Is my NDIS plan changing? What the 1 October budget changes mean for you

You may have heard that some NDIS budgets are changing from 1 October 2026. It’s natural to want to know straight away what that means for your own supports, or for the person you care for.

The change is narrower than it might first sound. It reduces budgets for two kinds of support. It reaches each plan at a particular point, not everyone on the same day. And the NDIS says other parts of participant plans won’t be affected.

This page works through six questions, in the order you’re likely to have them. Every plan is different, so read this as a clear starting point rather than advice about your own situation.

Is my NDIS plan changing right now?

Not all at once, and not on the same day for everyone. The NDIS says the reductions will be applied as plans are created or reassessed from 1 October 2026, or renewed from 1 February 2027.

What exactly is changing?

The NDIS says this change is part of the new NDIS laws. It reduces participant budgets for two support categories: Social, Economic and Community Participation, and Improved Daily Living Skills.

As the names suggest, these cover support to take part in social, economic and community life, and support to build the skills of daily living.

If you’d like the wider picture of how budgets and support categories work in a plan, our guide to what the NDIS funds, and what it doesn’t covers it.

Which supports are affected, and which are not?

Not everything in those two categories is reduced. The NDIS says some groups of supports within them won’t be affected. These include:

• Supports in employment
• Disability-related health supports
• High intensity supports
• Intensive and complex behaviour supports
• Customised and wearable technology
• Hearing services

Beyond those two categories, the NDIS says other parts of participant plans won’t be affected by these changes. The examples it gives include essential day-to-day supports like:

• Help with eating, drinking, dressing and toileting
• Laundry and cleaning
• Nurse care and medication
• Vehicle and home modifications
• Personal mobility equipment
• Specialist disability accommodation

If you want to check a particular support, the NDIS has published a list of the supports in these two categories that aren’t affected by the reductions, along with Easy Read guides. You’ll find them on the NDIS announcement page (opens in a new tab).

When will the changes actually affect my plan?

The NDIS describes this as a change that happens over the coming 12 months, starting from 1 October 2026. It reaches each plan at one of these points:

• When a plan is created or reassessed, from 1 October 2026
• When a plan is renewed, from 1 February 2027

So two people can be affected at quite different times, depending on where each plan is in its cycle. Even then, the NDIS says the impact will be different for every participant, because every plan is based on individual goals, circumstances and support needs.

Your plan has a reassessment date, and that’s a useful place to start if you want to know when this might reach you.

Do I need to do anything now?

It can help to know two things about your own plan: whether it includes funding in either of the two categories above, and when it’s next due to be reassessed or renewed.

The NDIS also says this change isn’t a reviewable decision. In practice, that means the reduction itself isn’t something you can ask the NDIA to review. What you can still do, if your life has changed, is ask for a change to your plan.

What if my circumstances have changed?

The NDIS says participants can still ask for changes to their plan, including a plan reassessment or a plan variation, if there has been a significant and ongoing change to their:

• Ability to complete daily activities
• Living arrangements
• Education or employment circumstances
• Available informal supports, meaning the help that comes from family, friends and others

These are two different things. A plan variation changes only part of your plan, when the change fits within your overall package of supports. A plan reassessment gives you a new plan, when you need different supports.

The NDIS explains both: what a plan reassessment is (opens in a new tab) and what a plan variation is (opens in a new tab). If you ask for a reassessment, the NDIS says you need to use its request form and give evidence of the change. You can keep using your current plan while it decides.

If you receive 24-hour support, the NDIS has also created a new plan variation pathway for participants with high support needs. It says it wants to make sure participants needing 24-hour disability support have the funding to meet these needs. In the NDIS’s words, participants can ask it to vary their plan if they:

• “have a total budget in their plan for Assistance with Daily Life, Home and Living, and Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation is $215,030 or more; and”
• “receive 24-hour funded NDIS supports for support needs arising directly from the impairments they access the NDIS for”

Both conditions apply. The NDIS sets out how to ask on its plan variation page, linked above, and the announcement page links to an Easy Read guide to the pathway.

Important information

NDIS rules and processes change, and this change rolls out over the coming 12 months. This page is general information drawn from NDIS information published on 1 October 2026, and checked on 5 October 2026. It doesn’t replace advice about your own plan. If anything here differs from what the NDIS says now, follow the NDIS.

The bottom line

Two support categories are being reduced, and the reductions reach each plan as it’s created, reassessed or renewed, not everyone on the same day. Some supports in those categories won’t be affected, and the NDIS says the other parts of participant plans won’t be affected either. If your life has changed in a significant and ongoing way, you can still ask for a plan reassessment or a plan variation.

If you have questions about your own plan, the NDIS says you can speak to your my NDIS contact (opens in a new tab), or contact the NDIS, about the changes you need.