The NDIS funds a great deal more than therapy and support workers. Classes, courses, group programs, social outings and community activities are all fundable — but they come out of different parts of a plan, and the rules about what the money covers are not obvious from the plan itself.
This guide covers which activities are funded, which budget pays for them, what group sessions typically cost, and the practical ways to find something worth joining near you.
What activities does the NDIS fund?
The NDIS funds activities that help a participant take part in the community, build skills, or work towards a goal in their plan. That covers structured courses and classes, group programs, social and recreational activities, community access, and skill-building sessions — as long as the activity connects to something the plan is trying to achieve.
What it will not fund is an activity with no link to a goal, or one that is simply an ordinary cost of living that everybody pays. The test is not whether an activity is enjoyable. Plenty of funded supports are enjoyable. The test is whether it does something a plan says needs doing.
Which part of your plan pays for activities?
Activities are usually funded from one of three places: Assistance with Social and Community Participation in the Core budget, Increased Social and Community Participation in the Capacity Building budget, or Improved Daily Living, also in Capacity Building. Which one applies depends on what the activity is for.
| Budget | Category | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Assistance with Social and Community Participation | Support to take part in social, recreational and community activities |
| Capacity Building | Increased Social and Community Participation | Building the skills and confidence to take part more independently |
| Capacity Building | Improved Daily Living | Programs that teach a practical everyday skill |
A weekly outing with a support worker usually sits in Core. A ten-week course that teaches something sits in Capacity Building — our guide to Improved Daily Living goes through that category in detail. The same activity can land in different categories for two different people, depending on what their plans say and why they are going.
Core budgets are generally flexible between most Core categories, so unspent Core money can often be redirected to activities. Capacity Building budgets are generally not — if the funding was approved for a category, it stays in that category.
What kinds of activities can you actually join?
In practice, funded activities fall into a handful of recognisable types: skill-based courses, group programs, community access with a support worker, recreation and sport, and arts or music programs. Most participants end up using more than one.
- Skill-based courses — cooking, budgeting, computer skills, travel training, work readiness. Structured, with a beginning and an end, and something learned by the finish.
- Group programs — regular sessions with the same small group, usually around a shared activity. Often the best value, and often where the friendships happen.
- Community access — one-to-one support to get out and do ordinary things: shopping, appointments, the library, a coffee somewhere.
- Recreation and sport — swimming, gym programs, adapted sport, dance.
- Arts, music and drama — including programs designed around participation rather than performance.
- Day programs and centre-based activities — a fuller timetable, often several days a week.
A thing worth knowing: the activity does not have to be disability-specific. A mainstream class with the right support can be funded, and for some participants is a far better outcome than a segregated one.
Does the NDIS pay for the activity itself, or just the support?
The NDIS funds the support you need in order to take part, not the everyday cost of taking part. A support worker’s time to get you to a concert is fundable; your concert ticket is not. Entry fees, meals, memberships and the ordinary costs anybody would pay are the participant’s own.
Provider-run programs work differently, and this is where people get confused. When a provider delivers the program itself — a cooking course, an art class, a group session — the program fee is the support, and that is claimable against the plan. There is no separate “ticket” to pay.
If you are unsure which situation you are in, ask the provider for the support item they will claim against and what, if anything, you pay on top. A provider who cannot answer that clearly is worth a second thought.
How much do NDIS group activities cost?
Group activities are charged per participant, at a rate that depends on how many participants one worker supports at a time. A one-to-three group costs each participant roughly a third of what a one-to-one session would, which is why group programs stretch a budget considerably further.
Prices are capped by the NDIS price guide, which sets the maximum a registered provider can charge for each support item. Providers can charge less, and some do, but none can charge more than the cap for the item they are claiming against.
Two things sit outside the hourly rate and are worth asking about before you commit:
- Centre capital costs — some centre-based programs can claim a small additional contribution towards the cost of the venue.
- Provider travel — if a worker travels to you, part of that time may be claimable.
Ask for the total cost in writing before you start. A good provider will give you a figure per session and a figure for the whole program, and will tell you plainly whether your plan has enough in the right category to cover it.
How do you find NDIS funded activities near you?
The quickest routes are your support coordinator if you have one, the NDIS provider finder, your Local Area Coordinator, and local community organisations — libraries, neighbourhood centres and councils often run things that are not advertised as disability programs but work perfectly well with support.
In rough order of how useful they usually are:
- Your support coordinator. This is literally the job. They know what is running locally, which providers are any good, and who has places.
- Your plan manager. They see what other participants are claiming and can often point you somewhere.
- The NDIS provider finder at ndis.gov.au, which lists registered providers by location and registration group.
- Your Local Area Coordinator, if you do not have a support coordinator.
- Local community organisations. Councils, libraries and neighbourhood centres run a surprising amount, and it is often free or close to it.
- Other participants and families. Word of mouth finds the good programs faster than any directory, because the people in them already know whether it works.
You do not have to use a registered provider unless your plan is agency managed. Plan-managed and self-managed participants can use unregistered providers too, which widens the field considerably.
What should you ask before joining an activity?
Ask what the program actually does each session, what it costs in total, which support category it is claimed against, how many participants there are to each worker, and what happens if you miss a session. The answers tell you more about a provider than any brochure.
A short list worth taking to a first conversation:
- What happens in a typical session, start to finish?
- How many participants, and how many staff?
- What is the total cost, and which part of my plan does it come from?
- What is your cancellation policy, and what happens if I am unwell?
- How do you support someone who needs more help than the others?
- Can I come and look before I decide?
That last one matters more than the rest. Any program worth joining will say yes.
Our guide to choosing an NDIS group program goes further into how to tell similar-sounding programs apart.
Finding activities on the Gold Coast
On the Gold Coast, the practical starting points are the city’s community centres and libraries, the larger disability service providers for day programs, and smaller specialist providers for skill-based courses. Helensvale, Southport, Robina and Nerang all have council facilities that host programs.
Smaller providers are often worth seeking out for courses specifically. A group of five learning something is a different experience from a day program of thirty, and for skill-building it tends to produce better results — more hands-on time, and a facilitator who actually knows how each person is going.
We run a ten-week baking course at Helensvale ourselves, which is one option among many. If it does not suit, say so and we will tell you who else is worth calling — we would rather you end up somewhere good than somewhere that happens to be ours.