What are the three NDIS budget types?

Core supports (everyday activities, usually flexible), capacity building (building your skills and independence), and capital (higher-cost items like assistive technology and home modifications). There is also a recurring category for regular payments.

What does "reasonable and necessary" mean?

It is the test the NDIS uses to decide what it will fund. A support generally has to relate to your disability, help you pursue your goals, represent value for money, and be something the NDIS is responsible for rather than another system.

What is the difference between flexible and stated supports?

Flexible funding can be spent across supports in a way that suits you. Stated funding can only be used for the specific support it is described against. Capital supports and some capacity building supports are stated.

Guides/NDIS basics

A Plain-English Glossary of NDIS Terms

The NDIS words and acronyms that trip everyone up, explained simply: participant, plan, core and capacity building supports, plan managed, and more.

The Disability Guide team · Sparks Support Pty Ltd · 6 min read

In short

The NDIS runs on a handful of words that are rarely explained: your plan holds funding split into core, capacity building and capital budgets; supports must be reasonable and necessary; and how you manage the money (self, plan or agency managed) shapes who you can use. Here is each one in plain English.

Half the stress of the NDIS is the vocabulary. Once the words make sense, the system gets a lot less intimidating. Keep this open in a tab for your first few meetings.

People and roles

Participant: A person with disability who has been found eligible and has an NDIS plan.
Nominee or child representative: Someone (often a parent or carer) authorised to make decisions or act on a participant’s behalf, including for a child.
Local Area Coordinator (LAC) or NDIS partner: An organisation that helps you understand the NDIS, apply, and put your plan into action.
Support coordinator: Someone funded in your plan to help you understand it and connect with providers and services. We compare this with a support worker in support worker vs support coordinator.
Support worker: Someone who provides hands-on support: help with daily living, building skills, personal care and getting out into the community.
Plan manager: A provider who holds your funding, pays your providers and keeps the financial records for you, if your plan is plan managed.
Provider (registered or unregistered): Anyone who delivers a support. Registered providers are approved by the NDIS Commission; unregistered providers are not, and whether you can use them depends on how your plan is managed.

Money and plans

Plan: Your individual document: your goals, the supports you need, and the funding to pay for them.
Reasonable and necessary: The test for what the NDIS will fund. Broadly, a support must relate to your disability, help with your goals, be value for money, and be the NDIS’s responsibility rather than another system’s.
Core supports: Funding for everyday activities. It is usually flexible, so you can move it across supports as your needs change.
Capacity building supports: Funding to build your skills and independence over time, so you may need less of the same support later. It is stated, meaning it is used for the described purpose.
Capital supports: Funding for higher-cost items: assistive technology, equipment, vehicle or home modifications, and specialist disability accommodation. Capital supports are stated.
Flexible vs stated: Flexible funding can be spent across supports as you see fit. Stated funding can only be used for the specific support it is described against.
Self, plan or agency managed: The three ways to manage your funding: you hold it (self), a plan manager holds it (plan), or the NDIA holds it (agency). It is a real choice that most people make deliberately. On the latest NDIS figures, about 30 percent of participants self-manage all or part of their plan, around 59 percent use a plan manager, and about 11 percent are agency-managed. Our sister site Self-Managed Guide covers how to choose in detail.

Supports and housing

Assistive technology (AT): Equipment or devices that help you do things more easily or safely, from a shower rail to a communication device.
Supported Independent Living (SIL): Help with daily tasks for people who live in shared or individual supported arrangements.
Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA): Housing designed for people with very high support or extreme functional impairment needs. It is a capital support.

If a word you have hit is not here, the NDIS getting-started guide is a good next stop.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

What are the three NDIS budget types?: Core supports (everyday activities, usually flexible), capacity building (building your skills and independence), and capital (higher-cost items like assistive technology and home modifications). There is also a recurring category for regular payments.
What does "reasonable and necessary" mean?: It is the test the NDIS uses to decide what it will fund. A support generally has to relate to your disability, help you pursue your goals, represent value for money, and be something the NDIS is responsible for rather than another system.
What is the difference between flexible and stated supports?: Flexible funding can be spent across supports in a way that suits you. Stated funding can only be used for the specific support it is described against. Capital supports and some capacity building supports are stated.

This is general information only, not financial, legal or NDIS advice. Eligibility, funding and rules depend on your own circumstances and can change. The NDIS (ndis.gov.au) is the authoritative source, so check there or with the NDIS before making decisions.