NDIS questions, answered

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is Australia's national scheme for funding supports for people with a permanent and significant disability. It is run by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), an independent Commonwealth agency, and it funds supports that are reasonable and necessary to help you pursue your goals and take part in everyday life. Skilled Care Options is a registered NDIS provider delivering disability supports across Victoria — you can read more about our NDIS supports.

Access to the NDIS is decided by the NDIA against rules it sets — not by any provider. As a general guide, you usually need to be under 65 when you first apply, be an Australian citizen or hold a permanent or special category visa, and have a permanent and significant disability, or need early intervention supports. The NDIA makes the final decision, so if you are not sure whether you can access the NDIS, your local area coordinator or the NDIA can help you check — and you are welcome to contact our team to talk it through.

A support coordinator helps you understand and make the most of your NDIS plan. They can help you find and connect with providers, set up your services, build your confidence to manage your supports, and sort out problems if they come up. Support coordination is funded in some plans but not all — your plan will show whether it is included. Support coordinators, plan managers and families are welcome to make a referral or get in touch.

It comes down to who handles the money and paperwork for your plan. Self-managed means you manage your NDIS funding yourself, including paying providers and keeping records. Plan-managed means a plan manager pays your providers and tracks your budget for you. NDIA-managed — also called agency-managed — means the NDIA pays your registered providers directly. You can have a mix across your plan, and we work with self-managed, plan-managed and NDIA-managed participants alike.

If your plan is plan-managed, a plan manager receives the invoices from your providers, pays them from your NDIS budget, and keeps track of what you have spent so you can see how your funding is going. It gives you more choice of providers than agency management while taking the admin off your hands, and it does not reduce your other supports because plan management is funded separately in your plan. Plan management is one of the supports we offer — you can read more on our plan management page.

The easiest way is to get in touch. Tell us about the person, their goals and the supports they are looking for, and we will talk through how we can help and what the next steps are. As a registered NDIS provider in Victoria, we can support self-managed, plan-managed and NDIA-managed participants. You can contact our team or make a referral, and we will be in touch to talk through the next steps.

Yes. You can usually change providers when your current service agreement allows it — it helps to check the notice period in your agreement, and to line up your new provider before you give notice so your supports continue without a gap. If you would like to move your supports to us, contact our team and we will help you make the change with as little disruption as possible.

The NDIS funds supports that are reasonable and necessary and connected to your goals. These can include help with daily personal care, supported independent living, community participation, allied health and nursing, and support to build skills or find work. As a registered NDIS provider in Victoria, we deliver a range of these supports — for example daily living support and supported independent living. You can see everything we offer on our services.

You can raise a concern or complaint with us directly — we take all feedback seriously, and it helps keep people safe. You can share feedback or a complaint, anonymously if you prefer, through our feedback and complaints page. That page also lists how to contact the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission — the independent body that oversees NDIS providers — and how to reach an interpreter through TIS National, if you would rather raise your concern outside our organisation.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) — not any provider — sets the national price limits for NDIS supports, and it reviews and updates them from time to time, typically each 1 July. The edition currently in force is the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2026–27, effective 1 July 2026 (we last reviewed this guidance on 26 July 2026). An update like this doesn’t, by itself, change the funding in your plan — your plan budget stays the same until your plan is next reviewed or reassessed. What can change is the maximum rate a provider may charge against that budget for a support. To see how an update affects you, check your plan and your service agreements, and talk to your plan manager or support coordinator. For a plain-language walk-through, read our guide to what an NDIS pricing update means, or see how plan management checks invoices against the current limits for you. We don’t state specific prices here — the NDIA’s official pricing arrangements always hold the figures that apply to you.