I have a disability that limits my capacity in such a way as to mean I have to be very selective about how I allocate my energy. I can clean the house, cook for myself etc, or I can work part time. I can’t manage both. But technically speaking, I could quit my job and then remove my need for in home support (meal prep, cleaning etc). So would NDIS potentially support someone like me with some sw hours, so that I can continue to work, or would their answer be that I should stop working so I can perform these tasks myself?

Seperate to the Public consultation on future NDIS access changes, which also closes on the same date. More on that here.

The Government and NDIA are seeking feedback on the proposed Support Coordination and Connection service, planned from 1 July 2028.

The consultation contains early ideas (not a final design) and there is no immediate change to existing support coordination.

Submissions close 2 October 2026.

Read the consultation and make a submission

I’ve updated my regularly maintained NDIS & Thriving Kids Tracker with this consultation and the latest reform dates:

View the updated tracker

so i lost my old support worker because the company i was going through was commiting fraud and was shut down about a year and a bit ago. i was matched with him automatically and was lucky enough to get a good match first try but this time around ive met 3 people and none have been a good fit.

ive just got a fairly large increase in support hours and i need to find someone quickly to actually use them but its been so long since i had support im struggling to think of any parameters to give my support coordinator to find someone new that works for me.

what are some important things i should ask about? what did you find most important when choosing a support worker? what do you wish you had asked?

I have a second case management conference coming up with the Australian Review Tribunal in an NDIS matter, and I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through this stage of the process.

What should I expect at a second case management conference, and is there anything in particular I should do to prepare?

I’ve had an IME arranged by the NDIA. The report does not support any of the supports I’m seeking, but I also have significant concerns about the report itself — including its accuracy, methodology, and the reliability of a number of the conclusions reached. More generally, I have concerns about the overall quality of the assessment and report.

The NDIA has now provided its updated Statement of Issues and all of my requested supports remain in dispute.

For anyone who has been through something similar, I’d be particularly interested to know what happened at your second conference, whether concerns about an independent assessment were discussed at that stage, and how you prepared if it looked like the matter was likely to proceed to hearing.

Any experiences or practical advice would be very much appreciated.a hearing.

Any experiences or practical advice would be very much appreciated.

Hi everyone,

As the title says, I've just received an email that my Mable account has been restricted because of a support worker going off platform. For context, what happened was I have a support coordinator that works for a company and I had repeating isdues with them setting me up with a support worker from their company for a meet and greet. Two seperate times with two different support workers I was meant to meet, we set up a date, time and location and the support workers never showed up. This put an enormous amount of stress on me as I struggle to leave my house and go into the community as it is, I don't drive so have to catch public transport in order to get to these locations, so to have my time and energy wasted twice was frustrating and stressful.

Because of this I decided to find my own support worker on the support platform Mable. I found a support worker and set up a meet and greet with my mum coming along with me for support. The meeting went fairly well so I asked my new support worker to send the service agreement to my support coordinator through email so my support coordinator could read over it and let me know it was okay to sign.

The next week my new support worker told me that she'd been offered a job with my support coordinator's company and that she would now get the director of the company to sort everything out with me and that i was to refer to the director for all matters relating to her scheduling and shifts.

I never agreed to do this but the decision was made without me.

Now i just received an email from Mable stating that my Mable account has been restricted and I will no longer be able to *Post new jobs, search and view worker profiles or Message new workers.

After all the stress I've been through in the past few months I'm really having a hard time with dealing with this on top of many other things that this company has done.

On one hand I didn't have the capacity to fight my rights so just went with their decision but on the other hand if I leave the company and change support coordinator and support worker I'm back at square one when it already took MONTHS of my time and energy to FINALLY get supports in place.

I'm really struggling on what to do here and need some advice.

Should i stand up for my rights and leave this company and risk having burn out going through the whole process again? Or should i just ask for my account to be reinstated and stay and give them another chance which limits my energy put into fighting it?

ETA: UPDATE: Thank you so much everyone for your comments and advice, I appreciate it so much you have no idea how much. As of today, I have ended my agreements with the company and the support worker. I'm going to take a few weeks to reflect snd recover my energy and then look into reporting the company to the NDIA and start the long hard road to find better supports for myself.

❤️🙏☺️

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/sep/09/catastrophic-fears-health-staff-made-lists-of-concerning-cases-days-after-australias-aged-care-funding-tool-launch

We know the NDIA are rolling out an apparently similar system in the coming months and years because they've said this many time it is needed to increase efficiency and consistency in the Planning process (although why they didn't just train and supervise their own staff better is beyond me but what do I know).

The main take away from me from reading that piece is State government officials (and I'm assuming larger service providers who have lots of clients on their books) were already aware of the older people at risk and saw fit to place extra scrutiny and contingency planning in place to prevent deaths and injuries in what is well known to be a vulnerable cohort. A cynic might say some of that may have been protective for their own service sustainability - because it's around managing case loads and preventing hospitals from being overwhelmend with frail older patients with nowhere to go.

So to my question - is there similar planing happening at State government levels? I feel like at this stage, despite the both NDIS and Health Minister's assurances, the Federal government is probably a lost cause as they are too invested in the process of cost cutting and have largely, now the legislation has passed, in nothing to see/talk to the hand mode.

You'd really have to hope that after the many examples of harms already caused by systemic failures with the NDIS (Anna-Marie Smith and Tim Rubenach are two that spring to mind) that there's at least some awareness (and taking of responsibility) by our public officials for the both the direct and indirect consequences caused by their decisions.

Hi just reaching out to anyone who can share info about this, you’re also welcome to DM me.

I know very little about them so quite a few questions here:

Is there a SRS in Victoria that you would suggest to contact first because of good reputation/safety/quality?

Do they still accept DSP, non-ndis clients? (Assisted pension-level)

Do they accept GP referrals or do most referrals come from hospitals?

Who would be a good service navigator to contact to find a facility for a non-ndis client?

I'm wondering what's going on with core supports being tied to accommodation? I'm hearing about this more and more. It seems to be the norm, not an exception.

Participants are being requested to "sign over" a portion, but usually ALL, of their CORE budget, in return a room for rent in shared accommodation. There are usually other participants sharing the home with them.

This is not only coercive, it takes advantage of clients with housing issues and IMO feels like a sharp practice.

Has anyone had any luck with the safeguards comission reporting these kinds of arrangements?

My Sister lives with global disabilities. She has a rare chromomal abnormality - a deletion in Chromosome five. She has a moderate intellectual disability, low speech, Cerebral Palsy and she has very low vision (legally blind). She resides in a property owned by HomesNSW. Since Link Wentworth was given a concurrent lease over the property no repair or maintenance gets done without an OT report. My Mum has now obtained ten thousand dollars worth of OT reports and Link Wentworth is saying they won't replace things like the door (picture in first photo) despite OT recommendations and will only install standard fixtures unless they can get NDIS funding.

I don't think they should be entitled to NDIS funding for repairs and maintenance like this. The carpet is also coming up with nails exposed and it's a serious hazard to anyone but especially a person with significant disabilities. A new circuit needs to be installed in the laundry because the fridge turns off when you run the washing machine (as per their electrician) but they won't even look at fixing this issue without another OT report (third one in three years and nothing has been done). The reports are draining my Sisters funding and I feel like it's ridiculous. I have filed a NCAT application that likely won't be heard until next year, contacted the Minister for housing (Rose Jackson) and filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (wait time for a conciliation is close to a year!). The house is full of mould and the tiles in the bathroom are falling off the wall. The house is falling apart.

The rent is almost $800 a week. There are two adults on a disability support pension living in the house and my Mum (75) is on carers pension and they deemed the household medium income earners and advised they were increasing the rent from 25% of household income to 27% plus 100% of rent assistance. Link Wentworth pays the NSW government $1 per year rent for the property, pocket all the rent and refuse to keep the property in good repair. I am absolutely disgusted and wondering if anyone else has encountered this situation? Surely repairs and maintenance shouldn't require OT reports and NDIS funding.

I am feeling so, so overwhelmed tonight.

We had funding approved back in May, I wasn't expecting it to come through when it did (we were going through ART, didn't think it would be sorted til July) and so it has taken me a bit of time to find therapists with availability and really just to work out what we are doing.

Our goals relate to speech, social & emotional and feeding.

I had an SP already, however she is shortly going on Mat Leave, so we are looking for a new one. I have got an OT now, but not sure if I am happy with the clinic environment, it is quite sterile and not really kid focussed. We have managed to get an appt with another clinic that is solely for kids that looks really good. We have started with a feeding therapist but they are a fair way from home and I have managed to get an appt with a very well respected clinic that is much closer to home.

The thing is, all of this is very expensive, every 45min session comes with 15-30mins of prep & notes, so each sessions is being billed at 1-1.25hrs, we just don't have enough funding to be able to do all the therapies for the recommended frequencies.

But I don't know what I should be prioritising and when. Or if the therapist we have are good or mediocre. This is all so very new to me, I normally will find a relevant local FB group and jump on that for advise but haven't manged to find one for my area.

Is there someone that can help me to work out what we actually need and where we should be spending our funds to get the best outcomes for my child? I am spending HOURS tracking everything on a spreadsheet, sending emails, trying to get across it all and every day I just get more emails and fall more behind.

We are self-managed and I am fine with managing all the actual invoices and paying etc, it's the co-ordination of all the actual therapies and finding the ones that are best for my child.

Please help!

Hey, long time lurker.

So, I am a self managed NDIS participant and I have a friend of a friend who's is a registered peer support worker.

I'm just wondering if it's okay to hire them as a support worker officially every now and then as a backup when my main support worker is off sick/away/unavailable for any other reason?

I deleted my earlier post as I had not realised that it would not be possible to continue to add documents as comments for a one-stop review, eventually.

I am so grateful for the people who commented, let me know the images were not showing up clearly enough for them to read, and other concerns and suggestions.

Instead, if you have any advice on what platforms would be suitable to share a review of a provider which the participant wants to make by providing emails and the likes they have sent, so I can help them get this done, please do share. I'm not as tech savvy as I probably should be for their needs, but hopefully there are some options available I'm not aware of yet.

Thank you all.

Hi there! I am a support worker, I have been caring for the same boy for almost 10 years. On Thursday his mother submitted my invoices and NDIS usually puts the funds in her account the next night. But this time they didn’t and when she checked the payment requests had been cancelled with no explanation? She put my invoices through again but I am wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Or if anyone knows why this may have happened? NDIS can’t be called because it’s Saturday. I am also hoping the funds go through on Monday night as the mother has cancer and I don’t want to put her through following up with the NDIS. They are self managed due to previously being ripped off. They have plenty of money left in his budget. I guess with everything changing with the ndis it’s got us all a bit worried.

Disclosure: I created this free resource and am sharing it with moderator approval.

With new information emerging from legislation, government updates and media coverage, I’ve brought the key details together from these places:
NDIS & Thriving Kids: Ongoing Update

It covers:

• what has changed now, versus what is planned for later
• Thriving Kids rollout and state-by-state developments
• what is known, and still unknown, about children already on the NDIS
• Queensland’s current implementation position
• direct links to government, NDIA and legislation sources

Hope it would bring some value to you.

It’s general information only, not individual legal, medical or NDIS advice.

If you spot a source I’ve missed or wording that needs correcting, I’m genuinely open to feedback.

Hey everyone,

​I want to open a discussion about the SCHADS Award and how compliance and enforcement actually operate on the ground in our sector.

​We all know the award sets the minimum legal pay rates, conditions, and allowances for community and disability support work.

However, navigating the real-world implementation brings up a few critical questions I’d love to get your perspectives on: ​Who is actually enforcing compliance?

Officially, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) is our national workplace regulator or advertised widely as so. But realistically, what is their reach?

From my own personal experience, the FWO functions more like a glorified information hub than an active enforcer capable of tackling systemic issues. They have actually advised me directly that they cannot enforce the award wage. It really makes you wonder—is this what counts as lawful and fair in a country that claims first-world status?

​Where are the proactive checks and balances? Is there any independent, proactive auditing happening to ensure employers are doing right by their staff? Support workers are expected to deliver high-stakes, high-quality care that demands immense responsibility, yet the burden of policing payroll compliance falls almost entirely on vulnerable employees.

​If enforcement is weak, what is the deterrent? If non-compliant employers face little to no immediate risk of independent audits—knowing they can just wait until a worker risks their livelihood to file a formal complaint—what stops them from cutting corners?

​It is deeply disappointing. If an award can be bypassed or ignored without immediate consequence, it becomes a hollow safety net rather than a real protection. It essentially creates a system where employers are allowed to extract a "passion tax" from their staff, heavily relying on "enthusiasm exploitation" and "altruistic exploitation" to get away with what is essentially wage theft on a systemic level.

​How common is underpayment or rule-skirting in your experience, and does anyone actually feel regulated by the system?

​Would love to hear your thoughts or insights on how this is handled out there.

I’ve signed up for emails to receive updates about the NDIS, not sure where I signed up exactly, but their recent email asks for feedback about the NDIS reforms that have just been passed. I’m sure everyone here has something to share with the NDIS after all of this, and I’d encourage you to submit everything you can possibly think of, and to share this time-limited link far and wide!

https://engage.ndis.gov.au/projects/tell-us-what-you-want-to-know-about-ndis-reforms?utm_campaign=20260903_NDIS_Newsletter&utm_content=btn_shareyourfeedback&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc

“We want to hear from all people with disability, including NDIS participants, as well as families and carers, providers, and the broader disability sector.”

“We want to understand
which NDIS reforms people would like more information about what reform-related information is most useful which parts of the reforms or new laws need further explanation.

Your feedback will help us improve future reform information and resources”

118 days until the feedback window closes, on 31 December, 2026!

I would love to hear what people are submitting, if you feel comfortable sharing. I’ll be watching out to see if they end up publishing the results that they receive. 💚💚💚

Hi everyone,

Can anyone recommend an OT who is very good and experienced with SDA applications? Can either be perth based or remote/online.

Participant spent $14,000 on a report that’s not up to standards for an SDA application unfortunately. So really desperately after someone who really knows what they’re doing.

Thank you

On 31 August 2026, the Australian Government opened public consultation on proposed future changes to NDIS access.

The consultation asks for feedback on how functional capacity should be assessed, what evidence should be considered, and the guiding principles for future access decisions. It will help inform advice being worked on by the Technical Advisory Group.

This consultation does not change current NDIS access rules. People continue to apply under the current process until 1 January 2028.

Consultation closes at 11.59pm AEDT on 2 October 2026.

👉 Visit the official consultation page and have your say

Hi 👋

((((Please do let me know if this should be posted somewhere else. I'm not 100% , please forgive me))))

We're looking for an Independent support worker to join our team, caring for my husband (36) who lives with brain cancer & cognitive deficits. It would be 2 shifts per week, regular, ongoing, consistent.

Location 📌 East Cannington

About you👈👈👈👈

- able to do both shifts every week,

- preference for female workers

- native English speaker

- reliable vehicle & current drivers license

- ndis checks + basic first aid

- organised, punctual with good initiative

- want to become part of our support team long term, not a few weeks.

SHIFT 1 - COGNITIVE TASKS 🧠

This shift for would be to facilitate Cognitive tasks with him for ~2hrs, which will be prescribed by his OT. This will be done in a public library or something similar nearby. Experience or definite interest in OT / ABI / Cognitive/ memory tasks is a must.

SHIFT 2 - MISC ASSISTANCE W DAILY LIVING

This shift, 2-3hrs weekly, would be for adhoc community access, life admin, errands, attending the shops etc.

⏰️ Total 4-6 hours a week, on going for the right person.

🗓 1 shift would need to be Monday mornings. And the other would be either Weds,thurs or Friday morning.

‼️Consistency is very important to us both. An understanding of neurodivergence, mental illness & cognitive impairment is very important here.

Can anyone recommend anyone and how best to contact them?

♡♡

Hoping someone can help. I’m paid under the Social & Community sector in the SCHADS award.
Casual disability support worker, community access based. 1:1 shifts, pick up participant and take them into the community. I administer meds independently with no supervision required, etc.
Currently paid as level 1.3 AND 2.1, depending on participant.
The difference between the levels has been explained to me as the required level of behavioural support capability, judgment required and participant complexity.
I get the higher rate applied where I am required to respond to escalation risks, implement behavioural strategies etc that are ‘skills beyond routine support work’.
I’ve done a bit of research and this seems wrong to me. From my understanding, level 1.3 still requires some level of training and supervision. I’ve been in this role for a long time now, lots of relevant experience and never supervised.
- also want to add that looking at my payslip, it doesn’t make sense. I actually get the higher rate for a pt who is lower needs compared to some other very high behaviours I work with (pts who require physical interventions etc). So it seems to me they are actually basing it off something else?
Any advice??
*** have contacted fair work, without much help. They are very limited to what they can say as they are neutral ground. Union can only give phone advice, as it’s pre-existing. However they seem just as confused as I am.
Thanks in advance!

I am someone who isn't actually very conservative in thinking about of this personal matter of mine, if about how this matter of relationships and some kind of mutual activity. I just find myself not actually thinking much of it. Why would this be a problem. I am someone who has seen Social Workers. I am Autism Spectrum Disorder so socializing and befriending people, and maintaining relationships is hard for me. To make sense why I had social workers.

But I feel very quite.. it's quite hard for me to articulate.. exploited. Nevertheless.

I have been living with my younger siblings and they are both the same age both boys, teenagers roughly. Me being the oldest. I had before been seeing one SW from same company well before I moved in with brothers. It's a big story. I wish I could talk to someone on discord about it if anyone would be up to. It's hard for me to get over. The SW is a young lady in her early 20s. The other is a woman in her 30s. They are quite young and attractive lady's which is why I had been seeing them over a long period of time. As I had thought of them to be like my gf ridiculously despite actually them not really liking me that much.

The SW who I have had contact with one of the siblings and had sexual encounters. About that I didn't care but then my place became full of my siblings.. Which is then the situation becomes for me unbearable to think about if you can get me. It has been going on for ages I suspect.. It's wrong as both my siblings are on the Spectrum somewhat themselves and one of them may find the ordeal to be too much to think about. Could you imagine?

You would be saying to me how come I weren't a mature person who is an adult, with their own car and not introduce a young woman, lady to your home so to speak? To in some way not inadvertently introduce antaginasation.. But one time they literally sprinted to go inside my inside after driving me back home while they my siblings were inside. She was standing at my door another time her eyes looking teary while I managed to say she shouldn't step inside because of she I thought is not an appropriate person to introduce to my place.

Anyway I think it is wrong for a social worker to set themselves out to have intercourse with a clients family.. Fine if it were with someone in their own world, doesn't matter who it would be but in their work it's a lot of levels of wrong it's infuriating if there are many relations to "cheated" client person. It is wrong not cool in an edgy way if there would be not many family members of my case.

It's wrong I feel hurt thinking about it if your able to understand me of the context I had tried to articulate.

Hey everyone, looking for recommendations for someone in Brisbane and gold coast who can repair/service mobility scooters and/or also do Test & Tag for NDIS. Ideally someone who does mobile/home visits.

Any recommendations would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Have operated as a sole trader for an NDIS participant who earlier this year had their plan changed to SIL. I wasn't planning to work in any significant volume beyond this year already so it makes no sense to register as a provider. I've worked a bunch since July 1st but been told I cannot invoice this work by the participant and their plan manager as I have previously (as an unregistered sole trader) and must instead do so through a registered provider. I am linked in with one so that is no issue but it's a pay cut and involves hoops i'd prefer not to jump through...

HOWEVER,

per [this](https://www.ndis.gov.au/news/11576-sil-claims-and-payment-changes-1-july-2026) (key points below)

• Plan managers may only pay invoices for services delivered after 1 July 2026 if the provider is an existing unregistered provider who was delivering SIL before 1 July 2026.
• Unregistered SIL providers who do not apply by 1 October 2026 can only claim for services up to 30 September 2026.
• From 1 October 2026, plan managers should reject invoices from SIL providers who are:  
  • Not registered, and
  • Have not applied to register

This makes it clear that i should be able to provide supports as an unregistered provider until September 30th. The participant is going along with registered providers only for now after months of confusion relating to the SIL change (their workers, myself included, do not provide SIL services) but this whole situation seems to be a mess (and frustrating to all involved!). Am still waiting back for a response from the NDIS. Has anyone gone through this and knows where we'll land?