An NDIS plan can help a participant drastically improve their quality of life, reach their goals, and better connect with the community.

To make the most out of your plan, it’s very helpful to understand the various funding categories and how they can relate to your goals. It’s also important to consider where underspending may occur.

At myAutonomy, we’ve noticed it’s common for the Capacity Building category to be under-utilised due to uncertainty about what this covers.

To take the ambiguity out, let’s explore what can be included and how it may relate to your, or your participant’s, goals.

Increased social goals

Within the Capacity Building Supports category, there’s funding support for Increased Social and Community Participation (Support Category 9).

The category helps participants gain skills to allow them to participate in the community. This includes social and recreational activities.

You can learn more about this category via the NDIS website.

Reasonable and necessary

When it comes to all supports –– whether they are related to social participation or not –– they must be considered reasonable and necessary to be covered by the NDIS.

Any support must also be specifically related to a goal set out in the participant’s plan.

Keep in mind: there are general limitations on certain activities within all categories, and there are pricing limits set out on the NDIS website.

What types of activities are included?

A broad range of activities may be included within the Increased Social and Community Participation category.

These include:

• Life skills development (improving a person’s capacity to attending appointments, taking public transport, or buying groceries)
• Recreational activities (sports, kayaking, hiking, horse riding, or camping)
• Creative activities (art classes, cooking, music lessons, dance, pottery, or woodwork)
• Community engagement activities (volunteering, or joining a club)
• Supported breaks (attending a supported camp, or outdoor experience trip)

There is also a provision to cover customised equipment that may be required to ensure the participant can engage in the activity. This might include an adapted kayak, for example, or specific gloves for woodwork. And if mentoring or peer support is required as part of the activity, this may be covered too.

We’re only a call away

It’s our goal to help participants make the most out of their plans. If you have a question or query, we’re here to help.

Get in touch at [email protected] or call us at 1300 60 33 89.

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