NDIS access changes

The government is changing how people qualify for the NDIS. The old lists of conditions are going. Instead, access will be decided on functional capacity, meaning what a person can do in everyday life, measured in a standard way.

From 1 January 2028, two more tests apply. A condition only counts as permanent if the person has had “all appropriate treatment”. And new applicants can be refused if another program should support them instead.

Everyone already on the NDIS will be reassessed under the new tests, over three years from 2028. The Department asked for feedback on how the changes should work.

We made a submission because every week we meet people at the edge of the NDIS, after their Medicare sessions have run out or a public mental health team has discharged them. We commented only on psychosocial and neurodevelopmental disability, because that is what we know.

See also our submission on the NDIS planning and supports rules.

We support the direction of the changes. Deciding access on what a person can do is fairer than deciding it on a diagnosis, and the Scheme has to be sustainable. Our concern is how the new tests will work for people with psychosocial disability, meaning disability that comes from a mental health condition.

• Measure what a person can keep doing. One appointment can’t show whether someone can start a task without a prompt, keep going and do it again tomorrow. For many people, that is where the disability is.
• Be fair about treatment. Medicare funds ten therapy sessions a year. People shouldn’t be refused for treatment they couldn’t get or afford, or that didn’t improve what they can do.
• Check the other door is open. No one should be sent to another program unless it is running where they live and has a place for them.
• Write the safeguards down. The paper doesn’t yet say who will assess, with what tools, or how to challenge a wrong result. Assessors should be qualified in the disability they assess.
• Protect people already on the NDIS. Reassessment should start from the person’s file, with no cuts until review rights are used up, and a proper handover for anyone who loses access.

Not yet. The consultation closes on 2 October 2026. The feedback goes to the Technical Advisory Group on functional capacity, which advises the Government, and the Department says there will be further consultation on eligibility thresholds and transition. The access changes start on 1 January 2028.