Categories of funding under the NDIS

The information on this page is also available as a downloadable Quick Guide, by clicking below. There are PDF and word versions. 

Introduction

There are three different categories of funding under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Each of these categories fund different activities and services that are related to NDIS participants’ goals. 

It might be helpful to have a conversation about the different categories of funding under the NDIS and what these categories of funding can be used to pay for.

This quick guide looks at how peer networks can talk about the categories of funding under the NDIS.

Let’s make it happen

A peer network can have a good conversation about the categories of funding under the NDIS. Here are some of the aspects of the funding categories that could be used to guide a conversation about NDIS funding during peer support network meetings.

Here is a table that summarises the categories of NDIS funding, the subcategories within these categories and the life areas that these subcategories relate to. We describe the information in this table in more detail below.

 

 

Categories of Support Purpose

There are three ‘support purpose’ categories within the NDIS. These three support purpose categories are presented in the purple column of the table. The three categories of support purpose are:

• Core
• Capital
• Capacity building

Core supports are supports that enable NDIS participants to complete activities of daily living and enable participants to work towards their goals and meet their objectives. Transport and assistance with household tasks are examples of core supports.

Capital supports are supports that form an investment. Assistive technologies, such as equipment and home modifications, are types of capital supports.

Capacity building supports are supports that enable NDIS participants to build their independence and skills. Workplace assistance and community participation activities are examples of capacity building supports.

Funding Subcategories

Within each of the support purpose categories are ‘subcategories’. There are a total of 15 subcategories which reflect the different activities and services that NDIS funding can be used to pay for. The subcategories are presented in the orange column of the table. Below, we describe these 15 subcategories and give examples of the supports and services provided within each of these subcategories. These are select examples only, there are other supports and services available to NDIS participants that are not listed here.

Core supports have four subcategories:

• Assistance with Daily Life - assisting with personal tasks of daily life such as household duties, to enable the participant to live as autonomously as possible.
• Transport - travel to access the community for educational, recreational and work -related purposes.
• Consumables – assistance with purchasing everyday use items such as interpreting, translating, continence and home enteral nutrition (HEN) products.
• Assistance with Social and Community Participation - supports to enable a participant to engage in social or recreational activities within the community such as camps, vacation care, courses or membership fees.

Capital supports have two subcategories:

• Assistive Technology - all aids or equipment supports that assist participants to live independently such as wheelchairs, standing frames, bathing equipment and vehicle modifications.
• Home modifications to enable participants to live as independently as possible or to live safely at home such as equipment or changes to building structures, fixtures or fittings. Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) for participants who require specialist housing solutions also falls within this subcategory.

Capacity building supports have nine subcategories:

• Support Coordination - assistance to strengthen participant’s ability to connect with informal, mainstream and funded supports, and to increase capacity to navigate NDIA processes and resolve issues with NDIS services. This is a fixed amount to pay for a Support Coordinator to help use your plan. It is NOT the same as a plan manager.
• Improved Living Arrangements - support to help the participant obtain or retain a place to live. This may include, help to apply for a rental tenancy or undertaking obligations under the participant’s tenancy agreement.
• Increased Social and Community Participation - participation in skills-based learning to develop independence in accessing community such as classes, coaching, mentoring or peer support.
• Finding and Keeping a Job – workplace assistance to successfully obtain or retain employment, such as employment related assessment and counselling, or School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES).
• Improved Relationships - specialised assessment where the participant may have complex or unclear needs or require long term or intensive supports to address behaviours of concern.
• Improved Health and Wellbeing - activities to support and maintain well-being such as exercise, exercise physiology and health diets.
• Improved Learning - provision of skills training, advice, or orientation to assist in further education.
• Improved Life Choices – strengthening the participant’s ability to undertake tasks associated with the management of their supports, such as financial skills, organisational skills, and enhancing the participant’s ability to direct their supports and develop self-management capabilities. Plan management to help manage the plan, funding and paying for services.
• Improved Daily Living Skills – training to develop or increase skills for independence and community participation, such as therapy services.

Outcome Domains

Spending Budgets

NDIS participants are assigned a budget for each of the three categories of support purpose. That is, each NDIS participant is assigned a core budget, a capital budget and a budget for capacity building.

Core support budgets are flexible across the four core subcategories. This means that NDIS participants can chose how to spend their funding for core support. The core support budget must be used for core supports though, it cannot be used to fund capital or capacity building supports. For example, an NDIS participant may have a core support budget of $4000. This NDIS participant could choose to spend $1000 on each of assistance with daily living, transport, consumables, and assistance with social and community participation. Alternatively, this NDIS participant may decide to spend all $4000 on daily living. While the NDIS participant has complete control over how they distribute their core support funding across the four core support subcategories, they cannot spend any of this $4000 on assistive technology, finding a job or any other capital and capacity building supports.

Capital support budgets are not flexible. NDIS participants will receive a particular amount of money for a particular capital support. This funding must be spent on that support and cannot be used for any other capital supports or any core or capacity building supports. For example, a participant may receive funding to purchase a wheelchair. This money must be used to buy a wheelchair. It cannot be used for home modifications or any other capital support and cannot be used for consumables, improving learning or any other core and capacity building supports.

Capacity building support budgets are somewhat flexible. Participants can choose how to use their capacity building funding within capacity building subcategories but cannot use this money to pay for supports in other capacity building subcategories or core and capital supports. For example, a participant may have been allocated $2000 for improving health and wellbeing. This participant may decide to spend$1000 on exercise physiology and $1000 on dietetics, or they may decide to spend all $2000 on exercise physiology. However, this participant can’t use any of this $2000 for supports within another capacity building subcategory like support coordination and they can’t use this funding for any core or capital supports.

Any service listed as a ‘stated support’ is not flexible. If the item is listed as a stated support it means the funding MUST be spent on that and not anything else in the plan. Stated supports cannot be swopped for something else.

What a peer network could do with this information

These categories and sub-categories may appear confusing at first so a peer network could use one of its meetings to pass this information to its peer members and to talk about what each bit means and how people think they could use it. The information becomes easier to understand as specific examples are given.

Also, as more peer network members go through the NDIS, there will be a growing number of stories they can share about what was included in their plan, and how it worked.  So your peer network could have a regular spot in its meetings for people to share their latest experiences of the NDIS funding categories; what is working well, and what isn’t.

Your peer network could even gather these stories together and tell the NDIS what is working and what needs to be changed.

Where you can find more information

The NDIS has a booklet on its website about understanding your plan and supports.

https://www.ndis.gov.au/medias/documents/pathway-booklet3-pdf/NDIS015-Participant-Pathwa-y-Book3-20pp-A4-Accessible-.pdf

The NDIA released price guides that have a lot of pricing information for service providers but they also give detailed information about the different categories of funding under the NDIS and explain how this funding can be used. One of these price guides is for Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. The other price guide is for the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. You can download these price guides here:

• 2017/18 Price Guide (NSW/VIC/QLD/TAS) (DOCX 168KB)
• 2017/18 Price Guide (WA/SA/ACT/NT) (DOCX 167KB)

The NDIA updated the short term accommodation price limits in the 2017/2018 Price Guides for NDIS service providers (documents available below).

The changes took effect from Monday 30 October 2017. The 2017/18 Price Guide took effect on 1 July 2017.

This Price Guide incorporates a series of changes and additions designed to ensure stability for the NDIS through transition. These can be found at the 2017 Price Review.

 

The NDIA also released a fact sheet about choice and control. This fact sheet briefly summarises the different types of funding under the NDIS and lists what this funding can be used for. You can download this fact sheet here:

https://ndis.gov.au/medias/documents/hce/h5b/8799507939358/Factsheet-Choice-and-Control-A4-v0.5.pdf

If you are thinking about self-management the NDIA has published a guide. You can download it here.

 

 

Authored by JFA Purple Orange