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Understanding your NDIS plan

What each section means, how to read it, and what to check first · Last updated 2 August 2026

Your NDIS plan is the document that sets out what the NDIS will fund for you, and for how long. It is put together by a planner from the NDIA (the National Disability Insurance Agency — the government agency that runs the NDIS), working with you. Plans are formal documents, and the first read can feel like a lot. It gets much easier once you know what each section is doing. This guide walks through the document in order, in plain words.

First, where to find it: when your plan is approved, the NDIA puts a copy in the my NDIS participant portal. You can see your plan and your budgets there, or in the my NDIS app on your phone.

The two parts of every plan

Under the law, a plan has two parts.

The first is your statement of goals and aspirations. This part is about you — your situation, the people who support you, and the goals you want to work towards.

The second is your statement of supports. This part lists the supports the NDIA has funded. It is where the money lives.

In the plan document itself, that works out to seven things to look for:

• your situation, and who supports you
• your goals
• your NDIS supports
• who will manage your funding
• your total funding amount, and the parts it is broken into
• how long the plan runs, and its funding periods
• how to tell the NDIA if you think your plan needs to change

The rest of this guide takes those one at a time.

Your goals — what they do, and what they don't

Your goals are the things you want to work towards — big or small, short term or long term. They are recorded in the plan, and they help your planner get to know you and help your providers understand what matters to you.

One worry we can clear up straight away: your funding is not based on how many goals you write. The NDIA works out the total from the supports you need — what those supports should cost, how often you need them, and whether any are shared with someone else. More goals does not mean more money, and fewer goals does not mean less.

The NDIA can only fund supports that are ‘reasonable and necessary’ — the legal test that a support relates to your disability and is allowed under the NDIS rules. Since law changes in October 2024, there are also set lists of what counts as an ‘NDIS support’. Plan money cannot go on day-to-day living costs like rent or groceries.

The support budgets — where the money sits

Your funding is organised into support budgets — up to four of them. Most people do not have all four. A plan only includes the budgets you need.

• Core supports — help with everyday life. On current plans Core can hold funding in up to six categories: assistance with daily life; transport; consumables (everyday items you use up); assistance with social, economic and community participation; home and living; and young people in residential aged care. Core is the flexible budget: you can spend Core money across its flexible categories in the way that suits you — though a few Core categories, like home and living, are stated.
• Capacity building supports — supports that build skills and independence, like therapy, support coordination, or help finding work. Up to ten categories on current plans, and the funding is ‘stated’: money in one capacity building category cannot move to another. Therapy funding appears as one total, so within that amount you can choose which relevant therapies to use — for example physiotherapy or occupational therapy.
• Capital supports — bigger, usually one-off items: assistive technology, home or vehicle modifications, specialist disability accommodation. Capital is stated too, and the NDIA often needs quotes or reports before the funds are released.
• Recurring supports — one category only: recurring transport. It is paid regularly into your bank account, or claimed through the portal or app. There are three yearly levels (as at July 2026: $1,784, $2,676 or $3,456). If you are not eligible, the category shows a zero amount.

Across the four budgets there are 21 support categories in total. Inside each category sit support items — the actual things funding can buy — each with a code and a price limit.

Each category in your plan is marked either ‘This is a flexible support’ or ‘This is a stated support’. Stated funding can only be spent on the exact support described in the plan.

And one rule sits over all of it: money cannot move between budgets. Core funding stays core, capacity building stays capacity building. You also cannot spend more than your total funding amount.

We go deeper on each budget in NDIS budget categories explained, and on everyday spending in What can I spend Core supports on?

Funding periods — when the money becomes available

Since law changes on 3 October 2024, plans show three money things: a total funding amount, funding components (groupings like core, capacity building and capital), and funding periods.

A funding period is the window of time in which part of your funding becomes available. Most new and reassessed plans made since 19 May 2025 use 3-month periods. Periods can be 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, and different parts of the plan can have different period lengths.

Your plan lists the start and end date of each funding period and how much funding is available in each one. The portal and app also show how much you have used and when the next amount arrives.

Three things are worth knowing about funding periods:

• Unspent money rolls over into the next funding period automatically — within the same plan. It does not carry over into your next plan.
• Money from a future period generally cannot be brought forward. The NDIA may only do that in exceptional, urgent circumstances.
• Funding periods do not change your total — only when it becomes available. Funding is usually spread evenly (for example, a quarter of it every 3 months on a 12-month plan), though some supports — like assistive technology, or a year's worth of continence products — can be made available up front.

Who pays the bills — plan management

Your plan states how each part of the funding is managed. There are three ways, and a plan can use a mix of them.

• Self-managed. You pay providers yourself, keep the receipts, and claim the money back through the portal or app. Claims are usually paid within 2 business days if they include the provider's ABN, a description of the supports, and the receipt. You can use registered or unregistered providers.
• Plan-managed. A plan manager — who must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission — pays the invoices, keeps the records, and reports your spending. The funding for the plan manager is added to your plan. You can use registered or unregistered providers.
• NDIA-managed (some documents say ‘agency-managed’ — same thing). The NDIA pays providers directly, and you can only use registered providers. Claims from your recorded ‘my providers’ are usually paid within 2 to 3 business days.

‘my providers’ are the providers you record with the NDIA for your plan. If a provider you have not recorded claims against NDIA-managed funding, the NDIA checks with you by SMS first, and you accept or decline the claim in the portal or by phone on 1800 800 110. Worth knowing for scam safety: the NDIA never asks for personal information, never asks you to reply to the SMS, and never sends links.

You can ask to change how your plan is managed at any time — talk to your my NDIS contact.

What to check first

When a new plan lands, check these five things before anything else:

1. The dates. When the plan starts and ends, and the reassessment date — the date the NDIA plans to look at your plan again.
2. The funding periods. Providers can only claim within the funding available in the current period — claims beyond it are rejected. Know how much each period holds and when the next one starts.
3. Flexible or stated. Look for the ‘flexible support’ or ‘stated support’ line under each category, so you know where you have choice.
4. How each part is managed. Self-managed, plan-managed, NDIA-managed, or a mix — it changes who pays the bills and which providers you can use.
5. Your plan implementation meeting. A meeting with your my NDIS contact to help you understand and start using the plan. It is offered with every new plan, and you can ask for one at any time — even if you have been a participant for years.

If the plan needs to change — or you disagree

Every plan has a reassessment date, and the NDIA checks in with you about 2 to 3 months before it. Three different processes have three different names, and it helps to use the right one:

• A plan variation changes part of your plan without creating a new one — for example updating goals, fixing small errors, changing the reassessment date, or adding crisis funding. The NDIA aims to decide within 21 days.
• A plan reassessment (this used to be called a ‘plan review’) is a fuller look at your plan and can produce a whole new one, with a plan meeting offered. You keep using your current plan while a reassessment is under way.
• An internal review is for when you disagree with an NDIA decision — including decisions about funding periods and budget amounts. You can ask for one within 3 months of receiving the decision. If you still disagree after that, you can apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) within 28 days.

And if the reassessment date arrives and the NDIA has not reassessed your plan? It continues automatically for another 12 months, with the same core and capacity building funding, and unspent funds stay available. You get a letter and a message in the portal or app — you do not need to do anything.

We cover the reassessment process in NDIS plan reassessment: what to expect and review letters in Writing an internal review letter. Matey can help you draft that letter too — you send it yourself.