In the 2026-27 Budget, the Australian Government announced it would reset funding for some NDIS supports from 1 October 2026. This will impact budget allocations in participant plans for:
- social, economic and community participation supports, and
- improved daily living skills supports.
These changes will be introduced gradually over 12 months from 1 October 2026 when a participant’s plan is created, reassessed or renewed. Participants will be notified ahead of their plan reassessment or renewal. Participants can continue using their current plan and supports until their plan is reassessed or renewed.
Safeguards are in place to ensure participant safety and wellbeing. For example:
- Only social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will be impacted. Other parts of participants’ plans will not be impacted.
- Some supports within the relevant categories will not be impacted.
- Eligible high support needs participants will be able to request a plan variation if a funding reduction would impact their 24-hour disability supports.
- All participants can continue to request a variation or unscheduled plan reassessment where there have been significant and ongoing changes in their functional capacity, support needs or circumstances.
This page explains what is changing about funding for these supports and what participants need to know.
Why the government is making this change
The NDIS was built on the promise of inclusion and to give people with disability real opportunities for connection and to develop their capacity.
Over time, funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports has grown significantly. These supports also continue to be funded at a far higher level than any other comparable support program.
This will make the NDIS more consistent with other support programs and help ensure the NDIS can continue to support people with disability for generations to come.
Understanding the legislative framework for this change
Changes to funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports are being made through a ‘support determination’.
A support determination is a legal instrument that allows the Minister to reset funding for certain types of supports in current NDIS plans.
On 1 October 2026, the Minister will make 2 instruments to:
- Set out the funding changes that apply to social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports and identify supports that will not be impacted.
- Make a new plan variation pathway for high support needs participants with 24-hour disability support needs.
The instruments will commence on 1 October 2026.
The instruments are ‘disallowable’. This means Parliament can scrutinise the instruments and seek to reject (or disallow) them within a set period.
How this change may affect your budget
Changes to funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will be applied to participants’ plans after they are created, reassessed or renewed.
This will reduce the amount available in participants’ plans by:
- 50% for social, economic and community participation supports
- 10% for improved daily living skills supports.
The changes to social, economic and community participation supports funding will take average spending levels back to where they were in 2023.
The impact of this change will be different for every participant because every NDIS plan is based on individual goals, circumstances and support needs, and many people do not spend their entire plan.
For example, a participant may have an NDIS plan with $50,000 per year for social, economic and community participation supports, but has only been using $30,000 per year on these supports. When the funding change is applied, they will have $25,000 per year available to spend on social, economic and community participation supports. This means their actual spending on these supports is only reduced by $5,000 per year.
When participants receive a new plan, it will show their total plan funding and the funding available after the change.
Participants can continue to work with their providers on how to use their budget and get the most out of their supports within the limits of the NDIS Pricing Arrangements.
How this change will be implemented
Changes to funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will be made for all participants’ plans when they are created, reassessed or renewed between 1 October 2026 and 30 September 2027.
From 1 October 2026
New participant plans
- New participants will follow the usual planning process to create their first plan. More information on the process is available here.
- When a participant receives their new plan, they will be notified how much their funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports is reduced by.
- The funding change applies as soon as the new plan commences.
Plan reassessments
- Unscheduled reassessments
- Participants may request an unscheduled reassessment if they experience a significant and ongoing change to their support needs.
- The NDIA will have 90 days to decide whether a participant is eligible for a reassessment.
- The reassessment will occur following the usual process. Participants can choose if their reassessment is done by phone, video call, or face-to-face. The reassessment will consider if a participant’s support needs have changed and if changes are needed to make sure the plan meets their needs. More information on the reassessment process is available here.
- When a participant is notified of the outcome of the reassessment and provided with their reassessed plan, they will be notified how much their funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports is reduced by.
- The funding change applies as soon as the reassessed plan commences.
- NDIA CEO initiated or scheduled reassessments
- The NDIA will contact participants 2-3 months ahead of their reassessment date.
- The reassessment will occur following the usual process. Participants can choose if their reassessment is done by phone, video call, or face-to-face. The reassessment will consider if a participant’s support needs have changed and if changes are needed to make sure the plan meets their needs. More information on the reassessment process is available here.
- When a participant is notified of the outcome of the reassessment and provided with their reassessed plan, they will be notified how much their funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports is reduced by.
- The funding change applies as soon as the reassessed plan commences.
From 1 February 2027
Changes to funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will continue to apply when participant plans are created or reassessed, as outlined above.
Funding changes will also begin to be applied to plan renewals.
Plan renewals
- All participants who receive funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports and have not had a plan created or reassessed since 1 October 2026 will have their plan renewed by 30 September 2027.
- The NDIA will contact participants 60 days before their plan renewal.
- If a participant’s scheduled reassessment date is before 1 October 2027, this will be the renewal date.
- If a participant’s scheduled reassessment date is on or after 1 October 2027, this will be brought forward to occur on or before 30 September 2027.
- Participants don’t need to give the NDIA any extra information.
- When a participant receives their new plan, they will be notified how much their funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports is reduced by.
- The funding change applies as soon as the new plan commences.
What safeguards there are for participants
Only social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will be impacted
Funding changes will not impact any other parts of participants’ plans. For example, critical supports will not be impacted, including:
- Supports in home (e.g. to help with eating, drinking, dressing, toileting, laundry, cleaning, community nursing care, help with medication, etc.)
- Home and vehicle modifications
- Personal mobility equipment and transport
- Consumable products to help with incontinence and menstruation
- Specialist Disability Accommodation.
Some subgroups of supports will not be impacted
Social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports categories include a range of different support types funded through the NDIS.
Some subgroups of supports within these categories will not be impacted. These supports are essential to the health, safety and wellbeing of participants.
The subgroups of supports that will not be impacted are:
- Supports in employment
- Disability-related health supports
- High intensity supports
- Intensive and complex behaviour supports
- Customised and wearable technology
- Hearing services.
When applying the funding changes, the NDIA will check if a participant’s plan has supports from the list above. If a participant’s plan has these supports and a payment has been made for them, the reduction will not apply to those supports. Participants don’t need to give the NDIA any extra information.
From 1 October 2026, as participant plans are renewed or reassessed, they will clearly identify the funding that is not affected by these changes.
Participants can still request a reassessment or plan variation
You cannot request a review of this change.
However, participants can request changes to their plan at any time if they experience a significant and ongoing change to their support needs as a result of a change in their circumstances or functional capacity.
This may include changes to their disability-related support needs due to changes to living arrangements, education or employment circumstances, or the informal supports they receive from family, carers or others.
A reduction in funding resulting from this change on its own is not considered a significant and ongoing change in circumstances for the purposes of requesting a plan reassessment or variation.
If a participant experiences fraud or is affected by a crisis or emergency situation, they can also contact the NDIA to discuss whether a variation to their plan is needed.
Eligible high support needs participants can request a plan variation to maintain their 24-hour disability supports
A new plan variation pathway has been created for high support needs participants who require 24-hour disability support.
This variation pathway makes sure participants continue to have sufficient funding to safely meet these needs, recognising that the level and nature of support required may vary across different environments and circumstances.
More information on this pathway is available below.
What happens when you transition to the new way of planning
NDIS participants will gradually transition to the new way of planning (called ‘new framework planning’) from 1 April 2027.
Before then, plan reassessments will continue under the current planning arrangements. Any changes to funding for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will only apply to plans created, reassessed or renewed under current arrangements.
The funding reset for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will not apply to new framework plans. This means once a participant transitions to a new framework plan, the funding reset will no longer apply.
New framework plans will be developed using the new planning approach. This will make plans fairer and more consistent and give participants greater clarity about their supports and funding.
More information about new framework plans and how participants will transition to them will be made available before implementation.
Participant examples
Example 1: Connor
Connor has an NDIS plan with $73,000 per year for social, economic and community participation supports. This funding includes support to take part in social and community activities like participating in sporting groups and attending community events, as well as supports that help Connor engage in employment.
After the funding changes commence, the NDIA notifies Connor that his plan is being reassessed.
When Connor's plan is reassessed, the delegate finds that $73,000 remains reasonable and necessary for his social, economic and community participation supports.
- $46,000 is for employment supports and is not affected by the reduction.
- The remaining $27,000 in his social, economic and community participation supports budget is subject to the funding change. This means his social, economic and community participation supports budget becomes $13,500.
When Connor receives his reassessed plan, he is informed of the funding available in his plan. Connor has $59,500 available in total for social, economic and community participation supports. This includes his reset social, economic and community participation supports funding and unaffected employment supports funding.
Connor can continue to choose how to use his available budget flexibly and work with his providers to get the most out of his supports.
Example 2: Omar
Omar has an NDIS plan with $40,000 for social, economic and community participation supports. He uses these supports to participate in community activities, build social connections and develop life skills.
After the funding changes commence, the NDIA notifies Omar that his plan is being renewed.
When Omar's plan is renewed, the funding change is applied to the funding in his new plan and the NDIA informs him of the funding available in his plan after the reduction.
This means the amount available for Omar to spend on community participation supports becomes $20,000.
Later, Omar's plan is reassessed. As part of the reassessment, the NDIA considers Omar's support needs and determines that $35,000 is a reasonable and necessary amount for community participation supports.
The funding change is then applied to that amount. As a result, $17,500 is now available in Omar's plan for community participation supports. This is the amount Omar can spend on those supports under his plan.
Omar can continue to choose how to use his available budget flexibly and work with his providers to get the most out of his supports.
Funding changes for NDIS supports
Safeguards for high support needs participants
A new plan variation pathway has been created for high support needs participants with 24-hour disability support needs.
This variation pathway makes sure participants continue to have sufficient funding to safely meet these needs, recognising that the level and nature of support required may vary across different environments and circumstances.
This section explains how the new pathway for high support needs participants will work.
Who is eligible to apply for a plan variation
The new plan variation pathway will be open to high support needs participants who receive 24-hour funded NDIS supports.
A participant has high support needs if they:
- Have total budget in their plan for Assistance with Daily Life, Home and Living, and Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation of $215,030 or more before the funding reset, and
- Receive 24-hour funded NDIS supports for support needs arising directly from the impairments they access the NDIS for, and
- Receive 24-hour funded NDIS supports at a shared support ratio of at least 1:3.
What 24-hour disability support means
24-hour disability support means NDIS funded disability supports that are available throughout the day and night to meet a participant’s ongoing support needs related to their disability. This can include a combination of shared supports, individual supports and overnight assistance.
How the total funding amount is calculated
The benchmark amount of $215,030 combines funding across Assistance with Daily Life, Home and Living, and Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation supports. It is used as a measure of a participant's ongoing support needs and is equivalent to 24-hour support provided at a shared ratio of 1 support worker to 3 participants.
What a shared support ratio of at least 1:3 means
A support ratio describes how many participants are supported by each support worker at one time. The NDIA uses a support ratio to help determine the level of support a participant needs. This includes considering the intensity, frequency, and level of support a participant needs because of their disability.
For example, a 1:3 support ratio means one support worker supports three participants, while a 1:1 support ratio means one support worker is dedicated to a single participant.
Participants who are not eligible to apply for a plan variation
There are a range of safeguards for participants who are not eligible to apply for a plan variation.
- Only social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports will be impacted. Other parts of participants’ plans will not be impacted.
- Some supports within the relevant categories will not be impacted.
- All participants can continue to request a variation or unscheduled plan reassessment where there have been significant and ongoing changes in their functional capacity, support needs or circumstances.
- Participants living in residential aged care facilities are unlikely to be eligible for a plan variation. These participants would continue to have access to 24-hour disability supports through their respective residential aged care facility.
How plan variations will be implemented
High support needs participants will be able to apply for a plan variation within 90 days of the funding reset being applied to their plan (after their plan is created, reassessed or renewed). The NDIA may extend this period by written notice in exceptional circumstances.
A plan variation can only be requested by the participant or their nominee. If a participant does not have a nominee, they can be assisted by another person, such as a support worker or advocate. The NDIA cannot initiate a plan variation.
A participant may only receive a plan variation if:
- the funding available in their plan after the funding reduction has been applied is not enough to maintain safe 24-hour disability supports; and
- the funding available in the participant's plan is not enough to maintain the support ratio required to meet the participant’s disability support needs across their relevant support setting.
This will ensure consistent, objective decision making when determining whether a high support needs participant is eligible for a plan variation.
Where a participant requests a variation, the NDIA must decide whether they meet the definition of a high support needs participant within 21 days. The NDIA can notify the participant if additional time is required to make a decision.
If the NDIA determines that the participant is a high support needs participant, they have a further 21 days to:
- decide to vary the plan;
- decide not to vary the plan; or
- notify the participant that additional time is required to make a decision about the variation.
How a plan variation will be applied
If a participant meets the criteria above, the NDIA may increase funding for specific supports to ensure their 24-hour disability supports are safely maintained at the support ratio necessary for their disability support needs.
The increase will be the amount of funding required to maintain 24-hour disability supports. The increase will not be more than the amount reduced by the funding changes.
The NDIA will calculate the amount of funding that may be needed to cover any gap.
- Funding can be increased for assistance with daily living and home and living supports.
- Funding cannot be increased for social, economic and community participation, and improved daily living skills support groups.
What review rights participants have
Participants can request a review of decisions made under the high support needs plan variation pathway. This includes decisions about:
- whether a participant meets the definition of a high support needs participant for the purposes of the pathway
- whether a plan variation under the pathway is approved.
Participant examples
Example 1: Daniel
Daniel is a participant who lives in Supported Independent Living (SIL). He has an NDIS plan totalling $600,000 per year. His plan provides $360,000 to ensure he has 24-hour disability supports. This includes:
- $210,000 for home and living and assistance with daily living supports
- $150,000 for social, economic and community participation supports.
Daniel’s home and living and daily living support budget cover his support needs for the time he spends at home. For example, this includes help from a support worker for personal care, meal preparation and taking medication at home. Daniel’s funding for home and living and daily living supports typically covers 20 hours of his 24-hour care:
- 10 hours per day at a support ratio of 1:2
- 2 hours per day at a support ratio of 1:3
- 8 hours per night at a support ratio of 1:3.
His social, economic and community participation support budget helps Daniel to participate in the community. This includes help from supports workers to assist Daniel participate in the community for an average of 4 hours per day across 7 days per week at a support ratio of 1:1.
Before the funding changes commenced, Daniel was notified that his plan would be reassessed. The reassessment takes place after the changes commence on 1 October 2026.
As part of the reassessment, the NDIA determines that Daniel's support needs have not changed and that his existing supports remain reasonable and necessary. The funding change is applied to his social, economic and community participation supports budget, which changes from $150,000 to $75,000.
This changes Daniel's plan budget for assistance with daily living supports, home and living supports and social, economic, and community participation supports from $360,000 to $285,000.
While the reset was only applied to his social, economic and community participation supports, Daniel relied on the total funding in his plan to maintain his 24-hour disability supports.
The remaining $285,000 is not enough to maintain those arrangements at the support ratios that were previously considered reasonable and necessary. Daniel has a gap of 2 hours a day because the remaining $285,000 covers 20 hours of home and living supports and an average of 2 hours per day of social, economic, and community participation supports.
Because the change creates a gap in Daniel’s 24-hour disability supports, his plan nominee applies for a plan variation on his behalf within 90 days of the change to his plan.
The NDIA considers the application and is satisfied that the funding change has created a gap in supports that affects Daniel's ability to maintain his 24-hour disability supports at the support ratios that were considered reasonable and necessary when his plan was approved.
In considering the application, the NDIA determines that an additional $25,000 in home and living and assistance with daily living supports is reasonable and necessary to address this support gap. This amount is calculated by how much more time Daniel would spend at home rather than in the community, and the level of support he would need at home.
To determine the level of support Daniel needs at home, the NDIA considers the support ratio funded the most throughout the day. Daniel’s current home and living, and daily living support budget provides 10 hours of support at a support ratio of 1:2, and 2 hours at a ratio of 1:3 in the daytime. The NDIA determines that Daniel would need support at a support ratio 1:2 for 2 hours a day to address the support gap. The NDIA therefore approves the plan variation and increases Daniel's plan funding by $25,000, increasing his total plan budget from $285,000 to $310,000.
The funding increase is limited to the amount necessary to address the support gap and cannot exceed the reduction resulting from the funding changes. As a result, Daniel's funding for home and living and assistance with daily living supports cannot be increased above the $360,000 budget he received before the reduction was applied.
Example 2: Amina
Amina is a participant with complex support needs who has 24-hour disability support needs. Her plan includes a combination of in-home supports, overnight supports, and high intensity supports in the community. These are delivered at different ratios throughout the day and night to meet her disability support needs. Together, these provide 24-hour support.
Amina's total plan budget is $380,000 per year. Amina's plan includes:
- Funding not for high intensity supports, including home and living and assistance with daily living supports ($240,000 per year) used for support for Amina at home for:
- 10 hours per day at a support ratio of 1:3
- 2 hours per day at a support ratio of 1:1
- 8 hours per night at a support ratio of 1:3
- Funding for high intensity social, economic and community participation supports ($110,000 per year). This is used for high intensity supports when Amina is participating in the community for an average of 4 hours per day at a 1:1 support ratio.
- Improved daily living skills supports ($30,000 per year). Disability-related health supports make up $10,000 per year, and other daily living skills supports make up $20,000 per year.
The NDIA notifies Amina that her plan is due for renewal and commences the plan renewal process.
As Amina's social, economic and community participation funding is used for high intensity supports, these supports are not impacted by the funding changes.
Following the renewal of her plan, funding for other improved daily living skills supports changes from $20,000 to $18,000. Disability-related health supports are not impacted by the change.
Amina's total plan budget is changed from $380,000 to $378,000. When Amina receives her renewed plan, the NDIA informs her of the funding available in her plan after the funding change has been applied.
Amina's plan nominee applies for a plan variation on her behalf. The NDIA considers the application against the criteria for a plan variation.
The NDIA first determines that Amina meets the definition of a high support needs participant for the purposes of the pathway.
The NDIA then assesses whether Amina continues to have sufficient funding to maintain her 24-hour disability support needs at the support ratios that were considered reasonable and necessary when her plan was approved.
The NDIA is satisfied Amina has sufficient funding for this because the funding change applies only to improved daily living skills supports and does not affect the supports required to maintain Amina's 24-hour disability supports.
As the change has not created a support gap that affects Amina's ability to maintain her 24-hour disability supports, Amina has not met the criteria for a plan variation. The NDIA does not approve the plan variation.
Funding changes for NDIS supports – Safeguards for high support needs participants
Related links
NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026