The NDIS has introduced new lists of supports that clarify what you can and cannot spend your NDIS funding on. While most items on the lists are not new, the publication of these lists resolves several grey areas that previously caused confusion.
Most people won’t be impacted by the release of these lists, as the majority of supports currently purchased with NDIS Plan funds are included.
These new guidelines, effective from 3 October 2024, aim to provide clear guidance on the types of supports the NDIS will cover.
The new NDIS supports lists.
The new list of supports outlines:
- What you can spend your NDIS funding on (what IS an NDIS support)
- What you are not allowed to spend your NDIS funds on (what is NOT an NDIS support).
For more information, check out our NDIS supports page.
NDIS support funding criteria.
Generally, the NDIS will only fund supports directly related to the impairments that led to a person’s acceptance into the NDIS scheme.
In addition, to pay for a support with your NDIS funding, the following criteria must be met:
- Helps with your individual goals and aspirations
- Helps your social and/or economic participation
- Is value for money, which means that:
- The cost of the support is similar to or cheaper than alternative options that can provide you with the same outcome and/or
- Purchasing the support is likely to reduce the costs of funding for other supports in the long term
- Is effective and beneficial for you
- It helps to maintain your informal supports
- It is the responsibility of the NDIS to fund.
With these criteria in mind, let’s look at the types of supports included in the new lists.
What is an NDIS support.
Some of the supports that the NDIS may fund include:
- Daily personal activities: Assistance with everyday tasks to promote independent living at home and in the community.
- Development of daily care and life skills: Supports that provide training and development activities for participants or carers to increase ability to live as independently as possible (including as part of psychosocial recovery supports).
- Household tasks: Supports that provide assistance with essential household tasks you are not able to do yourself because of disability.
- Supports to help you participate in work and the community: The NDIS may help you to get out and about in the community, learn new skills, get a job or help you at work. Some of these supports are funded by Core – Assistance with social and community participation, while others are funded by Capacity Building supports.
- Therapeutic and allied health supports: These supports can help you learn new skills, improve or maintain functional capacity in areas such as language and communication, personal care and mobility, become more independent or improve interpersonal interactions and community living. Therapies and allied health supports are funded from your Capacity Building budget.
- Assistive Technology (AT): Assistive technology covers devices or equipment that help you do everyday activities you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, like eat, drink and move safely. It also covers more complex customised technology. Low cost AT under $1,500 can be flexibly purchased from your Core – Consumables budget. Complex and more expensive AT is funded by your Capital supports budget.
- Early intervention supports for early childhood: Evidence-based early childhood intervention supports for children 0-9 years (including children aged 0-6 with developmental delay) and their families to achieve better long-term outcomes for the child.
- Personal mobility equipment: The provision of personal mobility equipment that supports or replaces a person’s capacity to move indoors and outdoors and to transfer from one place to another.
- Home and vehicle modifications: Obtaining funding for home and vehicle modifications can be complicated. An assessment by a qualified professional is usually required. Home or vehicle modifications require a quote and must be stated in your NDIS Plan in order for you to use your NDIS funding to purchase them.
What is not an NDIS support.
There are some items and services that the NDIS will not cover under the new lists, including:
- Rent, mortgage payments or standard household appliances
- Health insurance, life insurance or travel insurance costs
- Internet devices and plans, mobile phones or accessories like SIM cards
- Costs related to travel, such as holiday accommodation or airfares
- Animals (other than NDIS funded assistance animals) includes pets and companion animals
- Medicines, vitamins and products like sunscreen or weight loss products
- Smoking-related items such as cigarettes or vaping devices
- Support services related to mental health care that are clinical in nature.
For more details on what NDIS will and won’t fund, visit our NDIS supports page.
What if you buy a non-NDIS support?
As a part of these changes, a one-year transition period has been provided to help participants adjust and avoid penalties for honest mistakes.
During this transition period, the NDIS won’t ask you to repay debts if you make a mistake and purchase non-NDIS supports under the following circumstances:
- For the first or second mistakes
- If this support is worth less than $1500.
After the one-year transition period, the NDIS will be able to ask you and providers to repay funding used to purchase non-NDIS supports.
Previously approved supports.
The Australian Government has advised that you can continue to access stated supports in your current plan, as well as supports found to be reasonable and necessary by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), even if these are now on the excluded list.
This means that if a support was previously approved in your plan, you can still access it despite it being on the excluded list under the new guidelines.
Replacement supports.
In specific circumstances, participants can request a replacement support for items that are generally considered not NDIS supports. There are two types of supports where this applies.
- Standard commercially available household items. There must be clear evidence that the need for the item relates specifically to the impairment that meets the disability or early intervention requirements. This item must increase whole task independence and reduce or eliminate the need for a support worker or disability specific assistive technology.
- Smart watches, tablets, smartphones or an app used for accessibility or communication purposes. This covers participants who require the use of a smart watch, tablet or smartphone required to meet communication and accessibility needs. For example, a person with complex communication needs who uses a tablet as an alternative communication device, which is their only way to communicate and so cannot be shared, where this is the most appropriate solution for their needs.
For more information on requesting replacement supports, visit the NDIS Replacement supports page. You can also access an application form to request a substitution or replacement support from the NDIS.
Want to find out more about the recent NDIS changes?
The Australian Government is rolling out the biggest changes since the NDIS began. The changes cover many aspects of the NDIS including eligibility, supports that can be funded, how budgets are allocated and how plans are managed.
Visit our dedicated NDIS Changes section, for all the latest information.