Consultation on National Disability Insurance Scheme New Framework Planning and Supports
Submission Date: 15 October 2026
The Law Council of Australia provided a submission to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DHDA) in response to its consultation on changes relating to new framework planning and support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The public consultation on new framework planning relates to the following rules:
- NDIS Support Needs Assessment Rules – intended to “deliver a more consistent, equitable and transparent approach to determining participant budgets… using a structured, reliable and independently validated methodology delivered by trained and accredited assessors”;1
- NDIS Budget Method Rules – intended to provide transparency for how the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has determined a participant’s total amount of funding;
- Plan Variation and Reassessment Rules – which set out criteria for deciding whether to vary a plan under the existing permitted variations in the NDIS Act, and additional circumstances in which a participant’s budget can be varied; and
- NDIS Supports Rules for old and new framework planning.
A key objective of new framework planning is to move towards allocating budgets that are “person centred” rather than deciding funding based on the costs of individual supports. This approach is intended to improve the NDIS for participants by providing greater flexibility and enabling participants to exercise more choice and control over how they use their funding to meet their goals and needs.2
The public consultation also seeks feedback on updates to the NDIS Supports Transitional Rules. The proposed changes would:
- reduce the number of support categories by introducing broader support categories;
- align support categories with new framework planning needs assessment and budget setting;
- use purpose-based descriptions rather than provider registration language
- remove replacement supports; and
- make minor changes to what is not an NDIS support.3
At the outset, the Law Council observes that a primary consideration for all NDIS consultations is the need for greater transparency regarding support needs assessments, targeted assessments, impairment notices, budget calculations, review rights and participant safeguards. Participants cannot effectively exercise review rights or understand decision-making processes unless the assessment methodology, evidentiary requirements and budget framework are publicly available.4 Assessment methodologies and budget calculation frameworks should ensure the framework remains transparent, accountable, accessible and procedurally fair.
The proposed new framework appears to assume participants will receive an accurate and sufficient support budget from the outset. However, in legal practitioners’ experience, many participants initially enter the NDIS with limited evidence of their support assessment needs, limited capacity to engage with formal assessment processes, and limited or no informal supports to assist them with the supports needs assessment processes. These should also be factored in when considering improvements to this process.
The new framework should preserve flexibility and provide clarity, participant choice and timely pathways for addressing underfunded plans, urgent support needs and complex disability-related circumstances. In general, people with disability should be trusted to know what supports they need and how to utilise their budgets to best meet those needs.
DHDA has issued two separate Consultation Papers, one on the new Framework Planning Rules and the other on NDIS Supports Transitional Rules. This submission responds to each Paper.
1 Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, “New Framework Planning Rules Consultation Paper” (August 2026), 5
<https://consultations.health.gov.au/disability-and-carers-group/nfp-ndis-supports/user_uploads/consultation-paper---new-framework-planning_final-3.pdf>.
2 Ibid.
3 Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, “NDIS Supports Transitional Rules Consultation Paper” (August 2026), 6
<https://consultations.health.gov.au/disability-and-carers-group/nfp-ndis-supports/user_uploads/consultation-paper---ndis-supports_final.pdf>.
4 The Law Council notes there is an entrenched minimum provision of judicial review of decisions made by officers of the Commonwealth in the Constitution – S157/2002 v Commonwealth (2003) 211 CLR 476.
Last Updated on 20/10/2026
Share
Tags
Most recent items
Trending Items
Law Council
Australia’s 2022-23 Migration Program
Law Council