The criteria every support must meet
The NDIA can only fund a support if it meets all of the reasonable and necessary criteria. Its guideline sets them out like this:
- The support is related to your disability, meaning there is a direct link between your disability support needs and the support
- It will help you pursue the goals in your plan
- It will help you do activities that support your social and economic participation, such as getting out with friends, work or study
- It represents value for money, compared with the costs and benefits of other options
- It will be, or is likely to be, effective and beneficial for you, having regard to current good practice
- It takes account of what it is reasonable to expect family, carers, informal networks and the community to provide
- It is an NDIS support for you
The support must be an NDIS support
Since October 2024, section 10 of the NDIS Act has defined what counts as an NDIS support, using lists of supports that are and are not NDIS supports. Supports must also relate to the impairments that met the NDIS access requirements. Day to day living costs, such as rent, groceries and utilities, are not NDIS supports, and neither are things everyone needs regardless of disability, like a gym membership to get fit.
How the NDIA applies the test
The NDIA looks at your whole package of supports, not each item on its own. For example, if a vehicle modification means you need less help to get around, the amount of community access support that is reasonable may change.
It first considers what is available outside the NDIS, from health, education and other government services, the community and the people around you. NDIS supports are meant to add to these, not replace them. You do not need a specific goal for every support.
Informal supports and children
For adults, the NDIA considers whether the help your family gives is sustainable, including long term effects on their health and safety. It would not expect a child to have their schooling affected because they provide care, or an elderly parent to do risky physical tasks.
For children, it considers what parents usually provide at that age. From 1 February 2027 the law spells this out, covering supervision, personal care, transport, emotional support and behavioural support, but not the extra support a child needs because of their disability.
What changes from 1 February 2027
Under the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026, new criteria apply when the NDIA decides what is reasonable and necessary. They apply to new participants first, then to current participants at their usual reassessments. The NDIA must weigh the sustainability of the NDIS and fairness between participants with similar needs, and consider the risk of harm to families and informal supports if a support is not funded.
Reasonable and necessary and the 2026 funding reset
The support determinations made on 1 October 2026 are separate from the reasonable and necessary decision. They reduce social, economic and community participation funding by 50% and improved daily living skills funding by 10% when a plan is created, reassessed or renewed. You cannot seek review of the reset itself, but you can still seek review of decisions about what is reasonable and necessary for you.
Making your case
Link each support you ask for to your disability, your goals and what happens without it. Reports that recommend a specific support, explain why cheaper options will not work and describe the evidence behind it address several criteria at once. If you disagree with a decision, ask for an internal review, then you can go to the Administrative Review Tribunal.