Capacity Building is the part of an NDIS plan that is meant to change something. Core funding keeps life running week to week; Capacity Building funding exists to make a participant more able over time — and it is consistently the most underspent part of the scheme.
This guide covers what the budget funds, the nine categories inside it, why the money cannot be moved around, and what happens when it goes unused.
What is Capacity Building in the NDIS?
Capacity Building is a budget type that funds therapy, training, courses and programs designed to build a participant’s skills and independence. Unlike Core supports, which pay for ongoing assistance, Capacity Building supports are meant to have an end point — the point at which the skill is built.
The logic is long-term. A plan that only ever funds assistance will fund the same assistance forever. A plan with Capacity Building in it is trying to reduce what is needed later.
What are the Capacity Building categories?
There are nine, and a plan will usually contain only the ones connected to its goals.
| Category | What it funds |
|---|---|
| Improved Daily Living | Therapy and skill development for everyday independence |
| Increased Social and Community Participation | Courses and programs that build confidence in community life |
| Finding and Keeping a Job | Employment preparation and workplace support |
| Improved Relationships | Behaviour support and social skills development |
| Improved Health and Wellbeing | Exercise and dietetic supports connected to the disability |
| Improved Learning | Support to move into or through further education |
| Improved Life Choices | Plan management |
| Improved Living Arrangements | Help to find and maintain somewhere to live |
| Support Coordination | Someone to help put the plan into action |
The two most relevant to everyday independence have their own guides: Improved Daily Living and Increased Social and Community Participation.
What are some examples of Capacity Building supports?
Anything that teaches, trains or develops. Occupational therapy, speech pathology, a cooking course, travel training, behaviour support, employment preparation, social skills groups, exercise physiology and plan management all sit here.
A few that participants often do not realise are included:
- Training for the people around you — teaching a parent or support worker how to support a skill rather than do it
- Group courses, which cost each participant far less than one-to-one
- Assessments and reports that establish what to work on
- Plan management itself, which sits under Improved Life Choices and does not come out of any other budget
- Support coordination, for the same reason
How is Capacity Building different from Core Supports?
Core pays for the task to be done. Capacity Building pays for the ability to do it. The practical test is whether the same support will still be needed, unchanged, in a year — if so, it is Core.
Our guide to Core Supports versus Capacity Building goes through the distinction in detail, including the cases that routinely trip people up.
Can Capacity Building funding be moved between categories?
Generally no. Each Capacity Building category is funded separately and the money stays where it was allocated. Funding approved for Improved Daily Living cannot be spent on employment support, and neither can be topped up from Core.
This is the single most important practical difference from Core, which is usually flexible across most of its categories. It means a Capacity Building category with nothing in it is a closed door until the next reassessment — and a category with money sitting in it is a resource that will not help anywhere else.
Why is Capacity Building funding so often unspent?
Because it requires somebody to go and arrange something. Core supports tend to run on a roster; Capacity Building supports need a provider found, a program chosen and a start date agreed — and without a support coordinator, that often does not happen.
The other reason is simply that the category names describe outcomes rather than things. “Improved Daily Living” does not tell anybody what to buy, so a lot of people assume it is not for them.
The consequence is worth being blunt about: unspent funding is read at the next reassessment as funding that was not needed. Categories that go unused are the ones most likely to come back reduced, regardless of why they went unused.
How do you get more Capacity Building funding?
Ask at the plan reassessment, with a goal the funding obviously serves, evidence of the gap, and a specific program with a price attached. Capacity Building requests are judged on whether a skill will genuinely be built, so say plainly what the participant will be able to do at the end.
Therapy reports carry particular weight here, because they establish the gap and the proposed approach in a form planners are used to reading. If you have one, bring it. Our guide to preparing for a plan review covers the rest of the case.
What should you do with Capacity Building funding you already have?
Spend it on something that fits the category and your goals, and do it now rather than near the end of the plan. Nothing needs approving — if the funding is in the plan, it is available.
If you are not sure what is left, your plan manager can tell you in a minute, or you can see it in the myplace portal. If you are not sure what to spend it on, that is exactly the conversation to have with a provider working in that category, who should be willing to tell you honestly whether what they offer fits.