NDIS Plan Reassessment Rules Have Changed

Since 27 August 2026 the rules for asking the NDIS to look at your plan early have changed. Fewer people can make the request, the reasons have been narrowed, and the NDIA now has a set time to answer. If your budget is about to be reset in October, or your circumstances have shifted, you need to know which door to knock on. Some of the old ones are shut.

This guide explains what changed, what did not, and what to ask for instead when a full reassessment is not the right tool. Everything below comes from the NDIA and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, with the peak body People with Disability Australia used for one point the NDIA has not spelled out. Links are at the end.

What changed on 27 August 2026

The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 became law on 20 August. Its first provisions started seven days later. Three of them are about plan reassessments.

1. Only you, your nominee or your child representative can ask

An unscheduled reassessment, meaning one before your plan's reassessment date, can now only be requested by the participant, their plan nominee, or a child representative. A child representative is usually a parent or the person who makes NDIS decisions for a child under 18.

In practice, this closes the route where a support coordinator, provider or plan manager lodged the request for you. They can still help you prepare it and gather evidence. The request itself has to come from you or your representative.

2. There has to be a significant and ongoing change

The NDIA will still consider an early reassessment, but only where there has been a significant and ongoing change to one of these:

• your functional capacity and support needs, meaning how you manage daily activities
• your living arrangements
• your education or work circumstances
• the informal support you get from family, friends or others

Both words carry weight. Significant rules out small shifts. Ongoing rules out short-term situations, which have their own pathway below.

3. The NDIA has 90 days to decide

Once your request is received, the NDIA has 90 days to decide whether or not it will reassess your plan. That is a decision about whether to reassess, not the reassessment itself.

People with Disability Australia reads the new law as treating a request with no decision inside 90 days as refused. That sounds harsh, but the point of it is that a refusal is a reviewable decision, so you can use your review rights rather than waiting indefinitely.

What has not changed

• Your scheduled reassessment still happens. Every plan has a reassessment date. Nothing about that date or that process changed on 27 August.
• Plan variations still exist. Smaller or urgent changes still go through a variation rather than a full reassessment. The NDIA says participants can still ask for short-term or urgent changes this way.
• Your review rights still exist. A refusal to reassess or vary your plan is a decision you can ask to have reviewed.
• Your current plan keeps running. Nothing in the new law changes your funding, supports or plan on its own.

Reassessment, variation or renewal: which is which

Three words that get mixed up constantly, and the difference now decides whether you get what you ask for.

Two things about renewals worth knowing now. Unspent funds from the old plan do not carry into the renewed one. And from 1 February 2027 a renewal is also one of the points where the October 2026 budget reset is applied, which we explain further down.

What counts as a significant and ongoing change

The NDIA has not published a checklist, so this is judgement. Examples that sit clearly inside the four categories:

• a diagnosis or deterioration that changes what you can do day to day
• moving out of the family home, or a carer moving out
• starting or finishing study, or starting or losing a job
• a parent or partner who provided daily support no longer being able to

Examples that are real but probably belong in a variation rather than a reassessment:

• a hospital stay with a recovery period
• a support worker leaving and needing cover for a few weeks
• an unexpected equipment breakdown

And one that is not a reason at all: wanting to lock in your current budget before a change you have heard about. The reset in October applies at reassessment, so asking for one early brings it forward rather than avoiding it.

How to ask

1. Be clear which process you want. Say "unscheduled plan reassessment" or "plan variation". Vague requests get slower answers.
2. Explain the change and when it happened. One paragraph. Which of the four categories it falls under, what is different, and why it is ongoing.
3. Attach evidence. A letter from a treating professional, a tenancy agreement, an employment letter, a carer's statement. Evidence of what you have been spending helps too, and we come to that below.
4. Send it yourself, or through your nominee. Call the NDIA on 1800 800 110, use the my NDIS app or portal, or go through your Local Area Coordinator. Your support coordinator can draft it with you, but the request needs to come from you.
5. Note the date. The 90-day clock starts when the NDIA receives it.

Keep copies. Participants are now required to keep records about their NDIS supports and payments for three years, and a paper trail is exactly what you want if a request is refused.

If the NDIA says no

A refusal to reassess is a reviewable decision. For most reviewable decisions you need to ask for an internal review within three months of getting the decision in writing. If the internal review goes against you, the next step is the Administrative Review Tribunal.

If you need help with any of that, the Disability Gateway on 1800 643 787 can connect you with an advocacy service, and the NDIA publishes a Guide to Decision Reviews.

Where the October budget reset fits

From 1 October 2026 the NDIA begins reducing budgets for social, economic and community participation and for improved daily living skills. It applies as plans are reassessed or newly approved, and from 1 February 2027 as they are renewed. We cover that change in full in our guide to the October 2026 community participation changes. Three things connect it to reassessments:

• The reset itself is not a reviewable decision. The NDIA has said so directly. What you can still do is ask for a reassessment or a variation if your circumstances have changed.
• Asking for a reassessment after 1 October triggers the reset. A reassessed plan is built under the new settings. If your only reason is the reset, a request works against you.
• There is a new variation pathway for 24-hour care. Participants with high support needs who need continuous 24-hour disability support can apply for a plan variation within 90 days of the reduction applying to their plan. The NDIA can increase funding through it to keep them safe at home, and says more detail is coming.

Answer the NDIA when it contacts you

One more change from October 2026 that belongs in the same conversation. The NDIA will be able to suspend a plan if a participant does not respond to requests for information, after at least five attempts to make contact over an extended period. That is a high bar, but it makes an unanswered letter or a changed phone number a bigger deal than it used to be. If the NDIA contacts you and you are not sure why, you are entitled to ask what process is happening and what could change.

What we do at Dedicated Plan Management

A reassessment request lives or dies on evidence, and a lot of that evidence is financial. What you have been spending, on what, and whether the current budget actually covered it. That is the part we hold.

For our participants we provide a spending summary by category and funding period on request, which is the document a planner wants to see next to a letter from your OT. We keep the payment records the new law requires. And if you are heading into a reassessment or a renewal in the next few months, we can tell you exactly where the plan stands before you sit down.

Plan management is fully funded by the NDIS under its own budget line, so none of this comes out of your other supports. If you are not plan managed yet, our guide to adding plan management to your plan explains how. If you would like a plan manager who has the numbers ready when the NDIA asks, switching is a records change, not a plan change, and we handle it.

Frequently asked questions

Can my support coordinator still request a reassessment for me?

Not any more. Since 27 August 2026 only the participant, their plan nominee or a child representative can request an unscheduled reassessment. A support coordinator can help you prepare it.

How long does the NDIA have to respond?

Ninety days from receiving your request, to decide whether it will reassess your plan. People with Disability Australia reads the law as treating no decision in that time as a refusal, which you can then ask to have reviewed.

What if my change is short-term?

Ask for a plan variation rather than a reassessment. The NDIA has kept variations for short-term and urgent changes, and a variation does not redo your whole plan.

Can I appeal the October 2026 budget reset?

The reset itself is not a reviewable decision. You can still request a reassessment or variation if your circumstances have changed, and participants who need continuous 24-hour support have a dedicated variation pathway within 90 days of the reduction applying.

Will asking for a reassessment protect my current budget?

No. A reassessment after 1 October 2026 produces a plan built under the new settings. Use your current plan as approved for its full term unless something has genuinely changed.

What is the difference between a renewal and a reassessment?

A reassessment looks at your needs afresh and produces a new plan. A renewal, from 1 February 2027, gives you a new plan with the same supports adjusted for prices, without that review. Unspent funds do not carry into a renewed plan.

Heading into a reassessment?

We are happy to pull together your spending summary and talk through what the planner is likely to ask. Sign up online in a few minutes, or call us on 1300 010 170.