NDIS Dictionary: Plain-English Terms Explained
The NDIS comes with a lot of new words, acronyms and funding categories, and some of them changed in 2026. This dictionary explains the terms you’re most likely to see in your plan, in letters from the NDIA, and when talking with providers, in plain English.
Can’t find a term, or not sure what it means for your plan? A Care Navigator can talk it through with you.
Common NDIS Acronyms
| ART – Administrative Review Tribunal | AT – Assistive technology |
| ILO – Individualised Living Options | LAC – Local Area Coordinator |
| MTA – Medium Term Accommodation | NDIA – National Disability Insurance Agency |
| NDIS – National Disability Insurance Scheme | SDA – Specialist Disability Accommodation |
| SIL – Supported Independent Living | STA – Short Term Accommodation |
A–Z
A
Access request
The application to join the NDIS. It includes information about a person’s disability and how it affects their daily life, usually supported by evidence from doctors or allied health professionals. The NDIA decides whether access is granted.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Access Eligibility / Pre-NDIS Support
Allied health professional
A health professional who isn’t a doctor or nurse, such as an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, psychologist or speech pathologist. Their reports are often key evidence for NDIS access and funding.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Specialist Therapies
Assistance with Daily Life
A Core Supports category that funds help with everyday personal tasks, such as personal care, meals, household tasks and getting ready for the day.
Where to find it in your plan: Core Supports budget. Usually a flexible support.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: In-Home Support & Personal Care
Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation
A Core Supports category that funds help to take part in community, social, recreational and economic activities.
Where to find it in your plan: Core Supports budget. Usually a flexible support.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Social & Community Access
Assistive technology (AT)
Equipment or devices that help a participant do things more easily or safely, such as mobility aids, communication devices or bathroom equipment. Low-cost items are usually funded under Consumables. Higher-cost items are funded under Capital Supports.
Where to find it in your plan: Capital Supports budget (higher-cost items), often marked “quote required”.
B
Behaviour support
Specialist support to understand behaviours of concern and reduce them in a respectful, evidence-based way. It often involves a behaviour support practitioner writing a positive behaviour support plan.
Where to find it in your plan: Capacity Building budget, under Improved Relationships.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Specialist Therapies
C
Capacity Building Supports
Funding for supports that build a participant’s skills and independence, such as therapy, Support Coordination and help finding work. Capacity Building funding is stated, so it can’t be moved between categories.
Capital Supports
Funding for higher-cost, one-off items such as assistive technology, home modifications and vehicle modifications. These are stated supports and often need quotes first.
Carer
A family member or friend who provides unpaid support. Carers can be involved in planning, and their situation can be considered when supports are decided.
Check-in
A conversation with your my NDIS contact, usually a few months before your plan’s reassessment date, to talk about how your plan is working and what happens next.
Community Reintegration
Support for people returning to the community after a long stay in hospital, rehabilitation, an institution or custody.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Community Reintegration
Consumables
Everyday items a participant needs because of their disability, such as continence products or low-cost assistive technology.
Where to find it in your plan: Core Supports budget. Usually a flexible support.
Core Supports
Funding for everyday supports. It includes Assistance with Daily Life, Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation, Consumables and, in some plans, Transport. These categories are usually flexible. Home and Living also sits in Core Supports, but it’s a stated support.
D
Decision review
If you disagree with certain NDIA decisions, such as about access or your plan, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed internally. If you still disagree, you can apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Discharge planning
Planning done with the hospital team before a patient leaves hospital, so the right supports and equipment are ready. Discharge decisions are made by the treating hospital team.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: NDIS Hospital to Home Discharge Support
E
Early childhood approach
The NDIS pathway for young children with developmental delay or disability. Early childhood partners help families connect with support, sometimes before or without full NDIS access.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Specialist Therapies (Early Childhood Intervention)
Eligibility
Whether a person meets the requirements to join the NDIS, including age, residency and disability requirements.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Access Eligibility / Pre-NDIS Support
Evidence
Reports, letters and assessments that show how a person’s disability affects their daily life. Strong evidence makes a real difference for access requests, plan reassessments and plan variations.
F
Flexible support
A support category where you can choose which supports to buy and use funding across other flexible categories in the same budget. Your plan says “This is a flexible support.”
Functional capacity assessment
An assessment, often by an occupational therapist, that describes what a participant can and can’t do day to day, and what support they need. Often used as evidence for NDIS funding, including 1:1 SIL.
Funding period
Some plans release funding in set periods (for example, every three months) rather than all at once, so participants can spread funding across the plan.
Where to find it in your plan: shown near your budgets, with the dates each period starts.
G
Goals
What a participant wants to achieve, written into their NDIS plan. Supports in the plan should link back to these goals.
Where to find it in your plan: near the start of your plan.
H
Home and Living Supports
A stated support category in Core Supports that funds help to live as independently as possible at home, such as Supported Independent Living (SIL), Individualised Living Options (ILO) and Medium Term Accommodation. It doesn’t pay for rent or everyday living costs. At Aus Care Community Services, our Home and Living Supports focus on 1:1 SIL and respite.
Where to find it in your plan: Core Supports budget, under Home and Living (a stated support).
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Home and Living Supports
Home modifications
Changes to a home, such as ramps, rails or bathroom changes, that make it safer or easier to live in.
Where to find it in your plan: Capital Supports budget.
I
Improved Daily Living
A Capacity Building category that funds assessments, training and therapy to build skills and independence, such as occupational therapy or speech pathology.
Where to find it in your plan: Capacity Building budget (a stated support).
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Specialist Therapies
Improved Life Choices
A Capacity Building category that funds a plan manager, or supports to build skills to manage your own plan.
Where to find it in your plan: Capacity Building budget (a stated support).
Improved Living Arrangements
A Capacity Building category that funds support to help find and keep a suitable place to live, such as help applying for a rental property or preparing for a rental inspection. Rent and bond aren’t funded by the NDIS.
Where to find it in your plan: Capacity Building budget (a stated support).
Individualised Living Options (ILO)
A flexible home and living arrangement designed around one participant. It may include living with a host, with housemates who give some informal support, or in their own home with a mix of paid and informal support.
L
Local Area Coordinator (LAC)
A person from an NDIA partner organisation who helps people understand and apply for the NDIS, use their plan, and connect with community services. An LAC is often a participant’s “my NDIS contact”.
M
Medium Term Accommodation (MTA)
Temporary accommodation funded when a participant can’t move into their long-term home yet, for example while waiting for home modifications.
my NDIS contact
The NDIA’s name for the person who helps you with your plan, check-ins and reassessments. This is usually a Local Area Coordinator, an early childhood partner, or an NDIA staff member.
my NDIS portal and app
The NDIA’s online portal and app, where participants can view their plan, check funding and manage payments.
N
NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency)
The government agency that runs the NDIS. The NDIA makes decisions about access, plans and funding.
NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme)
Australia’s national scheme that funds reasonable and necessary supports for eligible people with permanent and significant disability.
NDIS Commission
Short for the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. See that entry.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
The independent government body that registers NDIS providers, handles complaints, and oversees the quality and safety of NDIS supports.
NDIS Worker Screening Check
A check that people working with NDIS participants in certain roles must pass, to help keep people with disability safe.
Nominee
A person appointed to make decisions for a participant or help them manage their plan, if the participant needs this.
P
Participant
A person who has been accepted into the NDIS.
Plan
The document setting out a participant’s goals, the supports funded by the NDIS, and how the funding can be used.
Plan implementation meeting
A meeting offered after your plan is approved, to help you understand your plan and start using your funding. You can also ask for one at any time.
Plan management
- NDIA-managed: the NDIA pays providers directly. Only registered providers can be used.
- Plan-managed: a plan manager pays providers and helps track the budget.
- Self-managed: the participant (or their nominee) manages payments themselves.
Plan manager
A provider who pays invoices, tracks spending and helps participants manage their NDIS budget.
Where to find it in your plan: Capacity Building budget, under Improved Life Choices.
Plan reassessment
When the NDIA reassesses a participant’s plan and creates a new one. Scheduled reassessments happen around the reassessment date in the plan. To ask for an early reassessment, there must be a significant and ongoing change in the participant’s support needs or circumstances. Only the participant, their nominee or their child representative can request one, using the NDIA’s request form. The NDIA decides whether to reassess.
Where to find it in your plan: your plan shows a reassessment date. Your my NDIS contact will usually check in a few months before.
Plan renewal
From February 2027, when a plan ends, the NDIA will either reassess it or renew it with the same supports. Unspent funding from the previous plan won’t carry over.
Plan review
The term many people still use for a plan reassessment. See Plan reassessment and Plan variation.
Plan variation
A change to a participant’s existing plan without creating a new one, such as fixing an error, adding recommended assistive technology, crisis funding, updating goals, or changing how funding is managed.
Positive behaviour support plan
A plan written by a behaviour support practitioner that sets out strategies to support a participant and reduce behaviours of concern.
Psychosocial disability
A disability that may arise from a mental health condition and affects a person’s ability to take part in daily life.
Psychosocial Recovery Coach
A worker with mental health experience who helps participants with psychosocial disability plan their recovery, build skills and coordinate supports. Often called a recovery coach.
R
Reasonable and necessary
The test the NDIA uses to decide whether a support can be funded. The support must relate to the participant’s disability, be good value for money, be likely to be effective, and not be better funded by another system such as health or housing.
Recurring supports
One of the four NDIS support budgets. Transport is currently the only recurring support. It’s paid regularly, so you don’t need to make claims.
Registered provider
A provider registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Registered providers must meet the NDIS Practice Standards and pass audits. Participants with NDIA-managed funding can only use registered providers. From 1 July 2026, all providers delivering Supported Independent Living (SIL) must be registered.
Respite
A break for a participant and their carers. Under the NDIS, this is usually funded as Short Term Accommodation.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Home and Living Supports
Restrictive practice
Any practice that restricts a person’s rights or freedom of movement, such as restraint or seclusion. These practices are strictly regulated under the NDIS.
S
Service agreement
A written agreement between a participant and a provider that sets out which supports will be delivered, how, and at what cost.
Shared SIL (shared-support home)
Supported Independent Living where two or more participants live together and share support workers. Aus Care Community Services provides 1:1 SIL only.
Short Term Accommodation (STA)
Short stays away from home with support included, often used for respite.
Where to find it in your plan: usually Core Supports. Check your plan, as this can vary.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Home and Living Supports
Social housing
Long-term, affordable rental housing provided by the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) and community housing providers, who decide eligibility and timeframes. Housing itself, rent and bond aren’t funded by the NDIS. Aus Care Community Services doesn’t provide housing. Where funded in a participant’s plan, a Care Navigator can help with housing applications and connecting with housing services.
Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)
Purpose-built or modified housing for participants with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. SDA funds the home itself, not the support provided in it. Aus Care Community Services doesn’t provide SDA.
Stated support
A support category where funding can only be used for the supports described in your plan. Your plan says “This is a stated support.” Some stated supports need quotes before the funding is available.
Support Coordination
- Support Connection
- Coordination of Supports
- Specialist Support Coordination
Where to find it in your plan: Capacity Building budget, under Support Coordination (a stated support).
Related Aus Care Community Services service: NDIS Support Coordination
Supported Independent Living (SIL)
Help or supervision with daily tasks at home, for participants who need support at all times of the day or for most of the day. From 1 July 2026, SIL providers must be registered with the NDIS Commission. Aus Care Community Services is a registered SIL provider.
Where to find it in your plan: Core Supports budget, under Home and Living (a stated support).
1:1 SIL
SIL where one participant has their own dedicated support workers and doesn’t share support with housemates. This is the SIL model Aus Care Community Services provides.
Related Aus Care Community Services service: Home and Living Supports
T
Transport
Funding to help with getting around, for participants who can’t use public transport without substantial difficulty because of their disability. In most plans, transport funding now sits in the Recurring supports budget, paid regularly without needing to make claims.
Where to find it in your plan: Recurring supports budget (in most plans).
What Your NDIS Plan Looks Like: A Labelled Sample
NDIS plans can feel confusing the first time you open one. Every NDIS plan is organised into up to four support budgets. Below is a simplified sample plan showing the sections you’re likely to see, with plain-English notes explaining each part.
Plan details
Participant: Sam Example (sample only)
Plan start date: DD/MM/YYYY
Reassessment date: DD/MM/YYYY
My NDIS contact: [name / organisation]
1. About me
A short description of Sam, their disability, living situation and support network.
2. My goals
- “I want to cook some of my own meals.”
- “I want to join a local community group.”
3. How my funding is managed
Plan-managed
4. My supports and budgets
Core Supports
- Assistance with Daily Life: $X,XXX (This is a flexible support)
- Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation: $X,XXX (This is a flexible support)
- Consumables: $XXX (This is a flexible support)
- Home and Living: $XX,XXX (This is a stated support)
Capacity Building Supports
- Support Coordination: $X,XXX (This is a stated support)
- Improved Daily Living: $X,XXX (This is a stated support)
- Improved Life Choices: $X,XXX (This is a stated support)
Capital Supports
- Assistive technology: $X,XXX (This is a stated support – quote required)
Recurring Supports
- Transport: $X,XXX
5. Funding periods
Funding released every 3 months (sample)
This is a simplified, fictional sample for education only. Amounts are placeholders. Real NDIS plans vary in layout, wording and funding, and newer plans may look different from older ones. Always check your own plan, and contact the NDIA if anything is unclear.
Got your plan and not sure what it means?
Speak with a Care NavigatorQuestions to Ask About Your Plan
- Which of my supports are flexible, and which are stated?
- Is Support Coordination funded, and which level?
- Do my needs count as a significant change for a plan reassessment, or would a plan variation be better?
- What should I prepare before my check-in?
- Which providers can I use with the way my plan is managed?
Bring your plan and your questions.
Speak with a Care NavigatorStill not sure what a term means for your plan?
Speak with a Care NavigatorReviewed by the Aus Care Community Services Care Navigator team. Last reviewed: 16 September 2026.
Sources
- NDIA: Changes to plan reassessments
- NDIA: What is a plan reassessment
- NDIA: Securing the NDIS for future generations
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Securing the NDIS for future generations
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Reform timeline
- NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission: Mandatory registration for SIL
- NDIS: Pricing updates
This information is general in nature and reflects NDIS information available at the time of writing on 16 September 2026. The NDIS is changing, and rules, dates and processes may be updated after this article is published. It is not legal, financial or individual NDIS advice and should not be relied on for decisions about your plan. What the NDIS funds, and decisions about access, plans and reassessments, are made by the NDIA. For the latest information, visit ndis.gov.au or call the NDIS on 1800 800 110. For help understanding your own situation, Speak with a Care Navigator.
