You have a choice about what supports you buy to achieve your goals.
Once you understand your NDIS plan and support budget, you can choose the supports you will buy.
Your support budget is broken up into three separate budgets with multiple support categories.
The Core Budget
is flexible-
The core budget includes direct practical help with activities and items purchased related to a participant's disability.
Consumables
funding from core can cover items under $1500 that are safe, off the shelf and directly relate to your disability. Useful everyday items that everyone uses may be purchased, though you will likely require proof that you need it directly due to your disability).
Core supports could include funding for
Daily Activities helping with shopping, bathing, cleaning or cooking. This could also include Supported Independent Living funding (SIL) or Independent Living Options (ILO), where participants are provided with high levels of care in their home or a shared living environment.
Social Community Participation
includes funding for outings and group activities.
The NDIS can fund help with
Employment Related Supports while a person is at work with non-performance based tasks that assist participants in continuing working. An example could be a support worker helping with organising, planning, prompting or assisting with physical based tasks depending on the impairment caused by the participant's disability.
Participants can receive a
Transport Allowance if they are unable to use public transport because of their disability. Payments can either be paid periodically into your bank account or be plan or agency managed. Choosing the latter two options allows you to use your whole core budget flexibly, enabling you to choose to use Taxis or transport providers with less restriction.
The good news is you can generally use Core budget funds allocated against one support category to purchase supports under another support category
unless funds have been set aside for a specific purpose; such as periodic payments for transport or any Core budget line item type that is:
Affected by a compensation claim
Specialised Disability Accommodation, i.e. accommodation for participants who require specialist housing solutions due to significant functional impairment and/or very high support needs
In-kind, e.g. Government pre-paid supports such as school transport or some therapy supports.
A "Stated item" (including Quotes for certain items allocated to a specific purpose), e.g. assistance in a shared living arrangement, meal preparation and delivery, live-in carers or linen services. A "Stated Support" will usually be written with an asterisk * next to it in your NDIS plan.
In these cases, the funds within a category must only be used for that specific purpose. For details about your Core supports, please refer to your NDIS plan.
The NDIS generally does not fund "everyday expenses" that everyone incurs, only costs directly related to a person's disability.
Capital items
include Home Modifications, Vehicle Modifications and more complex or expensive assistive technology and repairs. These supports generally require a report requesting them from the NDIS.
Assistive Technology can be requested at any time via emailing the request form and the supporting evidence to
enquiries@ndis.gov.au. Generally, more expensive items need to be trialled first before the NDIS will fund them.
You do not have to wait for a plan review. These items are requested via the
Assistive Technology Assessment and report process.
Once approved, the funds for items over $1500, those that require customisation, repairs or carry a risk, are added to this category.
To request Home Modifications or Specialised Disability Accommodation, it is best to contact an experienced Occupational Therapist and a Support Coordinator to help you.
Home modifications relate to changes required to your home that directly relate to your disability. This excludes structural repairs that relate to the deterioration of the building and generally changes that would alter the size or footprint of the building.
The Home and Living Supports Request Form
is a great way to explain your need and be crucial evidence.
Capacity Building Supports
help build your independence and skills to help you pursue your goals. Unlike your Core Supports budget, your Capacity Building Supports budget cannot be moved from one support category to another. Funding can only be used to purchase approved individual supports that fall within that Capacity Building category.
Capacity Building supports are not treatments or interventions aimed at improving a condition; they teach skills and strategies and help prevent a participant's condition from deteriorating. Intensive capacity building supports not included in a clearly outlined and targeted program are often seen as a treatment. This is usually most appropriately the responsibility of the health system to support and wouldn't be funded by the NDIS.
Example:
Psychology- The NDIS will only fund non-clinical supports that are not aimed at treating a condition but are aimed at building skills and strategies to help manage the effects of a disability.
The Ndis
do fund Psychology to discuss the impacts of a disability on a participant's life and develop coping strategies, to build social skills or help build and maintain relationships.
The NDIS
does not fund ongoing counselling, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, inpatient treatment, or supports relating to a co-morbidity with a psychiatric condition where the co-morbidity is the responsibility of another service system (for example, treatment for a drug or drug or alcohol issue).
*The NDIS does not cover medicare gap fees, medication costs or clinical services such as Psychiatry.
The Capacity Building categories are:
Some kinds of supports will not be funded or provided by the NDIS.
The NDIS Act and the Rules made under the NDIS Act also tell us which supports will not be funded by the NDIS.
The NDIS cannot fund support that is:
Some expenses are the responsibility of other Government departments
. An example would be a Student Learning Support Officer (SLSO), as it is the responsibility of the Department of Education to ensure reasonable adjustments are made at schools and universities. The NDIS will not fund assistance with education. Though the NDIS will fund support for personal care relating to essential activities of daily living whilst a participant is attending education or work. The NDIS can fund assistance with life skill development and skills training, advice, assistance with arrangements and orientation to assist a person with a disability moving from school to further education.
You can find more about what other government services are responsible for funding here.
More information on Support Costs and options can be found in the
NDIS Pricing Limits and Funding Arrangements document.
Learn more about plan budgets and categories here
.