What does NDIS fund for personal care? The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) may fund help or supervision with everyday tasks such as showering, dressing, toileting and eating when it relates to your disability and meets the funding criteria. A support worker may provide this care at home or in other daily settings. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) considers your goals, support needs and what help is reasonable for family and friends to provide. It generally will not fund care that is the responsibility of the health system.
+ Key Takeaways
- Personal care can be delivered at home, in the community, at work or while you’re on holiday.
- The NDIA considers whether family care is suitable and sustainable, not just whether it’s safe.
- For children, the NDIS funds personal care where needs go beyond what’s usual for their age.
- At government schools, the state or territory pays for personal care and the school delivers it.
- Some personal care needs overlap with disability-related health supports, such as catheter care or PEG feeding.
- The NDIA will also look at whether equipment or home modifications could reduce the help you need.
The NDIS may fund personal care to assist with everyday activities such as showering, dressing, toileting and eating. Understanding what’s covered, and when funding may be available, can help you work out what support you may be eligible for.
If a parent, partner or another family member currently helps you shower, dress or prepare meals, the NDIS may be able to fund some of that support instead.
In this article we explain what the NDIS funds for personal care, where and when you can receive it, and what’s excluded. We also cover personal care for children and how it differs from Supported Independent Living (SIL).
Looking for personal care support? Request your free Options Report.
What Does NDIS Fund for Personal Care Tasks
Personal care refers to the everyday tasks that help you look after yourself. Under the NDIA’s guidelines, that can include help or supervision with:
- Personal hygiene: showering, bathing, brushing your teeth, dressing and grooming
- Toileting: including bladder and bowel care, as well as menstrual care
- Eating and drinking: during meals and at other times throughout the day
- Moving around: mobility and transfers, such as getting into and out of bed
- Aids and devices: using aids, appliances, hearing devices and communication devices
- Appointments: getting disability-related help to attend appointments
- First aid: applying splints or basic first aid for an injury caused by your disability
So, personal care may cover the help you need to use equipment or attend an appointment. The equipment itself, transport costs and the appointment are covered by separate funding rules. Our guide to what NDIS funds can be used for explains the broader funding categories.
Personal care sits within Assistance with Daily Life, the wider NDIS support category for help with everyday living. This forms part of NDIS Core Supports. The Assistance with Daily Life page explains the full category.
Where Can Personal Care Be Provided?
Personal care isn’t just for support at home. The NDIS may fund it wherever you need assistance to take part in daily life, including:
- At home, whether you live by yourself, with family or with other people
- Out in the community, including at social and recreational activities
- At school, study or work
- While you’re away on holiday
If you’re travelling, funding may cover eligible disability-related support while you’re away. It won’t cover ordinary holiday expenses such as travel and accommodation.
There are different arrangements for personal care at government schools. The state or territory government pays for the service, while the school organises and delivers it. If “personal care in school” is listed in your child’s plan, it simply records that they receive the service. It isn’t funding you can manage yourself or use with another provider.
When will the NDIS Fund Personal Care?
As with any NDIS support, personal care must meet the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria. It needs to relate to your disability, help you pursue your goals and take part in social or economic activities, be effective and beneficial, and represent value for money. The NDIA will also consider what support it is reasonable to expect from family and friends, and whether the NDIS is the right system to fund it.
You don’t need to have reached a goal before the support can be useful. For example, the NDIA may fund personal care that helps you get ready to look for work, even if you don’t have a job yet. You also don’t need a separate goal for every personal care task; the same support may help you work towards several goals.
When family or friends already help you, the NDIA looks at whether that arrangement is both suitable and sustainable. It considers the age and capacity of the people providing care, as well as any long-term effect on their wellbeing.
Your preferences about who provides intimate personal care are also important to discuss with your NDIS contact.
Extra support hours aren’t always the only option. The NDIA may look at whether assistive technology, home modifications or learning new skills could make you more independent. If a piece of equipment could reduce the help you need, make sure you raise it.
Can the NDIS Fund Personal Care for Children?
Yes. The NDIA looks at the care a parent would usually provide for a child of the same age, then considers whether your child needs substantially more help because of their disability. It may also consider any risk to your wellbeing as their carer.
What families are reasonably expected to provide changes as a child gets older. As your child grows, keep your NDIS contact updated about changes in their personal care needs and preferences.
What Doesn’t the NDIS Fund?
The NDIS generally won’t fund:
- Care the NDIA considers reasonable for family, friends or the community to provide
- Supports another system is responsible for, such as hospital care, medicines and palliative care, even if that system isn’t currently providing them
- A family member to provide your supports, except in very limited circumstances
Where Disability-Related Health Supports Fit
Some needs fall into the area of disability-related health supports. These can include catheter care, PEG feeding, and some continence or wound care tasks. Depending on the task and your circumstances, the support may be provided by a nurse or a properly trained support worker. Some tasks require particular clinical skills and qualifications. Our NDIS high intensity supports guide explains support tasks that require specifically trained workers.
If you need help with a health-related task, ask your treating health professional what training or clinical skills are required. You can then speak with your NDIS contact about how eligible support may be included in your plan.
How Is Personal Care Different From SIL?
Personal care focuses on specific daily tasks. You can arrange it as individual support, or it may form part of a broader support arrangement such as SIL.
SIL is generally for people with higher support needs who require substantial help throughout the day, seven days a week, including overnight. Some supports are usually shared with other NDIS participants, although in limited circumstances SIL may be funded for someone who lives alone.
If you’re comparing the options, our guides to what Supported Independent Living covers and how to apply for SIL explain the details.
What to Check with a Personal Care Provider
Once personal care is included in your plan, the provider you choose can have a big effect on how smoothly your day runs. Before signing up, check:
- Worker availability at the times you need, including early mornings
- Whether you will usually have the same support worker
- Whether the provider can accommodate your preferred worker gender
- What happens when your regular worker is sick or unavailable
- How much notice you need to give if you cancel
You should also read the service agreement carefully, especially the cancellation and notice terms, before you sign. Our NDIS plan implementation guide explains the steps from approved funding to arranging services.
Get Help Finding NDIS Personal Care Providers
Finding personal care support is about more than finding someone nearby. You need a provider who understands your needs and can offer support at the times that work for you.
Care Decisions helps you find providers matched to your needs, location and preferences, without having to call around yourself. We’ll talk through what you’re looking for and send you a personalised Options Report with up to 5 providers.
The providers receive your report at the same time, so they can contact you or your carer to discuss their services. You can get to know your options and decide whether any are right for you. There’s no obligation to choose a provider.
Our service is free for participants and families. Providers pay us a referral fee, so you don’t pay to receive your Options Report. If you have a support coordinator, we can work alongside them to help you explore your options.
Ready to find a personal care provider? Request your free Options Report.
Ask Providers How They Work with Psychosocial Disability
Relevant experience matters, but a sentence on a provider’s website will only tell you so much. Ask how their experience would make a difference to the support you receive each day.
You might ask about:
- Experience: what experience their team has supporting people with psychosocial disability
- Getting to know you: how workers will learn your routines, communication preferences and goals
- Consistency: who would support you, and who steps in when they are away
- Changing needs: how they adjust support when your needs change
- Working together: how they work with your recovery coach or support coordinator, with your consent
If a provider says its approach is recovery-oriented or person-centred, ask what that looks like in practice. A useful answer should explain how it affects your roster and how much say you have in everyday decisions.
If your plan includes a recovery coach or support coordinator, they can be a good place to start. With your permission, they can speak to providers for you.
Check the Household Fit
SIL is often provided in a shared home, so the housemates, location and everyday routines will all affect how the home feels. If you can, visit and meet the household before making a decision.
While you are there, check:
- Visiting: whether you can visit and meet the people you would live with
- Shared supports: which supports are shared and which are only for you
- House routines: how different routines and disagreements are handled
- Your say: how much input you have into household decisions
It also helps to write down what matters most to you. That might be having a quiet space, living in a certain area, seeing familiar workers or being close to important people in your life.
Check Registration and Agreements
Since 1 July 2026, SIL providers have been required to register with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. A provider can only deliver SIL if it is registered or applied to register before 1 October 2026.
You can find a registered provider on the NDIS Provider Register. If your provider has not registered, your plan and funding stay the same.
If one provider supplies both your housing and your SIL, the NDIS Practice Standards require separate tenancy and service agreements. Your tenancy must not depend on receiving their support.
Ask for the agreements in a format that is easy for you to understand. They should clearly set out the costs, the support you will receive and any notice periods. Before you sign, check:
- Changing provider: what happens if you want to change your support provider
- Housing: how a change of provider would affect where you live
- Complaints: how to raise a concern or make a complaint
- Support to review: whether someone you trust can go through the agreements with you
In a shared home, housemates often use the same SIL provider. Ask what changing providers would actually mean for you and the rest of the household.
Whatever you are told, ask for it in writing.
What to Do Next
- Write down the daily tasks you need help with and how often.
- Note how your support needs change across different weeks.
- Talk to your my NDIS contact about which home and living supports may fit.
- Ask your treating health professional for evidence that describes your everyday support needs.
- Check each provider on the NDIS Provider Register before you compare them.
- Request your free Options Report to compare SIL providers matched to you.
Compare SIL Providers with Care Decisions
Finding a SIL provider with current capacity, the right experience and a household that feels right can involve a lot of phone calls. If SIL is included in your plan, Care Decisions can help narrow the search.
An NDIS specialist will talk with you by phone about the support you need, where you would like to live and what matters most to you. If you have made notes while reading this guide, you will already have many of the details they need.
The call takes about 20 minutes. Afterwards, you receive an Options Report with up to 5 matched SIL providers that have current capacity. The providers receive your report at the same time and can contact you directly. You are always free to decide whether you want to take things further.
Contact us today for your Free Provider Options Report.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Personal Care the Same as Assistance with Daily Life?
Not exactly. Assistance with Daily Life is the broader NDIS support category for help with everyday activities. Personal care is one type of support within that category.
How Many Hours of Personal Care Does the NDIS Fund?
There isn’t a standard number of hours for everyone. The NDIA’s personal care guidance uses a general guideline of up to 6 hours a day, but more may be funded in some situations, for example, when 2 people are needed to help with transfers. This isn’t a guaranteed allocation or an absolute cap. The amount in your plan will depend on evidence of your disability-related needs and whether the support meets the funding criteria.
Can the NDIS Pay a Family Member to Provide Personal Care?
Usually not. The NDIS will only fund a family member to provide support in very limited circumstances.
Can You Choose the Gender of Your Support Worker?
Yes, you can ask for a support worker of a particular gender. Under the NDIS Practice Standards, registered providers should make reasonable efforts to involve you in choosing your workers, including considering your preferred gender. A particular worker may not always be available, so ask the provider whether they can meet your preference before you agree to services.
Can Personal Care Be Provided at Work?
Yes. The NDIS may fund personal care at work. It won’t fund adjustments that your employer is responsible for providing.