Reasonable and necessary supports: what are they?
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funds reasonable and necessary supports for children with disability or developmental delay and adults with disability.
To be considered reasonable and necessary, a support must be:
- related to your child’s disability
- value for money
- likely to work and benefit your child
- based on evidence.
Reasonable and necessary supports don’t include day-to-day living costs that aren’t related to your child’s disability support needs.
Reasonable and necessary supports take into account any informal, community or mainstream supports that your child already has. These might include things like help and support your child and family get from:
- friends and extended family
- local and community services
- health and education systems.
What do reasonable and necessary supports do?
Reasonable and necessary supports help children and their families work towards children’s individual goals in life. All the supports and services that are funded by the NDIS and included in your child’s NDIS plan are based on your child’s NDIS goals.
In general, reasonable and necessary supports should help children to:
- become more independent
- take part in social and community activities
- look after their health and wellbeing.
How does the NDIA decide what’s reasonable and necessary?
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) runs the NDIS.
When the NDIA makes decisions about what supports are reasonable and necessary for your child, it uses the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, National Disability Insurance Scheme Rules 2013 and the NDIS Operational Guidelines.