PACE and the NDIS FAQs.

The NDIS says it’s making changes to improve participant experience, as well as ensure greater consistency in decisions made by staff. It’s also implementing some recent changes to the NDIS Act, the main law governing how the NDIS operates.

PACE is the name of a new business computer system for NDIA staff and partners. It will replace the current system once the rollout is complete. It’s a big change so expected to take more than a year to complete.

PACE is the platform or program that the NDIS staff will use to manage participant information, enquiries, NDIS Plans and budgets. It will also connect to a new NDIS participant portal.

PACE started rolling out across the country on 30 October 2023. Anyone who is beginning the plan reassessment process after that date is likely to be moved to PACE.

Your NDIS contact (local area coordinator/early childhood partner) or NDIA planner will contact you and explain what happens next. They’ll ask you how your plan is going, how you’ve used your funding and anything that’s changed. You will only need to attend a plan meeting if your new plan will be different to your current plan.

At your planning meeting, your NDIS contact will tell you if your plan is under the PACE system. Each time you contact the NDIS, the operator will remind you which computer system your plan is under.

Your new plan may be longer, depending on your needs. The NDIS has said that it may offer longer plans of up to three years to people with stable support needs who are unlikely to go through a big transition during that time.

Young children and teenagers moving from school to further education/work are likely to receive shorter plans. You can ask your NDIS contact for a longer plan during the renewal process.

No. For longer plans, you will get the same budget for each year. That means you get an annual amount to manage and spend on supports and services you need to pursue your goals.

You won’t be able to dip into the next year’s funds if your funding runs out so it’s important to manage your budget carefully each year. Your budgets will be indexed annually in June based on any changes in price limits (same as currently).

A plan implementation meeting is a chance to meet with your NDIS contact after you get your new plan – it’s a new thing being introduced to help people get started and make the most of their plans.

Attending a plan implementation meeting is a good idea if you:

• Are new to the NDIS
• Are getting a new NDIS Plan
• Have had changes to your current NDIS Plan
• Have asked for changes to your NDIS Plan that have not been approved.

It’s not compulsory to attend. If you feel confident managing your plan by yourself or with your support coordinator and plan manager, you don’t need to attend a plan implementation meeting.

The way people apply to access the NDIS is changing.

If you are aged 9-65 and think you meet the NDIS access requirements you can contact your local NDIS office or NDIS partner. This person can then help connect you to disability supports in your local area or support you to apply for the NDIS, if you’re eligible.

If you’re applying on behalf of a child younger than 9, check out The NDIS early childhood approach for children under 9 and contact your local early childhood partner.

If you live in a remote or very remote area, have complex support needs or are in a hospital or justice setting, contact the NDIS for assistance. They can help you apply if you’re eligible. Or you can complete the NDIS access request form.

Your NDIS Plan will show a whole dollar figure for each support type rather than as a line-by-line cost, giving you more flexibility over how you use your total budget.

For example, you will see your Core supports budget as a total figure, to use flexibly across your assistance with daily living, social, community participation and consumables supports.

Capacity Building may still include stated supports that must be spent on a specified support or service. It cannot be flexibly spent on anything else.

Some changes are being made to support types and categories. Any new NDIS Plans generated after 30 October 2023 may reflect these changes.

There will now be 4 support types instead of three:

1. Core
2. Capacity Building
3. Capital
4. Recurring (new).

There have also been 6 new support categories added:

• Home and Living (Core)
• Behaviour Support (Capacity Building)
• Assistive Technology Repairs and Rental (Capital)
• Specialist Disability Accommodation (Capital)
• Transport Recurring (Recurring)
• Young People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) (Core).

See our dedicated page on PACE support categories for details.

Recurring supports are where funds are paid directly on a regular basis into your nominated bank account. You don’t need to make a claim for these supports.

Recurring transport is a new support category for participants who receive transport funding (for people who cannot use public transport without substantial difficulty due to their disability). Funding will generally be the same amount as before, with eligible participants receiving it pro rata into their bank account on a fortnightly basis.

In most cases, Capacity Building supports have changed in name only. However, the following additions have been made:

• Support coordination now covers support coordination and psychosocial recovery coaches
• There is a new support category called Behaviour Supports.

The NDIS improvements website has loads of helpful information.

Eligibility for the NDIS is based on functional capacity, not diagnosis and this doesn’t change with the new system. However, how this information is recorded is different in the new system compared with the existing system.

The old system records all of a participant’s conditions and disabilities. However, it was limited to recording one disability as a person’s primary disability.

The new system will initially record primary disability but is designed to remove this requirement in the future once the supporting processes are complete.

You’ll find your plan management funding in the Choice and control support category under Capacity Building supports.

If you have a disability and need help to access services and support in your community, an NDIS partner can help through the community connections service. Community connections are available to people with disability aged 9 to 64, and their families. You don’t need to be on the NDIS or join the NDIS to get community connections support.

The NDIS partner (usually a local area coordinator or LAC) can talk to you about the services you access and what you need. They can then work with you to develop a personalised community connections plan to help you make the most of available services in your area.

This can include:

• Help to access information
• Support to access mainstream and community supports outside of the NDIS such as education, health services and social networks
• Helping you connect with things in the community that are important to you
• Connections with other people for peer support
• Help to apply to the NDIS.

Developing a community connections plan is usually done over one or two meetings and doesn’t cost anything. You can also talk to an NDIS partner for advice about services that may be suitable for you without getting a community connections plan.