If you are feeling overwhelmed by the different budget support categories in your NDIS plan, then that’s totally normal. We are here to help you understand the core support budget and how to make the most of it.
Your NDIS plan includes one of the following three support budget types: capital, NDIS capacity building, and core. And your NDIS planner will create a customized NDIS plan with funding connected to achieving your goals and the support you need in day-to-day life.
WHAT IS CORE SUPPORT?
The NDIS core supports budget is funding to support the regular day-to-day expenses and tasks that relate to your plan and life goals. The four support categories make core support flexible, and you can solely decide how to use it. To best meet your needs, you can’t choose to divide your fund equally among the several types of assistance.
For instance, you can choose to spend more of your overall NDIS core funding on meal preparation and less on transportation costs. Your support coordinator and plan manager are NDIS professionals who can assist you in understanding how to make the most of the flexibility in your NDIS plan.
Core support is an essential part of a participant’s NDIS funding. It is among the top three support categories provided by the NDIS, with capital and capacity building. According to the NDIS, core support includes the following categories:
- Improved Daily Living
- Consumables
- Social/community participation
- Transport
Why Core Supports are important in your NDIS plan?
As the name suggests, core support is essential to your plan, and they often include a large portion of your NDIS funding. Although there are four basic types of core support, each participant has unique needs, thus, the NDIS provides some flexibility with re-allocating funds.
For instance, you might discover that your funds for social and community involvement are far more than what’s needed, yet you could use the additional funding to cover consumables ndis.
The majority of categories offer some level of flexibility to accommodate your primary needs.
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Understanding the four categories of NDIS Core support
Daily living:
Every item or service that a participant requires that is connected to everyday activities is referred to as daily living. This could include help with taking medications, dressing, getting dressed, round-the-clock care, nursing aid, household duties, yard work, hygiene tasks, and anything else required as part of day-to-day living. Given that each participant has different needs, this can vary greatly between participants.
The daily living core support category aims to enable you to live as comfortably as possible. It includes the following support areas:
- Meal preparation and delivery costs are covered. Your chosen service provider will prepare and deliver meals on a weekly basis while taking your individual requirements into account.
- Assistance with chores around the house, such as cleaning and maintenance to help maintain your living space.
- Assistance with daily life and simple activities such as personal hygiene, showering, and moving around the house
- Assistance in improved living arrangements or supported independent living involves supervision of the daily life chores in a shared living environment. Based on their individual needs, each person living in the shared arrangement is given support. A quote from a registered provider is required if this support is reasonable and necessary for you and also to ensure their services can effectively support everyone living in the household.
This Core Support can also include respite care as short-term accommodation assistance.
Transport:
From keeping appointments with providers to going to social events, transportation is essential for daily activity. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) only provides transportation funding if your disability prevents you from using other modes of transportation, such as buses or trains.
The funding is paid fortnightly in advance and covers the transportation services such as a community bus or taxi for people with a disability. It does not cover the cost of a caregiver or family member driving you to events.
Basically, there are three levels of transport support:
Level 1 – Support up to $1,606 annually. If you don’t work, study, or participate in a day program, you can receive level 1 support up to $1,606 per year. You could also get this support if you want to get involved in activities or volunteer in your community.
Level 2 – Support up to $1,606 to $2,472 per year. If you work or study part-time (less than 15 hours per week), attend a day program, or engage in social, recreational, or leisure activities like sports, then you can get level 2 support.
Level 3 – Support from $2,472 to $3,456 per year. If you work or study more than 15 hours per week, or if you’re looking for a job currently, then you can get level 3 support.
The Centrelink Mobility Allowance can replace the transportation funding in your NDIS plan.
Consumables:
NDIS Consumables are necessary daily things for managing individual needs associated with disability care. These include absorbent products for incontinence, hearing or visual aids, service animals, special feeding equipment, custom prostheses, language or sign language instruction, interpretation, and translation services are a few examples.
NDIS core support consumables are for the daily usage of your disability-related safety, personal care, and assistive products. These include:
- Bathroom and Toilet supplies
- Continence aids
- Products for Home Enteral Nutrition (HEN)
- Specialized clothing
Social Community/Participation:
Being active in the community is important for one’s growth and mental health. This funding category handles the expenses for support workers who may take participants to events, social and recreational activities, exercise, shopping, group activities, one-on-one activities, and other social events.
Not only that, assistance with Social and Community Participation support encourages you to engage in social or recreational events and get more involved in your community. These could be a combination of community and centre-based activities like sports, visits to the library, camps, or day trips that also include mentoring or peer support to improve your ability to participate independently.
Making the Most out of Your Core Supports Budget
Be creative
The core supports budget is flexible, and you can make it work for you by choosing the services that best suit your life. Think creatively and outside the box! Is there any low-cost assistive technology, such as an app, that could enable you to complete daily tasks? Could you put handrails in the bathroom or around the house to increase your independence?
Get the best price
Finding a service with a competitive price through provider research can have a big difference in your budget. One of the advantages of planned management is that you get the freedom to choose any provider, whether they are an NDIS-registered provider or not. Non-NDIS registered providers typically charge less than the NDIS price guide. To select the provider, it’s important to do your research, ask questions and test a few providers to find one that best suits your needs.
Plan your Budget
This is where budgeting is necessary since you don’t want your core budget to run out before your funding plan ends. Calculate your daily costs to determine how much it will (approximately) cost to fund for the duration of your plan.
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Flexibility in core supports spending.
While funding for fundamental support is divided across many categories, you can move money around within some of them to suit your needs. But some categories, like transportation, forbid flexibility. The NDIS also includes financing for stated supports which indicates that the funding is for specific items that frequently may require quotes.
If you need more information or have questions about which payment categories are flexible or non-flexible, take a look at your NDIS plan or speak with your coordinator of support or plan manager.
It may be difficult to classify or unclear some expenses. If you have any queries about any products or services you might need that aren’t included under core supports or products in other categories that might qualify for payment under core supports, then as your plan manager for help in understanding your options.
How Can I spend my Core Support Funding?
Core supports Funding is provided as a single lump sum which can be used across all four NDIS Funding categories.
For instance, if your NDIS Core budget is $14,000 overall, you may decide to divide it up into $2,000 for consumables, $7,000 for everyday activities, $1,000 for transportation, and $4,000 for social activities.
Although core support funding is flexible, you can decide to set away money for a specific purpose. For example, you might decide to self-manage a portion of your Core funds to cover additional transportation needs and get paid automatically on an ad-hoc basis.
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