Payments and billing

Government support for business

Providers may be eligible to apply for Australian Government support for business in response to COVID-19. For more information, refer to the Department of Treasury website.

Refer to state and territory government websites for their latest response during the pandemic.

Some local government areas are also offering support to businesses at this time and providers can refer to their local government website .

The Government has announced a range of financial support measures for eligible businesses and sole traders affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. More information is available at Services Australia .

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

Providers can claim up to $1.70 per hour to cover the cost of PPE for support delivered in NSW, Victoria or restricted areas of Queensland, in the following Assistance with Daily Life support categories:

0104 High Intensity Daily Personal Activities
0107 Daily Personal Activities
0115 Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement

Eligible registered providers must lodge invoices via the myplace provider portal:

Log in to the myplace provider portal
Select the ‘payment enquiry’ tile
Complete the details of the organisation representative
Select ‘single payment issue’
Submission on behalf of a participant – select ’no’
Drop down box – Request details – select subject ‘Payment Request Enquiry’
Do you have a service booking? No
Do you have a payment request number? No
Is there an amount involved in the enquiry? – select ’no’
In the ‘Feedback’ text box, put VIC/NSW/QLD PPE Invoice
Associated documents – you must upload an invoice, not a CSV file
Select what you would like to do with this payment issue. Choose ‘Submit’.

To avoid a delay in payment, providers must:

put VIC/NSW/QLD PPE Invoice in the ‘Feedback’ text box
lodge invoices either fortnightly or monthly
include the following information in the invoice:
participant/s name and NDIS number/s
supports start and end date
one of the three support line items
total number of ‘assistance with daily life’ support hours per participant

While these temporary arrangements are in place, the NDIA will accept one invoice with multiple participant numbers.

All provider claims are subject to the NDIA payment assurance process.

Providers can invoice the NDIA for these supports on a fortnightly or monthly basis.

Providers in NSW and Victoria are able to claim for PPE used in delivering supports for the following dates:

29 July to 30 November 2020

Providers in restricted areas of Queensland are able to claim for PPE used in delivering supports from 22 August 2020 until 25 September 2020. A list of restrictions by local government area and the date they are applicable appears in the NDIS Price Guide Addendum.

For enquiries, please contact provider.support@ndis.gov.au or phone 1800 800 110.

Providers delivering Assistance with Daily Life supports to plan or self-managed NDIS participants in one of these three categories can directly invoice the NDIA for PPE:

0104 High Intensity Daily Personal Activities
0107 Daily Personal Activities
0115 Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement.

Providers in NSW and Victoria are able to claim for PPE used in delivering supports for the following dates:

29 July to 30 November 2020.

Providers of plan or self-managed NDIS participants must lodge invoices by email to provider.support@ndis.gov.au

Invoices must include:

participant/s name and NDIS number/s
supports start and end date
value and details of claim (i.e. number of participants x number of hours x number of days)
any GST included in the $1.70 per hour unit price
the category of support delivered i.e:
- 0104 High Intensity Daily Personal Activities
- 0107 Daily Personal Activities
- 0115 Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement
provider ABN, legal name and bank account details.

Note: bank accounts must be a business name. Personal bank accounts will not be accepted. Invoices without a valid ABN will not be processed.

Providers can invoice the NDIA for these supports on a fortnightly or monthly basis.

All provider claims are subject to the NDIA payment assurance process.

For enquiries, please contact provider.support@ndis.gov.au or phone 1800 800 110.

Worker Mobility Reduction Payment

The Victorian and Commonwealth Governments have announced a $15 million Worker Mobility Reduction Payment initiative to enable disability residential service providers to limit worker mobility in disability residential settings, where possible to help prevent the spread of infection.

Eligible providers have been emailed details on how to claim. If you haven’t received an email and think you qualify, please email provider.support@ndis.gov.au, including your organisation’s legal business name and ABN.

Eligible providers who have opted in to the Worker Mobility Reduction Payment initiative, by signing and returning a scanned copy of the NDIS letter and Schedule, will receive detail instructions on how to submit an invoice to the NDIA.

If you opted in by the due date and you haven’t received the email please email provider.support@ndis.gov.au for instructions.

Supported Independent Living (SIL)

We know participants living in SIL arrangements are at higher health risk during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, due to the SIL environment and other existing health conditions.

You may also require additional funding to manage the care and support of residents who are diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19).

Two support items are available for participants residing in SIL properties and diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19) until 28 February 2021.

Eligibility to access these items has been extended to participants living in SIL who are required to quarantine or self-isolate.

We will continue to monitor the situation and may implement further measures.

The two support items are:

Cleaning services: a one-off professional deep cleaning service of a residence of an eligible participant.
Additional supports: to allow for higher intensity support including staffing increase, personal protective equipment (PPE), professional laundering, and any ancillary expenses required by eligible participants.

The NDIS will not cover additional administrative costs, staff sick leave, medical costs associated with a hospital stay or everyday expenses.

Providers can continue to claim usual SIL costs for eligible participants in hospital or isolated in alternative accommodation. Alternative accommodation will also be claimable through the short term accommodation support item.

The new line items are available in the NDIS Price Guide and Support Catalogue.

If you have a participant residing in SIL who is diagnosed with COVID-19 you must immediately notify the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission .

The Commission will inform the NDIA, and we will update the participant’s plan as quickly as possible to include additional funding against these new items as stated supports.

You can continue to claim usual SIL costs while an eligible participant is in hospital or isolated in alternative accommodation.

Alternative accommodation will also be claimable through the short term accommodation support item.

If you have a participant residing in SIL who is diagnosed with COVID-19 you must immediately notify the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

The Commission will inform the NDIA, and we will update the participant’s plan as quickly as possible to include additional funding against these new items as stated supports.

You can claim from these items following the normal myplace portal processes.

Yes, cleaning services and additional supports for participants in SIL who are required to self-isolate or quarantine have been extended nationally until 28 February 2021.

The two support items are:

Cleaning services: a one-off professional deep cleaning of a residence per participant newly diagnosed with COVID-19, with one claim allowable per participant diagnosed with COVID-19.
Additional supports: to allow for higher intensity support including staffing increase, personal protective equipment (PPE), professional laundering, and any ancillary expenses directly related to the participant’s diagnosis.

The table is correct as this pricing applies nationally to eligible participants in SIL, currently:

diagnosed as coronavirus (COVID-19) positive
living in NSW, Victoria or a restricted area of Qld and required to quarantine or self-isolate.

You can claim $300 to cover the cost of a one-off professional deep cleaning of a residence per participant newly diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19), with one claim allowable per participant diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19).

The ongoing cost of cleaning is covered in the daily amount.

When informed of a confirmed participant diagnosis, the NDIA will update the participants plan as quickly as possible to include additional funding against these new items as stated supports.

If you have a participant residing in SIL who is diagnosed you must immediately notify the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission .

The Commission will inform the NDIA, and we will update the participants plan as quickly as possible to include additional funding against these new items as stated supports.

We have a dedicated team to manage coronavirus (COVID-19) related participant issues and will monitor these cases and the time it takes to update plans – if there are delays NDIA processes will be adjusted to improve this process.

Yes. However, when a participant has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has notified the NDIA, additional funding will be added to the participant’s plan to meet these costs.

These items can be claimed from 30 April 2020.

For example, if a participant was diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19) on 20 April, the $300 one-off cleaning charge and $1,200 day rate can be claimed from 30 April until the participant tests negative.

Funding alternative SIL arrangements would depend on the individual situation.

Please contact your support coordinator, LAC or planner.

Advance payments

On 21 March 2020, the Minister for the NDIS announced a number of new measures to support participants and providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Included in these temporary measures was an advance payment to eligible registered providers to increase their immediate availability of funds.

Eligible registered NDIS providers received a one-off advance payment in the week commencing 30 March 2020. The advance payment represented approximately one-third of a provider’s payment claims processed via the NDIS myplace portal between December 2019 and February 2020.

This financial assistance has enabled NDIS providers to continue delivering supports during this time.

To cover the additional costs of service delivery for existing supports, a temporary 10 per cent coronavirus (COVID-19) loading was added to price limits for some Core and Capacity Building supports delivered between 25 March and 30 June 2020.

The cancellation rules also temporarily changed and three new support coordination items were added to the NDIS Price Guide under Core Supports to support plan flexibility.

From 1 July, many of the temporary coronavirus (COVID-19) measures ceased.

The advance payment was part of the NDIA’s plan to ensure providers can continue to deliver support to NDIS participants.

The one-off advance payment:

has been made to eligible NDIS providers by electronic funds transfer
is part of a proportionate and coordinated strategy in line with the whole of government response
represents a pre-payment for disability services which must be provided to NDIS participants to deliver reasonable and necessary supports approved in their plans.

Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office have confirmed that the advance payment made to providers are not included in the JobKeeper turnover test for NDIS providers.

The advance payment was calculated as approximately one-third of a provider’s cumulative payment claims processed via the NDIS myplace portal between December 2019 and February 2020.

The advance payment did not include:

Plan managers
Unregistered providers
Providers who would have received an advance payment of less than $50.

The NDIA advised providers of their advance payment amount through a direct email sent 25 March 2020.

Please note: the amount received was specific to each provider and different from the amount other providers may receive.

NDIS registered providers were eligible if they received a payment paid through the myplace provider portal in February 2020 and at least one other payment in December 2019 or January 2020.

The advance payment will be recovered through an offset method, starting 1 October 2020.

Over six months, from October 2020 to March 2021, the NDIA will apply offsets against a provider’s monthly payment requests until 16.67 per cent of that provider’s total advance payment has been recovered each month.

For example, if a provider received an advance payment of $10,000, the NDIA will offset against all claims by that provider until a total of $1,666.70 (16.67% of $10,000) is reached per month. Any payment requests above $1,666.70 in the month will be processed and paid to the provider as per normal.

By offsetting the advance payment recovery over six months, repayment is smoothed over a longer period.

Existing claims and remittance processes continue without change.

Yes, if you did not opt out of receiving the advance payment, it will need to be repaid (in accordance with section 182 of the NDIS Act).

Recovery of the advance payment to providers via the offset recovery method will commence on 1 October 2020.

No. The NDIA will offset 16.67 per cent of all claims made by the provider until the total advance payment has been recovered.

Yes. The total amount offset by the NDIA will be equal to the advance payment you received.

Yes. If you would like to repay the advance payment via a lump sum, please email advance.payment1@ndis.gov.au.

The maximum offset in any month will be 16.67 per cent of your total advance payment. The maximum offset per month is capped at 16.67 per cent.

Therefore, if you have a high NDIS claiming month, the NDIA will not offset more than this agreed amount.

The advance payment amount was calculated on an average of payments received over the Dec 2019 to Feb 2020 period, taking into account any seasonal impacts over the holiday period.

Providers will not be required to take any action prior to the advance payment recovery via the offset method, and claiming via the provider portal will continue without change. Offsets will commence and will be applied automatically.

Please claim your full NDIS claims. Offsets will be calculated by the NDIA. Providers will not be required to take any action prior to the advance payment recovery, and claiming via the provider portal will continue without change.

In the event that the total advance payment is unable to be offset against future claims, you will be obliged to repay the balance of any outstanding advance payment to the NDIA within 30 days of the Agency issuing a demand on you.

Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office have confirmed that the advance payment made to providers are not included in the JobKeeper turnover test for NDIS providers.

The advance payment will not be treated as input taxed loans and they should be excluded from Goods and Services Tax (GST) turnover.

The GST turnover test only includes supplies that have or are likely to be made in the test period and the advance payments are for supplies that will be made in a later period.

We encourage you to seek advice from a taxation specialist.

Pricing increase

The temporary increase in price limits was to price controlled support items only. It did not apply to quotable supports.

Support items with price limits listed under the following categories, with some exclusions, had the 10 per cent increase applied to their price limits between 25 March and 30 June 2020:

Assistance with Daily Life (but not including Supported Independent Living)
Assistance with Social and Community Participation
Improved Health and Wellbeing (but not including personal training)
Improved Daily Living Skills.

The price limit increases were applied to the relevant support line items in the NDIS Price Guide 2019-20 from 25 March and 30 April which were effective until 30 June 2020.

Providers can claim up to the price limits under the existing line item numbers, subject to the service agreement with the participant.

Service bookings created at the category level will not need immediate action, however to apply the temporary price increase, the ‘Allocated Dollar’ amount should be updated.

Service bookings created at the line item level will need to be updated.

You can find more information about updating service bookings in response to pricing changes.

Plans should have sufficient funds to cover these costs without needing a plan review.

We proactively monitor participant plans to identify the need for an early plan review.

Registered providers must not add any other charge to the cost of the supports they provide.

Where price limits apply, prices charged to participants must not exceed the price limit prescribed for that support in the NDIS Price Guide and Support Catalogue.

Participant plans will not be indexed. The NDIA automatically extends plans that are due to expire, ensuring participants have the funding they need.

Providers should review and abide by the service agreements they currently have in place with participants, and should inform the participant before implementing any price increases.

At this time, NDIS funds cannot be used to pay family members to provide supports.

This is an unprecedented situation and it is understandable that some systems and processes are delayed. We encourage Plan Mangers to liaise with providers to make suitable arrangements.

NDIS participants continue to have choice and control over how they use the funded supports in their plan.

Providers and participants need to discuss and agree on any pricing arrangements and the impact on service fees.

The 10 per cent increase to price limits was added to price limits for certain supports delivered from 25 March to 30 June 2020 as part of a financial assistance package to assist registered providers to continue to deliver supports during the initial response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Payments and billing

On this page:

Government support for business

Eligible registered providers must lodge invoices via the myplace provider portal: