NDIS Carer Statement Template: What to Write and Why It Matters

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An NDIS carer statement is a written account of the care you actually provide, prepared for a planning conversation or a plan reassessment. It is not an official form, and the National Disability Insurance Agency does not publish a template for it. That surprises most people who go looking. This guide explains what an NDIS carer statement is, why a well written one carries real weight, and exactly what to put in it. You will also find a template you can copy and adapt, plus the planning criteria your statement should answer.

NDIS carer statement: quick summary

There is no official NDIA carer statement form. You write it yourself, in plain language, and provide it with your other information.
It matters because one of the NDIS funding criteria is whether funding a support takes account of what it is reasonable to expect families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide.
The NDIA also has to consider the suitability of informal supports, including the carer’s age and capacity, and any long term risks to their wellbeing.
Children and adults are assessed against different questions, so a statement about a child reads quite differently from one about an adult.
A carer statement does not create an entitlement. It provides evidence, and evidence is only one part of a funding decision.
From February 2027, new criteria and clearer guidelines about what a parent is expected to provide start applying to new participants.

What an NDIS carer statement actually is

Families, advocates and support coordinators all use the term. However, NDIS carer statement does not appear anywhere in the NDIA’s own planning guidelines. There is no downloadable form, no required word count, and no prescribed structure.

So what is it? In practice, an NDIS carer statement is simply a written statement from the person providing unpaid support. That might be a parent, a partner, an adult child, a sibling or a close friend. It describes what support the person needs, how often, for how long, and what happens when that support is not available. It also describes the effect on the carer.

The NDIA calls this kind of help informal support. Its guideline defines informal supports as the help and support you get from friends, family and the community, called informal because you do not pay for them and they are not part of a formal agreement.

Because there is no official form, nothing constrains what you include in an NDIS carer statement. That is an advantage rather than a gap. You can write straight to the criteria the planner has to apply.

Why an NDIS carer statement carries weight

NDIS funding criteria are set out in the law and explained in the NDIA’s guideline on reasonable and necessary supports. One of those criteria is that the funding of the support takes account of what it is reasonable to expect families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide.

In other words, the care you already give is not invisible to the decision. It is part of it. The guideline puts the underlying idea plainly: NDIS supports should complement, not replace, other supports available to you.

Therefore the question is never simply what a person needs. It is also how much of that is reasonable for the people around them to keep providing. Without an NDIS carer statement setting out what that care involves, the answer gets estimated from a short conversation.

Importantly, the guideline treats informal support as something valued rather than penalised. It states that NDIS supports will never replace the support friends and family provide, that this support is given freely because people care, and that there are potential risks and problems if friends and family become paid carers. The NDIA generally does not fund family members to provide NDIS supports, and it only considers doing so in very limited situations.

The criteria your NDIS carer statement should answer

Helpfully, the guideline lists what the NDIA considers when it decides whether it is reasonable to expect informal supports to provide something. Below is that list, alongside what each item means for your writing.

What the NDIA considers	What to write in your statement
The things the person is able to do for themselves	Be honest about strengths and independence. A statement that describes total dependence when that is not the case reads as unreliable.
Support available from others in their network, including family, relatives, friends and local community services	Name who else helps and how often. Also name who used to help and no longer can, and explain why.
How old the carers are and their capacity to provide the support	State your age, your health, and anything that limits what you can safely do now.
Whether other family members and the community can help informal supports in their caring role	Explain the practical reality. Distance, work, other caring duties and estrangement all count.
The intensity and type of support needed, and whether it is appropriate for informal supports to provide it, based on their age and gender	Describe the physical demand and the personal nature of the task. Intimate personal care provided by a parent to an adult child is a clear example.
Any long term risks to the wellbeing of informal supports	Name the risk directly. Injury, exhaustion, lost income, interrupted study and declining health all belong here.

For people over 18, the guideline says the NDIA considers whether the supports are sustainable for informal supports. It weighs the health, safety and other impacts on family and carers in the long term. Furthermore, it gives two examples of what would not be expected: a child having their schooling affected because they need to provide care, and an elderly parent being responsible for physical activities where that may result in injury.

If you are writing about a child under 18

The test is different, and this trips people up. For children under 18, the guideline says the NDIA considers whether the child’s needs are substantially greater because of their disability, compared with other children the same age. It also considers any risks to the wellbeing of the people providing informal support, and whether funding a support will build the child’s skills and capacity in future or reduce risks.

The guideline is direct about the baseline. It states that it is normal for parents to provide substantial care and support for children, and that it is usual for parents to provide almost all the care and support young children need. So a statement that simply lists ordinary parenting will not help. Instead, the comparison is the point. Write about what a child the same age without disability would typically need, and then write about the gap.

An NDIS carer statement template you can copy

Use the NDIS carer statement structure below as a starting point. Adapt the headings, and drop anything that does not apply to you. Two to four pages is usually plenty.

Section 1: Who you are

Your name, your age, your relationship to the participant, and how long you have been providing support. Include whether you live in the same house, and whether you work or study.

Section 2: A typical day

Walk through one ordinary day from waking to sleeping. Give times and durations. For example, rather than “I help with showering”, write “I help with showering every morning, which takes about 40 minutes because of the transfers involved”. Specifics are what make a statement usable.

Section 3: A difficult day

Needs go up and down. A statement built only on good days understates the picture, while a statement built only on crisis days overstates it. So describe both, and say roughly how often each occurs.

Section 4: Night time and unplanned support

Cover overnight support, disturbed sleep, and any support that cannot be scheduled. Also cover what you do that you would not be doing for a person the same age without disability.

Section 5: What happens when you are not there

This section is the one most often left out, and it is often the most important. Describe what actually happens when you are sick, working, or away. If the answer is that nothing happens and the person goes without, say so plainly.

Section 6: The effect on you and your household

Your health, your sleep, your work, your income, your study, your other children, and your own relationships. Then state what has changed over the past year or two, because the direction of travel matters as much as the current position.

Section 7: What you can keep doing, and what you cannot

Be specific about where the line sits. Many carers are happy to keep doing some tasks and need help with others. The guideline supports exactly that distinction. In its worked example, a wife continues helping her husband eat his meals because it is what they both want and it is not a safety risk, while personal care moves to a funded support because it has become unsafe for both of them.

Section 8: Anything else you want to raise

Include your own goals where they are relevant, any advice from a treating health professional, and any concerns about the current arrangement continuing.

Section 9: Sign and date it

Add your name, your signature and the date. A dated statement is easier to rely on later, and much easier to update at the next reassessment.

Writing tips that make an NDIS carer statement land

Write in your own voice. There is no benefit to clinical language. Plain description of what happens in your home is more credible than jargon.

Use frequency and duration, not adjectives. “Significant support with mobility” tells a planner very little. “Two transfers in and out of the wheelchair each hour, about 14 times a day” tells them a great deal.

Do not minimise. Carers routinely understate what they do, because it has become normal to them. Ask someone else to read your draft and point out what you have left out.

Do not exaggerate either. A statement that contradicts the reports from treating professionals weakens everything else in it.

Send it before the meeting where you can. The NDIA notes that sharing your information before the plan meeting can speed up the process and help it approve your plan faster.

Bring someone with you. The NDIA says some participants find it helpful to bring someone who knows them well to the plan meeting, including a family member, a friend, a support coordinator or a recovery coach.

Common mistakes in an NDIS carer statement

Describing the diagnosis instead of the support. The planner already has the medical evidence. Your statement adds what the reports cannot show, which is daily life.
Asking for a specific support or amount. Requests are fine in the meeting itself, but a statement works better as evidence than as a shopping list.
Leaving out other helpers. If a sibling helps twice a week, say so. Omissions discovered later cost credibility.
Writing nothing about yourself. Your capacity is an explicit part of the criteria, so leaving it out removes half your case.
Treating it as a one off. Update the statement for each reassessment, because circumstances change and so does what is reasonable to expect.

What changes from February 2027

The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 20 August 2026, and its changes start in stages. One of those stages matters directly for carers and parents.

From February 2027, the NDIA will apply new criteria when it decides what reasonable and necessary supports to fund in new participants’ plans. Alongside that, there will be clearer guidelines about what a parent is expected to provide for a child with disability, including supervision, personal care, transport, emotional support and behavioural support. The NDIA states that this does not include the additional support a child needs due to their disability compared with children of a similar age without disability.

These new criteria will then be applied progressively to current participants when it is time for their plan to be reassessed. In practical terms, a statement that clearly separates ordinary parenting from disability related support is likely to become more useful, not less. Our guide to the new NDIS laws in 2026 sets out the full timeline of start dates.

How to check any NDIS carer statement claim yourself

You do not have to take anyone’s word for what an NDIS carer statement should answer, including ours. Here is how to read the criteria at the source.

Open the NDIA’s guideline on reasonable and necessary supports. It is a public PDF.
Find the heading that asks whether the support is something the NDIA would reasonably expect informal supports, like family or friends, to provide.
Read the two lists that follow it, one for people under 18 and one for people over 18. Those lists are precisely what your statement should answer.
Check the date printed at the top of every page. The version used for this article is dated 28 March 2025.
For upcoming changes, read the NDIA’s Securing the NDIS for future generations page, which lists each change and the month it starts.

If a claim you read anywhere cannot be traced back to a page like these, treat it with caution.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an official NDIS carer statement template?

No. The NDIA does not publish a carer statement form or template. It does publish forms for other purposes, such as supporting evidence when you apply. A carer statement is something you write yourself.

Who should write an NDIS carer statement?

Anyone providing regular unpaid support. That includes parents, partners, adult children, siblings, grandparents and close friends. More than one person can write one, and separate statements from two carers are often more useful than a single combined statement.

How long should an NDIS carer statement be?

There is no required length. Two to four pages is usually enough to cover a typical day, a difficult day, what happens without you, and the effect on you. Clarity matters far more than length.

Will a carer statement increase the funding in a plan?

Not on its own. A support must meet all of the funding criteria before the NDIA can fund it, and informal supports are only one of those criteria. A statement supplies evidence for that criterion. It does not create an entitlement.

Can I write an NDIS carer statement for a child?

Yes, and it is common. Focus on the comparison with other children the same age, because that is the test the NDIA applies for children under 18. The guideline is explicit that substantial parental care is normal and expected.

Does the NDIS pay family members to provide support?

Generally no. The guideline states that the NDIA generally does not fund family members to provide supports funded under the NDIS, and that there are very limited situations where it can consider this.

When should I hand in my carer statement?

Before the meeting where possible. The NDIA says sharing information before your plan meeting can speed up the process and help it approve your plan faster. You are also free to bring the statement with you on the day.

Do I need a new statement for a plan reassessment?

Updating it is worth the effort. Circumstances change, and so does what is reasonable to expect from you. Our guide to NDIS plan reassessment explains how that process now works.

What if I disagree with how my statement was used?

Contact the NDIA first, because it can explain the decision. If you still disagree, and the decision is a reviewable one, you can ask for an internal review. Importantly, you need to ask within 3 months from the day you received the decision. Approving your plan is on the NDIA’s list of reviewable decisions, and your support coordinator or recovery coach can help you prepare.

Can a support coordinator help me write it?

Yes. Helping you prepare for planning conversations and reassessments is ordinary support coordination work, and an experienced coordinator will know which details planners find useful.

How Centre of Hope can help

Centre of Hope is a registered NDIS provider in New South Wales. We provide coordination and coaching, and we regularly sit down with families before a planning conversation to work out what belongs in an NDIS carer statement and what the existing evidence already shows.

If you are preparing an NDIS carer statement for a first plan or a reassessment, our Support Coordination team can help you organise it. Where circumstances are more complex, Level 3 Specialist Support Coordination is available. For people living with psychosocial disability, our Psychosocial Recovery Coaching service takes a longer view of recovery and daily life.

You can call us on 0432 250 900.