The NDIS provides funding for different types of supports that can help children with everyday activities and needs, as well as building skills and independence. There are three types of support budgets: the core support budget, the capacity building support budget, and the capital support budget. Each budget has different rules about how you can spend the money in its categories.
The supports in your child's NDIS plan must be reasonable and necessary. This means they must be directly related to your child's developmental delay or disability and help your child work towards their NDIS goals. The supports must also be value for money and likely to work.
If you have any questions about your child's support budget, please speak to your child's NDIS planner or case manager. They will be able to provide more information about how the budget works and how you can use it to meet your child's needs.
Your state or territory government may also have programs and services that can help children with developmental delays or disabilities and their families. For more information, contact your state or territory government health department.
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If you would like more information about NDIS support budgets, please speak to your child's NDIS planner or case manager. They will be able to provide more information about how the budget works and how you can use it to meet your child's needs.
Your state or territory government may also have programs and services that can help children with developmental delays or disabilities and their families. For more information, contact your state or territory government health department.
The core supports budget includes four flexible categories that can be used to pay for a variety of necessary supports: assistance with daily life, consumables, assistance with social and community participation, and transport. The transport category is not as flexible as the other categories, and not all plans will include transport funding. However, your early childhood partner, local area coordinator (LAC), or NDIA planner can help you work out how to use this budget.
The core supports budget is the most flexible of the three budgets, and can be used to pay for reasonable and necessary supports that help your child work towards their NDIS goals. This might include funding for a support worker to help your child take part in social and community activities, or specialised transport for attending school. If your child's needs change over the course of their plan, you can use money from one category to pay for supports in another category.
A note about the transport category: The transport category isn't as flexible as the other categories in the core supports budget. Not all plans will include transport funding. You're more likely to get transport funding for your child to get to an activity if a child of the same age without developmental delay or disability could get there independently. Your early childhood partner, local area coordinator (LAC) or NDIA planner will help you work out how to use this budget.
The capacity building supports budget has 9 categories:
Coordination – this is funding for an support coordinator to help with using your child’s plan.
Living arrangements – this is funding to help your child find and maintain an appropriate place to live when they’re ready to live independently of you.
Social and community participation – this is funding to increase your child’s skills so your child can take part in community, social and recreational activities.
Finding and keeping a job – this is funding for training and other support to help your older child find and keep a job.
Relationships – this is funding to help your child develop positive behaviour and interact with others.
Health and wellbeing – this funding includes exercise or diet advice that helps your child manage the effects of their developmental delay or disability (but the NDIS won’t pay for gym memberships).
Learning – this is funding for advice and other support that helps your child make the transition from school to further education.
Daily living – this is funding for assessment, training or therapy that increases your child’s skills, independence and community participation. It might also cover support for you – for example, to help you learn how to guide your child’s behaviour in social situations.
Life choices – this funding pays for a plan manager to help you manage your child’s plan, if you choose this option.
You must spend the money in the capacity building supports budget according to the categories in your child’s plan – that is, you can’t move money from one category to another. But within each category, you can decide what supports to spend your child’s funding on. For example, you might decide to spend all the money in the improved daily living category on weekly occupational therapy appointments for your child. Or you might choose to pay for a fortnightly occupational therapy appointment and a fortnightly social skills group. This is fine so long as both expenses help your child work towards their NDIS goals.
If you have any questions about how to spend your capacity building supports budget, talk to your support coordinator or case manager. They’ll be able to give you advice about what sorts of activities and services might be suitable for your child. You can also find more information on the NDIS website or by talking to the NDIA.
One question that we frequently get asked is how exactly the capacity building supports budget should be spent. The truth is, there is no one answer to this question – it will depend on each individual child and what their specific needs are.
The capital supports budget can be used for two categories of expenses: assistive technology and home modifications. Assistive technology includes items like wheelchairs or vehicle modifications that help your child with mobility, personal care, communication, or recreation. Home modifications include things like installing a handrail in a bathroom. If your child needs specialist accommodation, you can discuss this with their therapists and your early childhood partner, LAC, or NDIA planner.
Your child's NDIS plan will say exactly what you can use the funding for in the capital supports budget. You can't use it for anything else.
You can see your child's NDIS plan on the myplace portal. The names of the categories in your plan are different from the names used on the myplace portal. The NDIS publishes a full list of the support budget category names used in your plan and in the myplace portal.
