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loginResidential Support Subsidy – information for residential service agencies
Information for agencies involved in residential care, publicly-funded through Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora).
For age-related residential care, visit our page Residential Care Subsidy.
Note: You can ‘PDF print’ pages from our website. Please do not use any old factsheets or forms as these are no longer valid.
Step 1: Person is assessed
A contracted Needs Assessment Service Co-ordinator (NASC) service completes a ‘needs assessment’. The assessment is to see if the person is eligible for residential care (see 'Who can get it' section).
Step 2: Eligible-person enters residential care
The needs assessor places the eligible-person into full-time residential care. This will be with a Te Whatu Ora-contracted residential service provider.
Step 3: Residential service provider notifies Work and Income
The service provider must let Work and Income know within 24 hours of the person entering residential care. They can do this by completing either of the following forms:
The residential service provider submits the form(s) and all supporting documents by:
- emailing MSD_RSS@msd.govt.nz, or
- dropping them off at a Work and Income service centre.
Contacting Work and Income after 24 hours can cause a:
- delay in the benefit contribution being set up
- delay in Residential Support Subsidy being paid to the service provider
- debt being established for the person entering care.
Step 4: Filling out the application and authorisation form
The person applying and the residential service provider both complete the Residential Support Subsidy application and authorisation form.
There are other forms that may be relevant to the person's situation and needs. You can find them in the 'Related forms' section below.
Note: The person applying must be able to understand what signing the form means and sign the form themselves. If the person can't do this, and they don’t have an agent, please refer to the notes next to question 14 on page 5 of the authorisation form.
The residential service provider submits the form(s) and all supporting documents by:
- emailing MSD_RSS@msd.govt.nz, or
- dropping them off at a Work and Income service centre.
The person doesn’t get a main benefit or NZ Super
In most cases, the person will be getting a main benefit or NZ Super before entering residential care. If this is not the case, we encourage the person to check if they can get a main benefit or NZ Super. This is because they may have no other income while in residential care. Use Check what you might get to see what supports could be available.
Paper application forms can be submitted at the same time as the Residential Support Subsidy application and authorisation form. This will let Work and Income set them up with their correct entitlement at the same time as the subsidy.
If the person can't get a main benefit or NZ Super
This is not very common. In this situation, Work and Income will inform Te Whatu Ora that the person has applied for Residential Support Subsidy but they are not getting a benefit or NZ Super. The completed Residential Support Subsidy application and authorisation form is required to do this. Work and Income will not be involved after this. Te Whatu Ora will contact the service provider about the payment of care costs.
Step 5: Work and Income process the Residential Support Subsidy authorisation
Work and Income process the completed authorisation form, and notify:
- Te Whatu Ora
- the person applying, and
- the residential service provider.
Step 6: Residential Support Subsidy starts
Te Whatu Ora start to pay Residential Support Subsidy to the residential service provider.
While in residential care, the person must contribute toward their residential care costs. They do this through the Work and Income payments they have authorised (step 4). The person's contributions continue until the date they leave residential care. Work and Income will talk with the person to discuss payments.
The person may choose to:
- redirect the contribution to the service provider through Work and Income, or
- pay this to the service provider directly themselves.
While the subsidy is being paid, the person and residential service provider have obligations. This includes letting Work and Income know about any changes in circumstances.
Residential service providers
Residential service providers must notify Work and Income within 24 hours about the person's:
- entry to care
- change of address (internal transfer within the facility or temporary absence)
- admission to public hospital
- return to residential care from public hospital
- discharge from residential care (to community, another service provider or public hospital)
- death.
Let us know by completing the following form:
Email the completed form to MSD_RSS@msd.govt.nz.
Person in residential care
The person in residential care must let Work and Income know about any changes in their circumstances (unless they aren't a Work and Income client). This can include changes in income, relationships, or address.
Let us know by calling us.
Changes to disability type
If the person in residential care's (primary) disability type changes (e.g. from an intellectual disability to a long-term chronic health condition), the residential service provider and person need to complete a new Residential Support Subsidy application and authorisation form.
The person in residential care may need help from an agent. An agent is a person or organisation that acts on the person's behalf with Work and Income. For more information on agents see our page:
The Residential Support Subsidy application and authorisation form asks if a client already has an agent. The form also asks whether the person wants to appoint their residential service provider to be their agent temporarily for the time they are in care. If someone helps the person to complete the form, there’s a section about this too.
Below are the forms for the Residential Support Subsidy:
Other related forms:
All forms are available at: Forms - Work and Income.
Please do not use any old factsheets or forms as these are no longer valid.
If you have questions about the forms or the supporting documents, please call Work and Income’s Residential Support Subsidy unit (see contact details below).
Related