NDIS Act Explained: Needs assessments and new framework plans

In 2025, the NDIS planning process is set to undergo the most significant structural changes in the Scheme’s lifetime.

So it’s lucky none of us are suffering from change fatigue, right? Right?!?!

The new NDIS Act added a term to the NDIS jargon family - new framework plans. The legislation links new framework plans to needs assessments, which were a recommendation of the NDIS Review. Together, new framework plans and needs assessments will form the basis of our new planning system.

According to a briefing seen by the Saturday Paper, the government is looking to start rolling out new framework plans in September 2025. And time moves fast. In September literally all of us will be like, ‘Can you believe it’s September already? Oh wait! That means - ’ Not to mention there should be a public co-design process starting soon (you’d hope so anyway!).

Fear not. Our latest instalment of the NDIS Act Explained series is dedicated to getting you up to speed on needs assessment and new framework plans.

Needs assessments

What are needs assessments?

The NDIS Review recommended the NDIA use needs assessments to determine a participant’s reasonable and necessary budget.

A needs assessment is different to a functional assessment in that:

A functional assessment looks at what a person can and can’t do.
A needs assessment looks at the level of support a person needs to live their daily life and achieve their goals.

For example, a functional assessment might say that John can put bread in the toaster, but because of his disability, he can’t then butter the toast. A needs assessment might say that John needs help making breakfast. The NDIS Review recommended the use of needs assessments because they argued, ‘Focusing on support needs is intrinsically more person-centred and strengths based than the functional assessments used currently.’

Under the new legislation, needs assessment reports must identify a person’s support needs arising from the impairment(s) they met the access criteria for. Therefore, if a person has a physical and a psychosocial impairment, but has only met NDIS access for the physical impairment, then the needs assessment must capture their needs arising from their physical impairment. Assuming they can untangle the two! However, there is a note in the law that allows assessments to acknowledge that a person's support needs arising from their NDIS-eligible impairment, may also be impacted by environmental factors or other NDIS-ineligible impairments. It’s all very legally befuddling and there’s a big question mark over how it will play out in reality. To learn more about impairments and Impairment Notices, check out our article NDIS Act Explained: Impairment Notices.

In the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) late last year, the Federal Government committed $280 million to developing a needs assessment process. This will include building a 1000-person workforce.

Since the MYEFO announcement, People with Disability Australia and three other Disability Representative Organisations (DROs) released a statement that they ‘support government funding for assessments to reduce the cost to participants, but oppose mandatory government-delivered assessments which could herald Independent Assessments 2.0.’

Who will conduct needs assessments? What assessment tools will they use?

Short answer is - we don’t know. But here’s the information we do have.

As mentioned above, the MYEFO announcement included plans to build a ‘1000-person strong trained workforce’ to deliver needs assessments. Needs assessments will be conducted by a practitioner from this workforce, not the participant’s treating health professional or someone chosen by the participant. The government will pay for the assessment. The NDIS Review recommended that assessors have qualifications in allied health, social work or have other appropriate disability expertise. The Review also suggested assessors be staff members or agents of the NDIA and the ultimate decision-makers for a person’s budget. It’s unclear whether the government intends to follow this advice.

As for the assessment tools, in a briefing leaked to the Saturday Paper, the NDIA and Department of Social Services said they are exploring tools that have already been developed. The briefing stated it would be impossible to custom-build new tools in the timeframe set by government.

The NDIA also says it’s developing ‘an approach to market to identify relevant available tools to understand the needs of participants for NDIS supports.’ Approaches to market are government-speak for a purchasing process.

Can people request another needs assessment?

The Act gives the NDIA the power to order a replacement needs assessment. But it doesn’t list the circumstances where the Agency can or must agree to a re-do. Instead, the legislation says that the NDIS Rules might outline criteria for the NDIA to use. The NDIS Rules haven’t been written yet (or at least not publicly released), and legislating them can be a lengthy process.

So, for the time being, we know it will be possible to get a replacement needs assessment. But there’s a big question mark over how and when this can occur.

New framework plans

What are ‘new framework plans’ and ‘old framework plans’?

New framework plans will be plans developed based on the results of a needs assessment. New framework plans have not been rolled out yet (more on the timeline later).

The legislation gives the NDIS Minister the power to write legislative NDIS Rules, which will outline how needs assessments will be translated into new framework plans. This detail will be essential, as existing needs assessment tools don’t churn out a dollar amount. The NDIA will need a mechanism to turn the results of a needs assessment into a reasonable and necessary budget.

In creating the Rules, the Minister must ‘have regard’ to the principle that people with disability should be included in the co-design of these Rules. ‘Have regard’ to a ‘principle’… just commit babe.

Old framework plans are the plans we have right now. They’re developed the old-fashioned way, which for most people means negotiating with a Planner, who then goes off and negotiates with the NDIA.

When will new framework plans roll out?

The government has set September 2025 as the deadline to begin rolling out new framework plans, as reported by Rick Morton from the Saturday Paper - who got his hands on a confidential NDIA and DSS briefing from late last year. DROs have raised concerns about whether co-design could realistically occur within the government’s proposed timeframe.

The new NDIS Act says that all participants must have transitioned to new framework plans within 5 years.

The legislation allows the government to transition people to new framework plans by ‘classes.’ However, we don’t know whether this means participants will transition when they’re due for a plan reassessment, or if there will be a staged rollout by say cohort or location.

What are the contents of new framework plans?

The NDIS Act gives us an overview of what we can expect from new framework plans.

The main change participants have been promised is more flexibility over how they use their funding. Plans will include a flexible budget and, if relevant, a stated budget.

Flexible funding - can be spent on any support that is an NDIS support for that participant. Read more about NDIS supports: NDIS support lists released - finally!
Stated funding - the plan will specify how stated funding can be used. It might say this funding can only be used for a specific type of support or must be delivered by a particular provider/type of provider.

This could signal a move away from Core, Capacity Building and Capital budgets and the complex funds flexibility rules.

New framework plans must also include:

A person’s goals and aspirations.
The total funding amount for the flexible and stated budgets - this is amount of funding available for the entire plan.
The funding periods for the flexible and stated budgets. The new Act allows the NDIA to release a participant’s funding in intervals. The ‘funding periods’ are how often funding will be released and the proportion of the plan released at each interval. For example, a person might have 25% of their flexible funding released every 6 months. Funding periods can’t be longer than 12 months.
The plan management type.
General supports provided to the participant by the NDIA- this might include plan coordination or referral services.
Whether the person has met the Disability or Early Intervention requirements.
The plan end date.

The Act says that the NDIS Rules (when they are written) might also specify other things that can be included in the plan, like a requirement for ongoing contact with the NDIA.

How will people know when they have transitioned to a new framework plan?

The NDIA must notify participants when they are transitioning to a new framework plan. But participants will also probably clock on when asked to do a needs assessment for the first time.

What compliance measures does the NDIA have for new framework plans?

In new or old framework plans, if the NDIA believes someone is not spending their funding on NDIS supports or in accordance with their plan, the Agency can change the person’s plan management types, change their funding intervals or raise a debt. Additionally, in new framework plans, the NDIA can vary the amount of a person’s funding that can be spent flexibly. Some of these decisions are reviewable.

Read more about the NDIA’s debt raising powers: NDIS Act Explained: Debts

Are new framework plans reviewable?

Yes. Participants can apply for an internal review of their new framework plan. If not satisfied with the outcome of that review, they can appeal to the Administrative Reviews Tribunal.

However, needs assessments may be less reviewable and will be outlined in Rules to come.

Learn more

Hopefully, you’re now feeling more informed about new framework plans and needs assessments. Inevitably, things will hit another level of confusing when ‘new framework plans’ gets shortened to NFPs - think how confusing that will be for not-for-profits everywhere!

We’ve got a whole series of articles on the new legislation. I’m biased, but I reckon it’s pretty damn good! Check it out:

Also, check out our upcoming workshops: