NDIS Core Supports

For example, when you first design your plan, you might need a support worker to assist you with eating. However, your budget will also include capacity-building supports such as occupational therapy, which could increase your ability to feed yourself. Eventually, you might be able to eat independently, but only with the use of specialised eating utensils that are easier to grasp and pick up. You would be able to redirect the funds you were using for a support worker from your Activities of Daily Living budget to your Consumables budget so you could purchase the specialised utensils you need. 

Your core support budget also allows for some creativity in your core support budget, as long as you can demonstrate that the way you spend your funding will help you work toward your goals. In addition, the NDIA often adjusts the flexibility of the core support budget, providing you even more options. For example, in recent years the NDIA approved using the low-cost assistive technology item, which is part of the Consumables budget, to purchase a tablet or iPad for accessing telehealth supports. In that same month, NDIA also approved redirecting funds that were planned for gym membership from the Participation budget toward renting gym equipment or accessing home fitness programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However, certain parts of your core support budget are not flexible and cannot be redirected to other categories. The non-flexible items in your core support budget include the following: 

• Your transport allowance, if there is one in your plan 
• Funds for specialised disability living accommodations for people with high needs 
• In-kind pre-paid supports like public school transport 
• Stated items that are quoted for your plan and stated in your budget as a specific expense, such as an individualised living arrangement
  

Finally, the flexibility of your core support budget depends on how your plan is managed. If all of your core support budget is managed in the same way, then all the funds are flexible across categories. However, if some of your categories are self-managed and others are plan-managed or NDIA-managed, then you cannot move funds to a category that is managed differently. For example, if your daily living supports are plan-managed but your consumables are self-managed, then you cannot move funds from daily living to consumables. This limitation does not apply if you want to move funds between plan-managed and NDIA-managed categories; it only applies to categories that you manage yourself.