Daily Living Supports: A Plain-English Guide for NDIS Participants

Daily living supports help you do the everyday things that your disability makes difficult or impossible to do independently. Under the NDIS, these supports are funded through your plan under the Assistance with Daily Life support category, and they cover a wide range of help - from getting out of bed in the morning to preparing meals, managing personal hygiene, and participating in household tasks. If you or a family member has daily living funding in an NDIS plan, this guide explains what it covers, how the funding works, how to choose a good provider, and what warning signs to watch for.

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What are daily living supports under the NDIS?

Daily living supports - formally called Assistance with Daily Life - are funded supports that help NDIS participants with tasks they cannot do independently because of their disability. The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (the document that sets the rules for what providers can charge) places these supports under Support Category 01.

In practice, daily living supports can include:

• Personal care: showering, dressing, grooming, toileting
• Assistance with eating and meal preparation
• Help with household tasks like cleaning, laundry and shopping
• Support to manage medications (noting and prompting, not administering - unless the provider has appropriate qualifications)
• Overnight or 24-hour supports, including sleepover and active overnight shifts
• Short-term accommodation (STA), sometimes called respite
• Supported independent living (SIL), where a participant lives in a shared or individual home with ongoing support
• Assistance with daily tasks in a shared living arrangement

Daily living supports are not about doing everything for you. A good provider will work with you on what the NDIS calls "building capacity" - helping you develop skills and confidence so you can do more independently over time, where that is your goal.

What daily living supports do NOT cover

It is worth being clear about what this category does not fund. Daily living supports cannot be used for:

• Medical treatment or clinical nursing care (that falls under other categories)
• Supports that are the responsibility of mainstream services, like hospital care
• Household expenses such as food, rent, or utility bills
• Supports for family members who do not have their own NDIS plan

If you are unsure whether a specific support fits your plan, your support coordinator or plan manager can help you check before you book anything.

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Who pays for daily living supports?

Daily living funding sits inside your NDIS plan under Core Supports. Core Supports are generally the most flexible part of your plan - in most cases, you can move funding between the four Core sub-categories (Daily Activities, Social and Community Participation, Consumables, and Transport) to respond to your changing needs, although there are some exceptions.

How you pay a provider depends on how your plan is managed:

1. NDIA-managed (Agency-managed): The NDIA pays the provider directly from your plan. You can only use registered NDIS providers.
2. Plan-managed: A plan manager pays providers on your behalf from your plan funds. You can use both registered and unregistered providers, and your plan manager handles the invoices.
3. Self-managed: You pay providers directly and claim reimbursement from the NDIA. You have the most flexibility about who you use, but you also take on more responsibility for record-keeping.

Prices for daily living supports are capped under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits. Providers cannot charge more than the published price limit for a given support item. However, they can charge less, and the actual rate you pay should be agreed in a written service agreement before supports begin.

OpenWay is a marketplace that helps participants and families find and compare NDIS providers - it is free to use for participants and does not handle plan funds or billing.

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How to choose a daily living provider

Choosing the right provider for daily living supports is one of the most personal decisions you will make in your NDIS journey. You are often inviting someone into your home, and the relationship between you and your support worker matters enormously.

Here is a practical checklist to work through when you are comparing providers:

1. Check their registration status. If your plan is Agency-managed, your provider must be registered with the NDIS Commission. You can search the NDIS Commission's public register to confirm. If you are plan-managed or self-managed, you have more choice, but registration is still a useful quality signal.
2. Ask about worker screening. All workers who deliver personal care and other daily living supports must have a current NDIS Worker Screening Check. Ask the provider how they verify this for every worker, including casual and agency staff.
3. Read their service agreement carefully. Before signing anything, make sure you understand the cancellation policy, the notice period required, what happens if a worker is sick, and how disputes are handled.
4. Ask how they match workers to participants. A good provider will take time to understand your preferences - gender of worker, language spoken, cultural background, communication style - before they roster anyone to your shifts.
5. Find out about consistency. Frequent worker changes are disruptive, especially for participants with autism, intellectual disability, or complex support needs. Ask how the provider manages continuity.
6. Understand their incident reporting process. Registered providers are required by the NDIS Commission to report certain incidents. Ask how they handle complaints and what their process is if something goes wrong.
7. Trial before you commit. Many providers will offer a trial period or a single introductory shift. Use this to see whether the fit feels right before signing a long-term service agreement.

You can browse daily living providers listed on OpenWay to compare profiles, read about their services, and send an enquiry directly - without having to call around or share your details with every provider on a list.

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Questions to ask a provider before you start

Once you have shortlisted a few providers, a short phone call or meeting can tell you a lot. Here are some useful questions to ask:

• How many participants do you currently support in my area?
• What is your process if my regular worker is unavailable?
• Do your workers receive training specific to my disability type?
• How do you handle feedback or complaints from participants?
• What does your service agreement say about notice periods and cancellations?
• Are you familiar with the NDIS Pricing Arrangements, and can you confirm the rates you charge?

A provider who answers these questions clearly and without hesitation is usually one who has thought carefully about quality and participant experience. Vague or evasive answers are worth noting.

If you work with a support coordinator, they can help you prepare for these conversations and interpret what you hear. The support coordinator section of OpenWay has tools designed to help coordinators shortlist providers and share options with participants efficiently.

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Red flags to watch for

Unfortunately, not every provider delivers the quality of support that participants deserve. Here are some warning signs that should make you pause before committing:

• Pressure to sign quickly. A trustworthy provider will give you time to read a service agreement and ask questions. Anyone who pushes you to sign on the spot is a concern.
• Vague or verbal-only agreements. The NDIS Commission requires registered providers to have a written service agreement with participants. If a provider only wants to operate on a handshake, that is a red flag.
• No worker screening evidence. If a provider cannot confirm that their workers hold a current NDIS Worker Screening Check, do not proceed.
• Charging above the price limits. Registered providers cannot charge more than the NDIS Pricing Arrangements allow. If a provider's rates seem unusually high, ask them to show you which support item code they are billing under.
• Poor communication. If it is hard to get a straight answer before you start, it will likely be harder once you are a client. Responsiveness matters.
• Workers who seem unfamiliar with your needs. If a worker arrives clearly unprepared - without knowing your support plan, your communication preferences, or your routines - that suggests the provider has not briefed them properly.
• Requests to pay cash or outside the plan. NDIS supports must be claimed through the proper channels. Any provider asking you to pay informally should be reported to the NDIS Commission.

OpenWay publishes provider profiles that include information about services offered, areas covered, and registration status. Understanding what OpenWay's trust and safety process involves can help you feel more confident when using the marketplace to shortlist providers.

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Frequently asked

Can I use daily living funding to pay a family member to support me?

In some circumstances, yes. The NDIA does allow family members to be paid as support workers, but this is assessed case by case and is generally only approved where there is a compelling reason - for example, in remote areas where no other providers are available. If this is something you are considering, speak with your support coordinator or contact the NDIA directly to understand the conditions that apply.

What happens if I want to change providers?

You have the right to change providers at any time. Check your service agreement for the required notice period - typically two to four weeks. Once the notice period has passed, you are free to engage a new provider. If you are Agency-managed, you will also need to end the service booking in the myplace portal. Your support coordinator can help you manage the transition if you have one.

My plan says "Assistance with Daily Life" but I am not sure what I can spend it on. Who can help?

Your plan manager (if you have one) is a good first port of call, as they see a lot of plans and know what is commonly funded under each category. Your support coordinator can also help you interpret your plan. If you are self-managed or Agency-managed without a coordinator, you can contact the NDIA directly or speak with a Local Area Coordinator (LAC). The NDIS website also publishes the current support catalogue, which lists every funded support item by category.

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How OpenWay can help

Finding a daily living provider that genuinely fits your needs - your location, your disability, your communication preferences, your cultural background - takes time. OpenWay is a free-to-use marketplace for NDIS participants and their families that brings provider profiles together in one place, so you can compare options, read about services, and send enquiries without having to track down contact details across a dozen different websites.

If you are ready to start looking, you can browse NDIS daily living providers across Australia and filter by location and support type. There is no cost to participants to use OpenWay, and sending an enquiry does not lock you into anything.

Support coordinators can also use OpenWay to find and shortlist providers for the participants they work with, saving time on the research and admin side of their role.

OpenWay is not part of the NDIS, NDIA or NDIS Commission. Final scope, pricing, travel, cancellation rules and non-face-to-face charges must be confirmed in a written service agreement between the participant (or their authorised support person) and the provider.