NEW: our free NDIS Cuts Calculator shows what the 50% community participation cut means for you

From 1 October 2026, the Government is resetting the social, economic and community participation (SECP) budget in NDIS plans by 50%, and Improved Daily Living by 10%. It doesn’t happen to everyone on the same day: the cut lands when your plan is created, reassessed or renewed, and the NDIA says everyone will have had it applied by 30 September 2027.

The headline number is frightening. But the cut is to your budget, not to what you actually use, and many people don’t use their whole community participation budget. Some people will barely notice. Some will lose hours every week. Some may be able to get funding added back. The only way to know which group you’re in is to do the maths with your own figures.

So we built a calculator. It’s free, it works on your phone, and nothing you type into it is sent to us.

Short link to share: thegrowingspace.com.au/cutcalculator

What it tells you

• Your budget before and after the change, per year and per week, with any protected supports (supports in employment, high intensity, and intensive and complex behaviour supports) taken out before the cut is applied.
• The real impact on you. Enter what you’ve spent so far this plan and it works out your spending rate and whether the new budget still covers the supports you actually use, or how far short you’d be, in dollars and in hours.
• The bigger picture. Core funding is flexible, so unused Assistance with Daily Life funding can be used for community participation. Add your ADL figures and it shows whether that covers the gap.
• When it’s likely to hit your plan, based on your plan dates and the NDIA’s timetable for reassessments and renewals.
• What your new weekly budget could buy at 2026-27 NDIS price limits: weekday, evening, weekend and public holiday rates, one-to-one or shared, with a planner so you can build your own week.
• Whether the 24-hour “high support needs” plan variation might apply to you, and a rough idea of how big a top-up could be, using the method set out in the new determination.
• A checklist of things to do now to put yourself in the strongest position before your plan is reassessed or renewed. Tick them off as you go.

You can email your numbers to yourself or your support coordinator, download them as a file, or print them. The email includes a link that reopens your full results, so you don’t have to type everything in again.

What you need to get started

Just three things from your plan: your SECP budget, your plan start date and your plan end date. Everything else is optional and makes the result more accurate. There’s a “Where do I find this?” helper under each box, and a “See an example” link if you’d rather look before you type.

Your figures are remembered on your own device so you can come back and update them as the plan goes on. They are never sent to us.

Six things to do now, whatever your numbers say

1. Get your plan’s budget breakdown. Know exactly what is in your SECP budget and what is protected. If it isn’t written in your plan, ask your my NDIS contact or plan manager, or use the NDIA’s participant information access request form (ask early, it takes a while).
2. Make sure protected supports show up in the NDIA’s records. The NDIA only protects supports in employment, high intensity and intensive behaviour supports where it allocated funding for them when your plan was built, and, for renewed plans, where a claim was made for them during 2026 under the right line items.
3. Don’t ask for a plan reassessment unless you really need one. From 1 October 2026 a reassessment applies the cut straight away, and the cut on its own is not a reason the NDIA will accept.
4. Track your spending so you know your weekly rate and can show what you actually use.
5. Talk to your providers about making the money go further. Shared supports, weekday daytime rather than evenings and weekends, group activities, and prices below the price limit all buy more hours.
6. If you have 24-hour supports, get ready for a plan variation. Check your combined Daily Life, Home and Living and community participation funding is $215,030 or more, gather your roster of care, and diarise the 90-day window from when the cut hits your plan. Ask for any top-up to go into Assistance with Daily Life, not a SIL quote, so you can keep using it for community access.

A guide, not advice

The calculator uses the rules in the NDIS (Support) Determination 2026 and the NDIS (High Support Needs Participants) Determination 2026, their explanatory statements, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s information page, and the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27. It can make mistakes and it doesn’t cover every situation. Only the NDIA can tell you exactly how the change will be applied to your plan.

If you find something that looks wrong, or your situation isn’t handled well, please tell us. We’ve already improved it several times thanks to people testing it with their own plans, and we’ll keep updating it as the NDIA releases more detail.

Please share the link with anyone who has community participation funding in their plan. And if you’d like to hear about new apps and resources like this one, join our mailing list.