NDIS personal care is help with the most private parts of daily life: showering, dressing, eating, using the toilet and moving around safely. This guide explains it in the NDIA’s own words. It sets out what personal care covers, where it sits in your plan, the support items providers claim it under, and how to ask for it with the right evidence.
For this guide we read the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, the NDIA’s list of what counts as an NDIS support, and the NDIA’s pages on plans and plan changes. Every claim below comes from those primary sources, and we link the main ones in the check-it-yourself section.
NDIS personal care: quick summary
- The NDIA calls personal care “daily personal activities”. It means supervision or assistance with personal daily living tasks, so you can live as independently as possible.
- It covers eating and drinking, dressing, toileting, personal hygiene such as showering and hair washing, nail care, and moving and positioning.
- In your plan, it is usually funded from your Core supports budget, in the Assistance with daily life category.
- Providers claim it under support items named “Assistance With Self-Care Activities”. The item changes with the time of day and the day of the week.
- People with complex needs can have high intensity personal care. It has its own items and needs a worker with extra skills.
- Like every NDIS support, it must meet the reasonable and necessary criteria. Your NDIA planner also looks at how much help you need and how often.
- If your needs change for the long term, you can ask for a plan reassessment. You must send recent evidence with the request.
What NDIS personal care covers
The NDIA publishes a list of 37 categories of goods and services that are NDIS supports. Personal care appears there as “daily personal activities”. The NDIA describes these as supports that provide “supervision or assistance with personal daily living tasks to help a participant to live as independently as possible in their own home and in the community”.
According to that list, daily personal activities include:
- help with eating and drinking, dressing and toileting
- personal hygiene, including showering, bathing, hair washing and drying, and fingernail and toenail cutting and cleaning
- moving and positioning
- in-kind personal care in school.
The NDIA’s page on support workers adds a plain description. It says personal care support “may include general hygiene, dressing or helping you take your medication”, and that “the level of help depends on your needs”. In other words, the help can be hands-on, or it can be supervision while you do the task yourself.
What sits close to personal care, but is a different support
Several supports sit next to personal care on the NDIA’s list. Each one is a separate category, so it helps to name the right one when you talk to your planner.
- Household tasks: meal preparation and delivery, house or yard maintenance, and cleaning and laundry. This is help with your home, not with your body.
- Assistive products for personal care and safety: products for washing, drying and dressing, modified or adaptive clothing, and products to manage incontinence.
- Development of daily care and life skills: training that builds your ability to do things for yourself, such as shopping, meal preparation and managing money.
- Community nursing care: disability-related nursing care for participants with high care needs that require a high level of clinical skill, such as catheter care or tracheostomy care.
Where personal care sits in your NDIS plan
Core supports are one of 4 support budgets in an NDIS plan. The NDIA says your Core budget can have funding in up to 3 support categories. One of them, Assistance with daily life, is where personal care usually sits. The NDIA’s Core supports page gives “cleaning, yard maintenance, cooking and personal care” as examples of what that funding can pay support workers for.
Core funding is flexible. As a result, you can use the total Core amount across and within its categories to buy the NDIS supports you need. However, the NDIA adds a limit: you can only buy NDIS supports that its rules allow and that are in line with your plan. Our guide to NDIS Core supports explains the three categories in more detail.
Continence products are a good example of how the pieces fit together. The help of a support worker comes from Assistance with daily life. The products themselves come from the Consumables category, which the NDIA says is for everyday items “such as continence products”.
The support items for NDIS personal care
Providers claim NDIS supports using support items: a name and a number listed in the NDIS Pricing Schedule. For personal care, the items are named “Assistance With Self-Care Activities”. They are in Appendix 1 of the Pricing Schedule 2026-27, which took effect on 24 September 2026.
Standard personal care items are grouped under Disability Support Worker Level 1. The Schedule says their maximum amounts are calculated on the cost of employing a level 2.3 worker under the SCHADS Award. Each item covers a different time band:
| Support item number | Support item name | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| 01_011_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - Standard - Weekday Daytime | Hour |
| 01_015_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - Standard - Weekday Evening | Hour |
| 01_002_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - Standard - Weekday Night | Hour |
| 01_013_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - Standard - Saturday | Hour |
| 01_014_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - Standard - Sunday | Hour |
| 01_012_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - Standard - Public Holiday | Hour |
| 01_010_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - Night-Time Sleepover | Each |
The sleepover item is different from the others. The Schedule defines a night-time sleepover as support that starts before midnight, finishes after midnight and lasts at least 8 hours in a row. In addition, the worker is allowed to sleep when they are not providing support. For that reason it is claimed per sleepover, not per hour.
The Schedule also lists a separate item called “Establishment Fee For Personal Care/Participation”, so do not be surprised if you see that name on a service agreement.
Standard or high intensity NDIS personal care
Some participants need personal care that calls for extra training. The NDIA’s list of supports names this “high intensity daily personal activities”. It says these supports help “a participant with complex needs” and “must be provided by a worker with additional qualifications and experience relevant to the participant’s complex or psychosocial needs”. A suitably qualified worker can do the activity, or supervise you or someone in your support network while they do it.
The Pricing Schedule defines a high intensity support by the worker’s skills. The worker must have one or more of the High Intensity Supports Skills set out in the NDIS practice standards rules. High intensity items are grouped under Disability Support Worker Level 2. Their maximum amounts are calculated on the average cost of a SCHADS level 2.4 worker and a level 3.1 worker.
| Support item number | Support item name | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| 01_400_0104_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - High Intensity - Weekday Daytime | Hour |
| 01_401_0104_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - High Intensity - Weekday Evening | Hour |
| 01_405_0104_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - High Intensity - Weekday Night | Hour |
| 01_402_0104_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - High Intensity - Saturday | Hour |
| 01_403_0104_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - High Intensity - Sunday | Hour |
| 01_404_0104_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities - High Intensity - Public Holiday | Hour |
If you think you need high intensity support, say so at your plan meeting and bring evidence of the complex need. That way, your plan and your provider’s roster can both reflect the right level of skill.
How to get NDIS personal care in your plan
Your NDIA planner decides what goes into your plan, based on the information and evidence you give. So the work you do before the plan meeting matters most. These steps follow the NDIA’s own guidance.
1. Describe your day-to-day needs
The NDIA suggests you think about the areas where you need the most support in daily life. Its own examples include “cooking, dressing or getting around the house”. Write down each personal care task, what help you need with it, and how often. Describe a typical day, including the harder days, rather than your best day.
2. Gather evidence from people who know your needs
The NDIA says evidence can include reports from treating health professionals, therapists or support workers. For personal care, a report that describes what you can and cannot do is usually the most useful. A functional capacity assessment looks at self-care, among other areas. The NDIA also says sharing your information before the meeting can speed up the process.
3. Explain what family and others already do
The NDIA thinks about your network when it builds a plan. Its reasonable and necessary rules say a funded support cannot be the same as supports already provided by family or other mainstream and community services. That makes it important to explain clearly what your family does now, and what is no longer safe or sustainable for them. A carer statement is one way to put this in writing.
4. Know what the planner will weigh up
Every NDIS support must meet the reasonable and necessary criteria. Among other things, the support must relate to your disability, help you work towards your goals, be value for money, and be likely to be effective and beneficial for you. The NDIA says your planner will also look at whether you share a support with anyone, how much of it you need (including hours), and how often you need it.
5. Use the plan meeting
You can bring someone who knows you well to the meeting, such as a family member, a friend, a support coordinator or a recovery coach. After the meeting, the NDIA can make reasonable and necessary changes to your draft plan, although it may ask for more evidence first. The NDIA says it aims to approve all plans within 56 days.
If you need more NDIS personal care than your plan allows
First, work out whether the change is short term or long term. The NDIA says that if you expect the change to be short term, you can use your plan flexibly. Because Core funding is flexible, you may be able to move money within your Core budget to cover extra personal care for a while.
If the change is significant and ongoing, you can ask for a plan reassessment. The NDIA lists ongoing changes to your “ability to do daily activities” as one reason. A few rules apply:
- Only you, your plan nominee or your child representative can submit the plan reassessment request form. You cannot give consent for a provider to ask on your behalf.
- You must send evidence with the form. The NDIA says it should usually be dated within 4 months of your request and after your current plan was approved.
- You can keep using your current plan while the NDIA decides.
For smaller changes, the NDIA may vary your plan instead, which changes only part of it. Our guide to NDIS plan reassessment walks through the form and the possible outcomes.
Choosing who provides your NDIS personal care
The NDIA says support workers can work for a company or for themselves, and can be registered or unregistered. How you manage your plan also matters when you choose. If you are thinking about a plan manager, our guide on how to choose an NDIS plan manager sets out what to ask.
On price, the Pricing Schedule sets maximum amounts, not fixed prices. It states that those maximum amounts apply when your funding is managed by the NDIA or by a registered plan manager. The amounts already include GST. A provider can charge less than the maximum, so it is worth reading the service agreement before you sign.
Beyond price, ask practical questions. Who will come, and will it be the same worker each time? How much notice do they need to change a shift? What happens if a worker is sick? Personal care is close and private support, so continuity and trust matter as much as availability.
How to check NDIS personal care items yourself
Support item names and maximum amounts can change, so it is worth knowing where to look. The steps take a few minutes:
- Go to the NDIA’s pricing arrangements page and open the current NDIS Pricing Schedule. Check the title line says the financial year and effective date you expect.
- Search the document for “Assistance With Self-Care Activities”. The standard items are in Appendix 1, Table 1, and the high intensity items are in Table 2.
- Each row shows three amounts: National, Remote and Very Remote. The Schedule says the National amount applies in MM 1 to 5 locations under the Modified Monash Model, which includes Sydney.
- Compare the item and the amount with your service agreement and your provider’s invoices.
- To check what counts as personal care, open the NDIA’s list of what NDIS supports are and read “Daily personal activities”.
Frequently asked questions
Does the NDIS pay for personal care?
Yes, when it is reasonable and necessary for you. Daily personal activities, such as help with showering, dressing, eating and toileting, are on the NDIA’s list of NDIS supports. The NDIA decides how much to fund based on your needs and evidence.
Is NDIS personal care in Core or Capacity Building?
Personal care is usually funded from Core supports, in the Assistance with daily life category. Training to build your own daily living skills is a different category on the NDIA’s list.
What is the difference between personal care and household tasks?
Personal care is help with you: hygiene, dressing, eating, toileting and moving. Household tasks are help with your home: meal preparation, cleaning, laundry and yard work. The NDIA lists them as separate categories of support.
What is high intensity personal care?
It is personal care for a participant with complex needs, delivered by a worker with additional qualifications and experience. The NDIS Pricing Schedule has separate high intensity support items for it.
Can a support worker help with my medication?
The NDIA’s page on support workers says personal care support may include “helping you take your medication”. What a worker can do in your case depends on your needs and your provider’s arrangements, so discuss it with your provider.
Does NDIS personal care include overnight support?
It can. The Pricing Schedule has a weekday night item and a night-time sleepover item for self-care activities. A sleepover is at least 8 hours in a row, and the worker can sleep when not providing support.
Are continence products part of NDIS personal care?
They are related but funded differently. The NDIA’s Core supports page says continence products come from the Consumables category, while a support worker’s help comes from Assistance with daily life.
How do I get more personal care hours?
For a short-term change, you may be able to use your Core funding flexibly. For a significant and ongoing change, you can ask for a plan reassessment, with recent evidence from your treating professionals.
How Centre of Hope can help
Centre of Hope is a registered NDIS provider in NSW. Our personal care service supports participants with daily routines such as showering, dressing, grooming, and eating and drinking, with your privacy and dignity first. Through support coordination, we can also help you prepare evidence for a plan meeting or a reassessment.
If one of the options we discuss is one of our own services, we tell you plainly, talk through the alternatives, and leave the decision with you. To talk about NDIS personal care, you can contact our team.
Related reading
- NDIS Core supports explained: the budget personal care usually comes from
- Reasonable and necessary criteria: the test every support must pass
- Functional capacity assessment: evidence of what you can and cannot do
- NDIS plan reassessment: how to ask for a new plan when needs change
- In-home support at Centre of Hope: help with household tasks
- Personal care at Centre of Hope
Disclaimer: This article is general information only and does not replace personal advice about your circumstances. Information is current as at 21 October 2026 and reflects the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (effective 24 September 2026) and the NDIA pages linked in this article. Any example is illustrative and is not an entitlement: what your plan funds depends on the NDIA’s decision about your needs. Rules, support items and maximum amounts change, so always confirm the current position at ndis.gov.au before you rely on it. Centre of Hope is a registered NDIS provider in NSW, registration 4050161679.
