NDIS Supports Budgets: A Guide
NDIS support budgets are the way funding is organised inside an NDIS plan. They help participants understand what funding is available, what it can be used for, and how different supports are grouped within the plan.
Plans have four support budgets:
Core Supports
Capacity Building Supports
Capital Supports
Recurring Supports
Not every participant will have funding within all four support budgets because each plan is based on the participant’s individual disability support needs.
Understanding these budgets is one of the most practical aspects of using an NDIS plan. It helps you know what funding sits where, what can be used flexibly, what must be used for a stated support, and when it may be useful to ask for help before making a claim or approving an invoice.
NDIS Support Budgets
The four NDIS support budgets are:
Core Supports
Capacity Building Supports
Capital Supports
Recurring Supports
Together, these budgets make up the funded supports in your plan, but you will only have funding in the budgets and categories that are relevant to your individual needs.
Core Supports
Core supports generally help you with everyday activities and current disability-related needs. This can include:
Support with daily personal activities
Assistance with social and community participation
Transport-related supports (where included)
Consumable items related to disability needs
Capacity Building Supports
Capacity Building supports are intended to help you build skills, independence, and confidence over time. These supports may include:
Therapy
Support coordination
Improved daily living supports
Employment-related capacity building
Behaviour supports
Other supports that help you develop skills and work towards goals
Capital Supports
Capital supports usually relate to higher-cost supports such as assistive technology (AT), home modifications, vehicle modifications, and Specialist Disability Accommodation (where eligible). Capital supports are often more specific than Core supports and may need quotes, reports, or approval before funds are available to use.
Recurring Supports
Recurring supports are paid by the NDIA on a regular basis and aren’t included anywhere else in the budget. The NDIS explains that transport funding may appear as a recurring support where it’s included in your plan.
Support Categories
Each support budget is divided into support categories. The NDIS explains there are 21 support categories, and these include:
Assistance with Daily Life
Assistance with Social and Community Participation
Consumables
Assistive Technology Maintenance, Repairs, and Rental
Not every participant will have funding against every support category. Your plan will include funding against the support categories that are needed based on your disability support needs, goals, and what meets NDIS funding criteria.
You can read more about the NDIS funding criteria on our blog here.
Support categories can help you and providers understand the purpose of the funding. For example, a participant may have funding under Core Supports for Assistance with Daily Life if they need support workers to help with personal care, household tasks, or daily living activities.
You can read our previous blog post about support categories here.
Support Items
Support items are the specific types of NDIS supports that can be purchased under a support category. The NDIS explains that there are hundreds of support items, and each support item has a code and may even have a price limit under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.
For example, a participant may have Core supports funding in the Assistance with Daily Life support category and a support worker may use the “Assistance with Personal Domestic Activities” support item when claiming for help with tasks around the home. The exact claiming process depends on whether you are self-managed, plan-managed, or NDIA-managed.
If you are self-managed, claims can be made at the support category level and you don’t need to include the support item code. If the funding is plan-managed or NDIA-managed, providers generally use the relevant support item code when making a claim.
Flexible Supports
Flexible funding means you can choose which NDIS supports to buy, how many supports to buy, and how to use funding across different support categories within the same support budget (unless the plan says otherwise).
You can identify flexible funding because your plan will say “This is a flexible support.” Flexible funding can only be used for NDIS supports that are reasonable and necessary for you, related to your disability, and in line with your plan.
Flexible funding usually stays within the same support budget. For example, if a participant has flexible Core supports funding across two Core support categories, they may be able to use the total Core amount across those categories, but they generally can’t move that funding into a different support budget such as Capital or Recurring supports.
However, flexible funding doesn’t mean funding can be used for just anything. You still can’t buy supports that aren’t NDIS supports, aren’t related to your disability, aren’t reasonable and necessary, or aren’t in line with your plan.
Stated Supports
Stated funding means you must use the funding exactly as described in your NDIS plan. A stated support can only be used to buy the NDIS support listed in the plan and can only be spent within that specific support budget and support category.
You can identify stated funding because the plan will say, “This is a stated support.” You can usually choose the provider and decide how much of that specific support you purchase within the budget, but you can’t use that funding for a different type of support.
For example, if a participant has $5,000 in stated Capacity Building funding for speech pathology, that funding is for the speech pathology support described in the plan. It can’t be redirected to a different support just because another support may be useful.
Some stated supports may be listed as “quote required.” Where this appears, the NDIA needs to see quotes and/or specialist reports before funding can be made available to purchase the support described in the plan.
Price Limits
Each support item may have a support item code and a price limit. The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits explain how price controls work, including maximum prices for many supports delivered to plan-managed and NDIA-managed participants.
Price limits are important because they help participants, providers, and plan managers understand the maximum amount that can be claimed for many supports. Where price limits apply, providers can’t claim above the limit for plan-managed or NDIA-managed participants.
Self-managed participants generally have more flexibility when negotiating prices, but they still need to make sure the support is an NDIS support, represents value for money, relates to their disability support needs and is in line with the plan.
Asking for Help
The NDIA offers a plan implementation meeting when a plan is approved. This meeting can help you understand your plan, how to use your funding, what support budgets mean, and how to buy NDIS supports correctly.
You can always ask for a plan implementation meeting at any time, even if you’ve been an NDIS participant for a while. You can speak with your NDIS contact or call the NDIS to ask for help understanding your plan.
A support coordinator, psychosocial recovery coach, registered plan manager, or trusted support person may also help you understand how your budget works. The right person to ask may depend on the type of question, the way your plan is managed, and whether your concern is about funding use, provider claims, invoices, or support coordination.
What if a Mistake Happens?
The NDIS recognises that understanding using plan funding can take time. Participants may sometimes make a claim from the wrong support category, or a provider or plan manager may make an error in a claim.
If you think you’ve made a mistake, you can contact the NIDS and ask for help to fix it. If you think a provider or registered plan manager has made a mistake, you should contact that provider or plan manager as soon as possible (if you feel comfortable doing so).
If you don’t feel comfortable speaking with the provider or plan manager directly, you can ask someone you trust for help, such as a support coordinator or psychosocial recovery coach (where you have one). If the issue can’t be resolved with the provider or worker, concerns about provider conduct or service quality can be taken to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
You can read more about the NDIS commission in our blog post NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission.
NDIS support budgets help organise plan funding into practical sections so participants can understand what supports are available, how funding can be used, and which supports are flexible or stated. While flexible funding can give participants more choice within a support budget, every claim must still be for an NDIS support that is reasonable and necessary, related to the participant’s disability, and in line with the plan.
Understanding support budgets, support categories, and support items can make it easier to manage invoices, compare provider claims, and avoid errors. Where something is unclear, you may ask for a plan implementation meeting or speak with your my NDIS contact, registered plan manager, support coordinator, and/or recovery coach.
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For more information on your NDIS Access Request visit: ndis.gov.au
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