Every year on 1 July, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) updates its Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits—the official guide that sets the rules around what National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers can charge and how participants can spend their funding effectively.
Previously known as the NDIS Price Guide, this document plays a crucial role in keeping the scheme fair, transparent, and financially sustainable. Price limits help ensure participants get real value for money, while giving providers a clear framework for delivering supports.
This guide is reviewed annually to reflect changes in service costs, market conditions, and participant needs. If you’ve taken a look at the latest update, you’ve probably noticed it’s packed with detail.
As a registered NDIS provider, we’re here to help you understand its structure, changes and key considerations. Keep reading to learn more about the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Limits for 2025-26.
What are the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits?
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits are a set of guidelines published by the NDIA that outline how much providers can charge for funded supports and services.
This official document sets clear rules around how and when supports and services can be claimed, including pricing thresholds based on factors like the type of assistance, the time and day it’s delivered, the location, and the intensity of care required.
This document is used to calculate plan budgets for all participants, except those who manage their plan themselves. For self-managed participants, it serves as a helpful reference point, even though they have more flexibility with pricing.
The purpose of NDIS price limits is to make support costs fair and consistent across the board. It gives providers a clear framework for setting their fees and helps participants understand how their funding can be used.
It’s also important to know the difference between this document and the NDIS Support Catalogue. While the former explains rules around claiming and charging, the latter is a detailed list of all the available supports.
It includes the exact line item codes providers use when submitting invoices, along with the current price limits and any relevant claim types like travel or non-face-to-face support.
Both resources work hand in hand to guide participants and providers through the NDIS service delivery and payment process.
Why does the NDIS update its pricing?
Because fair, sustainable support matters — not just for individual participants, but for the long-term success of the NDIS as a whole.
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits exist to ensure that services remain affordable, high-quality, and accessible. They’re designed to strike a balance: participants get the support they need, providers are paid fairly, and the scheme remains financially sustainable for future generations.
In fact, under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, support costs must be reasonable given the value and outcomes of the service. That means pricing should reflect what it truly takes to deliver care, without being excessive or underpaying the people providing it.
To keep things fair, reliable and up to date, the NDIA reassesses its pricing every year through the Annual Pricing Review. This in-depth review draws on:
- Market data and trends
- Wage and employment costs
- Input from participants, families, carers, and providers
Each update helps the NDIS respond to changing conditions, like rising living costs or shifts in demand, so the system can continue to meet people’s needs now and into the future.
How the NDIS pricing guidelines are structured
If you’re new to the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, the entire system can feel daunting to navigate.
However, once you understand its key parts — support purposes, outcome domains, support categories, line items, and price limits — it becomes much easier to use your plan effectively.
Let’s take a closer look at each core element.
Support purposes and outcome domains
The NDIS breaks supports into three main funding categories, known as support purposes:
- Core Supports: The most flexible part of your budget, Core Supports help with everyday activities such as personal care, meal preparation, and transport.
- Capacity Building Supports: These supports are aimed at helping you build skills and increase your independence. They include therapies, employment-related services, and support coordination.
- Capital Supports: This funding is for larger, one-off purchases such as assistive technology, vehicle or home modifications.
To track the impact of these supports, the NDIA uses the NDIS Outcomes Framework. This framework includes eight key areas that reflect different parts of a participant’s life.
These outcome domains are:
- Daily living
- Home
- Health and well-being
- Lifelong learning
- Work
- Social and community participation
- Relationships
- Choice and control
Every funded support is linked to at least one of these outcome areas, helping participants work towards meaningful, life-focused goals.
Support categories and items
Each support purpose is broken down further into specific support categories. Under the original system, there were 15 categories. In 2024, the NDIS introduced the new PACE system, which expanded the list to 22 categories. This change allows for more targeted support to help participants better align their funding with their goals.
Within each support category, you’ll find a list of support line items. These are codes used to identify the type of service being delivered and determine which part of your plan will be used to pay for it.
Some supports, like social and community participation, may appear in more than one category, depending on how the service is structured.
Line items are important because they ensure claims are processed correctly and your budget is used appropriately. Providers also use these codes when submitting invoices.
Price limits
Price limits are the maximum amounts registered NDIS providers can charge for certain services. While providers can charge less than the listed price, they’re not allowed to charge more than the capped amount when working with NDIA-managed or plan-managed participants.
Importantly, pricing can vary depending on when, where, and how the service is delivered. For example, a support worker providing personal care will charge more on a Saturday than on a Tuesday, due to higher weekend rates.
Factors affecting NDIS price limits
Location
While the NDIS sets standard price limits for supports and services, these limits can differ depending on where you live. That’s because pricing is adjusted to reflect the varying costs of delivering services across Australia.
To determine pricing differences, the NDIS uses the Modified Monash Model (MMM) 2019. This model classifies areas based on population size and how remote they are. It helps identify regions where extra funding may be needed to account for limited access to services.
If you live in a location classified as ‘remote’ or ‘very remote’, you may be eligible for higher funding limits. Specifically:
- Remote areas receive a 40% price loading.
- Very remote areas receive a 50% price loading.
These adjustments help ensure participants across all parts of Australia can access the support they need, even in harder-to-reach areas.
Day and time
NDIS price limits change depending on when a support session takes place. The day of the week and the time of day both influence the applicable rate.
To avoid confusion, it’s important for support workers and participants to clearly outline and agree on the rates for different time slots in their service agreement.
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits define several time-based categories for support delivery. Essentially, support delivered outside standard weekday hours comes with higher pricing due to overtime or public holiday rates.
Here’s a summary of how pricing is structured:
- Weekday Daytime Support
- When: Between 6:00 am and 8:00 pm on a weekday
- Excludes: Night-time Sleepover sessions
- Weekday Evening Support
- When: Between 8:00 pm and midnight on a weekday
- Excludes: Night-time Sleepover sessions
- Weekday Night Support (Active Overnight – hourly rate)
- When: Starts at or before midnight on a weekday and continues into the early morning, or starts between 6:00 am and finishes later that same weekday
- Excludes: Public Holidays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Sleepover sessions
- Night-time Sleepover Support (Passive Overnight – flat rate)
- When: A continuous session of at least eight hours, beginning before midnight and ending the following day
- Conditions:
- The support worker is permitted to sleep when not actively providing care
- Includes up to two hours of active support
- Any additional active support may be billed separately at the applicable rate (e.g. Saturday rate if on a weekday)
- Saturday Support
- When: From midnight at the start of Saturday until midnight that night
- Excludes: Public Holidays and Sleepover sessions
- Sunday Support
- When: From midnight at the start of Sunday until midnight that night
- Excludes: Public Holidays and Sleepover sessions
- Public Holiday Support
- When: From midnight at the start of the public holiday until midnight at the end of the day
Excludes: Sleepover sessions
- When: From midnight at the start of the public holiday until midnight at the end of the day
Intensity
Higher price limits may apply when a participant’s needs go beyond standard care. This is because the cost of some NDIS supports can differ depending on the level of intensity involved in delivering the service.
A support session can be classified as high intensity if the participant:
- Regularly needs help managing complex or challenging behaviours, including the use of intensive positive behaviour support (typically required at least once per shift), and/or
- Requires care from a disability support worker trained in high-intensity support skills, such as specialised feeding, complex bowel care, seizure management, or other advanced care tasks.
These higher rates reflect the additional training, time, and responsibilities required from support workers in more complex care situations.
Group supports
For certain types of NDIS support delivered in group settings, the cost can vary depending on how many participants are sharing the service with each support worker.
The smaller the group, the more one-on-one time each participant receives—so price limits are tweaked accordingly.
For instance, one support worker assisting two participants will have a different hourly rate than a worker supporting four.
Do I only need to consider price limits if I’m an agency-managed participant?
No. The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits include key considerations in most cases, no matter how your plan is managed.
That said, how strictly they apply depends on your management type and the kind of provider you choose:
- Agency-managed: If your plan is managed by the NDIA, you can only use registered NDIS providers, and they must charge within the official price limits. The NDIA pays them directly.
- Plan-managed: A plan manager handles invoices and keeps your budget on track. They’ll make sure providers follow the NDIS pricing rules. You can choose both registered and unregistered providers, but they still need to stick to the NDIS price guide.
- Self-managed: You have more flexibility. You can choose any provider, registered or not, and you can negotiate prices. While you’re not strictly bound by the NDIS price limits when using unregistered providers, it’s still a good idea to be aware of them so you don’t run out of funding too fast.
Changes under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits for 2025-26
Updated NDIS pricing guidelines are released every year to reflect changes in service delivery costs and participant needs. Most recently, the new NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits were published on 16 June 2025 and came into effect on 1 July 2025.
Here’s a summary of the key changes for this year:
- Early childhood support extended: The age cap for the early childhood approach has been raised from 7 to 9 years, giving families of younger children more time to access specialised early intervention supports.
- National pricing for key therapies: Physiotherapy and psychology now have standard rates across the country, replacing the previous system where prices varied by state or territory.
- Updated therapy rates based on real-world data: Hourly rates for several therapies have been revised. For example, psychology has seen an increase, while physiotherapy, dietetics, and podiatry have had small reductions, reflecting updated cost reviews.
- Earlier notice of price changes: The NDIA has committed to releasing future pricing updates earlier in the year, giving both participants and providers more time to prepare and plan.
If you’re already an NDIS participant, your plan budget is automatically adjusted in July to reflect any relevant pricing changes. You won’t need to request a plan review just because prices have been updated.
Get the most out of your NDIS plan with Hunter Care Group
Whatever way your plan is managed, understanding how NDIS pricing works is key to making the most of your funding.
When you know what your providers can charge, how supports are categorised, and what each line item means, you’re in a stronger position to manage your plan effectively. It helps you avoid unexpected costs, maximise your budget, and make informed choices about the supports that matter most to you.
At Hunter Care Group, we’re here to support you every step of the way. Our experienced support coordinators in Newcastle take the time to understand your needs and goals, helping you plan with clarity and confidence.
Whether you’re just getting started with the NDIS or navigating changes to your plan, we’ll work alongside you to ensure your supports stay consistent, effective, and aligned with what matters to you.
Give our friendly team a call on (02) 4950 2269 or contact us online today.