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What is NDIS?

Also known as: National Disability Insurance Scheme

The NDIS is Australia’s national scheme for funding supports for people with permanent and significant disability. Each participant receives an individual plan with funded budgets, and chooses the providers who deliver their supports. It is administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency and funds around 700,000 Australians.

In RosteryNDIS software for providersRostering, a worker app, SCHADS pay, NDIS invoicing and bulk claim files in one system.

The NDIS replaced a patchwork of state-based disability programs with individualised funding. Rather than funding services directly, the scheme funds the participant, who then engages providers of their choosing. That choice-and-control principle is what makes the provider market competitive, and it is why a provider’s administration — accurate claiming, timely notes, reliable rostering — is part of the service quality participants experience.

A participant’s funding sits in three budget categories: Core Supports, Capacity Building and Capital Supports. Money generally moves within a category but not between them, which is the single most common source of budget errors for new providers.

Who does what in the NDIS

The NDIS is established under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013. Several bodies share the work, and providers deal with each of them in a different way.

  • The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) decides who is eligible, approves plans and funding, and pays claims.
  • The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission registers providers, sets the NDIS Practice Standards and takes complaints about providers.
  • NDIS partners are community organisations funded by the NDIA. Local area coordinators work with people aged 9 to 64, and early childhood partners work with children younger than 9. Partners do not approve plans or allocate funding.
  • Providers deliver the supports, from support workers and therapists to plan managers and support coordinators.

How a participant's funding works

Each plan has a total funding amount split into funding components. Plans currently group supports under four support budgets: Core, Capacity Building, Capital and Recurring. The NDIA has said it is moving to show supports as individual funding components instead. From 19 May 2025, new and reassessed plans usually release funding in three-month funding periods.

Participants choose how each part of their plan is managed:

  • Agency-managed: the NDIA pays registered providers directly.
  • Plan-managed: a registered plan manager pays providers from the plan.
  • Self-managed: the participant pays providers and keeps the records.

Rules every provider should know

  • Only NDIS supports can be funded. The NDIS supports lists started on 3 October 2024.
  • Claims must be submitted within 2 years of the date the support was delivered.
  • Maximum prices for Agency-managed and plan-managed supports are set by the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, which took effect on 24 September 2026 under the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026.
  • Some supports must come from a registered provider whatever the management type, including specialist disability accommodation, supported independent living (from 1 July 2026), specialist behaviour support and supports likely to involve a regulated restrictive practice.
  • Plans in the NDIA's new computer system (PACE) record 'my providers' for certain Agency-managed supports instead of using service bookings.

How Rostery helps

Rostery handles the provider side of the scheme in one place: rostering with funding checked before a shift is confirmed, NDIS bulk claim files checked against current price limits, worker screening expiry tracking, and progress notes and incidents recorded against each participant.

Questions people ask

Who runs the NDIS?

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) runs the NDIS. It decides eligibility, approves plans and pays claims. Providers are regulated separately by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

Who is eligible for the NDIS?

A person must be younger than 65 when they apply, live in Australia, and be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or protected Special Category visa holder. They must also meet the disability or early intervention requirements.

Do NDIS providers have to be registered?

Not always. Registration is required to support Agency-managed participants and to deliver certain supports, such as plan management, SDA, SIL, specialist behaviour support and regulated restrictive practices. Self-managed and plan-managed participants can otherwise use unregistered providers.

How long do providers have to claim from an NDIS plan?

Since 3 October 2024, claims must be submitted within 2 years of the date the support was provided.

Checked against the official sources on 2 October 2026. Rules change: confirm the current position with the agency before you rely on it.

Related terms

NDIAThe NDIA is the Commonwealth agency that administers the NDIS. It assesses eligibility, approves participant plans and budgets, sets the price limits providers may charge, and pays claims submitted by registered providers. It is distinct from the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which regulates provider conduct.ParticipantA participant is a person whose access to the NDIS has been approved and who holds an individual, funded NDIS plan. The term is used in place of “client” or “patient” throughout the scheme, reflecting that the person directs their own supports rather than receiving a service allocated to them.Core SupportsCore 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.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.Reasonable and necessary“Reasonable and necessary” is the statutory test the NDIA applies when deciding whether to fund a support. The support must relate to the participant’s disability, represent value for money, be likely to be effective and beneficial, take account of informal supports, and not be the responsibility of another service system such as health or education.

More in NDIS

Plan managementSelf-managementSupport coordinationSIL

Rostery handles this in practice

SCHADS interpretation, NDIS price-guide validation, claiming and the evidence an audit asks for — built for Australian providers.

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