“Improved Daily Living” is an abstract name for something very concrete. It funds learning to do the ordinary things — cook a meal, catch a bus, manage a bank card, run a household — and the fastest way to understand the category is to see what people actually spend it on.
This guide is a list of real, fundable examples, grouped by the part of life they belong to. If you want the explainer first, our guide to Improved Daily Living covers how the category works.
What counts as an improved daily living skill?
Any practical skill that reduces how much help somebody needs with everyday life. The test is whether a support teaches something that lasts — if the participant can do more at the end than at the start, it generally belongs in this category.
That is the line to keep in mind while reading the lists below. A support worker who does the task is Core funding. A program that leaves somebody able to do the task is this.
What cooking and meal preparation supports can be funded?
Cooking is the most commonly funded skill in this category, because it affects health, money and independence all at once. Fundable supports range from one-to-one sessions in a participant’s own kitchen to structured group courses.
- A structured cooking course, one-to-one or in a small group
- Learning to plan a week of meals and write a shopping list
- Kitchen safety — knives, heat, hot oil, cleaning as you go
- Reading recipes, and adapting them for a budget or a dietary need
- Using appliances safely and confidently
- Food storage, use-by dates and what is safe to reheat
- Dietitian input where eating is affected by the disability
- Building a small repertoire of meals somebody can reliably make alone
If cooking is the skill you are most interested in, our guide to NDIS funding for cooking classes covers which budget pays for a course and how to check your own plan fits.
What household skills can be funded?
Supports that teach somebody to run their own home — cleaning routines, laundry, basic maintenance and the organisation that holds it together. The emphasis is on building a routine the participant keeps, not on the house being clean this week.
- Setting up a cleaning routine that is realistic and repeatable
- Laundry from start to finish, including sorting and machine settings
- Keeping a kitchen and bathroom safe and hygienic
- Basic home maintenance and knowing when to call somebody
- Organising paperwork, bills and appointments
- Fire safety and what to do in an emergency at home
What money and budgeting supports can be funded?
Financial skill-building is fundable where difficulty managing money is connected to the disability. This covers everyday banking, budgeting, and recognising and avoiding financial exploitation.
- Working out a weekly or fortnightly budget and sticking to it
- Using a bank card, an ATM and online banking safely
- Understanding bills, direct debits and what happens if one is missed
- Shopping to a budget, and comparing prices
- Recognising scams and financial abuse
- Saving towards something specific
What travel and transport skills can be funded?
Travel training is funded where it builds independent travel rather than simply providing a lift. It is one of the highest-value supports in the category, because somebody who can travel independently can reach everything else without booking support first.
- Learning a specific route on public transport, repeated until it is automatic
- Reading timetables and apps, and coping when a service is cancelled
- Road safety and crossing busy roads
- What to do if something goes wrong — lost, late, or on the wrong bus
- Building up to travelling alone in stages
What communication and technology supports can be funded?
Supports that help somebody communicate and handle the technology daily life now requires, where the difficulty relates to their disability. This includes both speech and language work and practical digital skills.
- Speech pathology aimed at everyday communication
- Learning to use a phone, tablet or computer for ordinary tasks
- Email, messaging and video calls
- Online safety, privacy and what not to share
- Using an augmentative or alternative communication device in real settings
- Booking appointments and dealing with services independently
What personal and social skills can be funded?
Skill-building around self-care routines, health management and the social skills that make relationships and community life workable. These often matter more to quality of life than anything else on the list.
- Building a morning and evening routine that works without prompting
- Managing medication and health appointments
- Recognising when to seek help, and how
- Social skills for work, groups and friendships
- Understanding boundaries, consent and safe relationships
- Problem-solving and decision-making in everyday situations
What does Improved Daily Living not cover?
It does not cover having the task done for you. Ongoing cleaning, cooking or personal care delivered by a support worker is Core funding, not Capacity Building — however helpful it is, and however much it looks like the same activity from the outside.
It also will not cover ordinary living costs. The groceries used in a cooking program, a participant’s own appliances and the cost of their shopping are theirs. The teaching is funded; the ingredients of daily life are not. Providers who run programs usually include materials in the program fee, so it is worth asking what is covered.
How do you get these written into a plan?
Pick the examples that match a goal you already have, or ask for a goal that they serve. Funding follows goals, so the sequence is goal first, supports second — and arriving at a plan meeting with a specific support, a provider and a price is far more persuasive than asking for a category.
If a plan already has Improved Daily Living funding, nothing needs approving. It can be spent now on anything in this category that fits the plan’s goals — and in our experience most people who discover the category find the money has been sitting there for months.