DVA cleaning services

What is DVA domestic cleaning?

DVA cleaning services are part of DVA Household Services. If an accepted service-related condition makes housework difficult, DVA can pay for routine house cleaning. Your Household Services determination sets which tasks are covered, how often and the weekly limit.

A Gold or White Card doesn't by itself mean DVA will pay for a cleaner. The cleaning has to be approved in that written determination. Being assessed, or having sent in a claim, isn't the same as being approved.

Who is eligible for DVA cleaning?

You may be eligible if you can't manage household tasks because of your accepted service-related injury or condition, and DVA assesses that you reasonably need help. DVA has to have accepted the condition as linked to your service before it can pay for household help. From 1 July 2026 all new claims are assessed under the MRCA. If you already have an approval under the DRCA, it carries on for the period it was approved for.

What DVA house cleaning can include

Depending on your determination, cleaning can include floors, bathrooms, kitchens, dusting, laundry, ironing and changing bed linen. DVA's policy lists domestic cleaning, including window cleaning, dusting and vacuuming, and laundry as household services. Specialist cleaning, repairs, nursing care and work outside the approved scope aren't included.

Window cleaning can be part of the same approval. We clean windows too (DVA window cleaning).

Grocery shopping is only funded if you can't use home delivery or click and collect.

What DVA won't pay for

Some jobs around the home aren't household services, even if you always did them yourself. DVA's policy rules out:

• washing, servicing or repairing a car
• washing or walking the dog
• packing and unpacking boxes when you move house
• painting, and repairs to doors, windows and fences
• pest control
• taking away big rubbish, such as old furniture or whitegoods that won't fit in your bins

More generally, DVA won't fund work a householder would normally hire a professional for.

The cleaning has to be work you did yourself

Household Services replace housework you used to do yourself and can't manage any more because of your accepted condition. DVA's policy gives this example: if your partner always did the cleaning, washing and ironing in your shared home, DVA won't fund house cleaning or laundry, because they aren't tasks you did before your injury or illness.

DVA also looks at whether it's really your accepted condition that stops you. It won't approve cleaning because of ageing on its own, or because a cleaner you used to pay for has become too expensive.

So when you claim, say which cleaning jobs you did yourself before your injury or illness, which you can still manage, and which you can't do safely now.

If other people live with you

DVA has to consider who else lives in your home. The law asks how many people live with you, their ages, whether they did housework before, and how much they could reasonably be expected to do now.

That doesn't mean DVA refuses cleaning whenever someone else lives with you. DVA's policy says the people you live with aren't expected to give up work, study, sport or community commitments to do extra housework. Its own examples include a partner in a demanding job with time away from home, and a household with a new baby and young children. In both, DVA may accept that taking on your share of the housework would be too much.

When you claim, explain who lives with you and what they already do, including their work or study, so DVA has the full picture.

How to apply for DVA cleaning services

Claim with DVA form D9319, Claim for Household Services Compensation. Describe the cleaning you need help with and how your condition affects each job, in everyday terms. "I need cleaning" is less useful than saying which parts you can do and which you can't. For example, if it's true for you: "I can wipe the kitchen bench, but I can't clean the shower or mop the floors safely any more."

You can email the form to [email protected] or post it to Department of Veterans' Affairs, GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001. Keep a copy and note the date you sent it. Send it only to an address DVA has approved, because a claim emailed anywhere else doesn't count as lodged. You can also make the claim by phone, and it's dated the day you make it.

If filling in the form is hard, a trained veterans' advocate can help. Ask about any fees before you agree to their help.

Read how DVA Household Services work

The assessment

After you claim, DVA may arrange an assessment of how you manage at home. It's normally done by an occupational therapist (OT), a health professional who looks at how you manage daily tasks. DVA has to request the assessment itself. If you book a private one, DVA has no way to pay for it.

DVA also checks whether you already get help with housework from somewhere else, such as Veterans' Home Care, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), My Aged Care or your local council. The same help can't be paid for twice, so tell the OT about any help you already have.

Reading your approval

DVA's decision comes as a written determination. It sets out what's approved, how much, and the start and end dates, and it includes your review rights. DVA's policy is that new approvals and renewals run for five years, although a shorter period can apply, for example for short-term help after surgery.

Before any cleaning starts, check four things in your approval:

• the task, for example domestic cleaning or laundry
• the amount of help, as hours, visits or a limit
• how often, such as each week or each fortnight
• the start and end dates

"Two hours per fortnight" means two service hours every two weeks, not two visits. If two cleaners come for an hour each, that uses two service hours, even though they're only in your home for an hour. Cleaning hours can't be moved to gardening, and missed visits can't be saved up, unless your approval says so.

Read about DVA cleaning rates for 2026

Cleaning with AusVeterans

AusVeterans is a DVA household services provider for house cleaning across Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and the Gold Coast. Under Household Services you choose your own provider, and DVA pays for the help it has approved. We invoice DVA directly, so you don't pay.

Once your approval includes cleaning, send us an enquiry with:

• your DVA file number
• your claim reference
• your TRN
• a copy of your current approval letter

Tell us the cleaning you need, your suburb and your preferred days. Visits can only go ahead while your approval is current, because DVA can't pay for work done without a current determination. If the end date on your letter has passed, ask DVA about your renewal before booking.

When your situation changes

If you go into hospital, respite or away

Tell DVA. Your regular cleaning is put on hold, because DVA only pays for help while you're living at home. If you'll be away for a long stretch, DVA's policy allows a house clean and a lawn mow just before you come home, so ask for them.

If your needs change

You can ask DVA to review your approval during the approval period. That applies if your accepted condition gets worse, or if someone in your home who did some of the housework moves out. Explain which jobs are now going undone.

If DVA plans to reduce or stop your help

DVA's policy is to give you at least 28 days' notice before it reduces or stops approved services, so you have a fair chance to send more evidence or explain a change.

Household Services or Veterans' Home Care for cleaning

Veterans' Home Care (VHC) is a separate DVA program for Gold Card holders and some White Card holders. Its domestic assistance includes house cleaning, dishwashing, washing clothes and linen, and bed making, with a small co-payment. VHC has its own assessment, and its services are delivered by providers DVA contracts for the program.

If you can get both, you choose which one covers your housework, but not both. Once DVA approves Household Services for you under the MRCA, you can't also get VHC domestic assistance. Respite care is only available through VHC, so you can still use it. If DVA decides you don't need Household Services, you can ask for a VHC assessment on 1300 550 450. Compare Veterans' Home Care and Household Services.

How to become a DVA cleaner

DVA doesn't employ cleaners. Veterans choose a suitable provider, and the provider invoices DVA through the Provider Upload Page. DVA's policy says a provider should be a professional business with insurance and proper tax arrangements, and that before work starts in a veteran's home the provider should have current checks in place where appropriate, such as public liability insurance and a police check. A Working with Children Check is needed only for childcare. The veteran chooses the provider, and the agreement is between them. Read DVA's policy on service providers.

If you run your own cleaning business, you can apply to work with AusVeterans.

Read DVA's Household Services information

Checked against DVA's website on 25 September 2026.