Thursday 3 October will be a big day for the NDIS and people with disability. It’s important as it will be the day that many of the federal government’s new legislative changes come into effect.
These are the biggest changes since the NDIS began, and the government says they will make the NDIS stronger and improve the experience for people on the Scheme.
The new NDIS laws start on 3 October 2024. Some changes will happen from that date, others will happen later.
We cover some of the main changes here.
How the new legislation will affect people on the NDIS.
The new NDIS rules outline how people can access the NDIS, what assessments are needed and how budgets will work. The changes cover many aspects of the NDIS including:
- How eligibility is assessed
- The supports that can be funded by the NDIS
- How plans are managed
- How funding is allocated and needs to be spent
- Requirements for information gathering for eligibility reassessment.
New definition of NDIS supports.
The NDIS will only fund supports related to the impairment(s) covered by your access request. This is effective from 3 October 2024.
There will also be a new definition of NDIS supports. This will make it clear:
- What you can spend your NDIS funds on
- What you are not allowed to spend your NDIS funds on.
A draft list of these definitions will be transitional while the government seeks support from the states and territories on a final list. This change will affect all participants.
The NDIS has advised it will send an email to participants when the new definition of supports has been finalised, before the changes apply on 3 October 2024.
New total budget amounts.
Plans approved after 3 October 2024 will have a total budget amount instead of individual line items. This means you’ll see a total amount for all supports in your plan. This is known as total funded supports.
This change makes it easier to know how much funding you have and how long it needs to last. You can’t spend more funding than what’s available in your plan.
As part of this change, all new plans created after 3 October 2024 will be for 12 months. Longer plans may be reintroduced in the future.
Plan management decisions.
From 3 October, the NDIS will be able to change the way your plan is managed if you, your nominee or your plan manager are not using your funding in line with your plan.
This could apply to people who use a plan manager and people who self manage their plans.
New claims and payments framework.
In the future, all claims must be made within two years of providing the support. For the first 12 months, the NDIA will honour all claims made for supports provided before the law came into effect.
Here’s an example of what that might look like:
‘Jason’ submits an invoice on 1 October 2025 for a service that is on the exclusions list and was delivered 2.5 years ago. In this circumstance the claim can be submitted to the NDIA.
However if he submits the same invoice on or after 3 October 2025, it would not be able to be submitted to the NDIA. In this circumstance that is because the service was delivered more than 2 years prior.
Note: No matter when an invoice is received or submitted, the new legislation rules around excluded services apply to any and all claims with a service on or after 3 October 2024.
The government will establish a claims and payments framework to provide clarity on how NDIS claims should be made and we will keep you updated on this as we learn more.
Requests for information and revoking your plan.
The NDIA can request specific information or require you to do certain things like undergo an assessment if it’s considering revoking your status as a participant.
If you do not comply with the request within a reasonable time, the NDIA may revoke your access to the NDIS.
New planning process (implementation timing to be confirmed).
There will be a new planning process which will explain how people can access the NDIS, how their needs are assessed and how flexible budgets are created.
Because of changes to the legislation, plans will be built differently in future.
- A flexible budget will be determined by a new process, informed by a support needs assessment.
- The NDIS will only add more funding to a plan in very specific situations such as in a crisis or emergency situation.
The new planning process is yet to be created so there are no changes at this point in time. Existing participants will transition to new plans over time.
Impairment notices.
An ‘impairment notice’ is a new type of document issued by the NDIA that says you have a permanent disability or significant impairment. It will list impairment(s) that meet the disability and/or early intervention requirements.
From 1 January 2025, all new participants accepted onto the NDIS will receive an impairment notice, and for people already on the NDIS, they will receive an impairment notice when they transition to a new plan.
This change recognises people with disability who have the same ‘diagnoses’ may have different support needs.
Accessing the NDIS – disability requirements (implementation timing to be confirmed).
The new rules mean prospective participants will receive more detailed information about their access decision when they become a participant.
Participants will know how they have met access requirements for the NDIS, either via the disability requirements, the early intervention requirements, or both.
Disability and early intervention requirements have been updated to clarify that a person should only access the NDIS if they require supports which are NDIS supports.
This makes it clearer when a mainstream system is responsible for providing support. This change will impact people applying to access the NDIS, and existing participants where their eligibility is being reassessed.
If you have your status as a participant revoked and request a review of that decision, you cannot make another access request until your review is complete.
Want to find out more?
It’s important to stay informed as changes to the NDIS take place. At Leap in! we are dedicated to helping people navigate the NDIS and the upcoming changes.
We’ll continue to share updates and practical information about changes to the NDIS through our regular channels, including this newsletter.
Here are some useful links that relate to the changes.
NDIS resources.
Changes to the NDIS legislation
Summary of legislation changes
Department of Social Services resources.
Draft list of NDIS Supports
The NDIS Amendment Bill – Questions and answers