Using informal supports in your home and living plan
What informal supports are, how the NDIS considers them in home-and-living decisions, and how to describe them fairly so your funded support is right
What counts as informal support?
How does the NDIS weigh informal supports?
How do I describe informal supports fairly?
How informal and paid supports fit together
Protecting informal supports from burnout
How to talk about informal supports at planning
Recognising and valuing your informal supporters
Frequently asked questions
Will the NDIS cut my funding because I have family help?
The NDIA can consider what's reasonable to expect from your informal supports, but it must recognise they have limits and need to be sustainable. It shouldn't assume family will provide unlimited care. Describing what your informal supports actually do — and can't sustain — helps ensure your paid support isn't cut…
What if my informal supports change?
Changes in informal support — a carer who becomes unwell, ages, moves away or can no longer cope — are a genuine change of circumstances that can support a request for more paid support at a plan reassessment. Document the change and its impact on your day-to-day needs when you raise it.
What are informal supports in the NDIS?
Informal supports are the unpaid, ordinary help you get from family, friends and community — like a parent who helps with cooking or a friend who drives you to appointments. They're different from formal, NDIS-funded support and from mainstream services, and the NDIS considers them when planning.
How do informal supports affect my funding?
The NDIA considers what's reasonable to expect from your informal supports when deciding what paid home-and-living support to fund. But informal help has limits and must be sustainable — it shouldn't assume family will provide unlimited or unreasonable care.
Should I mention my family's help in my plan?
Yes, honestly — including its limits. Describe what informal help you actually receive and what it can't sustain (due to ageing carers, work, health or hours). Over-stating family capacity can lead to under-funded paid support and carer burnout.
Can the NDIS assume my family will care for me?
It can consider what's reasonable to expect informally, but it must recognise that informal support has limits and needs to be sustainable. It shouldn't assume family will provide endless care or care beyond what's reasonable for them to give.
How do I describe informal supports fairly?
Describe the help you actually receive and how often, be clear about the limits, explain what happens when that support isn't available, and show where paid support fills genuine gaps. An honest picture helps fund paid support that complements informal help without relying on it unfairly.