NDIS supports should complement, not replace, other supports available to you. That’s why we consider:
- the things you’re able to do for yourself
- support you have from others in your network, including family members, relatives, friends, local community services and mainstream government services.
One of our aims is to help maximise your independence by working with the local mainstream government and community services that help you live an ordinary life. We all do best when we’re connected to our communities.
And as an active consumer, it’s important you are able to shop for and access providers who meet your needs. We can help you find providers who meet your needs.
Once we’ve considered your circumstances, we need to follow the rules determined under the law for the NDIS in our planning decisions. We fund supports that are reasonable and necessary. This means we will only fund a support if it meets all of the following criteria:
- the support is related to your disability
- the support will help you pursue your goals and aspirations
- the support will help you undertake activities that will increase your social and economic participation
- the support is value for money, which means that the costs are reasonable:
- when compared to the benefits to be achieved, for example, whether purchasing the support is likely to reduce the cost of funding other supports in the long term
- when compared to alternative options that may provide you with the same outcome at a similar or lower cost
- the support is likely to be effective and beneficial for you, having regard to good practice and evidence
- the support is required to complement the informal supports you have available, by taking into account what is reasonable for families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide
- the support is most appropriately funded or provided by the NDIS
- the support is not more appropriately funded by another service system, agency, person or body, such as the education system or the health system. We can’t fund a support if it’s the responsibility of another service system.