NDIS Reform Timeline.
The new NDIS laws passed 19 August 2026. Pick your role and see only the changes that affect you, when each starts, and what to do.
15 changes are staged between 27 August 2026 and July 2028. Most coverage lists all of them at once, which is why the reforms feel more alarming than they are. Filter to your role and the picture gets a lot smaller.
13 of 15 changes affect you, and 9 have something worth doing.
- 27 August 2026
Who can request an early plan reassessment
Only participants, plan nominees or child representatives can request a plan reassessment ahead of the scheduled date, and the NDIA then has 90 days to decide whether to reassess. You can still request one where there is a significant and ongoing change to functional capacity and support needs, or to living, education, work or informal support arrangements. Short-term and urgent changes still go through plan variations.
What to do: If a support coordinator or provider has been requesting reassessments on a participant's behalf, that has to change hands. Make sure the participant or nominee knows they are the one who must ask.
- 27 August 2026
How long records must be kept
Record retention periods are now set: three years for participants, five years for nominees and seven years for providers. This exists so claims can be verified and payments made correctly.
What to do: Start keeping service agreements, invoices and rosters somewhere durable. Funding may have to be repaid if records cannot be produced showing it was used correctly.
- 27 August 2026
How NDIS prices get set
The Minister for Disability and the NDIS now has the power to make a pricing determination setting maximum amounts for NDIS supports, with the NDIA advising through the existing Annual Pricing Review. The NDIA has stated there are no immediate changes to pricing and that current pricing arrangements continue.
What to do: Nothing to do now. The mechanism for setting prices changed, the prices did not. The 2026-27 pricing schedule still applies.
- 27 August 2026
Automated administrative decisions
Computer systems can be used to automate some administrative actions, including claims and payment processing. Oversight and safeguards apply, decisions that are complex, discretionary or require judgement stay with people, and the NDIA must publish details of how and where automated systems are used.
Nothing to do yet. Worth knowing it is coming.
- From October 2026Phased in
Social and community participation budgets reset
Support budgets for social, civic and community participation, and for capacity building daily activities, will be progressively reset as plans are reassessed or renewed. A new plan variation pathway is also being created for participants with high support needs who require continuous 24-hour care.
What to do: If a participant relies on continuous 24-hour care, this is the change to watch most closely. Plans may also go up and down for ordinary reasons unrelated to the reforms, so do not assume every movement is reform-driven.
- From October 2026
Plans can be suspended for non-response
The NDIA will be able to suspend a plan where a participant does not respond to requests for information. This only follows reasonable attempts at contact, which the NDIA defines as at least five attempts over an extended period to reach the participant, their nominee or authorised representative.
What to do: Make sure the NDIA holds current contact details, and that someone is checking the channel the NDIA uses.
- From February 2027
Plan renewals replace plan continuations
When a plan is due for reassessment it will either be reassessed by an NDIA planner, or a new plan will be created carrying the same supports as the old one. Unspent funds from the previous plan will not be carried over.
What to do: If a participant habitually underspends early and catches up later, that pattern stops working. Plan spending across the year rather than relying on carryover.
- From February 2027Phased in
New reasonable and necessary criteria
New criteria will apply to decisions about reasonable and necessary supports in new participants' plans, including clearer guidelines on what a parent is expected to provide for a child with disability, covering supervision, personal care, transport, emotional support and behavioural support. This does not include the additional support a child needs because of their disability compared with children of a similar age. The criteria reach existing participants progressively at reassessment.
Nothing to do yet. Worth knowing it is coming.
- From April 2027Phased in
A new way of planning begins
The NDIA begins introducing its new planning process, and has said it will share information with participants before they move across.
Nothing to do yet. Worth knowing it is coming.
- From July 2027
Mandatory registration expands
Mandatory registration requirements expand to more providers, specifically those delivering personal care and daily living supports, and supports provided in closed settings.
What to do: If a participant currently uses an unregistered provider for personal care, start that conversation early rather than close to the deadline. First Priority Care has been registered throughout, so nothing changes at our end.
- From October 2027
A trusted panel of plan managers
A trusted panel of plan management providers will be established, with participants supported to move to a panel provider over six months.
What to do: Plan managers should watch for how panel membership will be determined. Participants will have a transition period rather than an immediate switch.
- From January 2028Phased in
Access and eligibility changes
Access changes begin for new applicants, with existing participants reassessed over three years. Eligibility decisions will use a new standardised, evidence-based assessment of functional capacity, alongside more consistent assessment of permanence and of access to other compensation schemes. The NDIA has confirmed people with permanent and significant disability will continue to be able to access the NDIS.
What to do: This is the change that worries people most and it is the furthest away. Nothing about eligibility changes before January 2028.
- From July 2028
New commissioned support coordination function
A new commissioned support coordination and connection function begins.
Nothing to do yet. Worth knowing it is coming.
Sourced from the NDIA’s Securing the NDIS for future generations page and accurate as at 23 August 2026. The laws passed 19 August 2026 and received assent 20 August 2026. Rules under this legislation are still being made, so dates and detail may be refined. Where this differs from the NDIA, the NDIA is correct.
What has not changed.
Plans and supports continue exactly as they are. Prices have not changed. Eligibility has not changed and will not until January 2028, and people with permanent and significant disability will continue to be able to access the scheme.
One thing causes a lot of unnecessary worry: plans naturally go up and down as needs change, and that has always happened through the ordinary planning process. If a plan moves in the next few months, that is far more likely to be the normal process than anything to do with these reforms.
The three dates worth diarising
December 2026
Claims must be submitted within 90 days of delivering a support.
February 2027
Plan renewals replace continuations, and unspent funds stop carrying over.
July 2027
Mandatory registration expands to personal care and daily living supports.
Read the detail
Our full write-up covers every change in order, including the parts that do not affect you, with the specific figures and dates intact.
The new NDIS laws.
When did the new NDIS laws pass?
Do I need to do anything right now?
Are NDIS prices changing because of the new laws?
Will I lose my NDIS eligibility?
What changes for providers?
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