NDIS UPDATE FROM 19TH MAY

NDIS Plan update “Funding Period”

A major change to the way NDIS Plans are funded has arrived. From 19 May, all new and reassessed NDIS Plans will include funding periods.

This means the funds in your NDIS Plan will no longer be released all at once. Instead, plan funds will be made available in smaller amounts at set times throughout the plan period.

Here’s what we know so far.

Funding periods are a new way the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia is managing how participants access their plan budgets. Instead of receiving all your plan funding at the start, you’ll now get access to smaller amounts in stages over time.

How Funding Periods Work

A funding period is a defined timeframe during which a portion of your NDIS funding can be used. Key aspects of how they operate include:

Staged Release: Your total plan funding is broken down into smaller amounts, released at the beginning of each funding period.
Typical Duration: For most new or reassessed plans, funding periods will be three months long. However, some support categories, like Home and Living, might have monthly periods, while one-off high-cost items like assistive technology or home modifications may still be released as a lump sum.
Spending Limits: You can only spend the money that has been released in the current or previous funding period. You cannot use funds from future periods.
Rollover of Unspent Funds: Any unspent funds at the end of a funding period will roll over into your next funding period within the same plan. However, any funds remaining at the very end of your overall plan will not roll over into a new plan.
Application: These funding periods initially apply to new NDIS plans or plans that have been reassessed. Existing plans will not be affected until they undergo a reassessment.

The aim of funding periods is to help participants budget more effectively, ensure funds last the full duration of their plan, and reduce the risk of overspending or running out of funds prematurely.