmed that household services does not include the provision of household maintenance tasks. Accordingly the following are not household services as they are considered as household maintenance:
In Lander v Comcare [2000] FCA 339 (14 March 2000) [19] Finn J stated '...the household services envisaged are those provided by the household members themselves ... they are not services for which those members make provision for the injured employee through the agency of third party providers.' This means that any service which a householder usually or reasonably needs to employ a professional service provider for, would not typically fall within the definition of household services.
The AAT decision in Pembshaw and Department of Defence [1996] AATA 691 (18 June 1996) [20] confirmed that interior and exterior cleaning of a vehicle was excluded from the definition of household services as the vehicle is not regarded as part of the applicant's house and curtilage. For this reason, washing, servicing, repairing or maintaining vehicles cannot be considered as a household service.
Assistance with moving house, including the packing and unpacking of moving boxes, cannot be considered under the household services provisions because:
This applies regardless of whether the person would have undertaken this task themselves prior to their service related injury or disease.
Dog washing and dog walking services cannot be provided through the household services provisions.
The Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package (Acute Support Package) provides short-term flexible support to eligible veterans and their families, to adjust to new and challenging life circumstances that may result in the family being at risk of experiencing crisis. A range of assistance including household assistance is offered to eligible veterans and their families through this program.
More information about the Acute Support Package can be found on the DVA website at Defence, Veterans’ and Families’ Acute Support Package [21].
Delegates may consider contacting acute.support.package@dva.gov.au [22] to discuss whether a veteran who is experiencing challenges in managing their activities of daily living and general life circumstances may be eligible for services through the Acute Support Package.
The household services provisions are contained in the compensation provisions in chapter 4 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA) [1] and in part 2 of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 (DRCA). [2]This provides the legislative basis for DVA to provide these services to current serving members of the ADF while the Chief of the Defence Force remains their rehabilitation authority. Please refer to section 4.1 of the Rehabilitation Policy Library [24] for specific information about which members the CDF is the rehabilitation authority for.
Consistent with the legislative provisions, household services can be provided where a delegate is satisfied that the services are reasonably required due to a service injury or disease. Please refer to section 7.2 of the Rehabilitation Policy Library [16] for the issues that must be considered before making a determination.
Before DVA can provide household services to serving members, the following additional criteria must be met:
The exception to this general rule is if the serving member approaches DVA directly for household services support. More information about this can be found under the section headed Serving members can approach DVA directly for household services assistance.
This approach ensures that both the ADF’s Rehabilitation Programs and DVA are aware of the client’s needs, circumstances and the range of services that may be provided while they adjust to, and learn to manage, their service related conditions or injuries.
If the ADF Rehabilitation Program assessment report does not provide sufficient information to support the provision of household services by DVA, the Rehabilitation Coordinator must arrange for a follow-up assessment to be undertaken by a qualified Occupational Therapist. DVA is responsible for all costs associated with that assessment.
Serving members can approach DVA directly for household services assistance
Household services are provided through the compensation provisions of the MRCA and the DRCA. This means that there is no barrier to a serving member contacting DVA directly for household services. This applies regardless of whether the serving member is participating in an ADF rehabilitation program.
A requirement for household services may be identified through the needs assessment process, or through a claim for household services submitted to DVA.
In each of these cases, the DVA delegate should consider the person's request for household services using the usual processes. In most circumstances, this will include a home/activities of daily living assessment by an independent and suitably qualified Occupational Therapist. It is important that the Rehabilitation Coordinator does not refer the client back to the ADFRP or the Rehabilitation for Reservists Program for an activities of daily living/home assessment. This is because DVA is responsible for organising the assessment to determine whether household services are reasonably required due to the client’s service injury or disease, and for all costs associated with that assessment.
If the serving member receives a home-based OT assessment which identifies a rehabilitation need, then the ADFRP or Rehabilitation for Reservists Program should be notified of this by sending a referral to the ADFRP or the Rehabilitation for Reservists Program through the appropriate email address. The OT report can only be provided to Defence if the client has provided their explicit consent for this to occur. It is mandatory that R&C ISH standard letters are used when referring clients to the Defence rehabilitation programs. Letters generated from R&C ISH will automatically attach to the client’s UIN folder in TRIM.
Obtaining household services
The serving member should clearly understand that, for the purposes of household services, at all times they are responsible for:
The contract is between the person and the provider.
DVA is only responsible for determining:
The intent of this approach is to encourage the person to be responsible for self-managing as many aspects of their daily life as possible. However, if the serving member is experiencing major difficulties with managing their household services responsibilities, then it may be beneficial for them to discuss this with their ADFRP or Rehabilitation for Reservists Program Rehabilitation Consultant.
Links
[1] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A01285
[2] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C1988A00156
[3] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/3-rehabilitation-process/32-needs-assessment-process
[4] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-library/3-rehabilitation-process/32-needs-assessment-process
[5] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/3-rehabilitation-process/34-rehabilitation-assessments
[6] https://clik.dva.gov.au/compensation-and-support-reference-library/payment-rates/current-payment-rates
[7] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/7-household-services/74-approving-and-reviewing-household-services-decisions
[8] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/3-rehabilitation-process/38-dva-rehabilitation-reporting-documents/382-rehabilitation-plan
[9] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/7-household-services/73-investigating-claim-household-services
[10] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/7-household-services/71-household-services/713-household-services-serving-members
[11] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/21247%23comment-form
[12] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/7-household-services/72-criteria-assessing-what-reasonable/727-child-care
[13] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/6-psychosocial-rehabilitation/65-psychosocial-activities-dva-clients-and-families/652-child-care-assistance-through-psychosocial-rehabilitation-plan
[14] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/7-household-services/72-criteria-assessing-what-reasonable/725-any-other-relevant-matter
[15] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/7-household-services/72-criteria-assessing-what-reasonable/721-personally-undertaken-prior-injury
[16] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/7-household-services/72-criteria-assessing-what-reasonable
[17] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/80941%23comment-form
[18] http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/AATA/1993/295.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=title(Todd%20)
[19] http://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2000/2000fca0339
[20] http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/AATA/1996/691.html
[21] https://www.dva.gov.au/get-support/families/acute-support-package
[22] mailto:acute.support.package@dva.gov.au
[23] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/21249%23comment-form
[24] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/4-adf-rehabilitation-programs/41-overview-adf-rehabilitation-programs