Your budget

Every person living with a disability has different needs. Your total budget amount is there to provide you with the NDIS supports you need for your disability, in line with your NDIS plan, and to help you work towards your goals.

When your NDIS plan is developed in our new computer system, you will notice some differences in how your total budget amount is displayed.  

Many areas of your new plan will look the same, like your “about me” statement and your goals. There will be more space for you to add extra detail if you choose. You will still have stated and flexible NDIS supports, but your new plan will be built by NDIS support categories.  

Because we will list your total budget at the NDIS support category level and as a whole dollar figure rather than as a line-by-line cost, you will have more flexibility over how you use your total  budgetamount. For example, you will see your  total budget for core NDIS supports  as a total budget or, to use flexibly across your assistance with daily living, social, community participation and consumables supports.  

Your capacity building funding component may still include stated NDIS supports. Your stated NDIS support funding can only be used to purchase the individual NDIS supports approved in your plan.   

Your new plan may have 4 support types. These NDIS support types are: 

• Core
• Capacity building
• Capital
• Recurring (new).

We've added 6 new NDIS support categories to NDIS plans. These new NDIS support categories are stated supports: 

To learn more about what a NDIS support category is and what each NDIS support category is used for, you can read our fact sheets.

To learn more about what a NDIS support category is and what each NDIS support category is used for, you can read our fact sheets.

A full list of the NDIS support items and NDIS support categories in our new computer system can be found in this NDIS support catalogue:

NDIS Support items mapped to PACE support category (XLSX 86KB) - effective 11 November 2022. 

If you have Specialist Disability Accommodation and Behaviour Supports in your plan, you will need to choose your providers for these NDIS supports and tell us who they are so we can record them as my providers on your plan.

If you are eligible for transport funding, you will see this funding in your transport recurring NDIS support category. If you aren’t eligible for transport funding, there won't be any money in this category in your plan.  

The transport funding levels and rules don’t change with our new computer system. If you are eligible for transport funding, you will receive this funding pro-rata in your bank account every 2 weeks.  

For some participants, the day of the week you receive your transport funding may change. This is because your payments will start from the day of the week we approve your plan.

At your plan meeting, your planner will talk to you about the best way to manage your plan and total budget amount.  

When we decide the plan reassessment date and your plan length, we always consider: 

• How long you want your plan to go for before we change your plan. 
• Your current situation. 

For children younger than 7, we recommend a plan length of 1 year. This is due to the major changes in early childhood. Sometimes, we can do a plan for up to 3 years for young children, if it is better aligned with important transition points and milestones. Learn more about plan durations. 

If your plan is longer than a year, each year of your plan will have the same budget. We call this the funding period.  

Annual total budget amounts will be indexed, as they are now.  

You will have a total budget amount for each funding period in your plan.  

If you don’t spend all your funds in a funding period, it will rollover into your next funding period within the same plan. 

Unspent funds won’t rollover to your next plan, as this is a new plan.. 

We will schedule a check-in with you every year, to ask how you are going with your plan, check you are accessing the NDIS supports you need, how you are tracking against your goals, and whether you have had a change in situation that means your plan needs to be changed.