What the Federal Budget means for NDIS self-management and self-direction | Choice and control | NDIS | Flexibility
| NDIS Fund Management | Policy and Advocacy | News | Know your rights
| Text only
| Choice and control | NDIS | Flexibility
| NDIS Fund Management | Policy and Advocacy | News | Know your rights
| Text only
The Federal Budget includes major NDIS changes that could affect people who self-manage or self-direct our supports, if implemented as proposed.
This explainer outlines the key Budget announcements that are related to self-management and self-direction.
We also explain what’s at stake, what you can do about it, and how to find out more by joining our upcoming workshops.
Provider registration, enrolment, and self-direction
The Budget confirms that mandatory registration will begin for Supported Independent Living and platform providers from 1 July 2026. We are running a workshop on that next week; you can find out about that and register here.
It was also announced that registration for higher risk supports, including personal care, daily living supports, and supports in closed settings, is expected to begin from 1 July 2027.
A new provider enrolment system will also begin from 1 July 2027, with most providers expected to be enrolled by December 2027.
These changes will have a major impact on people who self-manage or self-direct our supports.
Many NDIS participants use unregistered providers because they are trusted, flexible, individualised, culturally safe, and responsive to our needs. These arrangements work because they are chosen by the person, built around our lives, and based on trusted relationships.
For many people who self-manage or self-direct, access to unregistered providers is essential. These workers and providers may help us live safely at home, stay connected to community, work toward our goals, and have control over who comes into our homes and lives.
Self Manager Hub is concerned that mandatory registration and provider enrolment will force people into a much smaller pool of Government-selected or approved providers and take away our choice and control over who provides our support. If this happens, it will strip away a core part of what the NDIS was created to deliver, and have serious repercussions for people in regional and remote communities in particular
People with disability must be protected from violence, neglect, abuse, and exploitation.
But we know that registration does not keep people safe.
The Royal Commission showed us that registration is no guarantee of quality and that the most serious cases of abuse, neglect, violence, and exploitation was committed by registered providers.
Many of us have escaped abuse by establishing self-directed, individualised supports, and these are now at risk.
What keeps people safe is choice and control, trusted relationships, connection to community, and the ability to speak up when something is wrong. When people with disability have limited or only one option for provider, we are unable to take our business elsewhere, and may be unable to complain for fear of losing supports we need to live. Safety comes from being supported and having choice and control over our lives.
A self-directed registration category is essential
The Government must commit to a dedicated self-directed registration category, as recommended by the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce.
Without this, essential and effective self-managed and self-directed support arrangements will be placed at risk.
A self-directed registration category would recognise that many participants organise supports differently from traditional provider-led models. It would allow the system to make these arrangements visible and supported without forcing people into service models that do not suit our lives.
This is especially important for people who directly employ workers, use independent workers, operate services-for-one, build individualised teams, or rely on flexible support arrangements that are not easily captured by standard provider registration models.
Self Manager Hub strongly recommend that the Government strengthen self-management and self-direction, not make it harder. Self-management and self-direction improve safety and are often cheaper.
Differentiated pricing
The Budget says the NDIA will introduce differentiated pricing for some supports delivered by unregistered providers.
We think that this means that they will reduce the prices that unregistered providers can charge.
Consultation on these pricing changes will begin on 1 July 2026 and close on 31 August 2026.
This could directly affect people who self-manage or self-direct our supports.
Any pricing changes must be fair, transparent, evidence-based, and co-designed with people who self-manage or self-direct our supports.
“Commissioning” critical supports
The Budget says that the Government wants the NDIA to commission plan management, support coordination, and home and living supports for Supported Independent Living participants.
Consultation on commissioning home and living supports for SIL participants who need 24/7 support will begin from 1 July 2026 and close on 31 October 2026.
This is a major concern for people with high support needs and for people who self-direct or self-manage home and living supports.
Commissioning is a fancy word for block funding. It means the Government decides which organisations are funded to provide particular services.
This is very different from individualised NDIS funding, where participants have funding in our own plans and can choose the providers, workers, and support arrangements that suit our lives, and is the opposite of the intent and promise of the NDIS.
Commissioning shifts power away from individual participants, centring that power with Government-selected providers.
If home and living supports, plan management, or support coordination are moved into commissioned services, people will have less or no choice about who supports us.
The Government must guarantee that people who self-manage or self-direct our supports will not be forced out of individualised arrangements and into commissioned services that do not reflect our lives, relationships, or support needs.
Why this matters
For people who self-manage or self-direct our supports, choice and control means being able to:
- choose the workers and providers who support us;
- build support arrangements around our lives, not around provider systems;
- use trusted workers who understand our needs, communication, culture, and routines;
- respond flexibly when our needs change;
- live safely and with dignity in our own homes and communities;
- avoid being pushed into one-size-fits-all service models.
When government policy limits who we can use, how supports are funded or which services are available, it reduces real control over our lives.
What Self Manager Hub is calling for
The Self Manager Hub is calling on the Australian Government to:
- Commit to and urgently implement a self-directed registration category.
- Protect self-managed and self-directed support arrangements.
- Ensure pricing changes do not undermine the use of trusted providers and workers.
- Meaningfully involve us in their consultations on commissioning and block funding so that we can ensure that choice and control is protected.
- Protect social, civic and community participation, and capacity building supports from cuts.
- Refer any NDIS legislative amendments arising from these measures to a Senate committee for proper scrutiny.
- Co-develop all changes with people with disability and our families before implementation.
Any NDIS legislative amendments arising from these Budget measures must be referred to a Senate committee for proper scrutiny.
People with disability and our families need to see the detail, understand the consequences, and have a genuine opportunity to respond.
What participants and families can do now
You can contact:
- Minister Mark Butler, Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme: minister.butler@health.gov.au
- Minister Jenny McAllister, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme: Minister.McAllister@health.gov.au
- Melissa McIntosh MP, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme: melissa.mcintosh.mp@aph.gov.au
- Angus Taylor MP, Leader of the Opposition: angus.taylor.mp@aph.gov.au
- Senator Jordon Steele-John, Australian Greens spokesperson for Disability Inclusion and the NDIS: senator.steele-john@aph.gov.au
- your local federal Member of Parliament. You can find your electorate using the Australian Electoral Commission website, then use the Australian Parliament House website to find your local member’s contact details.
You do not need to write a long letter. A short personal message explaining why this matters in your life can be powerful.
The most important thing is that Ministers and local MPs hear directly from people who self-manage, self-direct, directly employ workers, use sole traders, or rely on services-for-one.
Decision-makers need to understand that self-directed supports are how many people with disability stay safe, live independently, and remain connected to our communities.
We’d also like to hear your thoughts about the Government’s plans to stop us from using unregistered providers.
Self Manager Hub will continue to monitor these changes, share information with our community, and speak out about the importance of upholding our rights to self-manage and self-direct our supports.
We are holding the upcoming workshops to help our community to understand what changes the government wants to make to our NDIS and how they might impact on self-management and self-direction.
Workshop – What could the NDIS announcements and budget mean for self-management and self-direction?
🗓️ When: Saturday 16 May 2026; 2pm – 3.30pm (AEST)
Community Forum: Understanding Changes to Mandatory Registration with the NDIA and the NDIS Commission
🗓️ When: Friday 22 May 2026; 12:30pm – 1.30pm (AEST)