Understanding the NDIS price guide for 2026-27

Every year on 1 July, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) updates its rules around what National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers can charge and how participants can spend their funding effectively.

In previous years, you could find this information in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits alongside supporting resources.

For 2026-27, the NDIA has changed how it publishes its pricing, so it’s worth understanding these shifts before you plan ahead.

As a registered NDIS provider, we’re here to help you understand its structure, changes and key considerations.

Key takeaways

• Every 1 July, the NDIA updates how much providers can charge for your supports. The latest update took effect on 1 July 2026.
• The way the NDIA publishes pricing information has changed for 2026-27. Instead of one combined document, it now comes as three separate publications: the Annual Pricing Review, the NDIS Pricing Schedule, and the NDIS Support Catalogue.
• Support workers now cost a bit more to reflect fair pay increases, so it’s worth checking if your plan has enough funding to cover your usual hours.
• Psychology sessions have gone up in price, while dietetics and exercise physiology have become a little cheaper.
• Occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, podiatry and audiology prices haven’t changed this year.
• If your plan is agency-managed or plan-managed, your provider must stick to these price limits. If you’re self-managed, you have more flexibility, but it still pays to know the going rates.
• From 1 January 2027, if you use an unregistered provider for community access supports, their rate will be reduced. Registered providers won’t be affected by this change, and your provider must talk to you before adjusting your service agreement.

What are the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits?

The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits was a set of guidelines published by the NDIA that outlined how much providers could charge for funded supports and services.

It set out both the maximum prices providers could charge and the rules for how supports could be claimed, side by side. For self-managed participants, it served as a helpful reference point, even though they have more flexibility with pricing.

However, for 2026-27, the NDIA has split it into separate publications:

• The Annual Pricing Review, which explains the evidence and recommendations behind the year’s pricing decisions.
• The NDIS Pricing Schedule, effective 1 July 2026, which lists support item numbers, names, units and the recommended national, remote and very remote maximum prices.
• The NDIS Support Catalogue, which lists the available support items and provides additional information about registration groups, support categories, claim types and applicable claiming guidance.

These 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?

The purpose of NDIS price limits is to make support costs fair, sustainable 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.

Updates 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.

A change is also on the horizon for how these price limits are enforced. On 14 May 2026, a Bill was introduced to Parliament that would give the NDIS Minister the power to make pricing determinations that are legally binding.

Under current arrangements, applicable maximum prices must be observed for NDIA-managed and plan-managed funding.

This means a registered plan manager cannot use plan-managed funding to pay more than the applicable limit, even when the service is delivered by an unregistered provider. Self-managed participants have greater flexibility to negotiate prices.

How the NDIS pricing guidelines are structured in 2026-27

The NDIS pricing guidelines have the following core elements.

NDIS 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 modifications, home modifications or Specialist Disability Accommodation.
• Recurring Supports: These supports currently cover recurring transport funding for eligible participants.

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:

1. Daily living
2. Home
3. Health and well-being
4. Lifelong learning
5. Work
6. Social and community participation
7. Relationships
8. Choice and control

Every funded support is linked to at least one of these outcome areas, helping participants work towards meaningful, life-focused goals.

NDIS support categories and items

Each support purpose is further divided into specific support categories. Under the original system, there were 15 categories. In 2023, the NDIS introduced the new PACE system, which expanded the list to 21 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 multiple categories, 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.

Certain line item codes have changed structurally for 2026-27. For example, SIL supports delivered from 1 July 2026 must be claimed using the new 0138 registration group and support items. Supports delivered before 1 July 2026 continue to use the applicable 0115 items.

If you receive SIL supports, it’s worth confirming with your provider that your service agreement reflects the updated item numbers.

NDIS 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.

More on this below.

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.

As of 24 November 2025, the NDIS uses the Modified Monash Model (MMM) 2023 to determine pricing differences. 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.

That said, standard Modified Monash classifications don’t always capture how difficult it is to access some communities.

The Isolated Towns Modification addresses this by allowing certain towns to be treated as remote for NDIS pricing, regardless of their official classification.

The 2026–27 Annual Pricing Review proposes two types of isolated town classifications:

• Type 1 Isolated Towns: These towns would be treated as MM6, receiving the standard remote price loading and associated travel arrangements.
• Type 2 Isolated Towns: These are selected MM4 and MM5 locations with low plan utilisation, long travel distances and socioeconomic disadvantage. They would not receive an additional remote loading, but providers could negotiate travel costs directly with participants through service agreements.

The Type 2 approach is currently a recommendation only. Participants and providers should refer to the latest NDIA guidance and official location lists before applying these arrangements.

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 2026-27 Pricing Schedule sets the prices for each time-based category below. At the time of writing, the category definitions themselves still come from the 2025-26 rules document, as the NDIA hasn’t yet released an updated one.

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 before 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 rate applicable to the day and time when the additional support is delivered)
• 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

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.

High-intensity supports are complex health-related supports that require workers with additional training, skills and experience.

They may include complex bowel care, enteral feeding and management, severe dysphagia management, tracheostomy management, urinary catheter management, ventilator management, subcutaneous injections and complex wound management.

Higher rates reflect the additional training, time, and responsibilities required from support workers in more complicated 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. NDIS 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.

Importantly, the gap between registered and unregistered providers is widening. From 1 January 2027, the recommended maximum prices for relevant Social, Community and Civic Participation supports delivered by unregistered providers will be reduced by 10%, and annual indexation for those items will cease. Pricing and indexation for registered providers will be maintained.

The NDIA has flagged that similar registered-versus-unregistered pricing splits may extend to other support categories in future years, so this is a space worth watching regardless of how your plan is managed.

Changes under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits for 2026-27

Updated NDIS pricing guidelines are released every year to reflect changes in service delivery costs and participant needs. Most recently, the NDIS Pricing Schedule for 2026-27 was released on 22 June 2026 and came into effect on 1 July 2026.

Here’s a summary of the key changes for this year:

• Recommended maximum prices for Level 1 disability support worker items increased: Support worker prices increased in line with the Fair Work Commission’s 2026 Annual Wage Review. The cost model also continues to include the 12% Super Guarantee, which has applied since 1 July 2025.
• Psychology price increased: The hourly rate has gone up from $232.99 to $252.99, bringing NDIS pricing closer in line with what Medicare and private health funds pay, and aiming to make psychologist appointments more accessible to participants.
• Dietetics and exercise physiology prices reduced: Dietitian rates have dropped from $188.99 to $178.99 per hour, and exercise physiology from $166.99 to $161.99 per hour, following a review against Medicare and private health benchmarks.
• Occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, podiatry and audiology unchanged: These rates were benchmarked against the market and found to be broadly appropriate, so they remain the same for 2026-27.
• New pricing for Orientation and Mobility Specialists: This newly recognised profession has its own item number and a national rate of $156.16 per hour. Previously, these services were claimed under the broader “Other Professionals” category.
• Short-Term Accommodation restructured: Previously bundled daily pricing has been separated into participant accommodation, support worker accommodation where required, and the actual support hours delivered. Support hours are claimed using the appropriate rate for the time, day and intensity of the support.
• New line item numbers for allied health claims: As above, cancellations, telehealth, provider travel, non-face-to-face work and NDIA-requested reports each now have their own item number, rather than being selected as a “claim type” against a single item.
• Support Coordination and Plan Management fees unchanged: Levels 1 to 3 of Support Coordination and the monthly Plan Management fee of $104.45 stay the same for 2026-27.
• Registered versus unregistered pricing introduced for community access: As outlined above, this is the first time registered and unregistered providers will be paid differently for the same type of support, starting with Social, Community and Civic Participation from 1 January 2027.

Pricing changes don’t automatically allow a provider to change the rate in your service agreement. Your provider must discuss any proposed price change with you, and you must agree before it is applied.

Get the most out of your NDIS funding 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.