What is the NDIS?

With the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), you can get support to live your life your way.

With the right resources, contacts and funding, the NDIS can jump-start the journey to a more independent life, no matter how complex your needs. Whether you need support with daily life, adventures out of home, help with a house hunt, or encouragement in education, the NDIS exists to help people access the disability services they need - at a cost they can afford.

What disability services can I get funding for?

If you, or your loved one, has been approved for NDIS funding, there are many services available to you - each designed to support your goals. 

As an NDIS participant, you’ll receive funding in your plan to access ‘reasonable and necessary’ services and supports within three categories.

1. Core Support

This category includes services and supports to help you complete daily living activities, including: 

• Assistance with daily life - involves support with household decision-making, help with personal care/domestic tasks, Meals on Wheels preparation or delivery of meals, support for and/or supervision of tasks of daily life, and more.

• Transport - helping with transport costs can enable participants to access the community for educational, recreational and vocational purposes. 

• Consumables - this can assist participants in purchasing everyday items. Supports such as interpreting, translating, continence and home enteral nutrition (HEN) products are included in this category.

• Assistance with social and community participation - includes tuition fees, coaching, camps, classes and vacation activities with capacity-building, mentoring or peer support and individual skill development.

1. Capital Support

Captial Support helps to fund services that require financial investment, including: 

• Assistive technology - helping to provide recreation equipment, assistive products for household tasks, or assistive products for personal care and safety. This also includes vehicle modifications, installations or changes. 

• Home modifications - for the certification, approval or installation of home modifications, such as stair-climbers, elevators, grab rails etc. It also includes modification to bathrooms, toilets, laundry, kitchen, or structural work, and the use of a modification project manager or building certifier.

1. Capacity building

Dedicated to supporting you long-term, this category is designed to build your independence, education and skills. Services include:

• Coordination of supports - support in the connection and coordination of services via specialist coordination. This can strengthen a participant’s ability to connect with informal, mainstream and funded supports. A good support coordinator can also resolve service delivery issues and points of crisis.

• Improved living arrangements - this can be funding to secure space in group homes or large residential settings, drop-in support, individual accommodation support packages, outreach programs, disability housing and support initiative (DHASI). Assistance also includes accommodation and tenancy obligations, individual skill development and training.

• Increased social and community participation - supports the participant in recreation, peer support, community events, life choices, active ageing, community access programs, vacation care, Out of School Hours Care (OOSH), weekend programs, flexible respite, centre-based respite, and group fitness for people with disability.

• Find and keep a job - offers pathways and support in the transition to employment and transition to work (including work skills, workability, individual employments support, employment preparation, and assistance in employment).

• Improved relationships - services that provide intensive behaviour intervention, positive behaviour management strategies, individualised social skills development and the development and monitoring of a management plan. 

• Improved health and well-being - includes exercise physiology, personal training, dietician consultation and plan development.

• Improved learning - supports transitions through school and to further education.

• Improved life choices - provides financial intermediary setup costs, training in planning and plan management, building financial and organisational skills, and enhancing their ability to direct supports and/or develop self-management capabilities.

• Improved daily living - funds assessment, training, development and/or therapy to assist in developing or increasing skills.

What’s not funded by the NDIS?

There are some services that don’t fall into these categories (read the NDIS Act and the NDIS Rules for further detail).

A service or support will not be funded if it:

• is not related to the participant’s disability

• is the same as other supports delivered under different funding through the NDIS

• relates to day-to-day living costs that are not related to a participant’s support needs

• is likely to cause harm to the participant or pose a risk to others

• can be more appropriately or effectively delivered by another system, such as health or education.

How can I access and organise my NDIS services?

The NDIS is a big initiative - and can feel overwhelming to manage! 

If you’re at all unsure of how to action your plan, it may help to enlist the help of a Support Coordinator (which is included in your NDIS funding). 

You might like to consider our team here at Focus Care. 

 As a registered NDIS provider, we understand the NDIS. Our support coordinators will work with you, so you do too - helping you access, understand and implement your NDIS plan with ease.

If you’re eligible for an NDIS plan or believe you might be, contact our Support Coordination team for a no-obligation consultation. 

Contact us today using the form below or call us on 1800 362 871