Pricing updates – effective 1 September 2021

Updated pricing documents can be downloaded from the Pricing arrangements page.

COVID-19 vaccination enablement payments 

From 1 September 2021 this payment was extended to support coordinators and providers who deliver supports in these registration groups:

• High Intensity Daily Personal Activities
• Assistance in Coordinating or Managing Life Stages, Transitions and Supports 
• Daily Personal Activities
• Participation in Community, Social and Civic Activities
• Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement – effective 26 May 2021.

Learn more about this temporary COVID-19 support on the coronavirus latest advice page.
 

Pricing updates – effective 17 August 2021

COVID-19 supported independent living additional supports

From 17 August 2021, providers are entitled to claim up to $1200 per participant, per day for each participant living in the supported independent living (SIL) dwelling that meets the conditions set out in the COVID Addendum.

A participant living in a SIL arrangement is eligible for COVID-19 SIL additional support if they:

• have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are an identified COVID-19 close contact and required to self-isolate or quarantine
• are in isolation or quarantine while waiting for the results of a COVID-19 test or because of measures taken by government or medial authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pricing updates – effective 1 July 2021

NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2021-22 - new price limits

Disability Support Worker Cost Model – effective 1 July 2021

The 2021-22 price limits for supports delivered by disability support workers in line with the NDIS Disability Support Worker Cost Model have been updated to allow for:

• the increase in the super guarantee percentage from 9.5% to 10% 
• the Fair Work Commission 2.5% increase in the minimum wage.

SDA indexation of price limits - effective 1 July 2021

The price limits for specialist disability accommodation (SDA) have been increased by 1.1%.

The refurbishment thresholds, which determine if an existing SDA dwelling can be treated as a new dwelling, have also been increased by 1.1%. 

SDA price limits have been updated to reflect movement in the Consumer Price Index . 

Temporary transformation payments - effective 1 July 2021

The Temporary Transformation Payment (TTP) loading has been reduced by 1.5%, from 6% to 4.5%, as planned.

Group-based supports – effective 1 July 2021

In response to sector feedback and the impact of COVID-19, the transitional pricing arrangements for group-based supports have been extended until 30 June 2022.

Extending the transition for a further 12 months allows providers more time to adopt a program of supports approach and agree the new arrangements with participants. This helps reduce the administrative burden of the new pricing arrangements. 

NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2021-22 - clarifications

We have clarified the following in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (previously the NDIS Price Guide):

• claiming for more than one worker or therapist
• provider prepayments
• Australian Business Numbers (ABN) a requirement for all plan-managed payment requests
• calculating claims for support items with a ‘notional’ price limit.

Providers should not tell participants that their prices are set by the NDIA. Prices are negotiated and agreed by providers and participants. Registered providers cannot set prices higher than the price limits in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits

Claiming for more than one worker or therapist

If a participant needs assistance from more than 1 worker or therapist at the same time, providers can claim for everyone’s time. For example:

• ‘Shadow shifts’ to allow new workers to be introduced to a participant who has complex individual support needs.
• Supervision of, or specific training for, therapy assistants by the supervising therapist as part of the handover of the support delivery. 
• A case conference between therapists about the specific support needs of a participant.

Provider prepayments

Providers can now claim prepayments for some supports without written approval from the NDIA. Prepayments are subject to the conditions listed in NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.

Australian Business Numbers (ABN) and plan-managed payment requests

Plan managers must include the ABN of service providers when making payment requests for plan-managed services and supports.

Claiming for support items with no price limit

Where a support item does not have a price limit, providers can calculate claims using the ‘notional’ unit price listed in the NDIS Support Catalogue and the NDIS Assistive Technology, Home Modifications and Consumables Code Guide (Code Guide). 

To enable consistent claiming across a number of supports, where a support has a notional unit price, it is now set at $1. 

The Support Catalogue and the Code Guide now include the notional $1 unit price for the following supports:

• Provider travel – non-labour costs
• Activity based transport
• AT repairs and maintenance
• AT rental (including deactivated supports)
• Low cost AT
• AT delivery (including deactivated supports)
• Assistance with daily life tasks in residential aged care
• Incontinence alarms.

Examples of how to calculate a claim using the notional unit price are included in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.

Pricing arrangements for supported independent living (SIL)

In 2020-21 we conducted a review of SIL pricing arrangements. The Report of the Review of Pricing Arrangements for Supported Independent Living recommended that the price limits for SIL supports should continue to be aligned with the price limits for other Assistance with Daily Life supports.

Further analysis of SIL costs will be undertaken as part of the next Annual Pricing Review.

• Report of the Review of Pricing Arrangements for Supported Independent Living July 2021 (DOCX 1MB)
• Report of the Review of Pricing Arrangements for Supported Independent Living July 2021 (PDF 1.2MB)

Understanding pricing updates - for participants

Understanding pricing updates explains the key changes in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits and Support Catalogue and how they might affect participants, their families and carers.

It’s important for participants to understand all of the prices they might be charged, so they can be confident of receiving value for money from their plan budget.