What a typical support package is
When the NDIA builds a plan, its system needs a sense of what support usually costs for someone in a similar situation. The NDIA developed reference packages with disability experts to estimate plan costs across the scheme. A typical support package is the figure produced for you from those reference packages.
The Australian National Audit Office described the TSP in its 2020 audit of NDIS planning as a baseline amount based on a participant's disability, support needs and characteristics. The NDIA told the auditor that the TSP is a benchmark for planners and does not decide whether a support is reasonable and necessary.
How it is calculated
During planning, the planner or partner asks a set of guided planning questions about your disability, how you function day to day, your living situation and the informal support around you. The answers feed business rules in the NDIA's system, which adjust the reference package and produce the TSP automatically.
The result is not itemised. It gives amounts at the support category level, for example transport or assistance with daily life. Planning staff then match individual supports to those amounts.
Why your plan can be different
The TSP is meant to be reviewed and adjusted when it does not fit the person. NDIA guidance lists common areas where it needs adjusting, and some supports are not counted in it at all and have to be added by hand. The ANAO gave these examples:
- Disability related health supports
- Supports for behaviours of concern
- Plans longer or shorter than 12 months, because the TSP is an annual figure
- Situations where your answers to the planning questions did not capture your real needs
Criticism and transparency
Typical support packages have been criticised because participants could not see them. The NDIA did not publish its reference packages or the rules behind them, so families had little way to know what benchmark their plan was being measured against.
The 2020 ANAO audit also found weak controls. Plans more than 10% above the TSP were supposed to get extra review by a senior delegate, but the NDIA's own quality audits found that review was often not recorded. In 2019 to 2020, half of one year plans were more than 10% above their TSP.
What it means for you in practice
You will not normally see a TSP figure in your plan, and you cannot ask the NDIA to fund you to a benchmark. What you can control is the evidence. Clear reports about your functional capacity, the hours of support you need and what happens without it are what move a plan away from a generic starting point.
Answer planning questions honestly about your hard days, not just your good ones. If a decision about your plan seems to ignore your evidence, you can ask for a statement of reasons and an internal review.
What changes with new framework planning
From 1 April 2027 participants start moving to new framework planning, where your budget is set from a support needs assessment carried out by a trained NDIS assessor. Everyone is due to have moved by 31 December 2030. The way a starting budget is worked out will look different under that model, so check the NDIA's current information as it is released.
From 1 February 2027 the NDIA must also consider the sustainability of the NDIS and fairness between participants with similar needs when deciding what is reasonable and necessary.