Personal Safety Assistance

Medical alarm rental and monitoring

You may be eligible for a Disability Allowance assisting with the costs of a medical alarm if:

• an alarm is necessary for your normal daily living, your life or health would be put at risk without one, or your disability would be aggravated without one;
• the need for a medical alarm will result in an ongoing, additional cost directly related to your disability or personal health need; and
• the medical alarm is approved and supplied by an MSD approved medical alarm company.

Disability Allowance cannot be paid to cover the costs of:

• buying a medical alarm or smoke alarm (often marketed with medical alarms) – this is a one-off cost, not an ongoing cost;
• alarms installed for security reasons - this is not a cost directly related to a disability; or
• medical alarm expenses that are included in the standard service fee of the retirement village or complex where you are living.

You may wish to download our Disability Allowance brochure.

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Essential home telephone costs

If you do not have a landline telephone, and you need one to help ensure your personal safety or security, Work and Income may be able to help you with certain essential home telephone costs.

Telephone costs for personal safety or security need to be verified by any of the following:

• the Police
• court orders
• Women’s Refuge
• previous case history held by Work and Income, Child Youth and Family, or any other relevant organisation.

You will need to provide proof of your circumstances and your telephone rental costs (excluding toll call charges, mobile phone expenses, Internet and cable/satellite TV charges).

In some instances, you may be granted assistance with the cost through Disability Allowance and/or Temporary Additional Support.