Price guides and pricing

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Important COVID-19 pricing update

To help providers to continue to deliver supports to participants through this time, the NDIA is introducing a number of changes, including:

Temporary increase in price limits

The NDIA will temporarily increase price limits by 10 per cent for the following critical supports, effective 25 March 2020:

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

These changes start today from 25 March and will be in place for six months. The NDIA will review this change in three months to assess if the changes continue to be appropriate.

Providers should continue to claim under the current line item. The Agency has automatically updated the line items to include the 10 per cent increase.

The support catalogue available below identifies the line items that are subject to the 10 per cent increase.

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.

Service bookings created at the line item level will need to be updated. Service bookings created at the category level will not need to be updated. 

Participant plans are being automatically extended to ensure they continue to have access to funding. See the Coronavirus (COVID-19) page for updates.

Supported Independent Living is excluded from the temporary increase in price limits as it is a quotable support. Prices paid for SIL can only be changed as part of a plan review. 

Three support coordination items have been duplicated in the support catalogue under Core Supports, Assistance with Daily Life, effective 25 March 2020. (Refer further below). The 10 per cent increase in price limits is not applicable to support coordination items.  

Cancellations

The definition of short notice cancellation is changed. From 25 March 2020, participants will be required to give 10 business days’ notice (up from two days) for a cancellation if they want to avoid paying the full fee for a cancelled service. Refer to the NDIS Price Guide below for more information. 

This change in the definition of short notice cancellations is for a six-month period (25 March 2020 to 25 September 2020), with an initial review at three months to determine if it continues to be appropriate. When reviewing, the NDIA will consider a range of factors, including the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From 30 March, providers will also be able to claim 100 per cent of the agreed support price when a participant cancels a service at short notice (up from 90 per cent). 

While there is no limit on the number of cancellations that can be claimed, the NDIA encourages providers to work with participants on minimising cancellations including through delivering services in innovative ways that meet the essential needs of the participant.

In addition, providers have a duty of care to their participants. If a participant has an unusual number of cancellations, then the provider should seek to understand why they are occurring. 

The NDIA will monitor claims for cancellations and may contact providers who have a participant with an unusual number of cancellations.

Providers can only claim for a cancellation if they have not found alternative billable work for the relevant worker and are required to pay the worker for the time that would have been spent providing the support.

The proposed changes to the cancellation rules will assist providers maintain their staff now and into the future.

New line items for Support Coordination

Three new support coordination items have been introduced to the support catalogue under Core Supports, Assistance with Daily Life, effective 25 March 2020: 

  • 01_790_0106_8_3 - Level 1: Support Connection
  • 01_791_0106_8_3 - Level 2: Coordination Of Supports
  • 01_794_0132_8_3 - Level 3: Specialist Support Coordination

The new line items duplicate items already claimable under Capacity Building Supports.

The new item numbers allow participants to use their funds more flexibly to access these supports from either their Core or Capacity Building budgets.

NDIS Price Guide 2019-20 - effective 25 March 2020

    Price guides and related resources 2019-20 - effective 25 March 2020

    Support catalogue - effective 25 March 2020

    How pricing works

    The NDIA sets price limits for some supports to ensure they provide value for money for participants.

    Changes to prices are updated to respond to market trends and changes in costs and are generally identified through an Annual Price Review. The Annual Price Review is undertaken by the NDIA in the lead up to a new financial year, with any new prices outlined in an updated price guide, effective 1 July each year. 

    The Pricing Reference Group helps guide NDIS price regulation activities and decisions.

    Refer to the Annual price review page for the latest updates. 

    Providers can also read the NDIA's Market position statements and recently released quarterly data on the performance of the NDIS.

    Understanding the Price Guide - for participants

    Understanding the Price Guide explains the key changes in the 2019-20 Price Guide and Support Catalogue and how they might affect participants, their families and carers.

    It’s important for participants to understand all of the prices they might be charged, so they can be confident of receiving value for money from their plan budget.

    Other information

    Please direct queries to your local NDIA Provider Engagement team or email the NDIA.

    This page current as of
    30 March 2020