What is Core Supports?

Core Supports is the NDIS budget category funding everyday assistance: personal care, help with household tasks, community participation, transport, and consumables. It is the most flexible category — funding generally moves freely between most Core support items — and it is where the majority of a typical participant’s plan sits.

Full guide: NDIS Core Supports explained: categories, 2026-27 prices and claiming

Core has four sub-categories: Assistance with Daily Life, Transport, Consumables, and Assistance with Social and Community Participation. Flexibility between them is broad but not unlimited — Transport in particular is often stated as a fixed periodic amount.

For most support-delivery providers, nearly all revenue is Core. Knowing which sub-category a shift claims against is what keeps a participant from running out of funding halfway through a plan period.

The four Core Supports categories

Assistance with Daily Life: help with personal care and everyday tasks at home, including supported independent living (SIL) and short-term accommodation.
Transport: help to get to work, study and the community when public transport is not an option.
Consumables: everyday items related to the participant’s disability, such as continence products and low-cost assistive technology.
Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation: support to join in community, social and recreational activities.

How flexible is Core funding?

Core is the most flexible part of a plan. Funding can usually be moved between the Core categories to suit how a participant actually uses their supports. The common exception is Transport, which is often paid as a set periodic amount rather than drawn down per trip.

NDIS reforms are changing how new plans set out funding, so check how each participant’s plan describes their budgets rather than assuming every Core amount is interchangeable.

Core Supports and the provider

Each support item in the NDIS Support Catalogue belongs to a support category, and a claim is made against that category in the participant’s plan. Claiming against the wrong category, or after the category has run out, is one of the most common reasons a payment request is rejected.

That is why the shift, not the invoice, is the place to check funding. In Rostery each booking is checked against the participant’s funding before it is confirmed, and the claim file is built from the approved shifts with the right support item on every line.

Questions people ask

What are Core Supports in the NDIS?

Core Supports fund everyday assistance: help with daily living, transport, consumables, and taking part in the community. It is usually the largest and most flexible part of an NDIS plan.

What are the four categories of Core Supports?

Assistance with Daily Life, Transport, Consumables, and Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation.

Is SIL funded from Core Supports?

Yes. Supported independent living is funded under Assistance with Daily Life, which is a Core Supports category.

What is the difference between Core Supports and Capacity Building?

Core Supports pay for everyday help. Capacity Building pays for supports that build a participant’s skills and independence, such as therapy and support coordination, and is less flexible.

Checked against the official sources on 1 October 2026. Rules change: confirm the current position with the agency before you rely on it.

Related terms

Capacity BuildingCapacity Building is the NDIS budget category funding supports that build a participant’s skills and independence rather than assisting with daily tasks. It covers therapy, employment supports, improved living arrangements, and support coordination. Unlike Core, funding is allocated to specific sub-categories and cannot be moved between them.Capital SupportsCapital Supports is the NDIS budget category funding one-off, higher-cost items: assistive technology, home and vehicle modifications, and Specialist Disability Accommodation. Funding is tied to specific approved items, usually requires a quote and often an allied health assessment, and cannot be spent on anything else.Support item numberA support item number is the code identifying a specific NDIS support for claiming, in the form 01_011_0107_1_1. It has five parts: the support category, a sequence number, the registration group, the outcome domain and the support purpose. Every claimed line must carry a valid item number that matches the support actually delivered and sits within the participant’s funded budget.NDIS Price GuideThe NDIS Price Guide, published with the Support Catalogue, sets the maximum prices registered providers may charge for each support item. It is updated at least annually, usually effective 1 July, and defines item numbers, unit types, price limits by state grouping, and the rules for cancellations, travel and non-face-to-face time.Funding periodsA funding period is the time in which part of a participant's NDIS plan funding becomes available to spend. From 19 May 2025, new and reassessed plans usually have three-month funding periods. Unspent funding rolls over within the same plan, but a claim cannot be paid if it exceeds the funding available in the current period.STASTA, or short-term accommodation, is NDIS funding that gives a participant time apart from their usual informal supports, such as family, while those carers take a short break. It covers support and standard accommodation for stays of up to 14 days at a time, usually up to 28 days a year. Food and meals are not funded.

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