Fair early investments

Having access to capacity-building supports early in your NDIS journey is considered to be an early investment. This early investment is intended to help increase your independence and reduce your reliance on NDIS funding over time.

This is an important concept we consider when we create your plan, and again at future plan reassessments. When we reassess your plan, we reassess all the supports you require to meet your disability support needs at that time.

Over time, your capacity building supports may no longer be reasonable and necessary, in regard to any of the following:

• your current functional capacity
• the effectiveness of the capacity building supports 
• value for money. 

When we say functional capacity we mean the things you can and can’t do for yourself.

Your overall funding amount could go down from one plan to the next. This may be because you no longer need the same type or amount of supports, such as capacity building supports. Also, if the capacity building investment has been successful at building your independence, then your need for other supports may also decrease. For example, as you develop your skills you may not need as many Core supports.

So other things being equal, you should expect your overall plan value to reduce over time as the benefits of capacity building are realised.

Fair support across service systems

The support you need may be the responsibility of another government service, like education or health. We don’t fund these services. We need to think about the supports you should receive from these services when we determine the supports in your plan.