Household maintenance

The AAT decision in Todd v Department of Defence [1993] AAT No. 9004 (4 August 1993) 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:

Some clients may require additional support in order to live independently in the community.

As a general rule, household services are only provided if the household tasks were personally undertaken by the person prior to their injury or illness. For example:

Household Services

Household services, as defined in Section 213 of the MRCA and Section 4 of the DRCA, 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:

Determinations for household services

For MRCA clients, a determination to pay compensation for household services is made under section 214 of MRCA using the criteria specified in section 215. Consistent with the consideration and determination process specified under section 333 of MRCA, the determination must be made in writing, after all matters relevant to the claim have been considered.

Short term support

There are two options for providing time-limited and short term child care support for clients who are struggling to cope with unexpected circumstances that are impacting on their ability to manage their child care responsibilities. These are:

The key concept in considering any proposal for the provision of household services is whether or not the person reasonably requires the services, and that requirement is as a result of their service injury or disease.