Where it sits in your plan
Your NDIS plan groups funding into budgets. This one sits in Core Supports, alongside assistance with daily life, consumables and transport. In the NDIS Pricing Arrangements it is support category 04, and providers claim against item numbers that start with 04.
It was called social, civic and community participation until the name changed to assistance with social, economic and community participation. Many people still just call it community participation or community access.
What it pays for
The budget pays for the support you need to take part, not for the activity itself. Common supports include:
- One to one support to access community, social and recreational activities, such as classes, sport, faith, volunteering or seeing friends
- Group and centre based activities, often called day programs, where costs are shared by ratio
- Supports in employment, which is help at work for people who need ongoing support to keep a job
- Activity based transport, meaning the provider's vehicle costs when they drive you as part of the support
- A small centre capital cost when a support is delivered at a provider's centre
What it costs in 2026/27
Price limits depend on when the support happens and the skills the worker needs. For standard support to access community, social and recreational activities in most of Australia, the 2026/27 limits are:
- Weekday daytime: $73.58 an hour
- Weekday evening: $81.07 an hour
- Saturday: $103.54 an hour
- Sunday: $133.50 an hour
- Public holiday: $163.46 an hour
- High intensity weekday daytime, for workers with extra skills: $79.60 an hour
- Centre capital cost, when delivered at a centre: $2.71 an hour
The 50% reset from 1 October 2026
Under the support determinations made on 1 October 2026, funding in this category is reduced by 50% when your plan is created or reassessed from 1 October 2026, or renewed from 1 February 2027. Everyone affected will have had their plan renewed by 30 September 2027. Your current plan keeps working until then, and the reset does not apply to new framework plans from 1 April 2027.
The cut comes off the budget, not your spending, and protected supports are taken out first. Within this category, the government protects:
- Supports in employment
- High intensity supports
- Intensive and complex behaviour supports
If the reduced budget is not enough
You cannot ask for a review of the reset itself, and the reduction alone is not a reason for a reassessment. You can still ask for a plan variation or unscheduled reassessment if your needs or circumstances have changed in a significant and ongoing way.
If you receive 24 hour disability support and your plan had $215,030 or more across daily life, home and living and community participation before the reset, you can ask for a high support needs plan variation within 90 days of the reset being applied. It can increase daily living and home and living funding, but not this category.
Making the budget go further
- Check what you actually spend. If you use less than half the budget now, the real impact may be small
- Use group activities, or a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio, for activities where shared support works for you
- Book weekday daytime hours where you can, since weekend and evening rates use funding faster
- Choose activities close to home to keep transport costs down
- Use Capacity Building supports, such as travel training, to build skills so you need less support over time
For providers
Quote against the funding available after the reset, not the total, and flag protected supports such as supports in employment and high intensity supports clearly on invoices. The NDIA's Annual Pricing Review also recommended a 10% lower price for some community participation supports delivered by unregistered providers from 1 January 2027. As of October 2026 that is still under consultation and not final.