NDIS New Framework Planning Rules: The Consultation Closing 14 October

A second consultation, running alongside the one you may already know about

Disclaimer: This article reflects publicly available information as at 8 October 2026. This article is for general information only and does not constitute disability support, legal, or financial advice. For personalised advice, contact the NDIA on 1800 800 110, your Support Coordinator, or a disability advocacy organisation.

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If you've been following NDIS reform news, you've probably heard about the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) consultation on eligibility criteria, which closed on 2 October. What's had far less attention is a second, separate consultation — open at the same time, covering a different and arguably more immediately practical set of questions — that closes this week.

This one isn't about who gets into the NDIS. It's about what happens once you're already in it: how your support needs assessment will actually be conducted, how your budget will be calculated, and what you'll be able to do — and not do — with your plan under new framework planning.

It closes at 11:59pm AEDT on Wednesday, 14 October 2026.

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What This Consultation Actually Covers

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is consulting on four of the eight rules that will govern new framework planning, plus proposed updates to the NDIS Supports Transitional Rule. The four rules cover:

1. How your support needs assessment will be conducted This is the rule that sits directly alongside the I-CAN v6 framework — it covers the process and standards for how assessors gather and use information about your disability support needs.

2. How your budget will be worked out This rule covers the method the NDIA will use to translate your assessed support needs into an actual funding amount — the step between "what you need" and "what you get."

3. How you can use your plan This covers what counts as an NDIS support and what doesn't — in effect, what you can and cannot purchase with your funding under the new framework.

4. How a plan can be changed This covers the process for varying or adjusting your plan once you're on new framework planning — relevant if your circumstances change or if your initial plan doesn't reflect your actual needs.

Plus: the NDIS Supports Transitional Rule This separate but related rule deals with specific categories of support during the transition period — including rules around safety-critical supports, high-cost items, assistive technology, and supports funded as direct cash payments (such as transport allowances).

The department has said that exposure drafts of all eight new framework planning rules — not just these four — will be released for further consultation later in 2026, so this is not the only opportunity to have input, but it is the first substantive one covering these specific rules.

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Why This Is a Different Question From the TAG Consultation

It's worth being precise about the distinction, because the two consultations are easy to conflate:

If the TAG consultation was about the front door, this one is about everything that happens in the house once you're inside it. Both matter — but if you are already an NDIS participant and your primary concern is "what will my assessment and plan actually look like," this consultation is the more directly relevant one.

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Why the Assessment and Budget Rules Matter for I-CAN v6 Preparation

The first of the four rules — how support needs assessments are conducted — is the rule that will govern the practical mechanics of your I-CAN v6 assessment under new framework planning. This includes questions the sector has been pushing for clarity on, including whether assessors will be required to consider reports from treating health professionals as part of the process. Previous NDIA communications have suggested this isn't guaranteed by default, which is part of why disability organisations are treating this consultation as significant.

The budget rule matters just as much. An assessment can accurately capture your support needs, but if the method for translating that assessment into a dollar figure is unclear or poorly designed, participants can still end up with plans that don't reflect their actual circumstances. This is the rule that determines whether thorough, well-documented preparation for your I-CAN v6 assessment actually translates into a budget that matches your needs.

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Three Consultations, Three Closing Dates — A Quick Recap

September and October 2026 saw an unusually dense cluster of NDIS consultations running at once:

If you only engaged with one of these — most likely the TAG consultation, which received the most media attention — it's worth knowing this third one exists and is still open.

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What You Can Do Before 14 October

Read the consultation papers. The department has published exposure materials explaining the proposed rules in more detail than this article can cover. Visit the consultation hub to read them.

Make a submission. You can respond online, upload a written submission, submit a video response, or request a phone call — the consultation is designed to be accessible across different communication preferences.

Focus on specifics if you can. Based on how the department has framed its questions, submissions that describe concrete scenarios — what information should be considered in an assessment, what has gone wrong with budget calculations in the current system, what you've needed to change in a plan and why — tend to carry more practical weight than general statements of support or opposition.

Share this with your networks. Support Coordinators, allied health professionals, and family members are all entitled to make submissions, and the department has explicitly said it wants to hear from the broader disability community, not just participants directly.

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What This Means for Your Preparation Either Way

Regardless of how these rules are finalised, the fundamentals of good preparation don't change. A support needs assessment — under any version of these rules — will rely on clear, specific, functional evidence about what you need, how often, and what happens without it. The budget that follows from that assessment will only be as accurate as the information it's built on.

If you have views on how the assessment and budget rules should work, 14 October is your window to say so. And if you're preparing for your own eventual I-CAN v6 assessment, the strongest thing you can do in the meantime is keep building the kind of evidence base these rules are, in part, trying to formalise.

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Related Reading

• What the TAG Consultation Means for Your 2028 Assessment
• What is the NDIS I-CAN v6 Assessment?
• NDIS I-CAN v6 Evidence Guide: What Reports and Documents Actually Help
• What the 2028 NDIS Eligibility Changes Mean for Current Participants

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Sources: Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — New Framework Planning and NDIS Supports Consultation (opened 19 August 2026, closes 14 October 2026); health.gov.au — "Have your say on new framework planning and NDIS support rules" (published 19 August 2026); National Ethnic Disability Alliance consultation summary; Team DSC analysis of the four draft New Framework Plan rules. For the most current information, visit the official consultation hub or contact the NDIA on 1800 800 110.