The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is Australia’s first national scheme to support people living with a significant or permanent disability. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) implements the NDIS and makes decisions about whether someone is eligible to become an NDIS participant and, if so, how much funding they will receive.

If you have a disability that usually requires support from another person or special equipment, you may be eligible for NDIS funding. NDIS funding is available to participants aged between 7 and 65, living in Australia as an Australian citizen or have a Permanent or Special category visa. To check whether you’re eligible, visit the NDIS Website: https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/am-i-eligible

Once you have determined that you’re eligible to access funding, you can contact the NDIA on 1800 800 110 to make an Access Request over the phone or by completing an access request form. https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/how-apply

If you need help with filling in the form or making the call, you can contact your Local Area Coordinator or your local NDIA office: https://www.ndis.gov.au/contact

As part of the Access Request process, you will be asked a series of questions regarding yourself and your disability. Your doctor and/or other health professionals may need to submit supporting documentation as proof of your disability and its impact on your life. You can provide existing information such as letters or reports.

Once you have submitted all the required information, the NDIA will make an “access decision” and send you a letter to inform you whether you are eligible for the NDIS or not.

If your access request is accepted, you will be contacted to arrange a planning meeting to discuss the supports and funds you will need. This is an important step to creating your NDIS plan. This meeting can be done face to face or over the phone depending on what suits you. The meeting is for the NDIA to gather as much information about you as possible to develop the best plan for you.

We highly recommend being prepared for your planning meeting. You can contact your Local Area Coordinator to understand what information the NDIS needs from you to create your plan and start shaping your goals.

Your goals are an important part of the meeting and of your plan. Your short- and long-term goals are the things you want to achieve with the support from the NDIS and other supports and services. Think about what you would like to achieve, why you would like to achieve it and when you would like to achieve it by.

Your NDIS plan is your document that sets out your goals, the supports that you have or need to meet these goals as well as the funding available.  The plan is set for a period varying from a few months to a couple of years depending on your current situation.  Your NDIS funding is there to help you meet your short- and long-term goals where reasonable and necessary.

If during the duration of your plan your circumstances change, you should let the NDIA know so that they can determine if your plan needs to be reviewed. A change in circumstance form will need to be completed: https://www.ndis.gov.au

NDIS funding is broken into three major categories – CORE, Capacity Building and Capital. Within these categories are subcategories each matched to your individual goals. You may not have all the support categories funding in your plan. Some people might have one or two support categories funded and others may have more.  This will depend on your individual needs and may change from plan to plan based on your specific supports and services.

The types of supports that the NDIS may fund for participants include:

• daily personal activities such as assistance with showering
• transport so that you can join in with community, social, economic and daily life activities
• workplace help to allow a participant to successfully get or keep employment
• therapeutic supports such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology
• help with household tasks such as cleaning, cooking and mowing
• home modification design and construction
• mobility equipment, and
• vehicle modifications.

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 a support that is:

• the responsibility of another government system or community service
• not related to a person’s disability
• relates to day-to-day living costs that are not related to a participant’s support needs, or
• is likely to cause harm to the participant or pose a risk to others.

Your supports must also facilitate your participation in society, be value for money, be beneficial to your well being and take into account your existing support network. The support provided by family and friends is known as informal supports and is not funded through your NDIS plan.

The NDIS Price Guide is an important document that helps you interpret the legislation and the rules for NDIS supports and how providers can charge for their services.  The support catalogue then lists out all the support items available. The NDIS Price Guide and support catalogue should be read together, it is regularly updated with explanations about recent changes to supports and their funding.