One of the most common questions we hear isn’t really about therapy — it’s about the plan behind it. Specifically: why can’t funding for one thing just be used for something else? The short answer is that your NDIS plan isn’t one pool of money — it’s a few separate budgets, each with its own rules.
The main budgets, in plain English
Core Supports
This is usually the most flexible bucket — everyday help, consumables, transport, social participation. You can generally move money between these as your needs shift during the plan.
Capacity Building Supports
This is where most therapy funding sits — OT, physio, podiatry, speech pathology and similar. Unlike Core, this budget is split into separate categories, and funding generally can’t move between them. Therapy money can’t be redirected to support coordination, for example, even if one runs low and the other doesn’t.
Capital Supports
This covers bigger one-off items — assistive technology and home or vehicle modifications. It’s the least flexible of the three, and usually needs quotes or an assessment before anything’s approved.
Where people get caught out
The rule that trips almost everyone up at some point: money generally can’t move between these three, even when one category has plenty left and another’s running dry. A common one — realising that leftover home modification funding (Capital) can’t cover extra support hours (Core), even though both feel like “NDIS money” on paper.
What this means for planning ahead
- Talk to your planner or support coordinator about which budget covers what, before your plan is locked in
- Keep therapy, equipment, and daily support requests separate when discussing your plan — they usually draw from different budgets
- If something seems to sit between categories, just ask directly which one it should come from
The takeaway
Understanding which budget funds what won’t change how much you get, but it can save a lot of frustration mid-plan — and helps make sure things get requested from the right place in the first place.
This article is general information, not financial or legal advice. If you’re unsure how a specific support fits into your plan, your support coordinator or the NDIS is the right first stop.
Want to read more?
The NDIS’s own guide to support budgets covers this in more detail.
