Drawing of NDIS caregiver pushing a woman in a wheelchair.

NDIS Core Support: Assistance with Daily Life

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About Activities of Daily Living

Activities of daily living, or ADLs, are the everyday tasks needed to live independently. These include basic self-care activities such as grooming and dressing as well as more complex tasks like managing household finances.

There are seven basic ADLs: eating, bathing or showering, grooming, dressing and undressing, toileting, and mobility. Each activity encompasses multiple abilities; for example, dressing includes choosing appropriate clothing for the situation and weather as well as putting clothing on without assistance. Toileting includes both noticing the need to use the restroom and getting to the toilet independently.

Drawing of a calendar with text about NDIS Core Support budgets.

A person with a disability may not need support with an activity of daily living, even if that activity is affected by their disability. For example, a person who uses a wheelchair might be able to move their wheelchair without help and transfer themselves to a bed or chair when needed. This person can move themselves everywhere they need to go without help, and so they would not need support with the ADL of mobility. However, a person who needs someone to help them get in and out of bed would need mobility support. As you are designing your NDIS plan, it’s important to identify your functional needs and determine the individualised support that will best support you.

Similarly, core support for ADLs can include any aspect of accomplishing necessary tasks. For example, a person might need support with eating because they aren’t able to pick up food. Or, they might be able to pick up, chew, and swallow food, but they aren’t able to prepare meals independently. Your core support budget is flexible to enable you to spend funds on the support that best meets your needs.

The ADL support budget can also be used for help with more complex tasks such as cooking and household management. These activities require more complex thinking and planning than basic ADLs, and they may also require more complex physical abilities. They include activities such as managing finances, shopping, cooking, doing laundry, cleaning and maintaining a house, managing medications, and managing transportation around the community.

Examples of ADLs

Daily Personal Activities

  • A support worker to visit you daily and assist you with bathing, grooming, eating, toileting, dressing, or other self-care tasks 
  • A support worker to visit you regularly and assist with personal household tasks such as cleaning after a meal or cleaning your bathroom after a shower 
NDIS activities of daily living (ADLs) include bathing, eating, cleaning, and managing household finances.


High-Intensity Daily Personal Activities

  • A skilled support worker to assist with meals if you require enteral feeding 
  • A support worker who can provide tracheostomy care if you have a tracheostomy or use a ventilator 
  • A support worker to provide subcutaneous injections of medication if you are unable to self-administer injections


Assistance with Household Tasks

  • House cleaning
  • Laundry
  • Washing dishes
  • Lawn mowing 
  • General maintenance

ADLs in Different Living Arrangements

Group or Shared Living Environment

Shared living environments provide as much autonomy as possible while ensuring that essential support services are readily available. A shared living environment might offer therapeutic or social group activities as well as daily support for activities of daily living. Note: Because there may be several people in the home who need similar support, price limits might be slightly lower. 

A man discusses his NDIS Core Support budget with his caregiver.

Short-Term Shared Living Arrangements

Your NDIS plan can also include funding for short-term shared living arrangements. A person who normally lives independently might want to temporarily relocate to a shared living arrangement for a variety of reasons. 

Here are some examples of situations when you might want to use short-term accommodation: 

  • Your usual network of informal supports will not be available or needs a respite period, and you need to temporarily replace those supports

  • You want to explore or practice new skills to increase your independence, and you can do that more safely in a group support setting than at home 

  • A teen wants to attend a holiday camp and needs supports while attending the camp

This support item can be used for all the costs of short-term accommodation, including food and lodging as well as support services. However, it cannot be used for a holiday; the accommodation must be related to your disability. In addition, this support item is usually limited to no more than 28 days per year, which can be taken at once or spread out throughout the year. A few more things to consider:


  • Your NDIS budget can also provide funding for medium-term housing for up to 90 days. This support item can only be used while you wait for a confirmed long-term housing situation to come available.

  • Other types of housing can also be funded in your NDIS support budget. For instance, an elderly person living in residential aged care who has a disability might be able to receive NDIS supports in addition to Aged Care funding.

  • Your NDIS budget might also provide funding for other types of living arrangements, such as living with a host family or living with a roommate. 

Individualised Living Options

This category was introduced in 2020 to expand the possibilities and choices for living situations for people with disabilities. An individualised living option could be any of a variety of living arrangements, and this support enables you to design and choose the best housing arrangement for your needs.

There are many possibilities for what an individualised living option could look like:

 

  • You could live with a host family who provide you a safe, supportive environment
  • You could live with roommates who provide you companionship and informal supports
  • You could live with another NDIS participant and share supports you both need
  • You could live with mentors who are paid to provide skilled support
  • You could live near friendly neighbors who help you build connections with the community and provide informal support

Your NDIS budget can provide funding both for designing and choosing your living situation and for implementing it. Exploring and designing your ILO can be done with the help of a coordinator or specialist who will help you decide how you want to live and create the budget for your NDIS plan.

Other Essential ADLs

Self-Management Capacity Building

For you as an NDIS participant, managing your NDIS funds is an essential activity for self-care and independent living. NDIS plans provide ongoing, lifetime support to people with disabilities, and being able to manage your own plan provides you with increased choice, control, and independence. That’s why self-management capacity building is included in activities of daily living support. This category helps you develop the skills to identify the supports you need, find the best providers, budget you NDIS funds, and manage invoices and reimbursements.

A caregiver provides meal preparation as part of NDIS Core Support.

Disability-related Health Supports

Many disabilities directly or indirectly impact your health, and so direct care from a health provider may be a necessary support for your activities of daily living. Your NDIS budget can include funding for support from both healthcare clinicians and mental health professionals.

Many NDIS participants need nursing care, and the price limits for these services depend on the skill level of the support you need as well as day and location. Nursing care you might receive with NDIS funding could include services such as:

  • Catheter care, ostomy care, and continence management
  • Wound care and pressure care
  • Ventilator management and tracheostomy care
  • Medication management and administration
  • Chronic condition management such as diabetes care

Like all NDIS support services, your needs must be related to your disability in order for you to receive support through your NDIS budget.

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