Reasonable and Necessary
The Australian Government made laws about what they can fund under the NDIS. All supports need to meet the criteria in these laws before they can fund them in your plan. These are called the NDIS funding criteria. For example, supports need to be related to your disability, value for money, effective and beneficial, and most appropriately funded or provided by the NDIS. Each support must meet these criteria individually, but the supports must also meet the criteria when considered as a package.
Browse the guideline using the links or download a copy:
Reasonable and necessary supports
The NDIS funds a range of supports and services which may include education, employment, social participation, independence, living arrangements and health and wellbeing.
In order to be considered reasonable and necessary, a support or service:
- must be related to a participant’s disability
- must not include day-to-day living costs not related to your disability support needs, such as groceries
- should represent value for money
- must be likely to be effective and work for the participant, and
- should take into account support given to you by other government services, your family, carers, networks and the community.
A participant’s reasonable and necessary supports take into account any informal supports already available to the individual (informal arrangements that are part of family life or natural connections with friends and community services) as well as other formal supports, such as health and education.
These supports will help participants to:
- pursue their goals, objectives and aspirations
- increase their independence
- increase community and workplace participation, and
- develop their capacity to actively take part in the community.
How does the NDIA work out what is reasonable and necessary?
The NDIA makes decisions based on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act) and the rules made under the NDIS Act. The operational guidelines also provide practical guidance for decision makers.
When the NDIA makes decisions about which supports would be reasonable and necessary for a particular participant, we refer to the particular operational guideline that relates to each specific support.
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