NDIS plans have 4 support budgets
Every NDIS plan has 4 support budgets. They are:
Not every participant will have funding against all 4 support budgets in their plan. This is because your plan is based on your individual needs.
Your plan will have funding against the support budgets you need.
Each support budget has support categories
There are 21 support categories. Support categories are things like:
- assistance with daily life
- assistance with social and community participation
- consumables
- assistive technology maintenance, repairs and rental.
There are many more support categories. Not every participant will have funding against every support category. You'll have funding against the support categories you need.
Each support category has support items
There are hundreds of support items. Support items are the kinds of NDIS supports you can use your funding to buy. Each support item has a code and a price limit.
For example you might have funding in your core supports (support budget) for assistance with daily living (support category), if one of your goals is to build your independence and daily living skills. You can choose which NDIS supports (support items) you want to buy because this funding is flexible.
You might ask your support worker to help you with tasks around your home.
Your support worker will use the assistance with personal domestic activities (support item) code to make a claim for delivering this NDIS support if your funding is plan or NDIA-managed.
You can claim at the support category level and you don’t need to include the code, if your funding is self-managed.
Support categories have flexible and stated supports
Flexible: You choose how to spend your funding
Flexible funding means you can choose:
- which NDIS supports to buy
- how many NDIS supports you buy
- to use your overall support budget funding across your different support categories.
You'll know which support categories are flexible because your plan will say:
'This is a flexible support'.
You can use your NDIS funding flexibly across support categories within the same support budget unless stated. You can’t use it for other support budgets. You can’t spend more than your total funding amount.
Even when you use your funding flexibly, you can still only buy the NDIS supports our rules say the NDIS can fund that are reasonable and necessary for you.
Tip: An example of flexible funding within support categories.
Lucy’s NDIS plan has funding in her core supports budget in 2 different support categories:
- $25,000 in the assistance with daily life budget support category
- $10,000 in the assistance with social and economic participation support category.
Lucy can use the total value of the support type, up to $35,000, to buy NDIS supports that are reasonable and necessary for her across these 2 support categories.
Tip: An example of separate support types.
Lucy’s NDIS plan has funding in her recurring supports budget:
- $2,500 for transport
Lucy can use the total value of her transport funding in the way that suits her best because this funding is flexible. She can’t, however, use funding from her other support budgets to buy transport services.
Stated: You must spend your funding as described in your plan
Stated funding means you can only use this funding to:
- buy the NDIS support described in your plan
- spend the total amount within that support budget and support category.
You can choose:
- the provider to deliver this specific NDIS support
- how many of that specific NDIS support you buy, within your budget.
You'll know which support categories are stated because your plan will say:
'This is a stated support'.
Tip: An example of stated supports.
Lucy’s plan has funding for capacity building:
- $5,000 for speech pathology
This funding is for Lucy to build her communication skills. Lucy can only use this funding for the NDIS support described because this support category is stated. She can’t use it to buy a different NDIS support.
Tip: Sometimes we need quotes for stated supports.
Where a stated support is listed as ‘quote required’ we need to see quotes and/or specialist reports before we can make the funding available in your plan to purchase the NDIS support described.
What to do if you need help
If you have questions
We’ll offer you a plan implementation meeting when we approve your plan. This can be useful to get to know your plan and explore the best way to use it to buy NDIS supports.
You can ask us for a plan implementation meeting at any time even if you’ve been an NDIS participant for a while. Speak to your my NDIS contact or call us on 1800 800 110.
If you make a mistake
We know understanding and using the funding in your NDIS plan can take time to get used to. It can sometimes mean people make a claim from the wrong support category. It’s okay if that happens. We understand even when trying to do the right thing, people sometimes make mistakes.
You can call us on 1800 800 110 if you think you’ve made a mistake and we’ll help you to fix it.
Contact your registered plan manager or provider as soon as you think they’ve made a mistake with a claim.
You might not feel okay talking to your registered plan manager or provider. You can instead talk to someone you trust like your support coordinator or recovery coach if you have one. They can help you to resolve your concern with your plan manager or provider.
You can contact the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission if you can’t resolve the issue with your plan manager or provider.
Easy Read
Download the support categories Easy Read:
- Support categories (PDF 2.8 MB)