FundBuddy
If you've seen "50% cut" in a headline this month and felt your stomach drop, this page is for you. Here is what the NDIA has actually published, what other organisations have added, and what it means for a plan like yours.
What changes on 1 October
From 1 October 2026 the NDIA begins reducing the amounts it allocates in two support categories:
- Social, economic and community participation (the category many families use for group programs, community access and support workers out and about)
- Improved daily living skills (the capacity building category that often holds therapy)
That is the NDIA's own description in its notice of 17 September 2026 (Changes to support budgets from 1 October). The notice names the categories. It does not publish percentages.
The figures you have seen, a 50 per cent reduction for social, civic and community participation and 10 per cent for capacity building daily activities, come from People with Disability Australia and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. PWDA also makes a point worth holding onto: a reduction in the allocation "does not necessarily mean every participant will spend exactly 50 per cent or 10 per cent less."
When it reaches you
Nothing happens to your current plan on 1 October. The NDIA says the change applies "as plans are created or reassessed from 1 October 2026 or renewed from 1 February 2027", phased in over about twelve months.
So the date that matters is not 1 October. It is the date your plan is next created, reassessed or renewed. That date is on page one of your plan.
What is excluded
The NDIA lists several groups of supports that the reductions do not touch, including:
- supports in employment
- disability-related health supports
- high intensity supports
- intensive and complex behaviour supports
- everyday supports such as help with eating, drinking, dressing, toileting, laundry and cleaning
- nursing care and medication
- home and vehicle modifications, personal mobility equipment and specialist disability accommodation
On 17 September the NDIA said it would publish a full list of unaffected supports shortly. If your supports sit in the grey area, that list is the thing to wait for, and your plan manager or NDIA contact is the person to ask.
Can you challenge it?
The NDIA states that the change to the allocation itself is not a reviewable decision. What you can still do is request a plan reassessment or a plan variation if your circumstances have changed. The NDIA is clear that having used funding early is not, by itself, treated as an emergency; a request needs to be about a change in needs, with evidence (What is a plan variation).
What a family can do now
- Find your dates. Plan end and reassessment date are on page one. Funding period end dates are in your plan's funding component pages. Put all of them in the calendar.
- Know your pace. Take what is left in the current funding period, subtract any support you have received but not yet claimed, and divide by the weeks left. That is the number to spend to, not the balance on the screen. The NDIA notes on its budget calculator page that portal figures "may be more than you actually have available" because of payment delays.
- Keep the record. If your next plan is going to be smaller in a category, the conversation at reassessment is easier with evidence of what was actually bought, when, and against which category. Self-managers should already be keeping five years of receipts (How to self-manage your funding).
- Talk to providers early. If a period is getting tight, the NDIA describes claiming a support against the next funding period when you and the provider agree and the plan still covers the rest of the year (What is NDIS funding). Those conversations go better three weeks out than three days out.
Where FundBuddy fits
FundBuddy is an iPhone app that does the sum in step 2 for you, every time you add a claim, and keeps the record in step 3. It shows what is safe to spend this funding period, forecasts where each category will land, keeps receipt photos with each claim, and produces a one-page PDF for plan reviews. It is built in Brisbane by someone who manages a plan in his own family.
It is independent. FundBuddy is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) or the NDIS. The subscription is a personal expense, priced the same for everyone.