NDIS Capacity Building Supports 2026: All 9 Categories Explained

Home » NDIS Capacity Building Supports 2026: All 9 Categories Explained

If your NDIS plan has therapy, support coordination, behaviour support, or plan management funding in it, those all come from the NDIS capacity building budget. It is one of the 4 support budgets in an NDIS plan (alongside Core, Capital, and recurring supports), and it is the part of your plan most focused on building skills and achieving your long-term goals.

But Capacity Building has a tricky structure that catches many participants out. Unlike Core, where funding is mostly flexible across support categories, every NDIS capacity building support category is “stated” and separate. You can move funding within a support category, but not between them. Therapy money cannot be used for support coordination. Plan management money cannot be used for community participation. Knowing the rules saves expensive mistakes.

This guide explains all 9 NDIS capacity building support categories, what each one funds, the current 2026-27 price limits, and what is changing under the 1 October 2026 budget adjustments and the new framework planning rollout. All information is verified directly from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (effective 1 July 2026), and the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

What Is NDIS Capacity Building?

Capacity Building Supports are one of the 4 support budgets in an NDIS plan. The others are Core (day-to-day support), Capital (one-off purchases like equipment and home modifications), and recurring supports (where transport funding now sits). According to the NDIA’s official definition:

“Capacity building supports build your skills to do things for yourself and work towards your goals.”
Source: NDIA, What Are Capacity Building Supports

The “building” part of the name is important. Capacity Building is not for ongoing daily support (that comes from Core). It is for the supports that help you grow your independence, develop new skills, find work, manage your own plan, build relationships, or improve your health. Most of the funding in this category is time-limited, with the goal being that you need less of it over time as your skills increase.

The 9 NDIS Capacity Building Support Categories

The NDIA’s capacity building page, current as at 16 July 2026, says your NDIS capacity building budget “can have funding in up to 9 support categories”. You will only have funding against the categories that cover the supports you need, so most plans use a handful rather than all 9. The 9 support categories, as defined by the NDIA, are:

#	Support Category	What It Funds
1	Support Coordination	Help understanding your plan, connecting with providers, and building your capacity to manage your own supports
2	Improved Living Arrangements	Support to find and keep a suitable place to live (rental applications, housing inspections, tenancy support)
3	Increased Social and Community Participation	Skill-building so you can join community activities, sports, hobby groups, and build your social network
4	Finding and Keeping a Job	Employment-related supports including work skills, career planning, work experience, and transition into work
5	Improved Relationships	Behaviour support plans, positive behaviour support, and social skills development
6	Improved Health and Wellbeing	Dietitian, exercise physiologist, personal trainer (where related to disability)
7	Improved Learning	Help moving from school to further education (TAFE, university, short courses), tutoring, study support
8	Improved Life Choices	Plan management funding (paying your plan manager) and support to develop self-management skills
9	Improved Daily Living	Most therapy funding lives here: occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, psychology, dietetics

Most participants are surprised that therapy is in “Improved Daily Living” rather than “Improved Health and Wellbeing.” It is a quirk of how the NDIS structure was designed. Speech therapy to help you communicate, OT to help with daily skills, and physio for mobility all come from support category 9.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 1: Support Coordination

This is the funding for a support coordinator (or psychosocial recovery coach) to help you understand your plan, choose providers, set up service agreements, and become more self-sufficient. There are 3 levels:

Level	2026-27 Price Limit	For Whom
Level 1: Support Connection	$80.06/hr	Light-touch help connecting with informal and community supports
Level 2: Coordination of Supports	$100.14/hr	The most common level. Active coordination of supports across providers.
Level 3: Specialist Support Coordination	$190.54/hr	For complex, high-risk situations needing specialist clinical knowledge

Note: support coordination price limits did not rise in the 2026-27 schedule. Level 1 ($80.06), Level 2 ($100.14) and Level 3 ($190.54) are unchanged from the previous schedule, which is unusual compared with the support worker and therapy items that did increase. For more on choosing the right level, see our NDIS Support Coordination Levels Explained guide.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 2: Improved Living Arrangements

This support category funds support to find and maintain housing. It can pay for a support worker to help you apply for a rental, prepare for an inspection, communicate with a real estate agent, or transition to a new home.

What it does not cover: actual rent payments, the rental bond itself, or utilities. Those are everyday living costs you cover from your own income.

This is one of the smaller Capacity Building budgets and is most useful for participants moving out of family homes, leaving institutional care, or experiencing housing instability.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 3: Increased Social and Community Participation

This is different from the Core “Social and Community Participation” support category. The Core version funds the support workers who go with you to activities. The Capacity Building version funds the skill-building so you can eventually do more of it independently.

It can include:

Training to use public transport with confidence
Social skills classes and group programs
Mentoring to develop friendships and community connections
Programs that help you discover hobbies and interests

The two are designed to work together. You might use Core to attend a community group with a worker, and Capacity Building to build the skills to attend it independently next year.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 4: Finding and Keeping a Job

This is time-limited employment-related funding for working-age participants. It funds:

Vocational assessments to identify what work suits you
Career planning and goal-setting support
Pre-employment training and resume help
Work experience and on-the-job support
Transition support when starting a new role or moving to a different employer

This support category is often paired with Disability Employment Services (DES) or School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES) for younger participants. The NDIA’s expectation is that this funding helps you become more independent in the workforce, with less paid support over time.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 5: Improved Relationships

This support category funds positive behaviour support and social skills development. It is where the cost of a behaviour support practitioner sits, including:

Functional behaviour assessments
Behaviour support plan development and review
Training for support workers and family members on the plan
Social skills programs and 1-to-1 coaching

The 2026-27 price limit for Specialist Behavioural Intervention Support is $252.99/hr (support item 11_022_0110_7_3). Implementation of the behaviour support plan by support workers is funded separately under Core. For a deep dive, see our Positive Behaviour Support NDIS guide.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 6: Improved Health and Wellbeing

This funds dietitians, exercise physiologists, and personal trainers, where the support is needed because of your disability. It can pay for:

A dietitian to develop a meal plan that works around dysphagia, allergies, or medication interactions
An exercise physiologist to design a safe exercise program
A personal trainer to deliver that program with disability-aware supervision

Common 2026-27 price limits: Dietitian $178.99/hr (15_062_0128_3_3), Exercise Physiologist $161.99/hr (15_200_0128_1_3). Remote and very remote areas attract higher limits. What it does not cover: gym memberships, sports equipment, or general wellness coaching unrelated to disability.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 7: Improved Learning

This is for participants moving from school to further education or training. It funds:

Help applying for TAFE, university, or short courses
Tutoring to improve literacy or numeracy
Study skills support and workload management
Help managing the transition to a new educational environment

Improved Learning is most often funded for school leavers and young adults pursuing further qualifications. It does not cover course fees or textbooks (those are personal costs, sometimes covered by other government programs like Austudy).

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 8: Improved Life Choices (Plan Management)

This is where plan management funding sits. If you have chosen to use a plan manager, this support category covers:

The monthly plan management fee paid to your plan manager
Setting up your plan management arrangement with your chosen plan manager
Support to develop your own self-management skills (if you want to transition to self-management later)

Plan management is a single monthly fee under the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27: $104.45 per month (support item 14_034_0127_8_3). Schedule 7 lists no separate establishment or set-up fee, and quotes a single National price with no remote or very remote columns, unlike most other support items. If a plan manager quotes you a separate set-up or establishment charge, ask which support item it is claimed against.

NDIS Capacity Building Support Category 9: Improved Daily Living (Therapy)

This is the largest support category for many participants because it includes most allied health therapy:

Therapy Type	2026-27 National Price Limit
Occupational Therapy	$193.99/hr
Speech Pathology	$193.99/hr
Physiotherapy	$183.99/hr
Psychology	$252.99/hr
Counselling	$156.16/hr
Art / Music Therapy	$156.16/hr
Dietitians	$178.99/hr
Podiatrists	$188.99/hr

Therapy assessments, therapy reports, and therapy delivery all come from this support category. Provider travel is charged at 50% of the hourly price limit. You can see this in the schedule itself: art therapy is $156.16/hr and its provider travel item is $78.08/hr, audiology is $193.99/hr and its travel item is $97.00/hr.

The Most Important Rule: NDIS Capacity Building Funding Is “Stated”

Every support category in the NDIS capacity building budget is what the NDIA calls “stated.” This is the most important rule to understand:

“The funding in your capacity building support categories is a stated support. This means you have the flexibility to choose which capacity building supports best suit you. You can only buy supports that are from the NDIS supports lists.”
Source: NDIA, What Are Capacity Building Supports

What this means in practice:

Within a support category, funding is flexible. If you have $5,000 in Improved Daily Living, you can choose how to split that between OT, speech, and physio.
Between support categories, funding is NOT flexible. You cannot move Improved Daily Living (therapy) money to Support Coordination. Or Improved Relationships (behaviour support) money to Improved Health.
Capacity Building cannot be moved into Core or Capital. Each top-level category stays separate.
Each support must be from the NDIS supports list. You can’t use therapy funding for general life coaching, gym memberships, or non-NDIS services.

Capacity Building vs Core vs Capital: Quick Comparison

Category	What It’s For	Flexibility
Core Supports	Day-to-day support (personal care, household, community access, consumables). Transport now sits in a separate recurring supports budget	Flexible across and within the Core support categories
Capacity Building	Skills development (therapy, support coordination, behaviour support, employment, plan management)	Each of the 9 support categories is separate. Flexible within, not between.
Capital Supports	One-off purchases (assistive technology over $1,500, home/vehicle modifications, SDA)	Stated only. Tied to specific approved items.

For a deeper look at Core, see our NDIS Core Supports Explained 2026 guide.

What Is Changing for NDIS Capacity Building in 2026?

Two significant changes affect the Capacity Building budget in 2026:

1. Budget Adjustments from 1 October 2026

According to the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s Securing the NDIS for Future Generations reform package, participant supports budgets for social, civic and community participation supports and capacity building daily activities will be progressively adjusted from 1 October 2026. The exact amount of adjustment will depend on each participant’s individual circumstances and the new framework planning rollout. The aim is to align Capacity Building budgets more closely with assessed need.

2. New Framework Planning (from mid-2026)

The Australian Government is rolling out new framework planning starting mid-2026. Under the new framework:

Support needs assessments using the I-CAN v6 tool replace reliance on individual allied health reports
Funding will be either stated or part of a flexible budget. Some Capacity Building elements may move into the flexible budget. Specialist supports (like behaviour support with restrictive practices) will likely remain stated.
Children under 18 will not be in the initial rollout.
Phased introduction means most participants will not see immediate changes.

For a complete overview, see our NDIS Planning Changes 2026 guide.

How to Get Capacity Building Supports in Your Plan

Capacity Building funding has to be requested and justified at your plan meeting. The NDIA looks for:

A clear goal the support will help you achieve (independence, work, relationships, learning)
Evidence of need from a relevant professional (allied health report, GP letter, school report)
A proposed support type (specific therapy, support coordination, behaviour support, etc.)
An estimate of hours or sessions needed across the plan period
A reasonable expectation that the support will reduce future need (the “reasonable and necessary” test)

Tip: bring written reports to your plan meeting. The more concrete and specific your evidence, the easier it is for the planner to approve appropriate funding.

Common Mistakes With NDIS Capacity Building Supports

Trying to move money between support categories. If you have therapy funding (Improved Daily Living) but need more support coordination (Support Coordination), you can’t shift it. You have to request a plan change.
Confusing the two “Social and Community Participation” budgets. One is in Core (the worker who goes with you). The other is in Capacity Building (the skill-building so you can go alone).
Underspending Improved Life Choices. If you have plan management funding but don’t use a plan manager, that money can’t be used for anything else.
Forgetting therapy is in Improved Daily Living. Many participants assume therapy is in “Improved Health and Wellbeing.” It isn’t.
Not requesting Support Coordination at the plan meeting. If it isn’t in your plan, you can’t add it later without a plan change.
Buying non-NDIS services with NDIS money. Funding can only be used on supports from the NDIS supports list.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is NDIS Capacity Building?

NDIS Capacity Building is one of 4 support budgets in an NDIS plan (the others are Core, Capital, and recurring supports). It funds skills development, including therapy, support coordination, behaviour support, plan management, and employment support.

How many support categories are in NDIS Capacity Building?

There are 9 support categories: Support Coordination, Improved Living Arrangements, Increased Social and Community Participation, Finding and Keeping a Job, Improved Relationships, Improved Health and Wellbeing, Improved Learning, Improved Life Choices (Plan Management), and Improved Daily Living (Therapy).

Can I move funding between Capacity Building support categories?

No. Each Capacity Building support category is “stated,” meaning the funding is locked to that purpose. You can move funding within a support category (e.g., split your Improved Daily Living budget between OT and speech), but not between support categories. To change the structure, you have to request a plan reassessment.

Can I use Capacity Building funding to pay for personal care?

No. Personal care is a Core support (Assistance with Daily Life). Capacity Building cannot be moved into Core. You need separate funding allocated in each top-level category.

Where does therapy come from in my NDIS plan?

Therapy comes from Improved Daily Living (support category 9), not from Improved Health and Wellbeing. This includes occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, psychology, dietetics, and counselling.

Is Support Coordination the same as Capacity Building?

Support Coordination is one of the 9 Capacity Building support categories, with its own dedicated funding. It is not separate from Capacity Building, but it is separate from the other Capacity Building support categories (you cannot move money from therapy to support coordination, for example).

What is the rate for OT under Capacity Building in 2026-27?

Occupational Therapy is $193.99/hr nationally for 2026-27. Speech Pathology is the same rate. Physiotherapy is $183.99/hr. Psychology is $252.99/hr. These are price limits, the maximum a provider may charge, not fixed prices.

What is changing for Capacity Building in 2026?

Two main changes: (1) participant Capacity Building budgets for social, civic and community participation supports and capacity building daily activities will be progressively adjusted from 1 October 2026; and (2) new framework planning rolls out from mid-2026 with phased changes to how budgets are structured.

What does “stated support” mean?

A stated support is one ring-fenced for a specific purpose. You can only spend that funding on the support described. All Capacity Building support categories are stated, which is why you can’t move funding between them.

Can I get Capacity Building funding without seeing a therapist first?

Generally, no. The NDIA usually requires evidence (an allied health report, GP letter, or specialist assessment) showing the support is reasonable and necessary. Without evidence, your request is more likely to be declined.

How Centre of Hope Can Help

Understanding NDIS capacity building takes time, and getting the structure right at your plan meeting matters even more than the total amount. At Centre of Hope, we help participants and families across Western Sydney and NSW:

Map your goals against the right Capacity Building support categories before your plan meeting
Gather the right evidence from therapists, GPs and schools to support your funding request
Choose the right Support Coordination level for your situation (Level 1, 2, or 3)
Find suitable allied health providers for therapy, behaviour support, and health and wellbeing
Review your plan utilisation across all 9 support categories so nothing is wasted
Prepare for the 1 October 2026 budget adjustments and the new framework planning rollout

Capacity Building done well changes lives. Capacity Building set up poorly leaves money on the table or, worse, locks you into supports that don’t fit. We are here to help you get it right from the start.

Your goals. Your plan. Our support.

📞 Call us: 0432 250 900
🌐 Visit: centreofhope.com.au
📝 Refer: Submit a referral