Breaking down the NDIS budgets to make sure you're getting your buckets-worth
Image Description: Orange background with three metal buckets, labelled "Core", "Capacity Building", and "Capital".
For some people, the biggest NDIS hurdle is getting through the application process. But for so many others, it’s when they finally receive their plan that the struggle begins.
We hear it from Kinora members again and again - you’re given your plan and are sent on your merry way, with no information about how to actually understand the plan.
Cue confusion, anxiety, and most importantly - missed opportunities for support.
A note before we jump into the details - the information here is relevant for NDIS plans created on the original NDIS system. From October 2023 plans are being rolled out on a new system known as PACE. If your plan is on PACE, head here for the information that applies to your plan. Not sure if your on PACE yet? Check with the NDIS, your Local Area Coordinator, Support Coordinator or Plan Manager.
Understanding what your plan can access
Your NDIS funding is there to help you meet your individual needs and achieve your goals. However, rather than being a big pool of money you can use as you see fit, the funding is broken down into different budget categories that determine how it can be used. The “Funded Supports” section of your plan is where this is all laid out for you.
There are three overarching support sections: Core, Capacity Building, and Capital. It might be helpful to picture them as buckets - the NDIS fills up each bucket depending on what they determine your needs are in each broad area of your life. One bucket might have more, another one might be empty, and you can’t transfer anything from one bucket to another.
Each of these sections are broken down smaller into support categories. These support categories are the more specific life areas you need assistance in. When the NDIS fills up your buckets, they will allocate the money to one or more of these categories. For instance, they may fill your capacity building bucket with a bit of health and wellbeing, some support coordination, and a splash of community participation.
Your plan will state a dollar figure for each support category that has been included, and you can use that funding to pay for individual services (or ‘support items’) that align to that category. For example, in your capacity building bucket, funding in your Improved Daily Living category could potentially be used for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, or speech pathology. The full list of support items that you can access under each category is located in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits document which is generally updated yearly (you can always find the latest version here), but we’ve included some examples below.
Your plan will also state how each category of funding is managed (plan managed, self managed, or agency managed). One plan could include multiple types of plan management, but really it just lets you know who needs to pay the bills for the services you access within that category:
Plan Managed - you need to choose a plan manager who pays the invoices on your behalf.
Self Managed - you need to make payment yourself and claim through the MyPlace portal.
Agency Managed - the NDIS will pay your service provider directly.
Here’s a great article from our partner’s website that goes over the differences in plan management type in more detail: Which type of plan management is best for you?
Support Category Specifics
Everyone’s plan is a little different, as we all need different types of support, so it’s important to note that your plan will not include all of these budget categories. Nor will you be able to access all of the support examples given - remember that whatever services and supports you are accessing need to be linked to your own disability, impairments and goals.
You may notice that some of the budget categories have a different name in your plan document than what is shown on the MyPlace portal - just to add to the confusion. Here we’ve included both names so you can easily identify the right category. For a list of the support categories under each bucket, click the down arrows.
Core
Core supports help with your everyday living, your disability needs and to work towards your goals. Core is flexible so in most cases you can use the funding across any of the support categories. This means that, for example, if the plan states funding has been included under the support category “Daily Activities”, you can actually use it for “Consumables” as well. However, this flexibility is not always the case with transport so check with your LAC, support coordinator or plan manager if you're unsure.
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Assistance with Daily Life Daily Activities / Daily Activities:
Support workers to help with your everyday needs, house cleaning, gardening, short term accommodation.
Consumables:
Low cost / low risk assistive technology items that improve your safety, mobility or independence, continence products, equipment needed for eating and drinking.
Assistance with Social & Community Participation / Social, community and civic participation:
Support workers for assistance to access community, social, and recreational activities, attendance at group and centre based activities.
Transport:
Transport costs, such as a taxis or rideshare, to travel to appointments or other places, specialised transport services.
Capacity Building
Capacity building supports help you to work toward your goals and build your independence.
The support categories are not flexible; this means you can only access supports that fall within the specific categories included in your own personalised plan, you are not able to move funding from one category to another. If it includes the budget category “Improved Daily Living” for example, you cannot use this funding to pay for services that fall under the category “Finding and Keeping a Job”.
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Support Coordination:
A Support Coordinator to help link you with services and implement your plan, psychosocial recovery coach to help identify, plan, design and coordinate supports if you have a psychosocial disability.
Improved Living Arrangements / CB Home Living:
Assistance with accommodation and tenancy obligations, to help you obtain and retain appropriate housing
Increased Social and Community Participation / CB Social Community and Civic Participation:
Life skills training, such as public transport training, mentoring and peer- support to develop skills, access to community participation activities, such as camps, classes and vacation activities.
Finding and Keeping a Job / CB Employment:
Workplace assessment and counselling, help to explore your work options and develop a career plan, building of essential foundation work skills, support through the transition from school to work.
Improved Relationships / CB Relationships:
Specialised behavioural support and management plan to address behaviours of concern, support to develop social skills for participation in community and social activities
Improved Health and Wellbeing / CB Health and Wellbeing:
Exercise physiology, Personal training, Dietician.
Improved Learning / CB Lifelong Learning:
Skills training, advice, and assistance with arrangements when moving from school to further education.
Improved Life Choices / CB Choice and Control:
If you are plan managed, this support category covers your plan managers fees to pay your invoices, maintain records and monitor your budget.
Improved Daily Living / CB Daily Activity:
Therapeutic supports, such as Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology, Counselling, Audiologist hearing services, Exercise Physiology and dietetics, nursing care (that is not usually covered by the health system), training for carers and parents, skill development training to increase independence.
Capital
Capital funding is for larger, one-off purchases that you might need. This funding is not flexible so you can only use it for the purpose specified in your plan document.
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Assistive Technology:
Higher cost, more complex, or customised aids and pieces of equipment that help with your independence, mobility, and safety, modifications to your car.
Home Modifications and Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA):
Design, construction, installation, or changes to non structural components of your home, to help you live as independently as possible, specialist housing accommodation to cater for very high needs.
The curveballs
Beyond the dollar amount, your plan may have further information listed in each support section, making it trickier to know exactly how you can spend it. Here’s an explanation of some of the terms you might see:
Stated Support
Items or services listed in your plan as a Stated Support means that you can only use the funding for that specific purpose. Often this will be for a particular piece of assistive technology or for things such as your plan manager or support coordinators fees.
There are some supports that can only be accessed if they have been listed in your plan as a stated support, such as assistance with meal preparation and delivery, linen service, and specialised driver training. The Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits document will state that a support item “should only be used if it is a stated item in a plan” if this is the case. If you need support in one of these areas you will need to request it at your planning meeting so that it is included.
Quote Required Supports
If an item or service is listed in your plan as Quote Required, this means you need to obtain a quote from a service provider, submit it to the NDIS and the funds will become available to make the purchase only once they’ve approved it. Again, this is often for larger pieces of assistive technology and equipment.
To speed the process up, have quotes ready to take to your planning meeting for any larger items you need. If they can approve the costs then and there, it’s one less step you’ll need to take before making your purchase (in this example, instead of quote required in your plan, they would include the funding as a stated support).
In-Kind Supports
If there are supports listed in your plan as In-Kind, this means it has already been pre-paid by your state, territory or the Australian Government. This does not come out of your NDIS funding, it just means this support has not yet come across to the NDIS.
Time to put your plan into action
We’ve put together a fact sheet that sets out all of the support categories and what they could potentially cover. Keep it handy together with your plan document so that you’ve always got the information at your fingertips, ready to thrive.
Once you understand your plan and know what it can cover, it’s time to reach out to service providers that can offer the supports you need.
It’s important to spend some time planning out the services you will access throughout the plan, and keep an eye on your budget as it progresses. Spend the funding too quickly and you may be left without support for a period of time - the NDIS won’t add additional funding if you simply use it up too fast. Spend it too slowly and you might miss out next plan - if you’ve got a lot of funding left at the end of the plan period the NDIS may not include as much next time.
It’s a delicate balance, but if you keep an eye on your spending through the MyPlace portal, your plan manager’s app (if they have one) or even your own spreadsheet, you hopefully won’t come across any surprises. If you’re getting worried, it’s always best to speak up and raise any concerns with your LAC. Let them know as soon as you can if you don’t think your plan is covering your needs or if you’re having trouble accessing supports to use the funding up.
The Kinora community is here to help you get the best out of your plan. If you’ve still got questions about understanding your plan or need more ideas on how to use your available funds, jump on and reach out.
