You check your NDIS budget tracker and the numbers don’t look good. There’s still six months left in your plan, but you’ve already used more than half your funds. Maybe your supports cost more than expected, maybe you’ve had extra therapy sessions, or maybe your funding was never enough to start with.
Whatever the reason, this is stressful, and it’s happening to more participants than ever. Accidental overspending is common, even when providers are doing the right thing. A small extra each week can add up over a few months. You are not in trouble if that happens, but it can affect what you can book later and how smoothly supports continue. Acting early with a clear plan helps steady things.
Why It’s Happening More Often
The Labor government has been working to slow the growth of the NDIS for several years now. This has filtered down through NDIA systems, planning decisions, and how funding is structured and released. It means:
-
Many budgets start lower than what’s really needed
-
Funding periods limit how and when money becomes available
-
There’s less flexibility for unexpected or increased costs
Combine that with real life, illness and urgent needs, and funds can be eaten up faster than planned.
Step 1: Get a Clear Picture of Where Your Money’s Going
Before you make changes, you will need to build a clear, accurate understanding of your spending. If this is hard to do on your own, you might want to ask for help. You could:
-
Ask your plan manager for a plain-language, one-page summary showing Core, Capacity Building and Capital, plus your top costs this month or quarter
-
Ask your support coordinator to go through service agreements, bookings and recent invoices with you
-
Invite a trusted person to sit with you and read statements together
-
If you self-manage, you might print the portal statement and highlight anything you don’t recognise
You may also wish to:
-
Check your plan manager’s monthly statements (or the NDIS portal if you self-manage)
-
Break down spending by category: Core, Capacity Building, Capital
-
Identify any high-cost supports or unusual invoices
-
Look for duplicate or unnecessary bookings
Example:
Mia discovered her provider was billing for more kilometres and travel time than was actually spent travelling to her home. Once she raised it, the provider adjusted their processes, freeing up several hundred dollars over the next few months.
Example:
Noah realised his therapy assistant was attending the same sessions as his main therapist and both were billing for the full session length. Switching to a split billing arrangement extended his therapy budget by another two months.
Step 2: Prioritise Essential Supports
Once you know where the money is going, you might need to separate essential from non-essential supports. It’s important to consider what must continue to keep you safe, healthy and stable, and what can be reduced or paused without immediate risk. Don’t forget this is your choice and control.
Essential: services that keep you safe, healthy, and able to function day-to-day (personal care, critical therapies, medication management, SIL)
Non-essential: supports that are helpful but can be reduced or paused without immediate risk (extra outings, duplicate therapy sessions)
This isn’t about removing everything that improves quality of life, it’s about making sure the most important supports are protected.
Example:
Amara temporarily paused her community access outings to make sure her daily personal care continued without interruption.
Step 3: Talk to Your Support Coordinator Early
If you have a support coordinator, they should be monitoring your overall spending against your plan and raising concerns before it becomes urgent. If that isn’t happening, you may wish to ask what system they use to track your budget and when they will flag risks.
A good coordinator should:
-
Monitor your budget in real time and provide plain-language updates
-
Alert you early to overspend or underspend risk
-
Work with providers to align service agreements with your budget and funding periods
-
Challenge invoices that don’t match service agreements or what was delivered
-
Help you re-prioritise supports and prepare evidence if an early reassessment is needed
Where billing or scheduling is not reasonable, providers should correct it. This includes duplicate bookings, unexplained non-face-to-face time, and travel charges that don’t reflect the visit. If issues persist, your coordinator can escalate with the provider or support you to make a complaint.
Step 4: Renegotiate with Providers
If your budget is tight, providers may be willing to adjust service agreements. This could mean:
-
Reducing session length or frequency
-
Switching to group programs
-
Using telehealth to reduce travel charges
-
Combining supports where possible
Example:
Ethan’s physiotherapist reduced his sessions from one hour to 45 minutes, which cut costs without affecting his progress.
Step 5: Request an Early Plan Review
If you have strong evidence that your needs have changed or your funding is no longer adequate, you might want to request a plan reassessment. This isn’t just about budgets being insufficient from the start, it can also be because:
-
Your disability impacts have worsened
-
You’ve developed new or increased support needs
-
Informal care arrangements have broken down due to carer burnout
Progress reports from providers often aren’t enough to secure extra funding. You may need detailed, functional impact reports from an OT, psychologist, physio, nurse, or other allied health professional that clearly outline:
-
The permanent functional impacts of your disability
-
The reasonable and necessary supports you require
-
What a “bad day” looks like for you, not just a good day, because the NDIA often underfunds relative to provider recommendations
We’ll be publishing future blog posts that walk you through the plan reassessment process step by step, including how to request escalations if your reassessment isn’t progressing, and how to lodge urgent complaints if you’re at risk without supports.
Example:
Layla’s mother could no longer provide daily care after an injury. With strong evidence from her OT and nurse showing the gap in support and the impact on Layla’s safety, the NDIA approved an increase to her Core budget after several months.
Step 6: Understand Funding Periods
If your funding is split into monthly, quarterly, or six-monthly periods, you can’t spend more than what’s allocated for that period, even if you have money left in your total plan budget.
Unused funds from earlier periods roll forward to the next, but you can’t borrow from future allocations.
Example:
Your Core budget is $1,500 per quarter. In quarter one (January–March), you book a $1,700 STA in February. The system will reject the invoice because it exceeds the $1,500 for that period.
If you had only spent $1,000 in quarter one, the remaining $500 would roll into quarter two, giving you $2,000 to spend from April–June.
Step 7: Avoid Underspending
Not spending your budget is just as risky as overspending. If you’re 10 months into a 12-month plan and have only used half your funding, planners may see that as a sign you don’t need as much in the future.
If you do find yourself behind in spending, you may choose to:
-
Consider the ways lack of support has impacted you
-
Plan services that make up for that gap, in line with your actual needs
-
Document any negative impacts so they’re on record for your next planning meeting
Final Thoughts
Running out of funding halfway through your NDIS plan can feel overwhelming, but there are steps you may wish to take to regain control. Understanding where your money is going, protecting the supports that matter most, working with your coordinator and providers, and gathering strong evidence may help if you need more funding.
If you’re significantly concerned that your funding isn’t going to last, and your current supports haven’t helped you to deal with the situation, feel free to reach out. You don’t need to be a Meliora client.