NDIS disability support services are the practical, day-to-day supports that help people with disability live as independently as possible. They cover personal care, household tasks, community access, overnight support, and 24/7 care for people who need it all the time. This guide covers every type, the 2025-26 rates, support level distinctions, and the 2026 SIL registration changes.
What Are NDIS Disability Support Services?
NDIS disability support services help people with disability manage daily activities, participate in the community, and build independence over time. They are individually tailored, rights-based supports funded through your NDIS plan based on what is reasonable and necessary for your disability and goals.
Disability support services sit primarily under Core Supports. Core Supports fund the practical, ongoing assistance you need to live your daily life. Disability support services draw primarily from Assistance with Daily Life (Category 1) and Assistance with Social and Community Participation (Category 4).
Core Supports funding is generally flexible within the Core budget. Where your plan includes both funding types, you can often shift spending between them based on what you need each week. This flexibility is valuable for people whose support needs vary week to week.
Types of NDIS Disability Support Services
In-Home Personal Care
Personal care is the most commonly used disability support. It covers assistance with or supervision of the daily personal tasks that disability makes difficult or impossible to manage independently. This includes showering, dressing, grooming, oral hygiene, toileting, bladder and bowel management, menstrual care, eating and drinking, and moving and positioning.
The NDIS considers six hours per day the typical maximum for personal care without additional clinical justification. Participants needing more than six hours of personal care per day will generally need SIL rather than in-home drop-in support.
Personal care sits under Assistance with Daily Personal Activities (Category 1, line item 01_011_0107_1_1). The standard weekday daytime rate is $70.23 per hour under the 2025-26 PAPL.
Household Tasks
Household task support covers cleaning, laundry, and basic home and yard maintenance where these are disability-related needs. This is funded at a lower rate than personal care: $56.98 per hour for standard household tasks under the 2025-26 PAPL. The lower rate reflects the lower skill and qualification threshold compared to personal care.
Informal supports such as family and housemates are expected to share household tasks that benefit all household members. Support workers are not funded to clean the entire house; they are funded to assist with disability-related barriers to maintaining the home.
Community Access and Participation
Community access support funds a support worker to accompany you to activities, appointments, social events, and community participation outside your home. The rate is the same as standard personal care: $70.23 per hour on weekdays. Community access sits under Category 4 (Assistance with Social and Community Participation) rather than Category 1.
Many participants use community access alongside personal care. A support worker might assist with morning personal care and then accompany the participant to a community activity or appointment later the same day. These sessions are billed under different line items for each distinct support type.
High Intensity Support
High intensity disability support is for participants whose needs require a support worker with additional qualifications and specialist experience. This applies where the participant has complex behaviour or medical needs that present significant risk without a worker with the specific required skills.
The high intensity weekday daytime rate is $75.98 per hour, compared to the standard $70.23 per hour. Saturday high intensity is $106.93 per hour and Sunday and public holiday rates are $137.87 and $168.81 per hour respectively. Providers must genuinely assess whether high intensity is clinically indicated.
Overnight and Sleepover Support
Night-time sleepover support is priced differently from hourly support. The rate is $297.60 per shift, not per hour. A sleepover shift includes up to two hours of active support during the night. Where active support exceeds two hours overnight, additional active overnight support is claimed at the standard hourly rate for those extra hours.
Active overnight support is claimed at the standard or high intensity hourly rate for time actively worked during the night. This distinction matters where night support needs vary between low-supervision sleepovers and genuinely active overnight care.
Supported Independent Living (SIL)
Supported Independent Living funds a support worker to assist or supervise you in your home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. SIL is for people who need some level of support or supervision all the time. Generally, SIL is appropriate for participants who need active disability support for more than 8 hours per day.
Funding covers support worker time, not the housing itself. Rent, bills, and everyday living expenses are separate. Many participants with SIL also have Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) funding, which covers the housing itself. SDA and SIL are separate funding streams in the same NDIS plan.
Workers in SIL arrangements assist with personal care, meals, household tasks, medication management, and skill building from the home. Day programs and community access activities are funded separately.
Day Programs and Centre-Based Activities
Day programs, or Group and Centre Based Activities (registration group 0136), are structured programs delivered in a centre or community setting to groups. They provide social connection, skill building, and structured activity for participants who benefit from regular attendance.
Day programs share support worker costs across participants, making them more cost-efficient than individual support. The per-participant rate depends on the group size. Providers separately claim centre capital costs and provider travel.
Respite and Short-Term Accommodation
Respite provides temporary relief for family carers and lets participants experience living in a supported environment outside their usual home. Short-term accommodation is funded for specific purposes: carer respite, trialling different living arrangements, or crisis support.
Respite is not funded as a regular ongoing support in most plans. It is a planned, time-limited support that must be clearly linked to a participant goal or a carer’s need for relief.
NDIS Disability Support Worker Rates in 2025-26
The 2025-26 PAPL (v1.1, effective 24 November 2025) sets the maximum rates that registered providers can charge participants and the NDIA. All support worker rates increased by 3.95% from 1 July 2025, reflecting the SCHADS Award wage increase and the superannuation rate rising to 11.5%.
What Providers Charge vs What Workers Earn
This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of NDIS pricing. Providers can charge up to the NDIS price limit, the maximum set by the NDIA. Workers’ take-home pay is set by the SCHADS Award and is significantly lower.
For a standard weekday shift, the NDIS price limit is $70.23 per hour. SCHADS Award minimum pay ranges from approximately $31.18 to $43.66 per hour depending on level and qualifications. That gap is not profit alone. It covers superannuation, workers’ compensation insurance, training, management, administration, and leave entitlements.
For plan-managed or self-managed participants, providers may charge below the NDIS price cap. Self-managed participants can hire independent support workers directly, though this requires managing payroll, tax, insurance, and workplace compliance.
Key 2025-26 Rates at a Glance
- Standard personal care, weekday daytime: $70.23 per hour
- Standard personal care, weekday evening: $77.38 per hour
- Standard personal care, Saturday: $98.83 per hour
- Standard personal care, Sunday and public holidays: $127.43 and $156.03 per hour
- High intensity daily personal activities, weekday daytime: $75.98 per hour
- Household tasks: $56.98 per hour
- Night-time sleepover: $297.60 per shift (includes up to 2 hours active support)
Support Workers vs Nurses: What Each Can Do
A critical distinction in disability support is the boundary between what a support worker can do versus a registered nurse. This boundary protects participants from receiving clinical care from workers who are not qualified to provide it.
Support workers can assist with: medication administration where they have been trained to do so; personal care; community access; household tasks; skill building; sleep-overs; and implementing behaviour support plan strategies. They cannot perform: complex wound care, catheter changes, PEG feeding management, tracheostomy care, or other clinical nursing procedures. These require a registered nurse, funded separately under Community Nursing Care in the NDIS.
Participants with both disability support and clinical nursing needs often have both support workers and community nurses in their plans. A Support Coordinator can help ensure these two streams are properly coordinated.
Registered vs Unregistered NDIS Disability Support Providers
NDIS providers fall into two categories: those registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and those who are not. Which you can use depends on how your NDIS plan is managed.
If You Are NDIA-Managed (Agency-Managed)
You must use registered providers. Your funding is held by the NDIA and paid directly to providers on your behalf. All providers engaged must be registered with the NDIS Commission, having met quality standards, undergone independent audits, and completed worker screening.
If You Are Plan-Managed
You can use both registered and unregistered providers, with the exception of services that require registration. Services requiring a registered provider regardless of plan management type include Supported Independent Living (SIL), behaviour support plan development, and any support involving regulated restrictive practices.
If You Are Self-Managed
Self-managed participants have the broadest choice, including unregistered providers and independent support workers. You are responsible for paying invoices and claiming reimbursement from the NDIS. Hiring workers directly also means taking on employer obligations: PAYG withholding, superannuation, insurance, and workplace health and safety compliance.
Unregistered Providers Are Not Lower Quality by Default
The word “unregistered” does not mean unqualified or unsafe. Many highly experienced and skilled support workers operate as unregistered sole traders. Unregistered providers must still follow the NDIS Code of Conduct and deliver safe, quality supports. Registration is primarily an oversight and accountability mechanism.
SIL Mandatory Registration from July 2026
A significant change came into effect from 1 July 2026. All providers delivering Supported Independent Living must be registered with the NDIS Commission. Previously, some SIL providers operated without Commission registration. This requires all SIL providers to meet the same quality standards as other registered providers: independent audits, worker screening, and incident management.
Providers had until 1 October 2026 to apply for registration. Participants in SIL with unregistered providers should confirm their provider has applied for registration with their Support Coordinator. An unregistered SIL provider after October 2026 would not be able to make NDIS claims, which would affect continuity of support.
This change followed multiple independent reviews that identified quality and safety risks in unregistered SIL provision. It is a participant protection measure, not a barrier to provider diversity.
Disability Support for People in Complex Circumstances
Most guides to NDIS disability support focus on clinical conditions and daily routines. What they miss is the significant population who need disability support in contexts complicated by family violence, housing instability, or trauma.
For women and young people who have experienced family violence, disability support is not simply a practical service. A support worker entering the home carries significant weight. Trust is built over time through consistent presence and genuine respect for the participant’s choices and pace. A worker who communicates with family members without consent, or follows rigid routines without checking in, can undermine safety rather than support it.
Trauma-informed disability support starts from the position that the participant is the expert on their own needs. Decisions about what support looks like and who delivers it belong to the participant. A trauma-informed support worker builds trust incrementally, never shares information without consent, and recognises that “difficult” behaviour may be a safety response.
A Support Coordinator who understands disability and family violence together is as important as having the right support worker. The coordination function protects participants from well-meaning providers who might otherwise contact family members or share information in ways that create risk.
Why Choose Tenax Supports for Disability Support Services
Disability support is not a one-off arrangement. It is a sustained relationship between the participant, their workers, and the broader support network. We build that kind of sustained, reliable presence for the people we work with.
Tenax Supports is a Victoria-based registered NDIS provider. Our In-Home Support Services are delivered by workers who understand that the people we support are not defined by their diagnoses. Every support arrangement is built around the individual participant's goals, routine, and preferences.
Our Support Coordination service helps participants design their disability support, find the right providers, and manage their Core Supports budget. This is particularly important for participants whose plan includes multiple support types across different providers, or whose situation is more complex and needs closer coordination.
For participants who need occupational therapy, psychology, physiotherapy, speech pathology, or behaviour support, our Support Coordination team helps connect them with the right external allied health providers and keeps that support aligned with the rest of their NDIS plan.
Understanding NDIS entitlements and advocating for the right level of disability support funding is also something a good support coordinator can help with, alongside pointing participants toward independent advocacy services where needed.
For related reading, see our guides to the NDIS in Australia, NDIS support coordination, NDIS community participation, and disability housing Australia.
For current information on Tenax Supports’ NDIS registration, search the NDIS Commission Provider Register at ndiscommission.gov.au.
Contact Tenax Supports at tenaxsupports.com.au/contact or call 03 7018 8666. For NDIS queries call 1800 800 110. Referrals can be submitted at tenaxsupports.com.au/referrals.
Frequently Asked Questions About NDIS Disability Support Services
NDIS disability support services are funded supports helping people with disability live independently and participate in the community. They include in-home personal care, household tasks, community access and participation, Supported Independent Living (SIL), day programs, overnight support, and respite care. They sit primarily under Core Supports, specifically Assistance with Daily Life (Category 1) and Assistance with Social and Community Participation (Category 4).
What are NDIS support worker rates in 2025-26?
Standard weekday daytime personal care: $70.23 per hour. High intensity: $75.98 per hour. Saturday standard: $98.83 per hour. Sunday standard: $127.43 per hour. Public holiday: $156.03 per hour. Household tasks: $56.98 per hour. Night-time sleepover: $297.60 per shift (includes up to 2 hours active support). All rates increased 3.95% from 1 July 2025 reflecting the SCHADS Award wage increase.
What is the difference between standard and high intensity disability support?
Standard support is delivered by workers without additional specialist qualifications. High intensity support is for participants with complex behaviour or medical needs requiring a worker with specialist training and experience. The standard weekday rate is $70.23 per hour; high intensity is $75.98 per hour under the 2025-26 PAPL. Providers must assess whether high intensity billing is genuinely indicated by the participant’s needs.
What is Supported Independent Living (SIL) under the NDIS?
Supported Independent Living funds a support worker to assist or supervise you 24/7 in your home. It is for people who need support all the time, generally those requiring active support for more than 8 hours per day. Funding covers worker time, not rent or living expenses. From 1 July 2026, all SIL providers must be registered with the NDIS Commission. SDA, which funds the physical home, is a separate funding stream.
What do NDIS disability support workers do?
Support workers assist with: personal care (showering, dressing, grooming, toileting); eating and drinking; medication administration where trained; household tasks; community access; skill building; overnight support; and respite. They are not nurses. Complex clinical tasks such as wound care or catheter changes require registered nurses, funded separately under Community Nursing Care in the NDIS.
Can I use an unregistered NDIS disability support provider?
NDIA-managed participants must use registered providers. Plan-managed and self-managed participants can use both registered and unregistered providers, except for services requiring registration: SIL, behaviour support plans, and supports involving restrictive practices. Unregistered providers must still follow the NDIS Code of Conduct and deliver safe, quality supports.
How much does NDIS disability support cost versus what workers earn?
The NDIS price limit for standard weekday support is $70.23 per hour. Disability support workers are paid under the SCHADS Award at approximately $31.18 to $43.66 per hour depending on qualifications. The difference covers provider overheads: superannuation, insurance, training, leave entitlements, management, and administration. Plan-managed or self-managed participants can negotiate below the NDIS price cap with providers.