Occupational Therapy NDIS: What It Covers and How to Access

What Is Occupational Therapy Under the NDIS?

Occupational therapy under the NDIS focuses on helping participants build, maintain, or restore the skills they need for daily life. An occupational therapist works with you to identify the ways your disability affects everyday activities and develops practical strategies to address those gaps.

This is broader than many people expect. An NDIS OT can help with personal care routines, cooking and household tasks, social participation, fine motor skills for children, sensory processing, safe mobility at home, and key life transitions such as school to work.

All NDIS occupational therapists must hold current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as occupational therapists. This is a legal requirement under the NDIS rules and is non-negotiable regardless of how your plan is managed.

What Does an NDIS OT Actually Do Day to Day?

The day-to-day work of an NDIS occupational therapist depends on your goals and the supports outlined in your plan. Common activities include:

• Skills training: Working with you directly on the daily tasks that are most affected by your disability, from morning routines to cooking, using transport, managing a budget, or participating in recreational activities.
• Home assessments: Visiting your home to assess safety, accessibility, and suitability. The OT identifies hazards and recommends modifications such as grab rails, ramps, bathroom modifications, or improved lighting.
• Assistive technology prescriptions: Recommending and prescribing equipment suited to your needs, from shower chairs and wheelchairs to communication devices and adapted kitchen tools. The OT provides the written prescription the NDIA requires before AT funding is released.
• Functional Capacity Assessments: Conducting structured assessments of your daily function for use as NDIS plan evidence, particularly when applying for SDA, SIL, or ILO, or when seeking a significant increase in supports at review.
• Paediatric therapy: Supporting children with autism, developmental delay, sensory processing differences, or physical disability through play-based and school-based approaches targeting independence, communication, and readiness for school or community participation.
• Mental health and psychosocial support: Helping participants with psychosocial disability develop routines, manage daily tasks, engage in the community, and build capacity for greater independence over time.

How NDIS Occupational Therapy Is Funded

NDIS occupational therapy sits primarily within the Capacity Building budget under the support category called Improved Daily Living, also known as CB Daily Activity. This budget funds therapeutic supports that help you build skills and independence over time.

Because OT is a stated support, your Improved Daily Living budget can only be used for therapy. Unlike Core Supports, which offer flexible spending across categories, therapy funding is ring-fenced. You cannot redirect it to pay for personal care workers or community participation, for example.

In some cases, certain OT activities may also fall under Core Supports, particularly where the OT is delivering hands-on daily living assistance alongside skill development. Your Support Coordinator or plan manager can confirm which budget line applies to specific services in your plan.

Typical annual OT funding ranges from $2,000 to $10,000 depending on assessed needs. Participants with complex daily living challenges, significant home modification requirements, or ongoing paediatric therapy needs may have higher budgets. The NDIA does not prescribe a fixed number of sessions. Session hours reflect what your therapist recommends based on your goals and the evidence provided at planning.

NDIS OT Rates in 2025-26

The current rates come from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2025-26 (v1.1, effective 24 November 2025). One of the key changes in 2025-26 was nationally standardised therapy rates. The old state-by-state pricing, which had different maximums per state, no longer applies.

Standard occupational therapy weekday rate: $193.99 per hour. Saturday rate: $242.49 per hour. Sunday and public holiday rate: $290.99 per hour. High Intensity OT weekday rate: $214.41 per hour.

A second significant change: from 2025-26, therapists can only bill travel time at 50% of their hourly rate, rather than the full rate as previously applied. An OT charging $193.99 for therapy can now charge only $97.00 per hour for travel time. This change has had a significant impact on regional and remote participants, with many providers reducing home and school visits due to the reduced travel income. If your OT visits you at home, confirm whether their travel billing has changed.

The rates for OT have not been increased in real terms since 2019. Occupational Therapy Australia’s 2025 provider survey found that 55% of OT businesses failed to make a profit in the prior year. A further 14% were planning to close. This context is worth knowing if you experience waitlists or find providers limiting their NDIS caseload.

Types of Occupational Therapy Assessments Under the NDIS

OT assessments are among the most important documents in the NDIS system. They provide the evidence base for funding decisions at planning and review. The main assessment types include the following.

Functional Capacity Assessment

A Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) is a thorough evaluation of your ability to manage essential daily activities: mobility, self-care, household tasks, social participation, and task management. It focuses on real-life function, not diagnosis. The NDIA uses the FCA report as the primary clinical evidence when determining support levels, particularly for SDA, SIL, ILO, and home and living applications. An FCA typically costs $800 to $2,000 depending on complexity. It takes four to ten hours of therapist time to complete, including direct assessment, collateral interviews, and written report preparation.

Home Assessment

A home assessment involves the OT visiting your home environment to evaluate safety, accessibility, and suitability for your disability-related needs. The therapist identifies hazards and recommends modifications. Recommendations may include minor items such as grab rails and non-slip mats, or more significant structural changes like bathroom modifications, ramps, or doorway widening. Home assessments typically cost $400 to $800. The OT’s written recommendations are required by the NDIA before Capital Supports funding for home modifications is approved.

Assistive Technology Assessment

When a participant needs assistive technology funded through their Capital Supports budget, an OT must assess the need and write a formal AT recommendation report. This applies to equipment from wheelchairs and communication devices to simpler aids such as adapted cutlery, shower chairs, or bed rails. The OT prescribes the specific item, documents why it is necessary and reasonable, and often provides training in its use. AT assessments typically cost $300 to $600 for straightforward items and more for complex technology.

Paediatric Assessment

For children, OT assessments cover developmental milestones, fine motor skills, sensory processing, handwriting, school readiness, and participation in family and community life. Assessments for children take place at home, school, or in a clinical setting. They involve the child, parents or carers, and sometimes teachers or support workers. The results inform both therapy goals and, where relevant, NDIS plan evidence for children who are applying or approaching a review.

How to Get Occupational Therapy in Your NDIS Plan

OT is not automatically included in every NDIS plan. It must be determined as reasonable and necessary for your specific disability-related goals. Here is how to get it included or expanded.

1. Check your current plan first. Look for Capacity Building funding under Improved Daily Living. If this budget exists, you very likely already have OT funding available. Your plan manager or Support Coordinator can confirm the exact line items.
2. Contact an OT provider directly. No referral is required. You, a family member, or your Support Coordinator can contact an occupational therapy provider and book an initial assessment. If your plan is NDIA-managed, the provider must be a registered NDIS provider. If plan-managed or self-managed, you can use any registered or unregistered OT.
3. Request OT at your next plan review if not currently funded. Raise OT with your planner or Local Area Coordinator at your planning meeting or review. Bring evidence from a treating health professional explaining how your disability affects daily function and why OT is needed. A letter from your GP or specialist, or an existing OT report, strengthens the case.
4. Use your Support Coordinator to coordinate the referral and provider search. If you have Support Coordination in your plan, your coordinator can research suitable OT providers, manage the referral, and follow up on reporting requirements. Tenax Supports’s Support Coordination service can help manage this process.
5. Attend your initial session. Your first OT session is usually an assessment. The therapist discusses your goals, your daily challenges, and your current living situation. They will develop a therapy plan and recommend how often to meet. You do not need to bring medical records, though any relevant reports can help.

OT for Children Under the NDIS

Occupational therapy is one of the most commonly accessed supports for children with NDIS plans. Paediatric OT covers autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, sensory processing differences, fine motor skill development, handwriting difficulties, and school and community participation challenges.

Sessions are typically delivered at the child’s home, at their school, or in a community setting. Many paediatric OT approaches are play-based, particularly for younger children, making the therapy engaging rather than clinical in feel. Therapists also work with parents and carers to develop strategies that can be practised between sessions.

For children under 9 with developmental delay or disability, OT may be accessed through the NDIS Early Childhood Approach without a formal NDIS plan. This pathway connects families with Early Childhood Partners who assess needs and provide or arrange appropriate supports. Tenax Supports’s Support Coordination service can help families find and coordinate occupational therapy for children and young people through this pathway.

The 2025-26 Pricing Change Most Participants Don’t Know About

The shift to 50% travel billing from 2025-26 is worth understanding in detail if you receive OT at home or at school. Previously, many OTs billed travel at their full hourly rate. Now they can only charge half. This means home visits are less financially viable for OT businesses, particularly in regional and remote areas.

The practical impact: some OTs who previously visited homes have stopped offering home visits. Others continue but are more selective about how far they will travel. If you rely on home-based OT, confirm with your provider whether they have changed their travel arrangements and how this affects your plan budget. Your Support Coordinator can help navigate provider changes if your current OT has reduced their service area.

How Tenax Supports Can Help

Tenax Supports is a Victoria-based registered NDIS provider. While Tenax does not directly deliver occupational therapy, our Support Coordination service helps participants find and coordinate occupational therapy alongside their other NDIS-funded supports.

Our Support Coordinators can help you locate suitable OT providers for daily living skills, home safety assessments, and assistive technology needs, and can assist with the paperwork around functional capacity assessments for plan reviews and housing applications.

Beyond Support Coordination, Tenax Supports also offers In-Home Support Services, Community Access, and Supported Independent Living to help you implement your plan and connect with the right providers.

For related reading, see our guides to the NDIS in Australia and disability housing and SDA.

For current information on Tenax Supports’s NDIS registration and the services for which registration applies, search the NDIS Commission Provider Register at ndiscommission.gov.au.

Contact Tenax Supports at tenaxsupports.com.au/contact or call 03 7018 8666. Referrals can be submitted at tenaxsupports.com.au/referrals.

Frequently Asked Questions About NDIS Occupational Therapy