We’re making important changes to the NDIS to make it fairer, easier to navigate, and more flexible to support participants to work towards their goals.
Why we’re making these changes
The NDIS is changing lives, helping people with disability pursue their goals and creating social and economic benefits for all Australians.
But we know the Scheme isn't working as well as it could be for everyone, and we need to make sure it is sustainable for generations to come.
We’ve listened to what people with disability, families, carers, providers and the wider community have told us. The NDIS Review confirmed that we need to make the Scheme easier to use, more consistent in its decisions and more focused on individual needs.
We’re acting on the feedback we have heard from the disability community to improve the participant experience, make sure the NDIS continues to deliver for those who need it and return back to the original intent of the Scheme.
Read more about the NDIS Review .
Read more about the NDIS Reforms and view the Minister’s media release – National Cabinet Commits to a Sustainable NDIS.
What's changing
We've already started making changes including:
- New definition of NDIS supports - we’ve made it easier to understand what supports the NDIS can and can’t fund. This helps make decisions clearer and more consistent.
- Funding periods to support budgeting - new and reassessed plans now include funding periods. This helps you plan ahead and manage your budget, so your funding lasts for the full length of your plan.
- Impairment information - participants who entered the NDIS in 2025 have received information about their impairments that meet the eligibility requirements as part of their access decision. This provides greater transparency about the reasons a participant has accessed the NDIS, and the kinds of supports a participant can access through the NDIS.
More improvements will roll out gradually over the next few years. Together, these changes will improve how the NDIS works, making it more flexible, fairer and easier to navigate.
Some of these other changes include:
- Plans focused on your needs
- Increased flexibility of budgets
- Support to make decisions
- Help to find the right supports.
Read more about the legislative changes
Support needs assessments
What is the change?
We’re introducing support needs assessments from April 2027.
The assessments will be part of our new way of planning. They will be a consistent and reliable information gathering step to create fairer budgets in NDIS plans.
They will be appropriate for a range of disability groups, culturally appropriate, trauma-informed and LGBTIQASB+ diversity enabled.
We have consulted with the disability community to understand and agree on what should be included in the support needs assessment. We’re now developing the assessment with the University of Melbourne and Centre for Disability Studies.
Why we’re introducing support needs assessments
Participants and the disability community told us the planning process needs to be fairer and more consistent.
We’ve also heard it can be frustrating, time-consuming and expensive to get supporting evidence.
A support needs assessment will help remove this burden.
This means:
- participants can use their NDIS funding on supports to work towards their goals instead of paying for reports
- allied health professionals and other providers can spend their time delivering NDIS supports rather than writing reports.
Where to get more information or support
Talk to your planner, local area coordinator or my NDIS Contact.
Ask your support coordinator or plan manager for help understanding changes.
