Securing the NDIS for Future Generations - Overview of all Changes

On 19 August 2026, the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 (the Bill) was passed by the Parliament. The Bill is currently awaiting Royal Assent. This Bill enables the NDIS to make the changes needed to protect the NDIS for people with permanent and significant disability and for future generations who will rely on it.
 

In 2026 we are consulting on:

  • the new way of planning, known as new framework planning 
  • changes to assessment of eligibility based on functional capacity
  • design of a commissioning approach for home and living supports for Supported Independent Living (SIL) participants 
  • commissioning new, more efficient support coordination and connection functions
  • expanding differentiated pricing for unregistered providers
  • the Inclusive Communities Fund
  • market reforms to participants' supports for social and community and capacity building activities.
  • Information about how to get involved is available on our Consultation Hub over the coming months.
     

Technical Advisory Group

  • Who will give technical advice?
  • We have established a Technical Advisory Group (TAG). 
  • The TAG brings together national expertise to provide independent, evidence-based advice to support the development of a robust and consistent assessment framework for assessing ‘significantly reduced functional capacity’ for the proposes of NDIS access.
  • The TAG membership comprises technical expertise and experience relevant to disability and functional assessment, including people with lived experience of disability, diversity and First Nations.
     

What is changing for participants

  • How is access to the NDIS changing? The NDIS was set up to support people with permanent and significant disability, but has grown too much and now covers many Australians with less significant support needs. To make sure it meets its original purpose, access to the NDIS will be for people whose functional capacity is significantly reduced and impacts their day-to-day living. The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) will provide expert advice on this. They will provide advice on thresholds and assessments for determining access based on functional capacity. 
  • There are no changes to how people access the NDIS until 1 January 2028. People will continue applying to the NDIS in the same way until then. 
  • From 1 January 2028, there will be some changes to how people will access the NDIS. 
  • People with permanent and significant disability will still be able to access the NDIS. 
  • Access to the NDIS will be based on a standardised, evidence-based assessment of functional capacity. The assessment will focus on how a person’s day-to-day living is impacted by their disability. People who apply to the NDIS from 1 January 2028 will go through an objective functional capacity assessment to determine their eligibility. From 1 January 2028, people who are already accessing the NDIS will be reassessed. This will happen progressively over 3 years. People will only be able to access the NDIS if their impairment is permanent (or likely to be permanent). People who apply to the NDIS from 1 January 2028 will need to meet the new criteria to be able to access the NDIS. The NDIA will assess if other treatment to help their impairment has happened, if no other treatment is likely to help, and the impairment is likely to be permanent or lifelong. From 1 January 2028, people who are already accessing the NDIS will begin to be reassessed based on the new criteria. This will happen progressively over 3 years.
  • People who are eligible for or are receiving support for their impairment from workers’ compensation or motor vehicle accident schemes may no longer be eligible for the NDIS. People who apply to the NDIS from 1 January 2028 will need to tell us if they are eligible for or are accessing support from a workers’ compensation or motor vehicle accident scheme.  eople who are already accessing the NDIS will continue to have their access to compensation schemes managed through existing arrangements.
  • Participants currently receiving NDIS supports, including Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), will retain access to their supports if they also have access to another service system, subject to meeting all other eligibility criteria.
  • Children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism and low to moderate support needs will no longer be eligible for the NDIS. These children will be supported by Thriving Kids. 
  • From 1 January 2028, children who are aged 8 and under and applying for NDIS support will be assessed against the new criteria.
  • Children with permanent and significant disability and children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have substantially reduced functional capacity (high support needs) will remain eligible for the NDIS.
  • Children aged 8 and under who are accessing the NDIS before 1 January 2028 will continue to be reassessed under the eligibility criteria in place prior to 1 January 2028. 
  • Once they turn 9, they will be reassessed under the new eligibility criteria based on functional capacity (from 1 January 2028). 
  • To assess if you can access the NDIS, the NDIA looks at whether your disability is permanent. This may include looking at whether you have tried treatments that could improve your condition.
  • Your treating practitioners can advise the NDIA on whether a treatment is likely to significantly improve, reverse, or reduce the impact of an impairment. This includes considering if there is a medical reason why you cannot undertake a certain treatment.
  • The Bill requires individuals to undertake ‘appropriate treatment’ to remedy or alleviate an impairment before it can be considered permanent. It does not force anyone to have treatment or require you to undertake any particular treatment.
  • ‘Appropriate treatment’ does not mean trying every possible treatment. It means considering treatments that are widely accepted and are likely to make a meaningful difference to a person's impairment.You will never be expected to undergo treatment that:
    • is not recommended for your impairment or comorbidities, or where the likely benefits of a treatment are negligible, highly uncertain, or outweighed by the clinical risk
    • is unsuitable for you, carries significant risks, or could cause serious long-term side effects
    • could alter your fertility or have other major lifelong impacts.
    • Restrictive practices involving seclusion or chemical, mechanical, physical or environmental restraint are not considered ‘treatments’ for the purpose of determining whether you have undertaken all appropriate treatment.
    • Consistent with current practice, you will not be expected to undergo invasive or significant medical interventions – such as cochlear implants – to meet access criteria.
    • You will only be expected to undertake treatments that receive public funding, such as through Medicare, the PBS and public hospitals.
    • There will be additional rules about other treatments you are not expected to undertake. These rules will be developed through consultation with the community, engagement with clinical experts and may also involve input from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG).
    • The development of these rules will take into account medical and ethical considerations, such as individual autonomy and informed consent. The rules will not be able to require you to undertake a certain treatment.
  • From 1 January 2028, current participants will start to be reassessed against the new criteria. This will happen over a period of 3 years. The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) will provide advice on the most appropriate thresholds and assessments for this process. Participants will be provided information well in advance of any reassessment. People with significant and permanent disability will continue to be able to access the NDIS.When deciding who can access the NDIS, will the NDIA consider how different disabilities affect people in different ways, including conditions that change over time or fluctuate?
  • Having clear assessment and thresholds for access to the NDIS will ensure it is preserved for people with permanent and significant disability.
  • You will continue to receive support, but for many people there will be changes to the supports the NDIS funds. Supports that are essential to your critical care and daily living needs will not change.
  • Participant support budgets for some supports will be reset.  When your plan comes up for renewal or reassessment your social, civic and community participation supports and capacity building daily activities* will be reset. There will be no changes to budgets for critical supports. High support needs participants requiring continuous 24-hour care will continue to receive it at all times.
  • Note: social, civic and community participation supports are referred to in the Bill as social, economic and community participation. Capacity building daily activities are referred to as improved daily living skills.
  • 1 October 2026 for new plans and reassessments
  • 1 February 2027 for all other participants as part of the plan renewal process
  • When you go through the planning process the NDIA will look at the new criteria to decide what supports are reasonable and necessary to fund. The NDIA will consider this the same way across participants with similar needs and circumstances.
  • The NDIA will have clearer guidance on what support a parent is expected to provide for a child when deciding what supports are reasonable and necessary to fund. This includes supervision, personal care, transport, emotional support and behavioural support. It does not include the additional support a child needs due to their disability compared to children of a similar age without disability.
  • 1 February 2027 - Participants will start to transition to the new way of planning. This is called new framework planning. New framework planning will provide fairer and more consistent plans through a new assessment process, called the support needs assessment. This assessment will consider your support needs based on your functional capacity, life stage and other environmental factors. This assessment will be the new way we make plan budgets. It will not be used to determine access to the scheme. 1 April 2027
  • Social and community participation and capacity building supports are not always improving community participation, inclusion or capacity for participants. These supports also continue to be funded at a far higher level than any other comparable support program.
  • From 1 October 2026 budgets for social, civic and community participation supports will be reset so spending levels are on average in line with 2023 levels and more consistent with other systems. The reset will include:
    • budget allocations for social, civic and community participation supports (referred to in the Bill as assistance with social, economic and community participation) will be reduced by 50 per cent
    • capacity building daily activity budget allocations (referred to in the Bill as improved daily living skills) will be reduced by 10 per cent.
    • Changes will not necessarily result in a 50 or 10 per cent reduction in how much you spend as you may not be currently using all of your budget allocation.
    • These changes will happen progressively as participants’ plans are renewed or reassessed over a 12-month period.
  • You will also be supported to participate in group-based activities, where they are right for you. These group-based activities may have lower prices. To help with this, we will provide $200 million for an Inclusive Communities Fund to rebuild capability among community organisations to host genuine participation activities and market reforms to ensure genuinely inclusive activities are available for NDIS participants.
  • Plan rollovers will change When a plan reaches the reassessment date, a renewed plan will be created. Unspent funds from the previous plan won’t be rolled over to the renewed plan. The renewed plan will be at the same level for which the participant was assessed, adjusted for current prices. 1 February 2027
  • Participants can make claims more easily. An improved NDIS App will allow self-managed participants to use ‘tap-and-go’ claiming. This will make it easier to give us evidence for claims. Claims that exceed a certain threshold will require supporting documentation. 30 June 2028
  • What supports are in place to make sure people can have their plan reassessed if they have an emergency or sudden change in their needs? If you have an emergency or need extra support for a short time, you can ask for a variation to your plan to get help straight away.

 

What is changing for providers

  • Providers of higher risk supports will need to be registered. All people who receive higher-risk supports will need to choose a registered provider for those supports. This might include personal care, daily living supports and support provided in closed settings. We will help you to identify registered providers who can deliver these supports in your area. You will still be able to choose unregistered providers for other, lower risk supports. 1 July 2027, with rollout finalised by December 2030.
  • A panel of plan management providers will be set up by the NDIA. You will need to choose a plan management provider from a list approved by the government. If you use a plan manager who is not on the list, you will have 6 months to transition to an approved provider - 1 October 2027
  • A new support coordination and connection service will be set up by the NDIA. You will no longer pay for support coordination services with funding from your NDIS plan. Instead, you will choose from a list of providers funded directly to deliver these services. You will be supported to transition to the new service. 1 July 2028
  • There will be clearer requirements for keeping records about your claims. You or your plan manager will need to keep records for any NDIS support payments you receive for 3 years.  
  • The time to make a claim will be reduced. Participants or their plan managers will need to make claims within 90 days of service delivery. 1 December 2026 
  • All NDIS providers must meet their obligations under the NDIS Act and Code of Conduct, regardless of whether they are registered or not. Registration gives participants more assurance that their chosen provider will deliver supports in a safe and dignified way, with better oversight from Government.
  • In December 2025, the Government announced mandatory registration for Supported Independent Living (SIL) providers and platform providers. This will begin to be rolled out from 1 July 2026.
  • Mandatory registration will be expanded to all providers delivering higher risk supports. All providers delivering supports to participants who are most at risk of abuse and/or exploitation will need to be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission). We will publish a list of NDIS supports that are considered high risk, such as personal care, daily living supports and supports provided in closed settings. Providers will have time to identify whether this change applies to them and register with the NDIS Commission before this change starts.
  • Expanded registration requirements will begin to be rolled out from 1 July 2027. All providers in scope will need to be registered by December 2030. The NDIS Commission will provide more information to providers before they need to be registered.
  • Most providers will need to enrol with the NDIA. Providers will have to show a minimum basic level of identifiable information and provide a nominated and validated bank account. Payments will be made into this bank account. While the vast majority of providers will need to enrol, some providers like mainstream retailers who may not be aware they have been providing services to NDIS participants, will not need to enrol. Providers in scope will need to enrol from 1 July 2027.
  • Where claims exceed a certain threshold, supporting documentation will be required.
  • Providers will need to keep records relating to payment and receipt of NDIS funds for 7 years. Failure to retain records will result in a civil penalty. There will be time for providers to develop filing and storage systems and strategies to meet these requirements.
  • From 1 December 2026 the time to make a claim for supports under a participant’s plan will be reduced from 2 years to 90 days.
  • Most providers will need to enrol with the NDIA to provide better oversight of services delivered and monitor who the money is going to. These changes will help the NDIA better track payments and check claims. This means less fraud and more money going to supports people need.
  • Providers in scope will need to enrol from 1 July 2027 so they can be paid directly. Some businesses, such as general retailers, won’t need to enrol. The change to provider enrolment will enable the NDIA to track and monitor NDIS payments. It is a separate process to being a registered NDIS provider.
  • We are transitioning to commissioning (contracting) a smaller number of providers to deliver some supports. This means for some supports there will no longer be an open market with an unlimited number of providers.
    • Plan management - From 1 October 2027, the NDIA will set up a panel of plan management providers. Only providers on this panel will be allowed to deliver plan management services. These providers will need to meet strict quality, regulation and monitoring standards. There will be an initial 6-month transition period.
    • Support coordination - From 1 July 2028, the NDIA will appoint providers directly to deliver a new support coordination and connection service. This means support coordination will not be funded individually in participant plans. Providers will be able to apply to deliver this service. Successful providers will be chosen through a merit-based process.
  • Supported Independent Living (SIL) - The NDIA will soon commence consultation on how we can improve housing and living supports for participants requiring 24-hour continuous care. This consultation will help us understand participant and provider views on how this works and explore how different commissioning models can benefit both participants and providers. The Government is undertaking targeted consultation with participants using SIL, their families and carers, providers, industry representatives and experts. The outcomes of consultations will inform government decisions on whether to proceed with commissioning a portion of the SIL market.

 

What are support determination powers? 

  • The NDIS Bill will allow the Minister to reduce funding for some types of supports in NDIS plans. This is called a ‘support determination’. A support determination can only apply to old framework plans, which are the plans participants have right now. All participants will transition to new framework plans progressively from 1 April 2027 to 31 December 2030.

 

Changes to tackle fraud and non-compliance

The government is introducing a suite of changes to improve oversight of providers and claims and strengthen controls to protect participants and the NDIS from exploitation. To do this we will:

  • expand mandatory registration of providers delivering support to participants who are most at risk of abuse and/or exploitation
  • introduce a new enrolment system with a minimum basic level of identifiable information on most NDIS providers that will also increase evidence required for payments for NDIS supports, including payments at point of service
  • strengthen the NDIA’s investigative and enforcement capabilities and introduce new regulatory controls to address fraud and non-compliance
  • improve how information is collected and monitored for faster and more targeted responses to fraud and suspicious behaviour
  • eliminate conflicts of interest in the plan management market
  • ban providers from offering kickbacks and inducements to safeguard participants from exploitative practices
  • make sure providers cannot refuse to provide information or disclose documents in important investigations
  • allow agencies like the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to collect information on serious and organised crime operating in the NDIS
  • introduce new offences for providing false or misleading information to the NDIA or NDIS Commission, defrauding the NDIS to obtain payments, abusing the position as a participant’s nominee for personal gain or to cause harm, and intentionally destroying records to defraud the NDIS
  • strengthen protections for whistle-blowers who report wrongdoing
  • enable faster decision-making by the NDIS Commission to prevent poor provider behaviour and harm to participants.

 

The government’s plan to secure the future of the NDIS will be delivered through 4 pillars:

  • fighting fraud and stopping rorts
  • slowing rapid costs increases
  • clearer eligibility requirements
  • delivering quality services and support to participants.

The NDIS continues to grow at a far higher rate than any other comparable program. Costs are continuing to rise rapidly, driven by plan inflation and weaknesses in how the system currently operates. While stopping fraud is important, it’s not enough on its own. Other changes are also needed to make sure the NDIS is still there for people who need it now and in the future.

 

Changes to how the NDIS is governed

The government aims to make sure the NDIS can keep supporting people with disability into the future and reduce fraud and misuse of funds. Because the NDIS is growing faster than expected, stronger controls are needed to keep it sustainable. The Minister will have powers to help keep the NDIS sustainable and focused on people with permanent and significant disability. Some of the Minister’s proposed powers are the same as other government programs. For example, the Minister can set price limits for NDIS supports, based on advice from the NDIA. This is like aged care and veterans’ care, where ministers set fees using expert advice from government agencies and sector input.

There will be safeguards in place around decisions the Minister makes using these powers. Importantly, any legal instruments the Minister makes with these powers will need to go through Parliament.

 


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