What the TAG Consultation Closing Means for Your 2028 Assessment

The window has closed — here is what happens next, and how to prepare regardless

Disclaimer: This article reflects publicly available information about the Technical Advisory Group process as at October 2026. The TAG's recommendations and the government's final criteria decisions have not yet been made. This article is for general information only and does not constitute disability support or legal advice.

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On 2 October 2026, the consultation process for the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for NDIS functional capacity closed.

During the consultation period, thousands of Australians with disability, their families, carers, health professionals, and organisations made submissions — contributing perspectives that ranged from individual participant experiences to carefully researched policy positions from disability organisations.

Now the TAG's real work begins.

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What the TAG Is Building

The TAG is tasked with developing the framework that will determine NDIS eligibility from January 2028. Specifically:

The functional capacity criteria: What activities will be assessed, at what level of limitation, across which I-CAN domains, does a person qualify as having "substantially reduced functional capacity"?

The permanence test: How will assessors determine whether functional limitations are permanent after all publicly funded appropriate treatments have been tried?

The assessment tools and methods: What specific tools, processes, and evidence requirements will be used?

Safeguards: How will the criteria handle conditions that are fluctuating, rare, hard to demonstrate, or where evidence is limited?

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The Timeline from Here

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Why the Criteria Matter More Than the Tool

There is an important distinction to understand about how the 2028 changes work.

The I-CAN v6 is the tool — it measures how a person's disability affects their functioning across 12 life domains. The tool is already designed, and it will be used in the planning framework from April 2027; its structure is known.

The eligibility criteria are the thresholds — they determine what level of limitation, measured by the I-CAN v6, qualifies a person for the NDIS.

You can complete an accurate, thorough I-CAN v6 assessment that precisely captures your functional support needs. But whether that result translates to NDIS eligibility from 2028 depends entirely on where the TAG sets the thresholds.

A person with moderate-to-high support needs across three I-CAN domains might qualify under a threshold set at one level and not qualify under a threshold set slightly higher. The criteria, not the tool, are the eligibility gate.

This is why the TAG consultation mattered, and why the TAG's recommendations are the most consequential single element of the entire 2028 reform process.

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What the Disability Sector Has Been Asking For

Disability organisations have consistently raised several themes across their consultations and public submissions:

Fluctuating conditions must be accounted for. PTSD, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder, episodic physical conditions — many disabilities do not produce consistent, permanent-appearing limitation. On a good day, a person with significant psychosocial disability may appear functional. On a difficult day, they cannot manage basic self-care. The criteria must capture this range, not just the snapshot.

Rare and complex conditions need flexibility. Standard assessment pathways work less well for people with rare diseases, ultra-rare genetic conditions, or complex multi-system presentations where specialist evidence may be limited or hard to access.

Access to evidence should not determine access to the NDIS. The requirement to demonstrate that all appropriate treatments have been tried creates an unequal burden. A person in a major city with comprehensive health insurance can more easily demonstrate exhaustion of treatment options than a person in a remote community with limited access to specialists.

The criteria should not replicate existing diagnostic bias. The current NDIS has significant gender bias — women are underrepresented relative to the disability population. Criteria that favour certain types of evidence (clinical diagnoses with clear pathology) over others (functional limitations from conditions that are harder to measure) may perpetuate or worsen this bias.

Lived experience should be central, not peripheral. Assessment tools and criteria that are designed without meaningful participation from disabled people tend to miss things. The TAG includes people with lived experience of disability, and the submissions from the disability community are part of the foundation its recommendations should reflect.

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What Can and Cannot Be Influenced Now

What you cannot influence:

• The consultation submissions — these are now closed
• The TAG's internal deliberations — these are independent
• The timing of the March 2027 report

What you can still influence:

• Through disability organisations (PWDA, DANA, and condition-specific organisations will continue advocating based on community input)
• Through your own participation in any further consultation rounds the government may open on specific criteria after the TAG reports
• Through your elected representatives
• Through sharing your experience with disability advocacy organisations who are building the evidence base

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What This Means for Your Preparation Right Now

Regardless of where the criteria land, the most effective preparation you can make for any assessment — from the I-CAN v6 planning framework in April 2027 through to the eligibility reassessment from 2028 — is the same.

Build a thorough, specific, domain-by-domain record of your functional support needs.

Here is why this is true regardless of the criteria:

• If the criteria are set conservatively (high thresholds), you need the strongest possible evidence of significant functional limitation
• If the criteria are set generously (lower thresholds), thorough documentation still determines your plan funding level
• The I-CAN v6 planning framework starts April 2027 under the current criteria — and preparation matters for this too

The criteria will determine the line. Your documentation determines whether you are on the right side of it.

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The I-CAN v6 Planning Framework Starts in April 2027

While the 2028 eligibility criteria are being developed, the I-CAN v6 new planning framework begins its staged rollout from 1 April 2027 for participants aged 16 and over.

This is a separate track from the eligibility changes. It affects how your plan is built — moving to standardised functional capacity assessment as the foundation for plan budgets — regardless of whether the eligibility changes ultimately affect you.

If your plan review falls after April 2027, you will be assessed under the new framework regardless of what the 2028 eligibility criteria eventually say.

Preparing your I-CAN v6 documentation — domain by domain, in functional terms — serves you for that planning assessment, and positions you for any eligibility reassessment later.

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ICANReady guides you through all 12 I-CAN domains, building a structured, functional preparation document that is your most durable protection — whatever the criteria ultimately say.

Try ICANReady free →

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For updates on the TAG process and the 2028 eligibility criteria as they develop, visit health.gov.au and follow PWDA at pwd.org.au. The TAG's final report is expected by March 2027.