Your NDIS Plan allocates your funding under three separate support ‘budget areas’. These budget areas are:
Capital support
Core support, and
Capacity building
Depending on your needs, you’ll be allocated a certain amount of funding under one or more of the three budget areas. But, what’s the difference between these NDIS Plan budget areas?
Here’s a quick overview to help you understand each budget area as it relates to your plan.
Capital Support
Capital support is fairly straight forward in that it is for buying equipment and technology (such as a wheelchair or visual equipment), and paying for home modifications (such as widening doorways or installing handrails). The funding isn’t flexible, it has to be used for the purpose for which it’s allocated.
Core Supports
A core support is an ongoing long-term support activity that helps you in everyday life. Your plan might specify one or a variety of core supports.
Core supports are grouped into 4 categories:
Daily activities
Social, community and civic participation
Consumables
Transport
Examples of core supports include:
Accommodation
Visiting supports
Showering/toileting
Budgeting assistance
Assistance with socialisation and recreational activities
Personal care
Provision of consumables and personal care products
How you use your core support budget is up to you. The budget is usually flexible in that you are free to use your allocated budget as you see necessary across any of the four core support categories (unless the item budget is nominated as “stated supports”).
Capacity Building
Capacity building, refers to supports that help you increase your own base skill set. As capacity is built, the amount of support may be reduced or stopped if it is no longer required.
There are 9 categories within the capacity building support budget area.
Daily Activity
Choice and Control
Employment
Social Community and Civic Participation
Health and Well Being
Home Living
Lifelong Learning
Relationships
Support Coordination
Capacity building can include activities such as:
Independent living skills: cooking, cleaning, self-care, grocery shopping, etc.
Transition planning, skills development, training
Transport training: this might include catching buses/trains or arranging taxis
Assistance with managing the development of your own plan and support staff (eg. Plan Management)
Assisting people in having choice and control over their own life
Relationship building: building beneficial and lasting relationships with friends/family
Health and wellbeing: incorporating fitness/food plans or mental health therapies
Employment: assistance with applying and interviewing for jobs, and maintaining employment
Social and community participation: social/sporting groups
Other daily living skills
Capacity building isn’t always about gaining or regaining total independence, but slowly reducing the level of need and assistance required over time in relation to a particular support. Capacity building is focused on steadily reducing the level of support required, as these new skills are incorporated.
Your capacity building support budget will be allocated to one or more of the 9 support categories within the capacity building budget area. The funding will be allocated to the categories that align with your plan goals. You can choose to use your budget as you wish as long as the activity is within the capacity building budget category to which the funding is allocated.