Explained: NDIS Capacity Building Supports budget

Last month, one of our clients baked their first cake, after many tries at getting the recipe just right. A few weeks earlier, another started their new job – something they never thought they’d do. And before that, another client participated in a charity fun run, a goal they’d been working at for months.

What helped each of them get there? The Capacity Building Supports funding in their National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan.

This part of your plan is all about building skills, confidence, and independence. It’s about doing the things that matter to you. Maybe that’s learning how to use public transport on your own, joining a local art group, or getting help with writing your resume.

Whatever it is, Capacity Building Supports – one of the four budgets in your NDIS plan, alongside Core Supports, Capital Supports, and Recurring Supports – is there to help you grow, step by step, toward the life you want to live.

Capacity Building Supports is made up of 10 different support categories, each funding different types of supports and services. Every category shares one purpose: helping you become more independent, whatever that looks like for you. Or, as it's called in NDIS speak, ‘building your capacity’.

Now of course, your plan probably won't include all 10 categories – it all depends on your individual needs and goals – so it's always worth chatting to your National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) partner about your individual plan.

To help you better understand how Capacity Building Supports work, we’ve broken down each category to show you what it could potentially fund.

One important note before we jump in – even if you have a category included in your plan, each service or support you want to access must still meet the NDIA’s reasonable and necessary criteria. It also needs to be related to your disability and the goals in your plan.

So, get your list of goals ready or write out some new ones if you're feeling inspired, and let’s take a closer look at the Capacity Building Support categories, one by one.

Support Coordination and Psychosocial Recovery Coaches

This category can fund support coordination services – someone who helps you put your NDIS plan into action and organise your supports. Support coordinators can also help you to build connections with the community and broader systems of support, develop and design support options to help you work toward your goals, report on what you’ve achieved, and work with you to prepare for plan reassessments.

If you have a primary psychosocial disability, this category could also fund a psychosocial recovery coach. They can support you in a similar way to a support coordinator by helping you to better understand and manage your NDIS plan, but they have a focus on mental health coaching and collaboration with other services.

It’s about having someone in your corner, someone who understands the system and can help you make the most of your plan.

Improved Living Arrangements

This funding is to help you find suitable accommodation, so you can live more independently, and it could cover someone to help you inspect properties or negotiate a rental contract. It might also include help with applying for a rental property, meeting tenancy obligations, and ensuring a home is appropriate for your needs.

Finding the right place to live can be a big step, but having support to navigate the process can make it a lot more manageable.

Increased Social and Community Participation

This funding is for supports that help you build your skills for getting out into the community and managing daily life. That might include working with a mentor or therapist to learn skills for things like using public transport, volunteering, shopping or paying bills.

This category of funding can also be used for community activities that have a capacity building component – meaning activities that teach you skills or grow your independence while you're out and about.

These supports are about helping you feel more capable and connected in the everyday moments that matter.

Finding and Keeping a Job

This funding is to support you to find a job and it could pay for a support worker to assist you at work or help you to find a job that’s right for you. Support could include help with writing a resume, preparing for interviews, or building skills like computer literacy.

Other options could include working with private recruitment specialists, career counsellors and employment mentors. If you're finishing school, this category might also fund School Leaver Employment Supports to help you get ready for the workforce.

If you’re getting job seeking help through a Disability Employment Service (DES), you can’t use this funding to get the same supports, but they can work together to help make your work journey more successful. In fact, many DES providers offer NDIS services as well, which can make things a bit easier to coordinate.

Relationships

This is funding for supports to help build your skills to connect with others and form relationships in your community. If disability creates a barrier to social connection, you may be able to use this funding to see a psychologist, learn how to read social cues and body language, or work on social skills that make having conversations and spending time with other people feel more comfortable. It’s about having the tools to build the kinds of connections that matter to you in ways that feel safe and achievable.

Behaviour Support

This category helps with planning and support to reduce behaviours that are harmful or happen often. It can include expert assessments to understand your needs better, and training for people who support you (whether that's family, friends, or support workers), t so they can learn ways to support you to manage behaviour and improve outcomes. These supports are tailored to your situation and can make everyday life feel a little more manageable.

Health and Wellbeing

This category can fund supports that relate to the impact your disability has on your health. For example, it could be used for a dietician to help you learn about nutrition and develop a personalised meal plan, or an exercise physiologist to help you increase and maintain fitness, strength, and mobility. It’s a way to work on your health with the right kind of guidance, tailored to your needs and goals.

The supports need to have a clear link to your disability, so things like general gym memberships or mainstream health costs usually aren’t covered.

Lifelong Learning

This funding can support your transition from school to further education. That could look like advice on choosing a university or TAFE course, training to develop study skills, or help with arrangements and orientation, so you can get to classes, participate in study groups or contribute to group assignments.

The NDIS doesn’t cover school or university fees, textbooks or other curriculum-based items. But this funding can help cover the cost of supports that make it easier for you to attend and take part in study, if your disability makes some parts of learning harder to manage on your own. It comes down to making education more accessible for you, so that you can focus on learning and getting the most out of your course.

Choice and Control

This budget pays for your NDIS plan manager. All you need to do to have funding for a plan manager included in your NDIS plan is request it in your planning meeting or plan reassessment meeting.

At My Plan Manager, we support our clients to manage their NDIS budget, deal with their providers, pay their invoices (making sure they’re charged the right amount!), and so much more – so our clients can focus on their goals, not on paperwork.

You can find out more about NDIS plan management here.

Improved Daily Living Skills

This category includes funding to cover therapies, assessments, training and other programs to reduce the impact of your disability on your daily life. This could include physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy or other services that support you to become more independent in your daily life.
For example, an occupational therapist might help you set up a morning routine or suggest assistive technology you can use in the kitchen to make cooking easier.

Some people use this funding for supports like learning how to manage a personal budget, track spending, or build decision-making skills. It can also be used for training for the people who support you, for things like understanding challenging behaviours, non-verbal communication, or supported decision-making. This budget could also be used for health-related supports provided by a nurse that wouldn’t be covered by the healthcare system (such as respiratory, wound, or continence care).

If you're worried your current NDIS plan doesn't meet your support needs, this category can sometimes be used for a functional capacity assessment. These are typically done by an occupational therapist and can be used as evidence when asking for more or different supports –especially when your needs have changed.

Just a heads up: although some providers might have ‘therapy’ in their name, it doesn’t always mean their services can be funded by the NDIS. There are strict rules about who can provide NDIS supports, so if you’re ever in doubt, check with your plan manager or the NDIA before booking anything.

How do you want to build your capacity?

So, there they are – the 10 categories you might be able to access in your plan to help build skills, confidence, and independence to live life your way. Your journey is unique, and your plan should reflect that. So, take a look at your goals, think about what matters most to you, and start exploring how the Capacity Building Supports part of your plan can help you get there.

To find out more about the other types of NDIS funding, check out this page on the NDIS website.