NDIS Reasonable and Necessary Criteria: The 7 Tests and the 2027 Changes

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The NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria are the legal test the NDIA uses to decide which supports go into your plan. A support is only funded if it passes every one of them. This guide explains each criterion in plain English and shows how the NDIA reads them. It also sets out what changes when new criteria start on 1 February 2027.

For this guide we read the law itself. That means section 34 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, the amending Act passed in August 2026, and the NDIA’s own guideline on reasonable and necessary supports, re-issued on 1 October 2026. Every claim below comes from those primary sources.

NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria: quick summary

The NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria are set out in section 34(1) of the NDIS Act. Today there are seven of them.
The NDIA must be satisfied of all seven for each support it funds, not just most of them.
From 1 February 2027 an eighth criterion is added. The support must not be something more appropriately funded by another scheme or by existing government service systems.
Also from 1 February 2027, the law spells out how value for money, evidence and family support are judged. This includes a presumption that parents provide substantial care and support for their children.
The NDIA says the new criteria apply to new participants’ plans first. They are then applied to current participants as their plans are reassessed.
Each support must be reasonable and necessary on its own, and also as part of the whole package in your plan.
If you disagree with a decision, you can ask for an internal review within 3 months of getting your plan.

What “reasonable and necessary” means

The NDIA describes reasonable and necessary supports as the supports it funds in your plan to meet your disability support needs. In other words, the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria test the link between your disability and a support. They do not ask whether a support would simply be good for you.

The NDIA also says NDIS supports should complement, not replace, other supports in your life. So before it looks at funding, it considers what you can do yourself. It also looks at the help you already get from family, friends, community services and mainstream government services.

People often miss one more point. According to the guideline, each support must be reasonable and necessary on its own. The supports must also be reasonable and necessary together, as a package. For example, a vehicle modification might reduce how much help you need to get into the community. In that case, the NDIA may fund less community access support.

The 7 NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria in section 34

Section 34(1) of the NDIS Act lists the criteria. The table below gives each one in the Act’s own order, with a plain-English reading drawn from the NDIA guideline.

Section 34(1)	What the law says	What it means in practice
(aa)	The support is necessary to address needs arising directly from the impairment for which you meet the disability or early intervention requirements	There must be a direct link between your disability support needs and the support
(a)	The support will assist you to pursue the goals, objectives and aspirations in your plan	The support helps you work towards what you want, though you do not need a goal for every single support
(b)	The support will assist you to undertake activities that facilitate your social and economic participation	It reduces the disability barriers to study, work, recreation and community life
(c)	The support represents value for money, relative to its benefits and the cost of alternatives	The cost is reasonable compared with other supports that would achieve the same result
(d)	The support will be, or is likely to be, effective and beneficial, having regard to current good practice	There is evidence it works for someone with similar needs, including your own experience
(e)	Funding takes account of what it is reasonable to expect families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide	The NDIS does not fund what an ordinary person would expect family or friends to do
(f)	The support is an NDIS support for you	The NDIS rules must treat it as an NDIS support, either for everyone or for a group you belong to

Section 34(2) also lets the NDIS rules set methods or matters the NDIA must consider when it applies these criteria. The guideline refers mainly to the NDIS (Supports for Participants) Rules for this.

1. The support relates to your disability

This is the first of the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria, and it works as a gate. The NDIA will only fund a support if there is a direct link between your disability support needs and the support. For instance, the guideline says it does not fund holiday flights or a gym membership to get fit. People with or without disability might want those things.

The guideline gives the example of a wheelchair user who needs access to their bathroom and kitchen. Home modifications for those rooms may be funded. An outdoor entertainment area is not, because it does not relate to the disability.

2. The support helps you pursue your goals

Your goals matter, but they are not a shopping list. The NDIA says you do not need a specific goal for every support, and it looks at your whole situation. Equally, rewording a goal does not change what can be funded. The guideline notes that a goal “to have a more accessible home” will not change the supports the NDIA could fund.

If you are preparing goals, our NDIS goals examples guide shows how to connect goals to your support needs.

3. The support helps your social and economic participation

Social participation covers seeing friends, sport and community activities. It also covers things you need to do, like school and medical appointments. Economic participation usually means work, volunteering, study and building skills towards a job. Some supports help directly. Others, such as help with self-care, help indirectly by making the rest of your day possible.

4. The support is value for money

Value for money does not mean the cheapest option. According to the guideline, the NDIA asks whether another support would achieve the same result at a substantially lower cost. That means a real difference in cost, not a small one. The NDIA also weighs long-term benefits, and whether the support could reduce your need for other supports later.

To judge cost, the NDIA uses the NDIS Pricing Schedule and, for specific or high risk supports, quotes. For equipment and modifications, it also compares buying with renting. Our guide to NDIS assistive technology explains how this works for equipment.

5. The support is effective and beneficial

Here the NDIA looks for evidence that the support works for someone with similar needs. The guideline says it does not need an expert report for every support. Instead, it can rely on published research, clinical practice guidelines and your own experience of what has helped before. In addition, it may fund a trial of a new support, such as new assistive technology, to check that it works for you.

6. The support takes account of family, carer and community support

The NDIS does not fund support that an ordinary person would reasonably expect family, friends or the community to provide. However, the guideline is clear that this has limits. For adults, the NDIA considers the risks to you and your carers, and how old your carers are. It also asks whether a type of care is appropriate for a family member to give, and what it means for their wellbeing in the long term.

For children, the NDIA considers what a parent would usually provide at that age. It then asks whether the child’s needs are substantially greater because of their disability. A written NDIS carer statement is often the clearest way to show what your family can and cannot sustain.

7. The support is an NDIS support

Finally, the last of the current NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria is that the support must be an NDIS support for you. Some supports are NDIS supports for everyone, and some only for particular groups. The NDIA publishes lists of supports that are and are not NDIS supports. For example, the guideline says it cannot fund day-to-day living costs such as groceries, rent or utilities. Income replacement, event tickets and holiday costs are also excluded.

What changes from 1 February 2027

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 20 August 2026. Its commencement table starts Schedule 1, Part 6, titled “Reasonable and necessary supports”, on 1 February 2027. That part changes the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria in section 34 in the following ways.

Change	What the amending Act says
New criterion (g)	The support is not one that would be more appropriately provided or funded by another scheme, or by one or more existing government service systems
Value for money	The NDIA must consider whether comparable supports are available at a lower cost, and whether one of them would be better value
Equipment and modifications	The NDIA must compare the cost of buying with leasing. If your needs for the item are likely to change in the short term, it must presume leasing is the value for money option, unless evidence shows otherwise
Effective and beneficial	Evidence is weighed in a set order. Published, peer reviewed research comes first, then evidence for your circumstances, then your outcomes from your previous plan, then other matters
Children and parents	A presumption that parents are responsible for substantial care and support for their children, including supervision, personal care, transport, emotional support and behavioural support
Family and informal support for everyone	The NDIA must consider the risk of harm, abuse or neglect, the value of strengthening informal supports, and the capacity of family and carers

The new eighth criterion

From 1 February 2027, section 34(1)(g) adds an eighth test to the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria. A support will not be funded if another scheme or an existing government service system should more appropriately provide or fund it. The current guideline already names the systems it treats as responsible for some supports. These include health, mental health, school education, employment, housing, transport and justice.

The guideline also says the NDIA will not fund a support that should come from someone else, even if the other system does not actually provide it. That is why it matters to know which system is responsible for a need before a planning meeting.

Evidence in a set order

Under the new section 34(1E), the NDIA must weigh evidence in order of importance when it considers more than one type. Published, peer reviewed and generalisable research comes first. As a result, the new section 34(1F) lets the NDIA refuse a support where there is limited or no research of that kind. That can happen even if other evidence supports it.

In practice, this makes the quality of your therapy reports more important. A good report names the evidence behind a recommendation and describes your own outcomes. Our guide to functional capacity assessments covers what a strong report includes.

What parents are expected to provide

The new sections 34(1G) and 34(1H) presume that parents are responsible for substantial care and support for their children. The Act lists supervision, personal care, transport, emotional support and behavioural support. Importantly, this does not include additional care a child needs because of their disability. That is care beyond what other children of a similar age need.

The new section 34(1J) also stops the NDIA funding a support for a child where its main purpose is one of three things:

to reduce parental time below what is reasonably expected of a parent
to improve household efficiency
to reflect a parent’s preference for care from someone other than a parent.

New principles behind the criteria

The same part of the amending Act adds a new section 17B on scheme sustainability. Among other things, it says participants should be responsible for their day-to-day living costs. It also says funding should be used efficiently and shared equitably between participants with similar needs and circumstances.

Who the new NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria apply to, and when

The NDIA’s page on the new NDIS laws says it will have new criteria for deciding what reasonable and necessary supports to fund in new participants’ plans. It adds that these criteria will be applied progressively to current participants when their plan is due to be reassessed.

This links to another change on the same date. From February 2027, when a plan is due to be reassessed, the NDIA says it will either reassess it or create a new plan with the same supports. It calls this a plan renewal. Under the amending Act, a renewed plan keeps the statement of supports from the old plan, so no new one is prepared. The NDIA also says unspent funds from the previous plan won’t carry over at renewal.

Our guides to the new NDIS laws and NDIS plan reassessments explain renewal and reassessment in more detail. Separately, the support budget reductions from October 2026 are covered in NDIS budget resets from October 2026.

How to prepare for a reasonable and necessary decision

You cannot change the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria. You can, however, make it easier for a planner to see how your supports meet them. These steps follow the criteria in order.

Link each request to your disability. Explain what you cannot do, or cannot do safely, because of your disability. Then say how the support addresses that.
Connect it to your goals and daily life. Show how the support helps you take part in work, study, community or home life.
Show you have looked at alternatives. If a cheaper option would not work for you, say why, ideally with your therapist’s view.
Bring evidence of what works. Reports that describe your outcomes and explain a recommendation carry weight on the effective and beneficial test.
Be honest about informal support. Describe what family and friends do now, what is not sustainable, and any risks to you or them.
Know which system is responsible. If a need belongs to health, education or another system, raise it there too. This matters more from February 2027.

If you disagree with a decision

The NDIA says it will give you written reasons for its decision. You can also ask for a budget breakdown of the supports that make up your plan’s total funding amount. If you still disagree with the supports in your plan, you can ask for an internal review. According to the guideline, you need to ask within 3 months of getting your plan. The NDIA’s how to request a review page explains the steps.

How to check the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria yourself

These rules are changing, so it helps to know where the primary sources are.

The law as it stands today: section 34 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 on the Federal Register of Legislation. Search the page for “34 Reasonable and necessary supports”.
The February 2027 changes: the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026. Check the commencement table near the start, then find Schedule 1, Part 6.
How the NDIA applies the criteria: the Reasonable and Necessary Supports guideline (PDF). The date printed on each page shows which version you have. The NDIA’s Our Guidelines site holds the latest.
What is changing and when: the NDIA’s Securing the NDIS for future generations page lists each change by date.

The NDIA re-issued this guideline on 1 October 2026 and may revise it again before the February 2027 changes start. Therefore, check the date on any version you rely on.

Frequently asked questions

What are the reasonable and necessary criteria for NDIS?

They are the tests in section 34(1) of the NDIS Act. A support must relate to your disability and help you pursue your goals. It must help your social and economic participation, be value for money, and be effective and beneficial. It must also take account of what family and community can reasonably provide, and be an NDIS support.

How many NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria are there?

Section 34(1) currently has seven paragraphs, labelled (aa) and (a) to (f). The amending Act adds paragraph (g) from 1 February 2027, which makes eight.

Does a support have to meet all the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria?

Yes. The NDIA must be satisfied of every criterion for each support. The guideline says it will only fund a support that meets all of them.

Why won’t the NDIS fund what my therapist recommended?

According to the guideline, the NDIA takes a professional recommendation into account, but it is not decisive. For example, if something cheaper would achieve the same outcome, the recommended item may fail the value for money test. The NDIA may then fund the cheaper option instead.

Why is my new plan different from my last one?

The NDIA applies the criteria to your situation at the time of each decision. So if you have built a skill, a support that met the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria before may not meet them now. Equally, if your needs have grown, you may need more.

Do the new criteria apply to my current plan?

The NDIA says the new criteria apply to new participants’ plans first. After that, they will be applied progressively to current participants when their plan is due to be reassessed. A plan that is renewed keeps the statement of supports from the old plan, without any one-off funding.

What will parents be expected to provide from February 2027?

The amending Act presumes parents provide substantial care and support for their children. This includes supervision, personal care, transport, emotional support and behavioural support. It does not include the extra care a child needs because their disability makes their needs substantially greater than other children of a similar age.

Can the NDIS fund everyday costs like rent or groceries?

No. The guideline lists day-to-day living costs, such as groceries, rent or utilities, among the things the NDIS cannot fund. From February 2027, the new section 17B also says participants should be responsible for their day-to-day living costs.

What can I do if a support is refused?

First, ask the NDIA for its written reasons and a budget breakdown. If you still disagree, you can ask for an internal review within 3 months of getting your plan.

How Centre of Hope can help

Centre of Hope is a registered NDIS provider in NSW. Through our support coordination service, we help participants prepare for planning and reassessment meetings. We help you gather reports that speak to each of the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria, and we explain the reasons behind a decision. Once your plan is approved, we also help you find and connect with the right providers.

If you would like to talk through your plan before the February 2027 changes start, you can contact our team. You can also see all our NDIS services.