On 19 August 2026, the Australian Parliament passed the biggest set of changes to NDIS law since the scheme began. The Governor-General signed the new laws on 20 August, and some changes are already in effect. Others arrive in stages: October 2026, December 2026, February 2027 and beyond, through to 2028.
If you are an NDIS participant in Adelaide, a family member, or a support coordinator, you have probably seen headlines and heard worry. This guide does something different: it sets out what has actually changed, on which date, what each change means for you, and what is worth doing before it arrives. It is written especially for three readers: people living in supported independent living (SIL) homes and their families, people with complex care or community nursing supports, and people who use a plan manager.
One thing to hold onto before the dates. The NDIA’s own message to participants is: right now, you can continue using your plan and supports as usual. Nothing in this guide is a reason to panic. It is a reason to plan.
What has actually changed, and when?
The new law is the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026. Most of its changes do not start immediately; they are switched on in stages. Every date below comes from the NDIA’s official Securing the NDIS for future generations page.
| When | What changes | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Now in effect | New rules for asking for an early plan reassessment; the Minister gains the power to set NDIS price limits | Only you, your plan nominee or a child’s representative can ask for an early reassessment. No immediate pricing changes |
| Coming soon (dates to be confirmed) | New record-keeping periods: 3 years for participants, 5 for nominees, 7 for providers; stronger fraud and compliance powers; some automated claims processing | Keep records of supports and payments; you may need to repay funding you cannot show was used correctly |
| From 1 October 2026 | Support budgets for social, civic and community participation and capacity building daily activities are progressively reset as plans are reassessed or renewed. Plans can be suspended if a participant repeatedly does not respond to the NDIA | Changes reach you only at your plan’s own reassessment or renewal, over a 12-month period, and are not backdated |
| From 1 December 2026 | Providers must submit claims within 90 days of delivering a support | Mostly provider-side; invoices hit your plan sooner |
| From 1 February 2027 | Plan renewals replace plan continuations: at your reassessment date, your plan is either reassessed or renewed with the same supports, and unspent funds do not carry over. New reasonable-and-necessary criteria begin for new participants | The biggest practical change for most participants; see below |
| From April 2027 | The NDIA begins introducing its new way of planning | Progressive; the NDIA says it will share information before you move across |
| From July 2027 | Mandatory registration expands to more providers: those delivering personal care and daily living supports, and supports in closed settings | More of your providers will be required to register with the NDIS Commission |
| From October 2027 | A trusted panel of plan management providers is established | If you are plan-managed, you will be supported to move to a panel provider over 6 months |
| From January 2028 | Access changes for new applicants: a standardised, evidence-based assessment of functional capacity. Existing participants are reassessed over 3 years | The new eligibility process is still being designed, with a Technical Advisory Group and consultation |
| From July 2028 | A new commissioned support coordination and connection function begins | How support coordination is arranged will change; detail to come |
Is anything different for me today?
One thing, mainly. The rules for asking for an early plan reassessment (a reassessment before your scheduled date) have changed and are in effect now.
Only you, your plan nominee, or a child’s representative can make that request. It must be based on a significant and ongoing change to your functional capacity and support needs, or to your living, education, work or informal support arrangements. Once a request is in, the NDIA has 90 days to decide whether or not to reassess the plan.
Two doors stay open that are worth knowing about. You can still ask for plan variations, including short-term or urgent changes, through the existing process. And your scheduled reassessment happens regardless; the new rule is about early requests.
What to do with that: if your needs genuinely have changed, the door is still open, but the request needs to come from you or your nominee, with evidence. Your support coordinator can help you prepare it even though the request itself is now yours to make.
What does the October 2026 budget reset mean if I live in a SIL home?
From 1 October 2026, budgets for social, civic and community participation supports and capacity building daily activities begin to be reset as plans come up for reassessment (or, from 1 February 2027, renewal). This does not happen to everyone on one day; it rolls out over a 12-month period, plan by plan, and changes are not backdated.
If you live in a supported independent living home in Adelaide, these are often the budgets that fund life outside the house: community access, skill-building, social programs. Just as important is what the NDIA says these resets do not touch: funding for help with eating and drinking, education supports, employment supports, and disability-related health supports.
There is also a specific safeguard for people with the highest support needs. Participants who require continuous 24-hour care to meet their disability-related needs get a new plan variation pathway: if a support determination applies to you, you can apply for a variation within 90 days, and the NDIA can increase funding to make sure essential 24-hour supports continue.
What is worth doing: know your plan reassessment date, and before it arrives, be ready to show how you actually use your participation and capacity building budgets and why. Our guide to community participation funding in Adelaide explains what these categories fund and how goals are written for them. Evidence of use and progress toward goals has always mattered at reassessment; from October it will matter more.
One more Adelaide-relevant note for SIL residents and families: the government has flagged consultation on a new commissioning approach for home and living supports for SIL participants who need 24/7 support. That is a design conversation, not a dated change, and we will cover it when there is something concrete to report.
Why does “plan renewal” matter more than it sounds?
This is the change most likely to affect the most people, and it starts from 1 February 2027.
Today, when a plan reaches its reassessment date without a full reassessment, it can continue, and in practice unspent money has often travelled with it. Under the new arrangement, when your plan is due to be reassessed, one of two things happens: it is reassessed by an NDIA planner, or a renewed plan is created with the same supports as the old one. Either way, unspent funds from the previous plan are not carried over.
In plain terms: a plan stops being a bucket you can leave money in, and becomes a budget for its own period.
What is worth doing, starting now rather than in 2027: look at how your current plan is tracking. Large unspent amounts have never looked good at reassessment, and after renewals begin they simply will not travel with you. If money is unspent because a support has been hard to arrange, that is exactly the kind of thing to raise with your plan manager or support coordinator now, while there is time to act on it. If you use a plan manager, our plan management in Adelaide guide covers how they can help you track spending against your plan period. Worth noting for later: from October 2027, plan management itself moves to a trusted panel of providers, with a 6-month supported transition.
From the same February date, new reasonable and necessary criteria begin for people entering the scheme, and are progressively applied to current participants at reassessment. For families, the NDIA has said the new criteria include clearer guidelines on what a parent is expected to provide for a child, while still funding the additional support a child needs because of their disability. The finer detail is still being settled through rules and consultation, so treat confident predictions about it, from anyone, with caution.
Will my community nursing or high-intensity supports change?
The honest answer: the dated changes announced so far are about plan budgets, renewal mechanics and planning processes. They do not announce a change to whether disability-related nursing or high-intensity supports are funded, and the NDIA explicitly lists disability-related health supports among the categories the October budget resets do not impact, alongside help with eating and drinking.
Two things are still worth knowing if you have clinical support needs. First, if you require continuous 24-hour care, the new plan variation safeguard described above exists precisely for your situation. Second, the tighter reasonable-and-necessary assessment arriving from February 2027 will eventually apply at reassessments, which makes good documentation of clinical support needs more valuable, not less. Reports from your health team that clearly link supports to your disability-related needs are the strongest asset you can bring to any reassessment, under old rules or new.
If you receive community nursing supports and are unsure how your plan is structured, that is a reasonable question to put to your support coordinator or provider this side of October.
What should Adelaide participants do before October?
A short checklist, none of it urgent, all of it useful:
- Find your plan reassessment date. It is on your plan document and in the myplace portal. Every staged change above lands for you at that date, so it is the single most useful thing to know.
- Keep your contact details current with the NDIA, and respond when they reach out. From October, the NDIA gains the ability to suspend a plan if a participant does not respond to requests for information, after at least 5 contact attempts over an extended period. Suspension is avoidable: make sure the agency can reach you or your nominee.
- Review your unspent budgets. If large amounts are sitting unused, work out why, and raise it with your plan manager or support coordinator before your next reassessment.
- Start keeping records. New record-keeping requirements are coming: 3 years for participants. Receipts and records of supports and payments are about to matter more formally.
- Gather evidence as you go. Reports, progress notes and letters that link your supports to your needs are worth collecting steadily, not the fortnight before a reassessment.
- Ask your providers what they are doing. Registered providers are working through the same timeline. It is fair to ask any provider, including us, how they are preparing.
Where do I get the official detail?
One page is the source for every date in this guide, and it is written for participants and updated as changes take effect: the NDIA’s Securing the NDIS for future generations page. It includes plain-language and Easy Read downloads and the participant and provider timelines. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing also publishes the broader reform timeline.
Nurse Aid Australia is summarising the official information here, not providing individual advice. Decisions about your plan should be made with the people who know it: you, your family, your nominee, your support coordinator or plan manager, and the NDIA.
Frequently asked questions
Is the NDIS being cut? The changes alter how plans are set, renewed and assessed. The NDIA’s message to participants is that plans and supports continue as usual right now, with changes arriving progressively at each plan’s reassessment. The October budget resets apply to participation and capacity building daily activity categories, and the NDIA lists supports they do not impact, including disability-related health supports and help with eating and drinking.
Do I need to do anything to my plan right now? No. Nothing requires action from you today. The checklist above is preparation, not obligation, and the changes reach you at your plan’s own reassessment or renewal date.
Can I still ask for my plan to be reviewed early? Yes, if there is a significant and ongoing change to your functional capacity, support needs, or living, education, work or informal support arrangements. The request must come from you, your plan nominee or a child’s representative, and the NDIA then has 90 days to decide. Plan variations, including urgent changes, remain available.
What happens if I don’t respond when the NDIA contacts me? From October 2026, the NDIA will be able to suspend a plan if a participant does not respond to requests for information, after reasonable attempts to make contact: at least 5 attempts over an extended period, to you, your nominee or authorised representative. Keeping your contact details current is the simple protection.
What happens to money I have not spent? Under current arrangements, nothing changes today. Once plan renewals begin from 1 February 2027, unspent funds from a finishing plan will not carry over into the renewed plan.
Will my provider need to be registered? If you receive SIL, your provider must already be registered: mandatory registration for SIL and platform providers applied from 1 July 2026. From July 2027, mandatory registration expands to providers delivering personal care and daily living supports, and supports in closed settings. Nurse Aid Australia is an NDIS-registered provider.
When does the new planning framework start? The NDIA begins introducing its new way of planning from April 2027, progressively, and says it will share information with participants before they move to the new process.
Who can help me work out what this means for my plan? Start with the people already in your corner: your support coordinator, plan manager or nominee, with the NDIA’s page above as the reference. If you live in one of our SIL homes or receive nursing supports from us, our team can talk through how the timeline touches the supports we deliver.
Not sure how the changes affect your plan? Talk to our team or call 1300 413 633.
