NDIS Plan Support & Coordination in Newcastle | Newcastle Support Coordination

PARTICIPANTS

Who is eligible for NDIS?

NDIS eligibility is based on some criteria including age, residency and disability. There are also specific requirements for children aged 0-9 and people with psychosocial disabilities.

If you think you may be eligible for the NDIS, you should get in touch with us or a NDIS partner such as Local area coordinator (LAC) who can assist you to apply for the NDIS. We will discuss with you about your situation, the NDIS eligibility criteria, the application process, information and evidence you need to apply. If you are eligible for the NDIS and your application is successful, your NDIS planer will work with you to create your first NDIS Plan.

We’ve outlined some of the important NDIS eligibility requirements below:

Age requirement:
- you must be under 65. Your age will determine whether you are eligible for early connections and the NDIS (under 9), or community connections and the NDIS (9 to 65 years old).
Residency requirements:
- you must live in Australia and be an Australian citizen or hold a permanent visa or hold a special category visa (SCV) – this is only for some New Zealand citizens.
- When confirming if you live in Australia, the NDIS will consider:
- Where you live and your living situation (such as permanent accommodation through home ownership or rental)
- Where your immediate family lives and where you spend time with them face-to-face
- Whether you work in Australia
- Whether you own property or assets in Australia and have an Australian bank account.
- You might also have to provide information about how often you travel overseas and the duration of your trips. You can still work overseas or go on holiday but need to demonstrate to the NDIS that you have a long-term and meaningful connection to living in Australia.
Disability requirements:
- NDIA stated that you must be able to meet each of the following criteria to be eligible for the NDIS:

1. Is your disability related to an impairment?

To meet the disability requirements, you must have evidence your disability is attributable by at least one of the impairments below:

intellectual – how you speak and listen, read and write, solve problems, and process and remember information
cognitive – how you think, learn new things, use judgment to make decisions, and pay attention
neurological – how your body functions
sensory – how you see or hear
physical – the ability to move parts of your body.

You may also be eligible for the NDIS if you have a psychosocial disability. This means you have reduced capacity to do daily life activities and tasks due to your mental health.

2. Is your impairment likely to be permanent?

NDIA need to know whether your impairments are enduring so that you require NDIS on-going supports. You might have some periods in your life where there is a smaller impact on your daily life, because your impairment may be episodic or fluctuate in intensity. Your impairment can still be permanent due to the overall impact on your life, and the likelihood that you will be impacted across your lifetime.
Even when your condition or diagnosis is permanent, NDIS will check if your impairment is permanent too. For example, you may not be eligible if your impairment is temporary, or if there are known, available and appropriate evidence-based clinical, medical or other remaining treatments options that are likely to remedy the impairment.
Generally, NDIS will consider whether your impairment is likely to be permanent if all available and appropriate treatment options are pursued.
Your impairment will likely be permanent if your treating professional tells NDIS there are no further treatments that could remedy it.
Your impairment will likely be permanent if your treating professional gives NDIS evidence that indicates there are no further treatments that could relieve or cure it.
Your treating professional will tell NDIS or be asked to certify if there are medical, clinical or other treatments that are likely to remedy your impairment.

(Source from NDIS web https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/am-i-eligible viewed 1/11/2024

3. Your permanent impairment needs to substantially reduce your functional capacity or ability to undertake activities in one of the following areas: moving around, communicating, socialising, learning, or undertaking self-care or self-management tasks.

Communicating – how you speak, write, or use sign language and gestures, to express yourself compared to other people your age. We also look at how well you understand people, and how others understand you.
Socialising – how you make and keep friends, or interact with the community, or how a young child plays with other children. We also look at your behaviour, and how you cope with feelings and emotions in social situations.
Learning – how you learn, understand and remember new things, and practise and use new skills.
Mobility, or moving around – how easily you move around your home and community, and how you get in and out of bed or a chair. We consider how you get out and about and use your arms or legs.
Self-care – personal care, hygiene, grooming, eating and drinking, and health. We consider how you get dressed, shower or bathe, eat or go to the toilet.
Self-management (if older than 6) – how you organise your life. We consider how you plan, make decisions, and look after yourself. This might include day-to-day tasks at home, how you solve problems, or manage your money. We consider your mental or cognitive ability to manage your life, not your physical ability to do these tasks.

Your impairment substantially reduces your functional capacity if you usually need disability-specific supports to participate in or complete the above tasks.

These disability-specific supports include:

a high level of support from other people, such as physical assistance, guidance, supervision or prompting.
assistive technology, equipment or home modifications that are prescribed by your doctor, allied health professional or other medical professional.

To help NDIA decide if you’re eligible, they need to know your capacity and where you need more help. We get this information from you when you apply to the NDIS.

If you have more than one permanent impairment, NDIS will consider them together, to see if they substantially reduce your functional capacity.

(Source from NDIS web https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/am-i-eligible viewed 1/11/2024

4. How your impairments affect your ability to work, study or take part in social life ?

This means your permanent impairments affect how you can find and keep a job, contribute to your community, or join social activities. We get this information from you when you apply to the NDIS.

We look at your ability to do things like:

find and keep a job, or start your own business
study
spend and save money
play sport
go to the movies
volunteer
travel.

It doesn’t matter how much your ability to work, study or socialise is affected by your impairment. It only needs to affect your social or work life in some way for you to meet the criteria.

5. Do you need these supports from NDIS for lifetime?

When NDIS decide if you’ll likely need NDIS supports for your lifetime, we consider:

your life circumstances
the nature of your long-term support needs
whether your needs could be best met by the NDIS, or by other government and community services.

For example, you may have an impairment that is caused by a chronic health condition. Many chronic health conditions are most effectively managed or remedied through medical management through the health system. If this is the case, we may decide that you don’t need NDIS supports for your lifetime.

(Source from NDIS web https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/am-i-eligible viewed 1/11/2024

Change or review your NDIS plan

Your plan may need to be changed for many reasons. If your situation changes, your disability support needs may change. You might need more supports, less supports or different supports.

There are different ways we can change your plan. In certain situations, NDIS might be able to vary your current plan. If major changes are required, NDIS planer will complete a plan reassessment, check all evidence/ documents and discuss with you if you need any changes to your plan before your new plan is approved. You can ask NDIS for a change to your plan at any time and NDIS planer can decide to do a change to your plan at any time. A change to your plan is not used to review a decision we have already made. Your planer will work with you to complete the change to your plan.

Your planer will discuss with you about your situation to work out what change is needed. We will then either update your plan or create a new plan. NDIA still need to follow the laws for the NDIS that apply when making a change to your plan. For example, any changes to the reasonable and necessary supports in your plan must meet the NDIS funding criteria.

(Source from https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/using-your-plan/changing-your-plan/change-circumstances, viewed 12/10/25)

How to access to NDIS

If you think you are eligible for the NDIS, you may contact our support coordinators for support and information, and assistance with completing your NDIS application or
• Contact your local NDIS office or local NDIS partner/LAC or call 1800 800 110 and request a NDIS Access Request Form (PDF 1MB) to be mailed or emailed to you.
• Download and complete the NDIS Access Request Form (PDF 1MB) on your computer and email it to enquiries@ndis.gov.au with supporting information.
• Download the NDIS Access Request Form (PDF 1MB) on your computer, print it out, and mail it to PO Box 700, Canberra, ACT 2601, with supporting information.
• Phone the NDIS on 1800 800 110 for assistance with applying to the NDIS.

(Source from NDIS web https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/how-apply viewed 1/12/2024)

How to request your plan change or review

You may contact us for support and assistance or

contact NDIA by phone by calling 1800 800 110
send an email and include any evidence to support your request
complete the change of details or change of situation form and send it to us
send us a letter and include any evidence to support your request
visit one of our NDIS offices.

You can send us an email with any supporting evidence to enquiries@ndis.gov.au.

You can send us a letter with any supporting evidence to:

Chief Executive Officer
National Disability Insurance Agency
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601

What evidence is required to show your child disability/development delay?

You can contact us or a Local Area Coordinator to support you with gathering evidence and applying to the NDIS

To allow the National Disability Insurance Agency to determine whether your child meets the early intervention or developmental delay requirements, you will need to provide evidence of your child's permanent disability or developmental delay to support their access request. This includes information on what your child's condition is, how long it will last and its impact on their life.

You can provide evidence of your child's disability or developmental delay by having their treating doctor or specialist complete the Professional's Report section in section 2 of the Access Request Form, the NDIS Supporting Evidence Form or you can provide the same information in a different format, such as copies of existing assessments and reports. The information must be provided with the Access Request Form.

If you choose not to use the Professional's Report section in the Access Request Form or the NDIS Supporting Evidence Form; it is important that you must provide contains the same information that the form collects.

If you are not sure whether you have enough information to support your child's access request, or you have trouble getting the information, we may be able to help you.

Diagnosis

You must provide NDIS with evidence of the diagnosis of your child's disability from your child's treating doctor or specialist. Section 2 of the Access Request Form and the NDIS Supporting Evidence Form collects this information, or you can give us other written evidence of your child's diagnosis from their treating doctor or specialist. This needs to include information about any treatment/s your child is receiving.

Please note: for a child to meet the developmental delay requirements for the NDIS they must be aged under 6 years. Further information on the developmental delay is available in the Operational Guideline – Access – Early Intervention Requirements .

Evidence of the impact of your child’s disability or developmental delay

If your child has a condition we have already identified as always resulting in permanent impairment and substantially reduced functional capacity, or as always benefiting from early intervention, then we do not require any further information. A list of these conditions can be found in the Operational Guidelines List D .

If your child's condition is not on the list of 'Permanent impairment/functional capacity – no further assessment required' you must provide evidence of the impact of your child's condition on their life, including any impact on their mobility, communication, social interaction, learning, self-care and self-management.

You can provide this information by getting your child's specialist or an allied health professional to complete the Professional's Report section in Section 2 of the Access Request Form, the NDIS Supporting Evidence Form or you can provide us with other written evidence from their specialist or a health professional. 'A health professional' includes a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, speech pathologist, a psychologist or a nurse. 'Other written evidence' could include existing assessments or reports which were prepared by a specialist or allied health professional that provide the equivalent information on the impact of your child's condition on their life.

Submitting evidence

The evidence about your child's disability or developmental delay must be submitted with you access request when required by the NDIA. Their access request will not be considered complete unless NDIA have received all the information as required. They will use the information about your child's disability or developmental delay to help NDIA determine whether your child can become a NDIS participant.

(Source from https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/how-apply/information-support-your-request/providing-evidence-your-disabilityviewed 16/1/2025)

Navigating this journey can be stressful and confusing

but NSC is here to support you every step of the way.