A clearer way to record short-term accommodation costs

One stay, several kinds of cost

An overnight stay is rarely just a room booking. A participant may receive active support during the day, sleepover support overnight and accommodation for themselves and a support worker. Putting everything into one hourly line makes the record harder to understand.

In the web app, choose Short term accommodation when creating a session, then add the NDIS items that describe what was delivered. Participant accommodation, worker accommodation, active support and a sleepover each have their own line. You can enter the agreed price and identify how many participants share a cost.

The item picker follows the selected session type and the SIL registration rules for the service date. STA has a defined set of accommodation and support items; SIL and standard sessions have their own rules. Saving also checks that a catalogue rate covers the service date. These checks apply to edits and recurring sessions too. If you change the type or date, review any item marked as incompatible.

Keep time and charges separate

Support time belongs on the calendar. A room charge does not add hours to it. Aldra keeps service minutes separate from accommodation quantities, so an accommodation line can have zero service minutes while still recording one overnight stay.

Hourly support is priced from the minutes recorded. A sleepover is priced once, rather than treating its elapsed hours as eight separate charges. Accommodation uses its day unit. Shared costs are divided equally, and the budget reserve uses the same calculation as the Tax Invoice generated from the session.

For example, an eligible stay might have a participant accommodation line, a worker accommodation line and a sleepover line, with daytime support entered separately. These describe different costs; they do not establish that every cost is funded for that participant.

Record the provider’s Tax Invoice

Open the session and choose Enter provider Tax Invoice to record a received Tax Invoice for the participant. Add the supplier’s details and ABN, enter each charge separately and attach the original document or receipt.

The received Tax Invoice goes to the Tax Invoice inbox for review before claiming. Copy its quantities, prices and GST accurately. This is a separate record: it does not automatically match the received Tax Invoice to the session’s reserved costs. Review the two together and do not claim the same charge through both routes.

The booking platform does not decide eligibility

NDIS short-term accommodation funding can cover standard short-stay accommodation when it meets the participant’s funded respite needs. An Airbnb booking is not automatically eligible because it is accommodation. Holiday accommodation, ordinary rent and meals do not become funded respite costs simply by adding an NDIS item number.

Check the participant’s plan, agreement, remaining respite allocation and the support actually delivered. Aldra asks you to confirm eligibility and requires an agreed accommodation cost. It uses national price limits for these session calculations; it does not establish remote eligibility or choose the correct day and time item for you.

For sleepovers, the worker must be allowed to sleep during an overnight period of at least eight continuous hours crossing midnight. The first two hours of active support are included, so they must not be charged again as a separate support line.

Try it on test

This feature is being reviewed on the test environment. Create a Short term accommodation session, add the relevant cost lines and check the resulting budget reserve. Then open the session to review its details or record a received provider Tax Invoice. Production availability will be confirmed in the release notes after testing.