Personal care and daily living supports: what to ask a provider
· Everyday supports · Source checked 12 October 2026
Help with showering, dressing, meals and the household is personal. These are the questions that help you set routines, protect your dignity and keep control.
What daily living supports are for
Personal care and daily living supports help with everyday tasks such as showering, dressing, preparing meals, taking medication as prescribed and looking after the home. The aim is for you to live as independently as you can, in the way you choose, rather than to do things for you that you can do yourself.
What your plan includes is decided individually. Check how much support is funded and for which tasks before you ask a provider to quote.
Describe the routine you want
Before the first visit, write down what happens on a good day: times, steps, products, preferences and anything that matters to you, such as privacy, the order of tasks or who is in the room. A provider can only respect a routine it has been told about.
You can ask for a worker of a particular gender, for a small team of regular workers, or for someone who speaks your language. A good provider will say what it can and cannot do, rather than promising everything.
Questions about the workers
Ask who will come, how workers are trained for this kind of support, and how they are supervised. Ask what happens if your regular worker is away and how you will be told who is covering.
Ask how a worker will know your routine, whether notes are kept, and how you can see or correct them. Continuity matters most for personal care because you should not have to explain yourself to a stranger each time.
Dignity, consent and feedback
You are entitled to be treated with respect, to say no to something, and to ask for a task to be done differently. Ask how the provider handles a request to change the routine and how you can raise a concern, including with someone other than the worker concerned.
Review how things are going after the first few weeks, and again when your needs change. Keep notes of what is working and what is not so you can use them at your next plan review. This is general information, not advice about your plan.
Frequently asked questions
What are personal care and daily living supports?
Help with everyday tasks such as showering, dressing, preparing meals, taking medication as prescribed and looking after the home. The aim is for you to live as independently as you can, in the way you choose, rather than to do things for you that you can do yourself. What your plan includes is decided individually.
Can I choose who supports me with personal care?
You can ask for a worker of a particular gender, for a small team of regular workers, or for someone who speaks your language. A good provider will say what it can and cannot do, rather than promising everything.
What should I ask about the workers?
Ask who will come, how workers are trained for this kind of support and how they are supervised. Ask what happens if your regular worker is away and how you will be told who is covering, and how a worker will know your routine and whether notes are kept.
What if I want something done differently?
You are entitled to be treated with respect, to say no to something, and to ask for a task to be done differently. Ask how the provider handles a request to change the routine and how you can raise a concern, including with someone other than the worker concerned.
Keep learning
- Hiring an independent support worker: what to ask and check: Some people choose to work directly with an independent worker rather than a larger provider. Here is what to look at first, and what to put in writing.
- Starting as an independent support worker: what to set up first: Working for yourself brings freedom and responsibility. This checklist covers the checks, paperwork and boundaries to get right before you take on your first client.
- How to choose an NDIS provider: 12 questions to ask before you commit: A practical checklist for comparing providers, from how a service fits your plan to what happens when something goes wrong.
- Registered or unregistered? What it means when you choose an NDIS provider: Registered and unregistered providers can both be legitimate, but the rules, checks and options for your plan are not the same. Here is how to think about the difference.
More in our NDIS updates and insights, our step-by-step guides, or the NDIS and aged care provider directory.
Official sources
Source checked 12 October 2026. Rules and guidance can change; verify current details with the responsible agency. How we write and check our guides.