NDIS Cuts Calculator

How will the NDIS funding change affect my community supports?

From 1 October 2026 the NDIS is reducing available funding for social, economic and community participation (SECP) supports by 50%, and Improved Daily Living by 10%.

This calculator shows what the 50% SECP change could mean for you, based on your current plan and how you have actually been using it. It does not calculate the 10% Improved Daily Living change.

What is changing, and when?

The Government has made a support determination that resets the social, economic and community participation budget in NDIS plans by 50% (and improved daily living skills by 10%). It doesn't happen to everyone on the same day. It is applied to your plan when your plan is created, reassessed or renewed.

  • 1 October 2026All reassessed and first plans from this date will have this reduction (scheduled or unscheduled reassessments).
  • From 1 February 2027All plan renewals will also have the reduction. A renewal (sometimes called an extension or reset plan) is when your plan is repeated or extended without a full reassessment.
  • By 30 September 2027Everyone with community participation funding will have had their plan reassessed or renewed with the reduction applied. If your scheduled reassessment date is on or after 1 October 2027, the NDIA says it will happen sooner, before 1 October 2027.

Until your plan is reassessed or renewed you can keep using your current plan as it is. Some supports inside the community participation budget are not reduced: supports in employment, high intensity supports, and intensive and complex behaviour supports. The NDIA identifies the protected amount from its own planning records (it is often not written separately in your plan), and for plans being renewed it also needs to see a claim for those supports during 2026. Plans made under the new planning framework (starting from 1 April 2027) will not be reduced in this way.

The rules are set out in two legal instruments made on 28 September 2026: the NDIS (Support) Determination 2026 and the NDIS (High Support Needs Participants) Determination 2026. Both start on 1 October 2026. Each has an explanatory statement with worked examples (links at the bottom of this page).

What about the 10% cut to Improved Daily Living?

The same support determination reduces Improved Daily Living funding (the Capacity Building budget that pays for therapy, assessments and skills training) by 10%, on the same timetable as the community participation change. This calculator does not work out the Improved Daily Living change.

The Government says these supports are protected from the reductions wherever they appear in your plan:

  • Supports in employment
  • Disability-related health supports (for example nursing and health-related support delivered because of your disability)
  • High intensity supports
  • Intensive and complex behaviour supports
  • Customised and wearable technology
  • Hearing services

In the Improved Daily Living budget the protected supports are mainly disability-related health supports, hearing services and customised or wearable technology. The NDIA says it will identify the protected funding in your plan when it is reassessed or renewed, and you don't need to give them extra information.

Work out what the 50% change means for you

Only step 1 is needed to get a result. The other steps are optional and make it more accurate.

1. Start here: three things from your plan

This is all you need for a result. Steps 2 to 5 are optional and make the result more accurate.

How would you like to enter your budget?
Where do I find this?

In the my NDIS app or participant portal: My plan → Budget → Core → Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation. On a printed plan it is listed under Core supports. If you are plan managed, your plan manager's app or statement shows it. If your plan only shows one flexible Core amount, ask your planner or plan manager for the category breakdown, request it from the NDIA (this can take a while) or email enquiries@ndis.gov.au. If your plan is more than a year old and has been indexed, the exact current figure can be hard to pin down; your best estimate is fine.

2. What you've spent so far (optional, but recommended)

The cut is to your budget, not to what you actually use. Enter your spending to see the real impact on you.

Leave out spending on any protected supports (step 3). Those are still community participation supports, but they are not being cut, so they don't count here. If all your community supports are protected, leave this blank.
Where do I find this?

my NDIS app or portal: Budget → the category shows what has been spent and what is left. Plan managed: your plan manager's app or monthly statement. Self managed: add up your payment requests in the portal, or ask your plan manager or support coordinator.

Or the date your spending figure is up to.
3. Protected supports (optional)
Does your SECP budget include supports in employment, high intensity supports, or intensive and complex behaviour supports? These are still community participation supports, paid from your SECP budget, but they are protected from the 50% cut. Most people don't have them.
4. Your Assistance with Daily Life funding (optional)
Do you want to include your Assistance with Daily Life (ADL) budget? Core funding is flexible, so unused ADL funding can be used for community participation. Including it shows the bigger picture. It is also needed for step 5 if you get 24-hour supports.
5. 24-hour supports (only if this applies to you)

Participants with very high support needs may be able to ask for a plan variation if the cut would leave a gap in their 24-hour disability supports.

Do you receive 24-hour funded NDIS supports (day and night) for support needs that come directly from the impairments you access the NDIS for?