The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is Australia’s first national Scheme for people with disability. The NDIS is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds costs associated with disability. The NDIS is a federally managed safety net, providing a nationally-consistent, lifetime commitment to people who have permanent and significant disability with funding for supports and services.
The scheme is administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and provision of disability services is regulated by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission).
The scheme entitles people with a “permanent and significant” disability funding for any “reasonable and necessary” support needs related to their disability and to meet their disability relate goals. Funding is allocated to the individual referred to as Participants. These participants or their representative choose which goals they want funded i.e. to live independently, to engage in community activities, to find a job and also to choose which providers supply the funded goods and services.
The scheme is entirely publicly funded and participants do not pay insurance premiums. The word Insurance in NDIS refers to the scheme’s use of insurance principles to manage the financial sustainability of the scheme. It aims to insure eligible persons in the event they are born with or acquire a disability.
NDIS funding is completely independent of the Disability Support Pension and universal health care and does not affect provision of those services. 

In general, there are three types of support that may be funded in your NDIS plan:

1. Core supports
2. Capacity building supports
3. Capital supports

For many with NDIS funding, Core supports are often the largest budget in a plan. This can include disability support workers and other supports to assist with Daily Life (e.g. everyday needs, household cleaning and/or yard maintenance) or Social & Community Participation, Transport and consumables(e.g. continence products or low-cost assistive technology).

Capacity building supports are an important part of supports for most NDIS participants. It includes a wide range of areas such as: support coordination, plan management, therapies (e.g. OT, speech, physiotherapy) and positive behaviour support, as well as assisting you to find accommodation or a job.

Subject to the type and nature of your disability, you may be eligible for Capital Supports. This can include Assistive Technology (e.g. mobility, personal care, communication and recreational inclusion such as wheelchairs or vehicle modifications) and Home Modifications (e.g. installation of a hand rail in a bathroom, or Specialist Disability Accommodation for participants who require special housing because of their disability).

Access to funding under the NDIS is generally limited to people living with a permanent and significant disability who are Australian residents between the ages of 7 and 65. Eligibility will depend on your age, residency status. location, your disability and other factors.

There are other services and areas of government that can support people outside of these age ranges.

The NDIS is only available to people who have a disability caused by a permanent impairment, which may be intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory, physical, or psychosocial.

The NDIS uses a number of questions as part of their Eligibility Checklist, as follows:

1. Age: Are you aged between 9 and 65?
2. Residence : Are you an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or Protected Special Category Visa holder?
3. Location: Do you live in Australia?
4. Disability requirements: Do you have a disability caused by a permanent impairment?
5. Disability supports: Do you usually need disability-specific supports to complete daily life activities?
6. Early intervention: Do you need some supports now to reduce your future need for support?
7. Family: Do you need some supports now for your family to build their skills to help you?

You can find out more information about eligibility on the NDIS website.

NDIS staff make funding decisions about what is ‘reasonable and necessary’ based on the rules within the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act). To be considered reasonable and necessary, a support must:

• be related to the participant’s disability
• not include day-to-day living costs that are not related to a participant’s disability support needs
• represent value for money
• be likely to be effective and beneficial to the participant, and
• take into account informal supports given to participants by families, carers, networks, and the community.

You can manage your NDIS funding in three ways:

• You can get someone from the NDIA to manage your plan – this is called agency managed.
• You can get a plan manager to manage your plan – this is called plan managed.
• You can manage your plan yourself – this is known as self-managed.

You don’t have to just select one way, you can use a combination.

Sometimes SIL budgets may be plan-managed. If this is the case, as a provider, we will work with your plan manager to organise payment.

You may have Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) funding in your NDIS plan. SDA is different to SIL.

SDA is a house that has accessible or robust features, suitable for participants within the NDIS who have more significant functional impairments. SDA’s housing features make it easier and safer for NDIS participants to live there.

Where approved, the NDIS provides SDA funding to the participant through their NDIS Plan.

SDA funding is for housing, not for services or support.

SDA is the housing or accommodation; and SIL are the individualised support services.

SDA is an abbreviation for specialist disability accommodation, which supports some participants with a NDIS plan with customised housing that supports their needs.

SIL is the abbreviation for supported independent living which is disability services that provide support to the NDIS participant with daily tasks. 

You can learn more about the difference between SDA and SIL in our blog.

A service agreement is the term commonly used within the NDIS to describe the contract or agreement between yourself as an NDIS participant and the disability service provider that is supporting you. It’s a document that includes the roster and supports you will be provided and what the costs of those services are.