How to Prepare for Your NDIS Planning Meeting or Reassessment: The Checklist (2026)

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To prepare for your NDIS planning meeting, write down the day-to-day support you need and your goals in your own words. Then send any new reports to the NDIA before the meeting, decide how you want your funding managed, choose someone to bring, and list the questions you want answered. The NDIA calls it a plan meeting. It is a conversation with the NDIA planner who approves your plan, and it happens when your first plan is created or when you get a new plan, for example after a plan reassessment.

This NDIS planning meeting checklist covers what to bring, the questions to ask, what happens in the meeting, and what comes after: plan approval, the plan implementation meeting, and your right to a review. Every fact comes from the NDIA’s own pages and Our Guidelines, linked throughout, and reflects the new NDIS laws Parliament passed on 19 August 2026.

NDIS planning meeting: quick summary

You meet an NDIA planner. The planner is the person who approves your plan. Your my NDIS contact can’t change or approve it.
The plan is already drafted. The NDIA invites you once the planner has created your plan, so the meeting explains the plan and checks that it works for you.
New evidence can change it. If you give new information or evidence, the planner may change your plan during the meeting.
Send information early. The NDIA says sharing your information before the meeting can help it approve your plan faster.
You choose the format. In person, on Microsoft Teams or by phone, and you can bring someone with you.
Your review rights start when you get the decision. You have 3 months from the day you receive it to ask for an internal review.
Some budgets are now reduced. From 1 October 2026, social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills budgets are reduced when a plan is reassessed or a new plan is approved.

First plan, reassessment or check-in: which meeting is yours?

Three different NDIS conversations can feel like a planning meeting. Knowing which one you have been invited to tells you who you will meet and what to prepare.

Meeting	Who you meet	When	What it is for
Check-in	Your my NDIS contact	About 2 to 3 months before your plan’s reassessment date, or when big changes are coming up	How your plan is going and whether it still meets your needs. A check-in doesn’t mean your plan has to change
Plan meeting (your NDIS planning meeting)	Your NDIA planner	When your first plan is created, or when you get a new plan, once the planner has created it	Explaining your plan and the decisions behind it, checking it fits your situation, and approving it
Plan implementation meeting	Your my NDIS contact, support coordinator or recovery coach	Offered within 7 days of your plan being approved. It is optional	Using your funding, finding providers, using the my NDIS portal and app, and making claims

Not every check-in leads to a plan meeting. If the NDIA varies your current plan or continues it instead of creating a new one, you won’t need a plan meeting, and the plan is uploaded to your portal and the my NDIS app.

The NDIS planning meeting checklist

Print this list or copy it into your notes before your NDIS planning meeting, and tick each item off as you go. It follows the steps in the NDIA’s guide How to prepare for your plan meeting.

Done	Before your NDIS planning meeting
☐	Note the date, time and place, and whether the meeting is in person, on Microsoft Teams or by phone.
☐	Write down the areas of daily life where you need the most support, such as cooking, dressing or getting around the house.
☐	List who supports you now: family, friends, and any community or government services you use.
☐	Write some draft goals in your own words.
☐	Gather any new reports or assessments from your treating health professionals, and send them to the NDIA before the meeting if you can.
☐	Decide how you would like your funding managed: self-managed, plan-managed, NDIA-managed, or a mix.
☐	Decide whether to bring someone, such as a family member, friend, support coordinator or recovery coach.
☐	Write down your questions (there is a list below).

Done	On the day, and straight after
☐	For a phone or online meeting, find somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed for up to an hour, with a charged phone and good signal.
☐	Keep your goals, notes and questions in front of you, and take your own notes.
☐	Tell the planner whether you want a plan implementation meeting.
☐	Once your plan is approved, read it in the my NDIS portal or app.
☐	If something looks wrong, note the date you received the decision: the 3 month review window starts then.

What to bring to your NDIS planning meeting

Your goals, in your own words

The NDIA suggests writing some draft goals before your first plan meeting. You must have at least one goal, and you can have as many as you want. Goals can be small and short term or big and long term. If you can’t write them down, your NDIA planner can write them down for you in the meeting. Our NDIS goals examples show how others have worded theirs.

However, more goals do not mean more funding. The NDIA says setting more or bigger goals doesn’t mean it will fund more or bigger supports. Helping you work towards a goal is only one of the funding criteria.

A picture of your day-to-day life

The NDIA’s own goal-setting questions are a good starting point. What is working well in your life now? What is not working well, and what needs to change? What is the most important thing to you right now? Short notes on these questions help you explain your needs clearly, even if you feel nervous on the day.

Reports and other evidence

The NDIA uses the information you give it as evidence to decide which supports go in your plan. This includes reports from your doctors or allied health professionals. Good evidence is recent and comes from a treating health professional relevant to your primary disability, ideally one who has worked with you for a long time. The NDIA may not be able to fund a support if it doesn’t have enough evidence for it.

You can bring new evidence to your NDIS planning meeting. Still, it is better to send it first, because the NDIA says sharing information before the meeting can speed up approval.

Information from family and carers

Your family and friends who support you can give the NDIA information about their own lives too, if you want them to. You, your providers and your carers can also describe how your disability affects your daily life. A written NDIS carer statement is one way for a family member to put this on paper.

Your choice of plan management

There are 3 options: self-management, plan management by a plan manager, or NDIA management. You can also mix them. If you don’t tell the NDIA how you want your plan managed, it will manage the funding for you. NDIA-managed funding can only be used with registered NDIS providers, so think about which providers you want to keep. Our guide on how to choose an NDIS plan manager explains the middle option.

Questions to ask at your NDIS planning meeting

The NDIA says it’s okay to ask the person running your plan meeting to stop, repeat or explain things. These questions are worth having on paper:

How was my plan created, and how were the decisions about my supports made? Explaining this is part of the planner’s job at the meeting.
Which supports are flexible and which are stated? Flexible funding can be used in the way that suits you best. Stated supports can only be used for the support described in your plan.
Has a budget reduction been applied to any supports in my plan? Your plan will show the funding changes if one has.
How long will my plan go for, and what are my funding periods? Our guide to NDIS funding periods explains how funding is released over the plan.
Do you need any more evidence from me, and exactly what? The NDIA will tell you what evidence it needs before it can approve a change.
Who is my my NDIS contact, and when is my next check-in? Your planner will talk to you about when your next check-in will be.
Can I have a plan implementation meeting? You can say yes or no at the plan meeting.
Can I get a budget breakdown? If you want more detail about the supports that make up your total budget, the NDIA can send you one.

What happens during an NDIS planning meeting

Your NDIA planner will show you the plan they created, including your supports and total budgets. They will explain how they used your information and evidence and how they made decisions about your supports. Next, they will ask about your living situation, your goals and your day-to-day supports, to check they understand your situation. The NDIA’s preparation guide also lists how you would like to manage your funding and how long your plan will be in place.

The planner also talks you through managing your plan, recording your my providers, consent for providers to see your plan, and using the my NDIS portal and app. They will write down important information, and you can take your own notes.

How the planner decides what is funded

Every support must meet the reasonable and necessary criteria. According to the NDIA, reasonable and necessary supports need to:

relate to your disability
help you work towards your goals
help you to work, study and take part in social activities
be value for money
be likely to be effective and beneficial to you
work with mainstream supports and others in your network
be an NDIS support, or an agreed replacement support, for you.

Each support must also make sense as part of the whole package. If the supports fit your situation and will help you work towards your goals, the planner will approve your plan in the meeting. If they don’t fit, the planner works with you to change the plan. Approval may take longer if the NDIA needs more information or an assessment.

If your NDIS planning meeting follows a reassessment

A plan reassessment is when you need a new plan with different supports. Your my NDIS contact will usually contact you for a check-in about 2 to 3 months before your plan’s reassessment date. At the check-in they explain the information and evidence you will need, how to gather it, and how the reassessment works.

To prepare, the NDIA suggests thinking about:

life changes you expect over the next 3 years, such as leaving school, starting or leaving work, or a change in where you live
how connected you are with your social and community supports
your goals, and your preferences about how long your next plan should run.

Evidence matters here too. Reports from your treating health professionals, therapists or support workers can show how your supports are helping you work towards your goals, and can recommend supports you might need in future. If the NDIA decides to create a new plan, it will book a plan meeting, and everything in the NDIS planning meeting checklist above applies.

Asking for a reassessment before your date

The new NDIS laws changed this, and the changes are now in effect. Only you, your plan nominee or your child representative can ask, and you can’t give consent for a provider to ask for you. You need a significant and ongoing change to your functional capacity and support needs, or to your living, education, work or informal support arrangements.

The request goes on the NDIA’s plan reassessment request form, with recent evidence. Recent usually means within 4 months of your request and after your current plan was approved. The NDIA has 90 days to decide whether to reassess, and you can keep using your current plan while it decides. Short-term or urgent changes can go through a plan variation instead, and the NDIA says it will let you know its decision on a variation within 21 days once it has the information and evidence. Our guides to NDIS plan reassessment and change of circumstances cover both routes in detail.

What the 2026 NDIS law changes mean for your meeting

Budget reductions from 1 October 2026. Budgets for social, economic and community participation supports and improved daily living skills are reduced from 1 October 2026 when a plan is reassessed or a new plan is approved, and from 1 February 2027 when a plan is renewed. Help with eating and drinking, education supports, employment supports and disability related health supports are not affected. Our article on NDIS budget resets explains what is protected.
Budget reductions are not a reviewable decision. However, participants who meet the NDIA’s high support needs criteria, which include receiving 24-hour NDIS supports, can ask for a plan variation within 90 days of their plan being approved with budget reductions.
Plan renewals from February 2027. A “plan renewal” will replace “plan continuation”, and unspent funds from the previous plan won’t be carried over.
Answer requests for information. From 1 October 2026 the NDIA can suspend a plan if a participant doesn’t respond, but only after at least 5 attempts to make contact over 3 to 4 months.
A new way of planning from April 2027. The NDIA says it will begin introducing it then, and will share more information with participants before they move across. Until then, plans are made under the current framework. Our guide to NDIS planning changes follows the timeline.

After your NDIS planning meeting

Your NDIA planner will approve your plan during or soon after the meeting. For a first plan, the NDIA aims to create and approve it within 56 days of you becoming a participant, or within 90 days for a child under 9. If you haven’t heard about your first plan within those timeframes, call the NDIA on 1800 800 110.

Your approved plan appears in the my NDIS portal and app, and the NDIA sends you a copy within 7 days. Your plan starts on the day it is approved, and you can start using it straight away. Then, within 7 days, the NDIA offers a plan implementation meeting with your my NDIS contact, support coordinator or recovery coach. It is optional, and it usually takes about an hour. Your plan doesn’t expire if the reassessment date passes before a new one is made. It ends only when the NDIA approves a new plan or you leave the NDIS.

If you don’t agree with your plan

Ask for an explanation first. Talk to your my NDIS contact or contact the NDIA. The NDIA gives written reasons for its decision, and you can ask for a budget breakdown.
Ask for an internal review within 3 months. The 3 months run from the day you receive the decision. Someone at the NDIA who wasn’t involved in the decision reviews it. You can use the request a review of a decision form, the service hub, a letter, a local office, or 1800 800 110. The NDIA aims to complete internal reviews within 60 days.
Then an external review, if needed. If you still disagree, you can ask the Administrative Review Tribunal within 28 days of the internal review decision. The NDIS Appeals Program can help, but you can’t use NDIS funding to pay someone to represent you at the tribunal.

Reviewable plan decisions include approving your plan and the supports in it, deciding not to do a plan reassessment, and deciding whether to vary your plan. The NDIA’s How to request a review of a decision page lists the common ones, and its reviewing our decisions guideline has the full list.

How to check the rules yourself

Two kinds of NDIA document are worth knowing. Its participant pages, such as What is a plan meeting and Guide to your first plan, explain the process in plain language. The Our Guideline documents, such as Creating your plan, set out the rules the NDIA follows. NDIA pages end with a “This page current as of” date, so check that date before relying on one. Changes from the new laws are listed on the NDIA’s Securing the NDIS for future generations page.

How a support coordinator can help you prepare for an NDIS planning meeting

The NDIA names a support coordinator or recovery coach among the people you can bring to your plan meeting. If your plan includes support coordination, your coordinator can also help you set goals, collect the information the NDIA needs for your next plan, run your plan implementation meeting, and help you ask for an internal review. Centre of Hope’s support coordination team can help with each of these steps, and our psychosocial recovery coaches can do the same for people with psychosocial disability.

Frequently asked questions

Is a planning meeting the same as a plan meeting?

Yes. “Plan meeting” is the NDIA’s term. Many people still call it an NDIS planning meeting or a planning conversation.

How long does an NDIS planning meeting take?

The NDIA’s plan meeting pages don’t give a set length. For a phone or online meeting, it suggests finding somewhere you won’t be disturbed for up to an hour.

Can I have my NDIS planning meeting by phone?

Yes. You can choose to meet in person, online using Microsoft Teams, or by phone.

Who can come to the meeting with me?

The NDIA suggests someone who knows you well, such as a family member, friend, support coordinator or recovery coach. Its Creating your plan guideline also says friends, family or an advocate can join any conversation the NDIA has with you. If you need someone else to make decisions about your plan, the NDIA can help set this up; for an adult, this may be a plan nominee.

Can my plan be approved in the meeting?

Yes. The planner approves your plan in the meeting if the supports fit your situation and will help you work towards your goals. If the NDIA needs more information or an assessment, approval can take longer.

Do I need an NDIS planning meeting every year?

Not necessarily. You usually have a check-in about once a year unless your situation changes, and if your plan is varied or continued there is no plan meeting. Under the Creating your plan guideline, plans for people aged 9 and over whose needs are stable will generally go for 5 years.

What if I forget to mention something?

You can ask for a change to your plan at any time after it is approved. If you only want to change your goals or the information about you, the NDIA can update your plan without changing your supports. For other changes, you need to give the NDIA information about why your plan needs to change.

What if I need an interpreter to contact the NDIA?

The NDIA says to call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 if you need help contacting the NDIS.

How Centre of Hope can help

Centre of Hope is a registered NDIS provider in NSW. If support coordination is in your plan, our coordinators can help you get ready for an NDIS planning meeting or check-in and help you put the approved plan into action. As the NDIA suggests, you can also bring your coordinator to the meeting. We will always tell you plainly if an option we suggest is one of our own services, and the choice stays with you. To talk it through, get in touch or call us on 0432 250 900.