You are not alone if you have just signed a new service contract and have seen a different invoice than last year. The regulations governing pricing for NDIS supports have been restructured for 2026, and the funding document, which Australians most commonly refer to as the “price guide”, is now known by a new name, has a new decision-maker, and a new structure.
This guide provides an easy-to-understand interpretation of the NDIS Price Guide / NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2026. You’ll see what has changed from 1 July, what the Minister’s first pricing determination will entail, and what rates have changed and what dates are still to come. It is designed for participants, families, support coordinators, plan managers and providers.
Same Purpose, New Packaging: Whatever Happened to the Price Guide?
Until now, the NDIS released one document, the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (PAPL), most individuals referred to as the NDIS price guide. For 2026-27, the agency released an NDIS Pricing Schedule instead. The schedule is a prices-only document which details support item numbers, item names, and maximum prices for national, remote, and very remote areas. The rules relating to claiming, which used to be within the PAPL, are now included in the pricing and claiming guidance, and the Annual Pricing Review outlines the rationale for each recommendation. There is a separate schedule for SDA.
The NDIS Price Guide / NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2026 has been phased out and is now a set of documents, or a set of families of documents. The dollar amount might require the Pricing Schedule, the claiming guidance for the rule, and the Annual Pricing Review for the reason.
Who Holds the Pen Now? The Pricing Determination Was the First Decision Made by the Minister.
This year the single most significant change is not a number. It’s the person who approves the numbers. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 came into force in August and made the Minister for Disability and the NDIS the statutory price limits decision-maker. The Minister can make decisions after being advised by the NDIS.
Minister Mark Butler first determined pricing in the new framework on 24 September 2026. This is when the revised pricing schedules came into effect, and the maximum prices align with the NDIS’s recommended prices that were published in June 2026. The NDIS has advised participants and providers not to do anything as a result of the determination. The reforms also mandate that the NDIS provide advice to Parliament, or a summary of its advice, about the pricing, which should give the sector increased transparency on pricing.
The 2026-27 Headline Rates Are Included in This Report
The price increases in some places were offset by price decreases in others, and price levels remain unchanged in many places. The 2026-27 NDIS Pricing Schedule has the following main changes:
- The base maximum hourly rate for disability support workers has increased from $70.23 to $73.58, reflecting the latest SCHADS Award wage increase and the new sleepover rules. Support worker levels are now aligned to individual line items.
- Psychology and specialist behaviour support: about $252.99 at the national rate (8 per cent).
- Dietetics and exercise physiology: dietetics dropped to $178.99, while exercise physiology dropped to $161.99. The general “other professional” item was cut by almost 20 per cent.
- Occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech pathology: No change at $193.99, $183.99 and $193.99 per hour.
- Nursing: up by approximately 3.4 per cent.
- For support coordination and plan management, the prices have remained unchanged for 12 months.
- The rate for psychosocial recovery coaching has risen to $110.44 an hour across the country.
These are national statistics. Loadings, typically around 40 and 50 per cent, higher than the national rate, are common in remote and very remote areas. For instance, house or yard maintenance averaged $59.01 an hour across the country as at 1 July, $82.61 in remote areas and $88.52 in very remote areas.
A Ceiling, Not a Sticker Price
In the scheme, here is the most misunderstood idea: There is a price limit, not a price you are required to pay. Providers may offer lower rates, and many do. The price limits are in place to maintain price uniformity and safeguard the value of your investment to go further.
The limit applies based on plan management. For plan-managed and NDIS-managed supports, providers are required to keep their prices within the limits. Keep track of what you buy if you are self-managing and ensure your purchases are reasonable, necessary and good value; however, you will not have the same limits.
A price limit is where a service agreement meets reality. It should include the support, the rate, its cancellation and travel policy and what changes will be communicated. If a provider wishes to increase the rate, they must let you know, and that increase must be agreed with you before the increase is reflected on an invoice.
Why Your Next Invoice Might Look Different
There are a number of reasons why your next invoice looks different, reasons you might need to know. There are two changes in structure that will be most noticeable on invoices this year.
First, the numbers of the therapies now have letter suffixes that clearly identify what is being charged for. If no suffix is provided, it indicates that this support is delivered directly. CA marks a cancellation, NF is non-face-to-face work, PT is provider travel, RR is an NDIS-requested report, and TH is telehealth. In the past, providers used to indicate these things in the portal by using claim types. The item numbers have been replaced by Allied Health.
Secondly, the one package of the Short Term Accommodation (STA) is no longer. It is divided into two components – support worker labour and accommodation capital cost (claimed daily). This approach has also been supported by the NDIS with new support codes, with the old codes no longer being valid. If you are a user of STA, or your family is, then you should be prepared for your provider to update your contract to reflect this.
Three Dates You Should Definitely Be Pencilling In
But the price game is not over for 2026-27. Be aware of these dates:
1 November 2026
Consultation closed for the Annual Pricing Review of the price for 2027-28, via NDIS Engage. This is your chance to have input into next year’s price.
1 December 2026
The maximum prices for four NDIS support items increase on 1 December 2026 in response to a decision by the Fair Work Commission on Schedule E of the SCHADS Award on 11 September 2026.
At the national rate, household maintenance jobs increase from $59.01 to $63.42 an hour, and house cleaning and other household activities from $60.10 to $64.59 an hour.
The claiming process and item numbers remain unchanged, and a new Pricing Schedule will be published by the NDIS that day. All changes to what a participant is charged must be agreed to before they go into effect.
1 January 2027
The Annual Pricing Review recommended the launching of differentiated pricing from 1 January 2027. That includes a 10 per cent reduction for social, community and civic participation supports provided by unregistered providers, and a pause in indexation for these supports. The prices of these supports remain unchanged for registered providers. The final settings for differentiated pricing closed at the end of September; keep an eye out.
Your Playbook for Staying in Control of the Numbers
There’s no need to commit to a 90-page schedule to safeguard funding. Use the NDIS Price Guide / NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2026 as a guide, and follow these steps:
- Request the article number. All lines on a quote or invoice must relate to a support item. If it does not, ask “why?”
- Compare the rate with the limit. Check the Pricing Schedule and look up the item (and if you live far from a major city, the remote or very remote column).
- Read through your service contract again. Look at the terms for cancelling checks, travel costs and how a provider will inform you of tariff changes.
- Plan ahead with extra money. Funding may be used up faster than expected due to increases in December or January; please keep an eye on your funds.
- Lean on your team. Your plan manager/support coordinator can clarify a confusing invoice.
- Shop around. It’s okay to shop around, and a higher price does not necessarily equal quality.
A Provider/Plan Manager Quick Checklist
This year is providers’ heaviest lift.
- Update allied health suffixes and the unbundled STA codes in billing systems.
- Ensure that shifts are costed at the appropriate level of support for the worker.
- Read, explain and inform participants in writing of the terms and conditions of the service before any change in rate.
- Get ready for 1 December – four items rising, and demonstrate the effect of differentiated pricing in January.
- The claiming rules were removed from the Pricing Schedule, so be sure to have the most recent claiming advice handy.
- Plan managers should compare invoices with the old item codes – these will no longer function.
Prices on Paper, Value in Practice
The purpose of the NDIS Price Guide / NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2026 remains the same: maintaining a fair, consistent, and sustainable cost of disability supports while giving participants real choice and control.
Once you know what the ceiling is, you’ll be able to negotiate, budget and make sure there’s no mistake. Check the NDIS pricing page before 1st December, and review plans and agreements before this date, and discuss anything you don’t understand with your plan manager or support coordinator.
The information contained in this article is of a general nature only and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. Refer to the Pricing Schedule on ndis.gov.au for the latest prices.
FAQ’s
1. The NDIS Price Guide / NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2026 is what?
The NDIS Price Guide / NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2026 provides a collection of rules and maximum prices to help control providers’ prices for NDIS-funded supports for 2026-27. Previous to this, the old Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits document has been replaced by a new NDIS Pricing Schedule with its own Pricing Claiming guidance and the NDIS’s Annual Pricing Review.
2. When do the 2026-27 NDIS price limits start?
The 2026-27 NDIS Pricing Schedule will come into effect on 1 July 2026. An updated schedule applies from 24 September 2026, after the Minister made the first pricing determination, and participants did not need to take any action. This is when support items begin to increase to four, following the decision from the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in its SCHADS (standard conditions hearing) case.
3. Does an NDIS price limit represent the amount that I must pay?
No. The price limit is not a fixed price, but the highest price that a provider can charge. Lower price limits are acceptable. For plan-managed or NDIS-managed plans, the providers will need to be within the price-limited supports limit. There are no caps on the self-managed participants; however, they should ensure the purchases are reasonable, necessary, and good value.
4. What is the maximum amount that NDIS providers can claim for support workers in 2026-27?
The base national maximum for disability support worker items has increased from $70.23 to $73.58 for 2026-27. There are also loadings for higher supports, for evenings and weekends, for public holidays and for group supports, where each has its own item numbers and prices; and higher loadings for remote and very remote areas. This limit varies depending on the support item claimed.
5. Has there been any change in prices for NDIS therapy in 2026-27?
Yes, for some therapies. Psychology increased to 252.99perhour, while diabetes (178.99) and exercise physiology(161.99) decreased. The other two groups, occupational therapy (193.99) and physiotherapy (183.99) and speech pathology (193.99) remained unchanged. New suffixes on therapy item numbers now identify cancellations, travel, telehealth, non-face-to-face (NFWF) work and reports.
6. Is it okay to increase the cost of my support from my provider during my plan?
Subject to your consent. If a provider wants to increase the rate, they have to notify you and discuss the rate change with you before it is reflected in your invoice. You can consult and compare other providers and check the price limit for yourself. The new rate will also need to be equal to or less than the maximum rate for the support item.
7. What are the official NDIS prices?
Please refer to the official source – the NDIS website for pricing and payments (under providers). The NDIS Pricing Schedule, the Specialist Disability Accommodation schedule and claiming guidance can be downloaded. Use third-party price tools to help with price searching, but make sure to double-check prices with the NDIS documents.
