How do we decide if supports for work meet the NDIS funding criteria?

All NDIS supports must meet the NDIS funding criteria.

This includes that it’s an NDIS support for you.

Ask yourself the questions below. They can help you think about whether we can consider funding NDIS supports for work for you.

Is the support for work an NDIS support for you?

A support for work will be an NDIS support for you if either:

• the NDIS laws say that the support is an NDIS support for everyone
• the NDIS laws say that the support is only for a specific group of people and you’re part of that group. 

NDIS supports are the services, items and equipment that can be funded under the NDIS.

We might not be able to fund all the supports you need for work.

Some supports you need for your disability might not be our responsibility to fund and may be better funded or provided through:

• other mainstream services. For more information, go to Our Guideline – Mainstream and community supports
• Disability Employment Services or Job Access
• Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
• other government departments, or your state or territory government
• your business or employer.

Your employer is responsible for providing you with reasonable adjustments.

Your employer might be able to get funding for some of these things, such as workplace modifications through the Employment Assistance Fund .

Reasonable adjustments include support and changes that will help you:

• do your work tasks safely
• have the same opportunity to get a job, develop in your job and get promoted
• be treated fairly at work
• do your job as well as you can.

For more information, check out the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

We can’t fund supports that are better funded or provided through another program, service, or your workplace.

We call these ‘mainstream supports’ because they’re provided by mainstream services.

Mainstream supports are available to other Australians and are not just for people with a disability. 

Is the support for work related to your disability support needs?

We’ll only fund the extra support you need related to your disability.

This means there must be a direct link between your disability support needs and the NDIS supports we fund.

These are not the responsibility of your employer or employment program to provide.

For example, we might fund things like personal care while you’re at work or support to explore what sort of work will suit you. We don’t fund supports for work that aren’t related to your disability support needs. 

If you’re working, your workplace should provide training, supervision and coaching to help you understand your role. This is the same for everyone at work.

Sometimes you might need extra support because of your disability.

This could include things like helping you stay on track with work tasks or working as part of a team. We may be able to fund this extra help at work.

Is the support an effective and beneficial NDIS support for you?

We need to check the NDIS supports for work we fund will be effective and beneficial for you.

 We also look at how effective the supports have been for other people in similar circumstances as you. 

We know building your work skills can take time. We think about what supports will help you to build your skills over time and what funding can help with this.

We’ll talk with you to understand the support you need to participate in work and how the NDIS support we fund could help you:

Does the support help you pursue your goals?

Having a job brings many benefits. If you’re looking to develop your work skills, get a job, or change jobs we think about if NDIS supports are likely to help you pursue your work goals. 

For us to fund NDIS supports for work you need to have a work goal in your plan.

This could be a goal to build your skills for work, get a job, volunteer or do work experience. Learn more about setting goals .

The Let’s talk about work booklet can help you to think and talk about:

• your skills, abilities and interests
• work experiences and history
• barriers to getting a job
• the help you need to build skills for work and choose a suitable job or career path
• the support you need at work or to change jobs if you’re already working
• developing employment goals that reflect what you hope to achieve.

Achieving goals usually takes many different kinds of supports.

NDIS supports will most likely be just one kind of support that helps you work toward your goals.

Is the support legal and safe to use?

The NDIS supports for work we fund must be legal and safe for you and other people.

We won’t fund anything that puts you or others at risk. 

Is the support value for money?

Your NDIS supports for work must be value for money compared to other supports.  It’s important to consider:

• if there are supports that might achieve the same outcome that cost less 
• if your NDIS supports for work will help you in the long term 
• if your NDIS supports for work could help you become more independent or reduce your support needs in future. 

Do we expect friends, family, or the community to provide this support?

We think about whether we would usually expect family, friends or others in the community to provide the kind of supports you need. 

This includes thinking about the different supports that are usually provided by family and friends at different ages.

For example, a parent may support a young person who’s still at school to understand what’s involved in a job interview and may provide support to get to and from an after-school job.

Parents would not usually provide intensive assistance to build work skills, or help an employer to understand their obligations or how best to support their child at work.

We don’t expect family or friends to provide personal care in the workplace.